How Do You Feel About Interracial Romance?

I didn't purposely set out to write interracial romances when I started writing my contemporary erotic romance novels. I wrote "Never Too Old For The Game Of Love" about a woman who was a divorced mother of two, who was still stinging from the betrayal she had suffered from her ex. She is turning 40 soon, yet has no time for love and romance, since her first priority is her children and their needs. When I began to imagine a man for her, I wanted him to be just exotic enough for her to be intrigued. I was taking conversational Spanish classes, so it was natural that I would make him a Hispanic man so I could practice my español.Think Jimmy Smits in a power suit.

While I was writing the first book, I decided to give the supportive best friend, also a divorced mother of two turning 40, her own special man. She is a voluptuous Italian American woman who had not been treated well by her alcoholic ex-husband. I wanted her to have a large, protective man fall in love with her. I imagined him to be a tall, burly, bald, tattooed biker with a beard...then when I began to imagine his background, I figured he was someone who had traveled around a lot and never had a real home. Kind of like a gypsy. A Roma. Bingo! Another interracial romance in "Recipe For Love."

In "Love By Design", Rosa, who was a teenaged babysitter in the first book started to "talk" in my mind, and the next thing I knew I was writing about her romance with a tall, blond, Russian who had immigrated here with his family when he was a kid. For him, English was a second language, just as English and Spanish were both spoken in the Reyes household. Another interracial romance.

Rosa's sister Catalina was a bit player in that book, but she was so interesting that I had to write "Analysis Of Love". The man she falls in love with is blind, so the sexy curves she has always used to attract any man she wants are of no use in getting his attention. Of course to him, skin color is irrelevant, as it really should be. But he's blond.

Finally with "Love Therapy", Catalina's supportive brother Miguel "told" me that not everyone falls in love outside of their race. He fell in love with a local girl in high school, and they are both Hispanic. Okay, their story worked well for them.

"Prescription For Love" is a free download on Smashwords. The hero is the oldest Reyes son, now a doctor living in Mexico. He is intrigued when a black research biologist shows up in his town, and she's getting ready to go out into the field. Another interracial romance.

"Secret Love" is about a white female spy who breaks the rules by falling in love with an internationally-famous action star actor. I won't tell you who I was thinking about, but he's a blend of many nationalities...I disguised my crush on him by making the hero a Native American. More interracial.

My most recent book, "The Reluctant Bride" is about a black veterinarian whose family loves the ambitious lawyer she is going to marry, unlike the blue-collar mechanic she dated in high school. What her family doesn't know is that she dated him on the sly until very recently, when he made her choose to either tell her family she was still seeing him, or cut him loose. Did she make the right choice? Another interracial romance.

I didn't set out consciously to do this, but I find the whole idea of male/female relationships fascinating, and they are all the more so when different races are involved. Here in the USA we all live together in a melting pot of humanity from around the world. True, many of us tend to clump together with others of our own kind. But our kids go to school with each other, and to them, the old rules and ways of doing things are out-dated and ridiculous. Teenagers are always shocked when I tell them that it wasn't until 1967, with the Loving VS the State of Mississippi case taken all the way to the Supreme Court, that the last law against black and white people being married was declared illegal.

In our lifetime much has changed. What hasn't changed is that the more you rail against someone your child wants to date, the more they will seize on the first opportunity to go behind your back and date that very person...or color of person. And the combining of races, of cultures, produces a unique blend that hasn't existed before. I think this is a good thing. We are strongest when we are united. And after all, we are all connected, living here on this mud-ball of a planet, sharing our atmosphere and our water supply. We are more alike than we are different. I hope the human race survives long enough to realize that.

But do interracial romances sell? Are you attracted to covers that show interracial couples? Do you seek them out, or is it irrelevant as long as the story is well-written? Does it matter to you? Just wondering...

Find out more about my books and read some excerpts at: www.fionamcgier.com