The Perfect Couple
By J.K. Coi on Feb 2, 2009 in Guest
I knew this couple once. They were the perfect couple.
Do you know them too?
Everyone always said how happy they were together. Obviously very much in love. You could see it in the way they looked deeply into each other’s eyes and stole kisses and held hands when they thought no one was looking. They were rarely apart and never argued. A perfect couple. I thought the same thing. I wanted to know what their secret was, how they managed to keep the cruel, everyday world from rubbing away some of love’s glow.
One day, I saw the woman at the shopping mall in my town. We weren’t great friends, but we knew each other well enough to be polite and say hello. When I asked her how she’d been, she didn’t beat around the bush, but told me straight up that she and her husband had split up. Her voice flattened out on the word “divorce”, and I felt my own stomach plummet in response.
How could this be?
I briefly wondered if she were lying to me, but the look on her face was enough to convince me. Then I thought the two of them must be the best actors in the world to have fooled everyone into believing so completely in their love. I pried. I admit it. Whether or not it was rude and insensitive, I just had to know. “What happened?” I asked. “You guys were the perfect couple. You seemed so much in love.”
“We were,” she answered. “And we do still love each other.” I was a runaway train, my mouth running off the track without a safety brake. “Then why would you break up?”
She glanced over my shoulder, but I don’t think she was looking at anything. I could see from the sheen in her eyes that her heart was breaking right there in the parking lot of the shopping mall, and I felt awful for stirring up her pain. I tried to apologize, but she looked back at me then and shook her head. “Sometimes love isn’t enough.”
Now, you’re probably wondering why I’m telling this story here and now. I haven’t told it before because I worried about my friend—and after that talk we did become very good friends. In fact, she’s given me her permission, so I’m going to admit that this was the premise I started with when the hero and heroine of Dark Immortal first appeared in my Immortal Series. Perhaps it would have been better if I’d gone with a post today that was witty and funny—and I erased this blog about a hundred times to try and write something just like that—but in the end I went with this because it means a lot to me. I wanted to explain my need to write this book. A book that tries to explore what happens to love after that first whirlwind romance.
Alric and Diana have been married for five years. From the very beginning there have been obstacles between them, walls that only get higher and more impossible to tear down with every word that doesn’t get said. But to all who know them, they are the perfect couple. Nobody would ever doubt that they love each other madly. And they do. Their love is real, it isn’t a lie. But at the same time…sometimes love isn’t enough.
I?d love to hear from you, and I want to say thank you to Romance Roundtable for letting me visit today.
Dark Immortal is available for download
Please sign up for my newsletter: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/jkcoi/join, and visit me at my website for more information about upcoming books, chats, interviews, reviews, and all things Immortal: http://www.jkcoi.com. I?m also on MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/jkcoi and I blog at http://www.jkcoi.blogspot.com.
Hi, J.K.! Welcome to the Roundtable! Dark Immortal sounds wonderful. It’s refreshing once in awhile to read about second chances.
I do know of couples who seem perfect for each other, but for some reason or another, the marriage doesn’t last. I believe that besides love, a relationship must have certain ingredients such as loyalty, trust, dedication, compromise, and communication. Even with love present, a relationship can’t work well when a key ingredient is missing.
I’m looking forward to reading your book!
Laria Lee | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Hi, JK! Welcome. It’s always a pleasure to hear from you. I’m very much looking forward to the release of Dark Immortal. Great cover too. ;)
I enjoyed reading your newsletter, your little one sounds like a lovely boy. Enjoy him, they do grow up awfully fast. I loved the paper chain story. What a sweetie.
I tried the html thing too, but aargh, it was all oriented to Microsoft users. I’ll have to find a class for Mac users, lol.
Good luck with the release of DI! Super sales wishes! :)
Anastasia St. James | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Good morning Roundtablers!
Hi Laria. You’re so right about relationships needing more. We realize this in our real lives, but I think it’s important that my books also have more. More than action and hot sweaty sex with the h/h coming out of it all realizing that they’ve fallen in love. Love is the journey of two people learning to trust, communicate, learning about loyalty and all the things that make the relationship solid.
Love is kind of like the pretty colored paint job on your car. It’s important, but underneath the car still needs to run. (Oooh, Oh yeah, I like that one :) )
JK Coi | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Anastasia, Hi sweetie!
I’m glad you liked my newsletter, I’m gearing up for the next one soon. And yes, my little guy is the cutest thing I’ve ever known.
It’s amazing the things we learn when we have to, isn’t it?
JK Coi | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Hi, JK.
