An avid reader as a child, her love for all things written waned into adulthood, the excitement of real life things taking over. But when her life slowed down as she finished her office job for maternity leave, her husband purchased her an e-reader, and that obsession was rekindled.
Quickly she went from reader to reviewer, and then from reviewer to blogger; street teams and promo tours galore. When she began collating her own book boxes over at Romance Readers Book Box UK and had the opportunity to include her own words and worlds, the characters began talking.
Those cheeky characters quickly found themselves written down on the page, and her first series was in progress.
When she is not coordinating her worlds, you can find her running around after her free-spirited three children, and husband, or tending to the dogs, bearded dragons, and snakes that also reside with them.
A break can be found soaking in a bubble bath or enjoying a glass of wine, often still with a book in her hand.
I was a different man, once. I was a man with only one woman on my mind – the only woman I wanted to hold in my arms. I was her man. But things change. Life changes you. Choices, mistakes, resentment: they all change you. So do unkept promises. We hurt each other. We loved each other, then hated each other, then missed each other, then grew apart. And then… One day, we found each other again. At the wrong time, in the wrong place. Because the two of us are wrong together – we’re too far apart, too incompatible. We’re the main characters of a story that doesn’t belong to us. But I still keep loving her, even though she hates me. And she keeps hating herself, because she can’t help but love me. And we keep searching for each other, even though we’re destined to lose each other.
I wish I could be a different man, just once. I wish I could be the kind of man who’s ready to give everything for the woman he loves. Someone who was ready to let her go. Because I want her to be happy more than I want her to be mine.
“The first time we came here, you got me drunk.” Luckily, she changes the subject. “It was just one beer. I didn’t think you’d start throwing up all over the grass.” “I snuck out to see you.” “I’d told Andy where to stick it. Classic.” Darcy laughs. “You held my hair back while I was throwing up.” “It was long. I didn’t want it to get dirty.” “Then you kissed me, even though I’d just been sick.” “You were embarrassed, and I didn’t want you to feel like that around me.” Her expression grows serious. “Was that love?” “It was. But so is this.” She doesn’t add anything, but rolls back over to look at the stars. I lie there, watching her. I never really cared about the stars. I brought her here because I loved the fact that they would gossip about us at home and at work, but here, we could run away together. I loved her hair, and the way it fluttered out of the window. I loved her legs, which were always crossed in the passenger seat. I loved the way she looked at me when she thought I was watching the road. And I loved the way she loved me. “You’re not looking at the stars,” she points out. “I’m looking at mine.” She smiles, squeezing my hand. “I think I’m going to miss you, Brian Veldons.” Not as much as I’ll miss you.
A. S. Kelly writes Rom-Com, Romantic Fiction and Family Saga. Avid reader, hopeless romantic, lover of yoga, knitting and home baking. She was born in Italy but lives in Ireland with her husband, two children and a cat named Oscar.
