book details

Book: The Man I Love (The Fish Tales Book 1) by Suanne Laqueur

categories: Book, Women's Fiction, Emotional Intelligence, Trauma, Dance, Second Chance, College Romance, Reconciliation, Forgiveness, Recovery, PTSD, School Shooting, Contemporary Romance

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Suanne Laqueur

about this book: The Man I Love is the first book in The Fish Tales series. It follows the emotional journey of Erik Fiskare as he attempts to salvage relationships destroyed in the wake of a school shooting. Instances of gun violence have become sadly prevalent in American society today, with much focus on the assailants and their motives. I've taken a more emotional slant on the issue by focusing on the victims and their connections to each other before and after the shooting.

Erik Fiskare doesn't seek the limelight. Rather he prefers to hold the light in place. As a technical theater student, he is learning the art of the show behind the show. In the spotlight of his heart is Daisy Bianco, a beautiful and talented dancer. They are quickly drawn to each other and their romance blossoms within a tightly-knit circle of friends. It's a love story both youthfully passionate and maturely soulful, and it becomes the hub of the circle...until one of their friends comes into the theater with a gun. The story is changed, the circle is broken and a shocking act of betrayal sends Erik fleeing from everything he once loved.

Spanning a fifteen year period, The Man I Love examines the effect of trauma on relationships, the power of suppressed emotion and the bonds that inexplicably last a lifetime. Through Erik's experience we reflect on what it means to be a man, a son and a leader. A soul mate, a partner and a lover. What it means to be a hero, not a victim, and fight for what you love. What it means to live the truth of who you are and what you feel.

• "Astounding. This is the book you read when you want to jump heads and live another life or when you want to submerge yourself into another reality, blood, guts and all. "
— Emma Scott, author of RUSH

• "This writer has the remarkable ability to shake each scene til it bleeds... This is one of those stories that will stay with you long after you finish the last page."
— Mary Frame, author of Imperfect Chemistry and Imperfectly Criminal

• "Absolutely breathtaking... With it's unique plotline and utterly exquisite writing, this is the kind of story you feel deep in your heart and that'll stay with you long after you finish reading."
— Aestas Book Blog

I was called to write this book when an event from my past resurfaced many years later. I was overwhelmed by the emotion I had suppressed all that time, and how fresh it felt. As if no time had passed at all. Erik's journey is a mirror of my own. It's an emotionally autobiographical novel, I simply chose to layer different circumstances on top. Coming from the world of dance and theater, it seemed natural to me to set the book in a university conservatory program and look at performance from both sides: onstage and backstage. And then expand that observation to personal relationships: who is spotlighted in your heart, and who is working behind the scenes?

A good story absorbs you into another world, where you meet characters so believable, you're pissed off you can't call them to have coffee. Or take them to bed.

You don't want just another "contemporary romance." You don't want a genre. You want a story that mirrors your longing. You want to see the unspoken words in your heart on the page. You want to be touched and validated. You want to be swept up in a love that erases the universe and sets you at the center of a new galaxy, where you don't have to do a damn thing. But you're no fool... You want it to be believable.

I want that, too. I want to write passionate but thoughtful love stories. I made up my own genre: I call it emotionally intelligent romance.

Now come over here. Let me tell you a story.