True story: I was assigned to sit next to my future husband in 10th grade Biology. He was tall, gangly, and acnified. He was a new kid that year, and I had been a new kid so many times growing up that I recognized the brand of misery immediately. Age fifteen was the year I’d decided to be cool, in spite of my industrial braces, complete with rubber bands. A back brace would soon follow. On that fateful first day of school, I sat down beside him and asked, “Can I see your schedge?” Short for schedule. Because I was cool. We just celebrated our eighteenth anniversary, and we still joke about “schedge”.

In spite of all the emotional and physical excruciations of being fifteen, an undeniable spark flared between us, and it has held true through the many years we’ve been together.

Today I’m celebrating sparks, and I’ve got two book recommendations that readers should check out immediately. Both are mash-ups of a sort, and both spark all over the place.

Have you made New Year’s Resolutions?  I always make the same ones each year:  lose 15 pounds, get more exercise, and wake up at 5:00 a.m. to write before everyone else is up.  My resolutions aren’t always successful, but I still make them.  And I still love the idea of transforming my life.

A great romance always involves characters who change.  As readers, we want to see characters who grow, learn, and then find happiness.  Just as I make resolutions to change, I love to experience it through fiction.  Romance helps give me the upbeat feeling and confidence to know I can embrace change.