Valentine's Day

Hey everyone! Happy Valentines!

I don't know where you guys come from, but in my little corner of the universe, we don't have Valentine's. Well, at least we didn't use to. Now, we do. But I don't celebrate it. Why? Because I love my significant other every other day of the year and show it every single day. Why should today be special?
Plus, all the commercialism really grinds my gears. So I'm pretty much an anti-Valentiner. The only reason I still acknowledge the existence of this holiday - our mutual hate for it brought me and my boyfriend of  seven years together. :) And we're still growing strong.

Okay, writing related. What I do like about this time of year is the romance in the air - and I'm a romance nut. And I enjoy spending my time with other romance nuts.
So, today's post will be all about Romance. As you all know by now (or not) I write YA. I've also written a paranormal Romance, but I have some work to do on that (it's still a first draft, and I'm getting such good ideas for it). In all my books, I like to write romance and relationships. I'm not always very good at it - and incidentally, I messed up most in my genre romance. And that's mainly because I changed something when I got a brilliant idea, and now everything went downhill from there. Will fix it.

I love reading romance - I can usually take all sorts of it - except sappy. I usually go for the hot romance, but I don't like it to get graphic or anything either. I mean I do read graphic, I'm no prude or anything, but I for one can't write it. The only sex scenes I wrote are fade to black. And even when I get more daring and have people talk or think about it - I'm still always fading to black. :p

When I was in grade school and used to write for practice, I gave absolutely every character a love interest and spun a story around them. I'm trying to keep myself from doing that now, but I might slip into the eventual secondary character having a brief, twenty-four-hour relationship which might end in a marriage proposal and a baby underway (Yes, I actually did that. how did the guy cope? He luckily died before hearing the news).
But, I try to stick to my MCs and their relationships.

Now, for those not interested in ramblings about my work, the post ends here. Thanks for reading. :) The rest may still read on.

My couples:

Daniel and Rachel - I'm starting with them since they're only in one book and a short book at that. They're the MCs of my Paranormal Romance Hunters. Who are they? Two vampire hunters (Hunters- a different species all together) who are partners and best friends.
At first, they both have significant others: Daniel is engaged and Rachel has a steady boyfriend for 3 years. Well, the way the story has it, Daniel's fiancé dies and Rachel's boyfriend dumps her. So, while on a dangerous hunt, the two fall for each other.
What is the trouble in their relationship? Daniel is still stuck on his ex - at least he's trying to be - while Rachel falls in love with him. Then their behavior towards each other goes ballistic.
They finally confess their feelings, Daniel explains why he's been acting like an asshole towards her and they try to live happily ever after.

Sam and Christine: Sam is the main MC from my YA series. He's hot, smart and rich, but really shy and socially awkward around the girl he loves.
Christine is gorgeous and popular, but also shrewd. Socially awkward Sam doesn't notice this, so it's a surprise for him when they eventually hook up.
Even if Christine is the one running the relationship ( Sam would do anything to keep her happy), Sam does put his foot down regarding some aspects (no snogging while we're in danger) and Christine backs off whenever he goes into serious leader mode.
Up until in later books, their relationship is tame with Christine trying to bring Sam out of the shy shell and get some action.

Tom and Angie: Tom is Sam's twin and lacks the shyness that sets Sam back. But he happens to have a huge ego, be insanely jealous and have a love-hate relationship with Angie. While Angie is nice and friendly with everyone else (even Sam) she's a complete bitch towards Tom. Long story short, some high school misunderstanding hurt both their egos. Even if they still love each other to bits.
Things change when Tom saves her life and she tells him how she feels. They eventually hook up (again) and have an adrenaline-filled relationship, spiced up by incontrollable passion, danger and their huge egos.

Jerry and Tina: Jerry is a complete prude. Not to mention he is anal as well. Tina is older than him and completely shy as well. Together they are my geek couple. It will take them a whole six months of relationship before actually kissing. And even if they acknowledge their feelings pretty fast, they'll be on standby before jealousy, frustration and a wave of passion makes them interesting (which happens in book 4). Until then, they live in a world where science rules and there's no need for too much physical contact.

Jimmy and Jessie: Jimmy is Jerry's twin and has all the fire that Jerry misses. Badly hurt in a previous relationship, he gives love another chance when hooking up with evil Alice. Jessie arrives some time later and he completely falls for her.
Jessie is engaged to some evil prick her parents set her up with, but that doesn't stop her from falling for Jimmy hard. And even if they both have other people, they're magnetically drawn to each other.
They're my most reasonable couple. They get along great, are equals in the relationship, they don't fight for stupid reasons and love each other like crazy. They just keep on growing.

Kyle and Kay: They met in high school, were friends and then hooked up. A few hours later (as in after they hooked up) they both moved to different states and were unable to communicate for a whole year. They meet again on their first mission, both of them secret agents, and it's love reignited. None of them got over the other.
They're relationship is usually ruled by Kyle. Kay trusts him and feels safe and protected. Though she can play him when he least expects it.
She tends to be a bit insecure about her relationship while he trusts her blindly and never doubts his or her feelings. What results is a fight for love and trust and stability. And a lot of unexpected explosions of passion. They were voted most popular couple in my series so far :) Because there's drama and a hint of the unpredictable with them. (And that's maybe because people like to see big, tough Kyle brought down by a girl:))

I personally don't have a favorite couple. I like all of them because I know what's in their hearts and minds, and that makes them all interesting (yes, even Jerry and Tina). Though if I really had to go with one, I'd say Jimmy and Jessie. I'm amazed at the sheer balance those two have created ( I had nothing to do with it, honest)

This is it! So, how do you celebrate your Valentine's? And which is your personal (from your own writing) favorite couple? Share the love :)