Welcome to the Roundtable! Your book sounds amazing. I can’t wait to get my hands on it. I love how you came up with the premise; it makes the story all the more important. Sometimes we get lost in the romance idea of things that we need to look at the “real.” Cinderella makes it to the wedding, but she still has to deal with the royal in-laws and her own dysfunctional family. LOL. Love is the constant that makes us want to work it out, but it has to be built with the foundation of trust, loyalty, communication–the things you guys have already mentioned.
Great blog!
Madison
Madison | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Hi, JK! I have to say that I’ve really enjoyed your Dark Immortals, but I’m really looking forward to Alric and Diana. You gave us a taste of them in one of the other books, and you’re right they were the perfect couple. I can’t wait to see how you resolve their conflict.
Renee
Renee | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Welcome JK. Wow, you made me think. I want to stop here because the blog brought up memories of a time in my life when despite a deep and abiding love, things could have ended in a completely different way. For us trust, dedication, and loyalty were underpinnings we never took for granted. We survived and the love is as strong if not more so all these decades later.
Terri | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
But I love hot sweaty sex with the couple coming out realizing they are in love – um… when there’s already more in place.
Alice Audrey | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Hi Madison! You’re absolutely right. And communication is a BIG one in this book. For all that Diana and Alric love each other madly, they’ve let their past, their insecurities, and their fears build a wall between them.
JK Coi | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Hi Renee!
This book was so hard for me to write. The characters are both really strong, and REALLY stubborn, and the challenges they face really tear at your heart. But I think that’s why I love them so much. :)
JK Coi | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Terri, that’s wonderful that you were able to work through that difficult time and hold on to love. That’s exactly the thing that I wanted to explore with this book. Love is a beautiful and amazing thing, but it takes WORK, and if you really value it, you have to be willing to hold on tight and not give up, even when it seems impossible.
JK Coi | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Hi Alice! Of course! There is that…never forget that! :)
JK Coi | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Oh, and don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that our romance reading shouldn’t be about fantasy (I think my Immortals and demons prove that, lol). But at the same time, I want to be able to relate to the characters, and if everything is always rosy and perfect, then that doesn’t work for me. It’s all about the torture :)
JK Coi | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Hi JK! Glad to have you at the Roundtable today, and I’m really looking forward to Dark Immortal!
Call me twisted, but I’m the one who always wondered what happened AFTER the happily ever after. Does Snow White end up cleaning house for her prince? Do Sleeping Beauty and her fella discover that, thanks to being raised in different time periods, they don’t have much in common? Do the hero and heroine ride off into the sunset, only to get lost and have to stop for directions?
As much as romance is about fantasy, a little dose of reality just makes their story that much more interesting, IMO.
Kelly | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Wow! Thanks for a great blog. I’ve come to realize the perfect couple doesn’t exist. And if they are perfect, with no problems or any conflicts, then chances are their going to get bored with each other and guess where they end up?
My 2 cents. Your book sounds like something I’d like to read. Thanks for stopping by!
Arianna
Arianna | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Hey JK. I read Immortal Kiss 2 days ago and I loved it, could not put it down. I immediately went and bought the first book, and now I cannot wait for Alric and Diana’s story. I also really want more of the Enforcer, will there be more of him? Please? :)
Ashley V | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Kelly!! How are you?
You’re exactly right. Even though it’s fantasy, we all know that nobody lives happily ever after…life is always a struggle and we need to see that struggle in our characters’ arc.
JK Coi | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
LOL, Arianna. I like to think that there are perfect couples, people who love each other completely–but that doesn’t mean they’re perfect PEOPLE, and of course, everyone makes mistakes. Life can get in the way.
JK Coi | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
Ashley, I’m so glad to hear that you liked Immortal Kiss!! I’m really excited that the books have been doing so well. My Immortal is even up for this best book of 2008 thing over at LASR reviews.
And if you really like Justice, then you’re in luck because my publisher did too, and they want his book! It should be coming before the end of this year.
JK Coi | Feb 2, 2009 | Reply
J.K., thanks for visiting the roundtable today. We always looks forward to your visits. Congratulations on your success and hope you can come back again soon!
Laria Lee | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
Thanks for having me here! I always have an awesome time at the Roundtable!
J.K. Coi
Immortals to Die For
http://www.jkcoi.com
JK Coi | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
And I’m a day late. *sigh*
Well, J.K. understands! As long as I vote for her eh?
Amy Ruttan | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
LOL, Amy. Thanks. :)
JK Coi | Feb 3, 2009 | Reply
You made some good points with this story. I did a search on the topic and found most people will agree with your views on this.
Zoe | Nov 19, 2009 | Reply