A Love Like That Trilogy

Author Preface By Cassandra Storme

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Thanks for picking up and reading my book!

I wanted to write a short special preface to first of all thank you for reading my stories, and next to congratulate you on your decision to purchase and read the complete trilogy in one book.

To the readers and reviewers of my books on their own, thank you very much for the feedback, it really does help a lot, both with me becoming a better writer as well as giving me encouragement to keep writing and publishing books and stories.  I look forward to hearing your reviews and comments about the entire A Love Like That trilogy.

Included in this edition is a complete table of contents (on the previous page) where you can skip to a specific book or chapter of each of the three books to make it easy to jump right back to where you were reading, as well as smooth transitions into the following books.  By choosing to read all 3 of the stories in one book, you are able to continue right on with Christy’s story instead of having to wait, and with the shorter length of these stories, you can read the entire trilogy in one sitting, which I know many of you have already done.

Thank you for reading, for reviewing, for giving me feedback, and for purchasing my books.  You are really something special to me, and I want you to know it.

Enjoy the story.

A Love Like That

Book 1 In A Love Like That Series

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Introduction To Book 1, A Love Like That

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Get ready to have your emotions thrown in A Love Like That as main character Christy fights her way to true love.

Oscar and Christy meet at the age of eight and immediately a beautiful friendship begins. As they grow into adulthood the friendship blossoms and they become lovers. However, sometimes we let our guards down when we feel safe in our love and eventually, unable to get along, Oscar and Christy end the relationship and go their separate ways.

Heartbroken and confused, Christy decides that love can actually ruin a relationship so she settles for dating a man she feels attracted to, but doesn’t necessarily love.  Everything seems to be going well until Christy receives some news about Oscar that shakes her to her very core. Could it be that she was mistaken about his feelings for her? After all, what can two small children possibly know about true love?

Find out Christy’s plan to get Oscar back, keep her boyfriend Ryan in the picture, and use the resources she has, such as her best friend Sunita, her other girlfriends, her mom, Oscar’s mom, even all the way to Oscar’s cousin in order to do whatever she can to achieve true love.

Turn the page and roll right into a story of heartbreak, romance, and hot and steamy love.

Chapter 1, A Love Like That

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They say you can’t live crooked and think straight. Crooked is a pretty accurate description of my life right now. I’m in a serious relationship with one man while I’m madly in love with another. Not only am I madly in love with him, but also I desperately want to get him back. I know it sounds bad, but let me explain.

I don’t believe that everybody can handle getting married for love. Wait: just hear me out. When two people fall in love they automatically start to create expectations about each other and about the relationship. I think unmet expectations are what destroy most relationships. When you are in love and this person isn’t giving you what you think you deserve or need from them, you begin to grow resentful and when that resentment accumulates, it eventually explodes like when the proverbial shit hits the fan.

This guy that I’m involved with, Ryan, is really sweet and kind.  We met a few years ago and hit it off immediately, but it wasn’t until two months after Oscar and I had broken up that he asked me to be his girlfriend. He is caring and really pays attention to what I have to say.  We get along really well. Why am I not in love with him, you say? Well, I don’t do this ‘falling in love’ thing too well. I believe it only happens once in a lifetime. I gave my heart to somebody else and I can’t figure out how to get it back or maybe I’m just not ready to let go.

Ryan and I have a great thing going and he has no idea that I’m not in love with him.  In fact, not being in love is precisely why it’s so good between us. But he doesn’t know that because I’m quite a great actress or maybe he’s just naïve as most men are. I even think he’s going to ask me to move in with him soon and you know what? I really don’t know what I’m going to say.

The guy that I’m in love with— Oscar— was my first boyfriend. We’ve known each other for most of our lives. When we were growing up everybody said we’d end up together, and eventually we did. But because we’re both extremely passionate, any little disagreement would easily escalate into something big and monstrous. In the end, we had to admit that being madly in love was ruining our friendship and so we walked away from each other. We still stay in touch, though, with occasional text messages and calls. Deep inside I keep hoping that he’ll come back to me and we’ll make it work, but so far many months have gone by since we broke up. Maybe he just needs more time.

So no, in my relationship with Ryan I have no expectations about him and what I think he should do for me. And so far, it has been working out just fine.

My Hindu friend Sunita was the one to first introduce me to that concept.  I had been reading a novel about a young woman in India who ran away on her wedding day because she was being forced to marry a man who was much older than her own father. So I asked Sunita if all Indian marriages are arranged.

Of course not, Christy. I mean, in some families they still do that, but it’s not a law or anything.

Would you have agreed to one, though?

If my parents decided that they were going to choose my husband, I would just have to honor their wishes. I wouldn’t have much of a say in that.

Oh? How awful! It must be very traumatic to be forced to marry someone you don’t know or like.

Well, the media has definitely portrayed it as something traumatic. But even though I do want to have the opportunity to choose my husband, I believe there are a lot of often overlooked advantages to having an arranged marriage.

I can tell she’s picking her words as carefully as she possibly can because although I can’t really see my face, I’m pretty sure my expression is somewhere in between ‘what the hell’ and ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’.

Suni smiles at me like one would just before explaining a difficult concept to an academically challenged child.

Christy, in our culture we trust our parents to make the right decisions in that and many other aspects. Let’s be honest, when people fall in love they are almost completely blinded. And no matter what anybody else tells you about your guy, you will defend him to the end even if he’s nothing more than a toothless loser.

I giggle at Suni’s words, but she does have a point there. I’ve had friends who stay with a guy who is rude, disrespectful and just plain unpleasant because they’re allegedly ‘in love’.

I see what you’re saying, but I wouldn’t go so far as arguing that an arranged marriage is better.

Oh but it is! You see, when you don’t really know the person, you have zero expectations. You go into the marriage with your eyes wide open. That sets you free to explore and learn together. In many cases, the couple eventually falls in love. On the other hand, people who are already in love and get married have this long list of things they expect the other person to do for them, again thanks to the media and cheap romance comedies. So when that doesn’t happen, problems begin.

I think about Suni’s point of view for a while. I hate to admit she might be right. But isn’t love the whole idea of getting married? I mean like happily ever after and all that gooey stuff?

Suni, what’s the point in getting married if you’re not in love?

Because marriage is more like a business arrangement. The purpose is to contribute to society, just like a company would.

If you mean kids, you don’t need to be married to have kids.

No, but it makes everything better when there’s a legal document.

Hmm, I’m not sure about that.

But she got me thinking, and after a while I had to admit that she was right; getting married for love is probably not such a great idea because a person in love has the bad habit of overlooking the other person’s mistakes. Being in love also intensifies the need to be possessive and territorial. People in love tend to see their love interest as property that they own.

At the time of this conversation Oscar and I were a couple and when it was good it was very, very good but when it was bad it was horrid. We would get along amazingly for a few weeks and then something minor would happen to set either of us off. I