Guest Post: Judith Natelli McLaughlin

I Love Love!!

I love love. I love being in love (which isn’t always easy with a couple of kids, a couple of pets and a couple of pounds later). I love reading about love. I love writing about love. There are so many great love stories out there; too many to mention in one post (just check out the goodreads Best Love Story List for some 1500 plus books!).

Perhaps my favorite, and the first love story I was ever completely and totally passionate about, is Margaret Mitchell’s GONE WITH THE WIND. I was a young teen when I first read it—easily the longest book I had tackled to date—and yet, when it ended, I wasn’t ready. I wanted more. More of Scarlett and Rhett. I did (and still do) want them to end up together, blissfully unaware of the outside world. They were perfect for each other, and darn it, Scarlett, who was always pining for Ashley Wilkes, didn’t see it until it was too late. But with love, is it ever too late?

How about Oliver Barrett IV and Jenny Cavalleri from Erich Segal’s LOVE STORY? I read this brief book as a sophomore in high school, in one sitting, and cried my eyes out. (It was the first time I ever cried at a book—but certainly not the last). Like Scarlett and Rhett, Oliver and Jenny were not meant to be together. He was rich with old money. She was poor. But none of that mattered, at least to them. Their inability to stay together was not of their own doing, but rather because of the hand they were dealt, Jenny’s incurable disease. Spoiler alert: she dies in his arms. Love hurts.

Finally, perhaps the most star-crossed lovers of all time remain Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet from his play ROMEO AND JULIET. They were young and in love but their feuding families, the Capulets and Montagues did not approve. These young lovers died for love, and not until their deaths did their families make peace.

Love isn’t always easy. Love doesn’t always make things right. Love can be complicated. But love is real, passionate and worth it! Happy Valentines Day!

My first novel, a nod to the tragic love story, is THIS MOMENT. If you, like me, enjoy a love story that isn’t neat and tidy, but real and passionate, check it out. Odds are, you will cry.

A captivating love story about a normal love affair in an abnormal world. This Moment strings together the ordinary and extraordinary moments in the lives of Ryan McGuire and Lydia Errico, moving the couple from dating to marriage to family, leaving us forever filled with equal parts inspiration and devastation…Ryan McGuire spends nearly his entire life on the up-end of a lucky streak, a concept he is okay with, until he meets Lydia Errico and is intrigued by her passion, candor and sexy ankles. Lydia challenges Ryan, for the first time in his life, to question the value of luck. While not sold on the concept, Ryan is sold on Lydia. Along with their respective families and oldest friends, Lydia and Ryan navigate the ups and downs of life providing us with a glimpse into a love so deep, so strong, it has the power to sustain unimaginable heartbreak. While the book ultimately ends, Ryan and Lydia and their unique love will linger in our souls forever.




This Moment is available for £1.94 on Amazon UK and $2.99 on Amazon US

and you can visit This Moment's Facebook  page here