Hello and welcome to the Happy Endings Giveaway Hop. 

Susana’s Parlour is offering two giveaways for participants of this hop:

• One lucky commenter will win a free e-copy of my new release, Treasuring Theresa, a sweet Regency short story. (Be sure to answer the comment question at the end and include your email address in the comment.)
• Click on the Treasuring Theresa cover at right and enter the Rafflecopter contest for a $20 Amazon Gift Card.

When you’re ready to move on, click either the Happy Endings image in this post or the link at the bottom of the post to go back to the main  giveaway page.

Moving on to today’s main course:

A Happy Ending Is Not a Disney Movie

As a child, I loved fairy tales like Cinderella where the fairy godmother makes things right for the poor, abused heroine. One likes to think there is a fairy godmother out there somewhere to make things right for us when things go wrong. And it’s not just children who indulge in such dreams—people who faithfully buy lottery tickets every week do so with the hope that someday their persistence will be rewarded. Is luck a reward, though?

As an adult, however, I realize that something crucial is missing in the Cinderella story…Cinderella’s character. What did she do to solve her own problems? Not a thing. Remove the fairy godmother from the story, and what would you have? A poor, downtrodden waif. Where’s the story there?

As much as we adore rooting for the underdog, it’s because the underdog, with nothing to lose, is giving everything he’s got to bring down the favorite team. Would the movie Hoosiers be as emotionally satisfying if the big city players were all weak from the flu and the hick town team won because of a fluke? Hey, they still got the trophy and the prestige, didn’t they? But without both teams playing at their top level, there will always be doubts about the result.

And so it is with romance. The grownup in me wants to see my protagonists earn their happy ending. Luck is not enough. What did each of them do to deserve it? No fairy godmother or buried treasure. Because if I am convinced their love is strong enough for them to fight for it, I can feel certain that the pair will face the future with the same determination and will end up victorious no matter what hardships come their way.

What do you think about Cinderella-type happy endings?

**********

In Treasuring Theresa, both Theresa and Damian must get beyond their narrow-minded prejudices in order to see each other’s true characters. It’s not enough that Damian is attracted to Theresa’s astonishing blue eyes and feels guilty about inheriting her father’s estate. Or that Theresa finds Damian charming and handsome and knows he can rescue her from penury. A marriage of convenience is not a happy ending. To come to a true meeting of the minds, this pair is going to have to face some hard truths about themselves.

Treasuring Theresa is a sweet Regency short story available at Ellora’s Cave, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Sony, Kobo Books, Bookstrand, and AllRomance E-books.

Note: Free bonus reads include character sketches of both Damian and Theresa, a prequel, and an epilogue (be sure to read the story first, though). Enjoy!

http://www.susanaellis.com/pub.html

Click here to continue on your journey through the Happy Endings Giveaway Blog Hop.