Favorite “Firsts”

The first time I ever drank coffee and loved it was sitting in the cafeteria at Bryant Hall at Michigan State University as a freshman. I remember smelling it when I walked in to get breakfast and thinking, “Maybe I should try coffee again, this time with cream and sugar.” I stirred that cup, sipped, and was transported to heaven where angels sang and it was bright and sunny all day long, not freezing with mile high snow drifts like East Lansing.

That was the beginning of the end for me. I lived off of coffee. I loved coffee with a fiery burning passion. I have since written odes to my morning cup and brought it with me on vacations lest I be separated from it for too long. You can only imagine my disappointment when earlier this summer my body stopped loving coffee as much as I do. I had to quit it. I had to give it up. It was the saddest day. Now I'm a tea drinker, but it just doesn't hold a candle to coffee.

I never realize how great a first is until I'm experiencing it again and again for years at a time. I wouldn't even look back and say that I loved my very first kiss, the first real boyfriend I had, my first car, or anything as monumental in a young person's life as much as I loved my first real taste of coffee.

Isn't that crazy? I'm one of these people that love things that last forever. My love affair with coffee, though dwindled now until my body starts complying with me, lasted almost 20 years. The first time I saw a shuttle launch into space was just as amazing as it is now when I watch a new rocket launch. Every time I pick up my iPhone, I still remember the first time I used it and how mind-blowing that was (I was an early adopter and had a flip phone before that).

Only now that I'm still writing and revising do I realize how I loved writing the first draft of REMOVED. I'll never forget that first time I laid awake in bed at night wondering what was going to happen next in my story. When I hold my children now, I remember the first time I ever held them in my arms. That was a great “first” too.

So I often wonder when I have a first time now, if I'll remember it later. If I move from this place, my first home, will I think of it as my favorite? If I keep publishing and writing to infinity, will REMOVED still be my favorite? It's hard to tell. Love, be it for coffee or another person, tends to last if it's true. I still remember the first kiss I had with my husband and it was definitely a favorite. We're still together 13 years later :) See? I like things that last.

ONE & ONLY by Viv Daniels gives us a taste of firsts. Maybe it'll help you remember a great first as well.

One night they can't forget…

Tess McMann lives her life according to the secrets she's sworn to keep: the father who won't acknowledge her, the sister who doesn't know she exists, and the mother who's content playing mistress to a prominent businessman. When she meets the distractingly cute Dylan Kingsley at a prestigious summer program and falls in love, Tess allows herself to imagine a life beyond these secrets. But when summer ends, so does their relationship — Dylan heads off to Canton College while Tess enrolls at the state university.

One love they can't ignore…

Two years later, a scholarship brings Tess to Canton and back into Dylan's life. Their attraction is as strong as ever, but Dylan has a girlfriend…who also happens to be Tess's legitimate half-sister. Tess refuses to follow in her mother's footsteps, which leaves her only one choice: break the rules she’s always followed, or allow Dylan to slip away for a second time.

…And only one chance to get things right

ONE & ONLY is available now on Amazon (Paperback OR E-book) / Barnes & Noble / Kobo / Smashwords

About the Author

Viv Daniels writes love stories for the young and young at heart. Like many of her characters, she met her husband in college, and knows all the ins and outs of navigating that kind of relationship — from how to date when you’re both flat broke to how to fit two people in narrow dorm room bed.

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/18392843-one-only
Website: http://vivdaniels.com
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