From Click To Commitment/Kate Carlisle

We are soooo lucky to have Kate Carlisle today with the Riders!  She was a NYT bestseller with her first hardcover mystery and she also writes Silhouette Desires.  Let’s give her a big welcome!

Recently, I began reading a nonfiction book titled Click, which explores that magical moment when we instantly and inexplicably connect with certain people. That “Wow, I like you!” moment.
Like at first sight.
During this serendipitous moment, say authors Ori and Rom Brafman, dopamine hypercharges the brain in a reaction very much like getting high on drugs. Most of us have experienced this euphoria at least once in our lives, whether romantically or with someone destined to be a friend. Right from the start, we feel energized in each other’s company. We laugh more, and we do our best to make the other person laugh because it’s just so fun.
We are, to put it simply, on.
We’re in the zone. We truly like this new person in our lives, and we feel thrilled and excited because it seems as though he or she likes us, too.
But here’s the coolest part: Unlike with narcotics, the high that comes with “quick-set intimacy” with another human being can last for years. For life.
The Brafmans cite a Dutch study of a thousand random couples who had been married an average of 25 years. The couples whose relationship started with that immediate click and a headlong fall into love were more likely to agree with deeply romantic statements such as “I cannot imagine another person making me as happy as [my spouse]” and “I melt when I look deeply into [my spouse’s] eyes” than were couples who married after a long, traditional courtship. Remember, they agreed with these deeply romantic statements after 25 years of marriage.
In other words, the magic can last.
Love can and does last.
Romance novels such as The Millionaire Meets His Match, my first release with Silhouette Desire, take readers on the journey from this Click to the moment when the characters embrace the truth of it. We follow the characters from click to commitment.

 
Cynics claim that our novels are unrealistic, but we know the truth. Sure, there may be an element of fantasy in romance novels. Adam Duke, the hero of The Millionaire Meets His Match, is rich enough to own a private jet and a luxurious mountain resort. Not the typical man you might meet every day. But what readers respond to is a core, emotional truth. They respond to that click of connection between Adam and Trish and between the heroes and heroines of other romance novels.
These two people are meant for each other. When we finish the last page, we believe that in 25 years, Adam and Trish will still melt when they look into each other’s eyes. From the plush leather seats of their private jet, of course.
So the next time someone says something snarky about romance novels being unrealistic, tell them that science is on our side. And tell them that Kate Carlisle says, “So there!”
Have you ever instantly clicked with another person? A significant other, friend, or co-worker? Tell me what you remember about that moment. Does your relationship still exist today? And is your connection as strong as it was at the beginning? I’d love to hear from your friend, too, so feel free to forward the link to this blog!

Kate grew up in a big family near the beach in Southern California. She spent over twenty years working in television production. She also studied acting and singing, toiled in vineyards, collected books, joined a commune, sold fried chicken, modeled spring fashions and worked for a cruise ship line, but it was the year she spent in law school that finally drove her to begin writing fiction. The Millionaire Meets His Match is her first release with Silhouette Desire. She is also the author of the New York Times bestselling Bibliophile Mysteries series, featuring rare book expert Brooklyn Wainwright, whose bookbinding and restoration skills invariably uncover old secrets, treachery and murder.  www.katecarlisle.com