The Honeymoon: A Second-Chance Romance *****
Anne Trowbridge addresses the ennui in the relationship that fits like a glove
https://www.amazon.com/kindle-vella/story/B0BPQZLHFK
It’s too easy to be fooled into a sense that fantastic love has to be exciting, or that excitement necessarily requires danger, risk, and drama. Olivia Conte and John Daux are old souls with still vibrant hearts, longing for love and loving the simplicity and ease of life with each other. But Olivia questions whether…. this is it? No, this can’t be it? Surely a high-powered city lawyer can have more adventure than to be married to John It’s-Pronounced-Like-Doe. It was too easy, and isn’t romance supposed to be challenging? It’s an intriguing plot twist from Anne Trowbridge—the couple who fits so well, so much like a glove, that the girl has to wonder why their story isn’t cute and angsty like a rom-com, and the boy, who has already been through two failed marriages, can’t understand why she doesn’t appreciate how good they have it?
Their memories are fascinatingly different. She recalls all the details of the contract between their companies that brought them before each other. He recalls only how she looked and laughed and made him feel. I admire the way Trowbridge, whether intentionally or not, made an analogy between the couple and the companies they work for. She’s a lawyer, a debater, a doubter. He’s a CPA, a man about certainties. Her company hired his company to fix the books in preparation for making a bid on a government contract. They met at a work party to celebrate the deal. There was no conflict, no fight, no deceptive wheeling and dealing. At the same time, this is exactly what troubles Olivia as she battles “cold feet” on their wedding day. Could she possibly be “in love” without ever experiencing that heady rush of euphoria in the “summer” of the relationship? They’d skipped right over that part. They were an “old married couple” almost right out of the gate. But conflict is coming. In one, two, three, Trowbridge sets the stage with an undercurrent. Future episodes hold the promise of drama that will either make them or break them. The most boring couple is headed for a honeymoon in the most romantic city in the world, Paris.
With 44 episodes, the story is complete. Trowbridge began to write it 20 years ago and it underwent several revisions before settling down at Kindle Vella. The writing flows without a hitch. There isn’t a single typo. Her characters are rich and complex, but still charmingly simple and relatable.