The inspiration for Book Two of the Brides by Chance Series
A Chance Gone By, Brides by Chance Book Two is now on pre-order.
Can I let you into a little secret about how this story came about? Well, two little secrets really! I’m a die-hard Elvis fan. My car tends to be an Elvis Karaoke zone as I sing along to his CDs. You wouldn’t catch me doing it in public though!
A while back, I was listening one day to his rendition of You Don’t Know Me, and the idea for this story leapt into my head. I’d had the basic theme of the plot for a while (I tend to have ideas lying around waiting for inspiration), but this song threw the story into the emotional high it needed.
Remembering the same song by Ray Charles when I was young, I rushed to YouTube and the story just grew and grew as I listened to various versions. The song is an emotive story of unrequited love and the first scene of the book reflects the first lines of the song.
The title will make sense when you check out these fantastic lyrics:
You Don’t Know Me
(written by Cindy Walker and Eddy Arnold in 1955)
You give your hand to me, and then you say hello,
And I can hardly speak, my heart is beating so,
And anyone could tell, you think you know me well,
But you don’t know me.
No, you don’t know the one, who dreams of you at night,
And longs to kiss your lips, and longs to hold you tight,
To you I’m just a friend, that’s all I’ve ever been,
No, you don’t know me.
For I never knew the art of making love,
Though my heart aches with love for you.
Afraid and shy, I let my chance go by,
The chance that you might love me too.
You give your hand to me, and then you say goodbye,
I watch you walk away, beside the lucky guy,
To never never know, the one who loves you so,
No, you don’t know me.
To find out whether Marianne ever becomes more than a friend to Justin, you'll have to read the book!
She dreams of him at night, in secret. It hurts to be only his friend.
Justin’s engagement signals the end of hope. Marianne can’t be his wife, though she already runs his household. Disaster strikes, scandal looms. Dare she seize her chance?
Forced into offering his hand, Justin fumes when Marianne inexplicably rejects him. Their close friendship falls apart. Can he bear to watch her walk away?
Will either resolve the tangle? Or are they both condemned to a bleak and loveless future?
