Janet Taylor-Perry wrote:Scenario 1:
Somewhat bad boy, yet good guy, who is a part of an international organization to thwart terrorism meets dynamic local female sheriff. Instant attraction ensues, but sheriff thinks he's a cold blooded killer. Finds out differently and helps him out of country. However, the attraction is irresistible. Is it plausible in the world of romance that said man would send gifts and call said woman from a foreign country and eventually come back and have one steamy romance?
Maybe not sending gifts. Or, if he is sending gifts, it need to be gifts that's not an indication of 'serious relationship' - i.e. no jewelry. I've been told by a few male friends over the years that they only buy jewelry when they're REALLY serious about someone i.e. it's moved on from being physical to also include emotional aspects.
The success of this would entirely hang from their first meet. If the physical attraction is there and it's huge, then this would be believable (a lot believable! IMO). But in this case, the physical attraction needs to be from both i.e. the sheriff in my mind shouldn't be too 'shy' (for lack of a better word).
Overall, I think this is a great premise for a romance. The underlying physical attraction from the get go, but she thinks he's bad, and doesn't act on it. Only to find out he's a good guy, but in the chaos to get him to safety, doesn't have an opportunity to find out where it could go. It could become an obsession of sorts, why not.
And like Philisha, I also wonder why one steamy romance? There is only one universal rule for a novel to be a romance - the FMC and MMC have to end up together either happy for now or happy for ever after. Anything else is up for grabs!
Janet Taylor-Perry wrote:Scenario 2:
Pregnant woman who already has 2 kids is widowed. A killer thinks she can identify him. Local detective, who also is a widowed father, takes said woman on the lam to keep her safe. Detective delivers baby. When it's safe to come home, they do. Over several months, is it plausible in the world of romance for these two to develop feelings for each other, yet be slow to act on them due to all the trauma. Is it plausible that said woman's in-laws would actually encourage her to move on with life, possibly even find a new love?
I see no issues here except that usually romance novels require that the attraction between the FMC and MMC must be established very early on (chapter 1 early for most). The intensity can vary, but there must be something early to hint that these two are meant for each other, like each other and the readers is about to read how they end up together. Without this, it might be better suited as a love story rather than a romance. (but there are no hard and fast rules on this, so there is a lot of room to move here)
Also, readers will never forgive you if you make all those kids disappear just because they're 'inconvenient'. Knowing you, I think you'd be okay and not fall into that trap. But alone time will be tricky and will need some effort/planning, so it will be challenging to get these two to realize they're attracted to each other enough that they will go through all the trouble to find alone time together and look into it. But it should be doable, I mean, it happens all the time in IRL?!
Janet's 2-cent worth 
