How do you see the important people in your life, and how do they see you?
Those were the questions I had in mind when I started to write Salvage, my latest release from Dreamspinner Press. It was a challenge to reveal the key differences in how the characters perceived each other, until I had a little help from my boss, and from one of my sons.
Sometimes you need input from other people to see your own flesh and blood very clearly.
In Salvage, the Cooper family has been apart for five years. Fleeting visits home during that time weren’t enough to change each other’s opinions. On the other hand, I see my kids just about every single day. Does that mean I understand them as they really are now? My boss doesn’t think so.
A while ago, we spotted my son and his partner through our office window. My teen wore jeans that were ragged at the hem, that were more hole than denim,and that showed his neon-yellow underwear. He has his father’s curly hair, and boy it could have used a thorough combing. My son and his partner held hands as they passed by, deep in animated conversation, oblivious to our spying.
Just as I was internally making a list — throw away those awful pants, book a haircut, and for goodness sake, find him a belt! — my boss said,
“He’s so happy, isn’t he? Every single time I see him, he’s smiling.”
Had we looked through the same pane of glass?
How come she saw him so differently to me?
Somehow, my perception of my almost-adult son had gotten locked on the young child I used to lay out clothes for every morning.It took a pane of glass and someone else’s words to make me shift my focus. Of course my son is wonderful!
In Salvage, Gabe too focuses on past perceptions, and I use glass as a device to illustrate how those perceptions can change. There are two moments where Gabe sees his father, Coop, through a windowpane, and those two points are a key part of the story. At another stage, Gabe holds a pane of glass between himself and his sister’s boyfriend. Can he ever see the kid who outed him in high school as a good man?
Most importantly in this love story, Gabe glimpses his new neighbor Scott through a window thick with grime. That blurred and smudged sight leaves Gabe full of questions. Time, and listening to the people closest to him, helps himsee Scott clearly.
Salvage Blurb
Five years ago, an accident fractured Gabe Cooper’s family. Believing it was broken beyond repair, Gabe and his best friend Jamie Carlson left Minnesota behind for San Diego sunshine and college. Now another crisis brings Gabe home to help his ailing father, and he finally has to face the guilt that kept him away for so long.
Scott Stark also returns to Minnesota, with his young niece and nephew in tow, shouldering new family responsibilities. While Gabe comes to grips with his past, Scott struggles to accept his present role as a substitute parent, caring for two children, each with different needs. As Gabe and Scott get to know each other, reclaiming family life almost seems possible. Only two things stand in the way of love: Gabe’s unresolved relationship with Jamie, and Scott’s plan to leave Minnesota as soon as he can. Both men will have to accept past mistakes if they want to salvage a future together, and time is running out.
Buy links: Dreamspinner Press :: Amazon US :: Amazon UK :: All Romance eBooks
About this author
Con Riley lives on the wild and rugged Devonshire coast, with her head in the clouds, and her feet in the Atlantic Ocean.
Injury curtailed her enjoyment of outdoor pursuits, so writing fiction now fills her free time instead. Love, loss and redemption shape her romance stories, and her characters are flawed in ways that makes them live and breathe.
When not people watching, or wrangling her own boy band of teen sons, she spends time staring at the sea from her kitchen window. If you see her, don’t disturb her—she’s probably thinking up new plots.
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CONTEST WILL END ON 18th October, 2013 @ 11:59 PM Central Time!!
This sounds quite an interesting read. The Devon coast is ovely so I can fully understand watching the sea!
Your personal reflections on your inspirations for your newest novel werea. Joy to read. Thank you. I’m looking forward to reading his story–I always love your books!
Thanks for sharing your insightful story. You can tell I’m not a writer, I would have been desperate to save that for a book!
Your observations about your son were spot on for me. Thank you for sharing and for the giveaway!
It is always good to hear how others perceive the people in our lives, it can help us to see them better. Thank you for the giveaway.
Becoming a parent to two young children would be very hard to do. I would love to see how they do.
debby236 at hotmail dot com
Trix
vitajex(at)aol(dot)com
mobi
I have to admit, I’ve been wanting to read something set in Minnesota…
Thanks for sharing a bit bit about yourself and how perception came into it all. I look forward to see how it’s incorporated and how the characters deal with it in the book.
Your book sounds really good. Count me in please 🙂
It always surprises me when others tell me about my children. Then I remember that the face we show others is not always the face we have at home. Family is sometimes difficult to navigate and it sounds like a great basis for the book.
Count me in, please. Thank you. My favorite part of this post was the story about your son. There you were cataloging the boy you knew, one you were used to mothering, and then in a flash, you saw him as a young man. And the best part is that he’s a happy one!
I really enjoyed the post and how the same scene can be seen in two different perspectives. Story sounds like an absorbing and interesting one. Thanks for the contest!
I love family stories! Thank you for the interview and giveaway.
Thanks for your insight and participating in the hop.
schan26.wisc(at)gmail(dot)com
Great post. Thanks for the giveaway.
Yay count me in too, that seem to be a great storie !
I love how your own experience of viewing your son gave you a plot device for the novel!
This sounds like a deep novel that may need to be read with a supply of chocolate on stand-by. But I love those kinds of books.
This sounds like a book that goes immediately to my wishlist. Please count me in.
Very interesting! I love a book with angst! Congratulations on this newest release!
OceanAkers @ aol.com
Debra G was chosen as the winner to this contest. Congrats to her!
The book sounds great. Count me in!!!