Real-life Romance: His Prizewinning Kiss

Did you ever have a perfect moment? But it wasn't with the guy you ended up with? Author Delores Topliff shares one of her most romantic memories today, and you might be surprised. Read on.

I didn’t marry Logan (name changed) but he swept me off my feet and was my first major romance. I was a college girl working summers in a US Forest Service office in Washington State. He was an unmarried career ranger who hadn’t been out of university long. He was more rugged than handsome but with a nice personality and winning smile. We exchanged friendly banter along with the 20-30 other workers in our office until one day he asked me to dinner.
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Yes.

He chose a great place and confided that the restaurant hostess complimented him on his good-looking date. He chose our subsequent dinner destinations and we enjoyed many of the same outdoor things. When I returned to college that fall, he drove 250 miles each way one weekend to give us time together. The weather was perfect. We hiked above Puget Sound loving the scenery and views. We traipsed down a wooded hillside to the water holding hands until he surprised me by not letting go as we approached a massive birch tree. He swerved to one side while our joined hands pulled me around the other side of the tree where we met in a breathless kiss.

Wow. Hands still joined, we were hugging the tree and each other, too. That fun, creative, surprise kiss delivered enough zings to make me forget the scenery, my weekend homework, and nearly my college career.

Logan couldn’t drive that far every weekend. I went home at Christmas and we had good times, but things shifted. I was inducted into a College Honors Group which opened new doors and even publications. Logan was one of the nicest guys I’ve known, but my college commitment deepened, and we drifted apart.   

Sigh. I became more intent on completing my college degree, and in fact earned two more degrees. I’m convinced my life path took the direction it was supposed to, but I still like remembering Logan’s gentlemanliness and especially the creative romance spark that showed me that walks through the woods area great place for romance.
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My newest release, Christmas Tree Wars, involves feuding Christmas tree farmers but includes romance, especially since two young people’s initials are carved inside hearts on a prizewinning tree. Be careful what you carve into tree because it’s permanent. This love story brings bigger prizes than the right to supply the 1966 Norwegian spruce Lady Bird Johnson decorates for the White House. By the end, love in the air helps the two feuding old codgers and the whole town rediscover the reason for the season.

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Delores Topliff did years of college teaching, traveling, and writing before authoring Christian novels. Most reviewers awarded her January 2021 WWII release, Books Afloat, five-stars and praised its characters and adventures. She continues teaching online university classes and divides her year between a central Minnesota farm and warmer temperatures in Northeastern Mississippi where she loves the people and accents. She brags about her two fine doctor sons, five delightful grandchildren, and wonderful friends.
Reviewers awarded her January 2021 WWII novel, Books Afloat, nearly perfect five-stars, praising its characters and adventures. She’s writing two more books in that series. Scrivenings Press will release Wilderness Wife, a North American Frontier Historical in spring, 2022.
​Find her at delorestopliff.com and follow her on Facebook at Delores Topliff Books.

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Christmas Tree Wars

​Christmas is meant to be a time of goodwill, but there’s no peace between two neighboring Christmas tree farmers involved in a longstanding feud. Can this year be different with a bit of holiday romance tossed into the season?
When the financial planner son and forestry major niece of feuding Christmas tree farmers come home to help their families in crisis, it takes Christmas tree wars to a whole new level. As the young people seek success by competing to provide a national Christmas tree, romance fills the air and connects them like mistle to toe.

See the trailer here  

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