Beached Wedding
I had one job: Get the groom to the wedding.
I failed.
I’m still hungover from the bachelor party when I arrive in Oahu and ruin Ashley’s life. She was expecting to marry my best mate, but on the way to the airport, he confessed he didn’t want to marry her. They only knew each other three months, but Ashley is devastated.
Now we’re stuck with her family and the groom’s parents—who’ve always treated me like a son. I’d love to abandon ship, but Ashley needs a friend and that’s what I am. It’s the only thing I can be.
But as we spend the week together, and she realizes she was more in love with a wedding and moving to Sydney than she was with her groom, things change between us. Falling for my best friend’s bride will sink more than a friendship. We’re partners in a surf shop on the brink of expansion. Am I headed for a wipeout? Or the longest, most perfect ride of my life?
Beached Wedding is a slow burn, off-limits, friends-to-lovers romance with a solid HEA. It’s not a love triangle. You’ll ship Ashley and Fox all the way.
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Do you read any other genre other than romance?
I read widely within romance, but usually stick to romance or nonfiction. Some recent reads are the historical Exit, Pursued by a Baron, by Aydra Richards and the paranormal romance Rules for Ghosting, by Shelly Jay Shore. Nonfic includes Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke and Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman
Do you have a literary agent?
Not right now. I’ve had two, one before I published and one for a few years before the pandemic.
I would advise authors looking for an agent that you don’t really need one for writing category romance like Harlequin. There are some major publishing houses that will open their doors to unagented submissions. That’s usually a matter of finding editors on social media and watching for them to announce such things.
Finding an agent that is a good fit for you can be a lengthy process and they need to understand your career goals as well as be a great cheerleader for your work. They also need to be well-connected in the industry and savvy enough to match you with the right editor for your work. It’s complicated so if you’re on the hunt, be clear in what you want for yourself and persevere.
What do you consider your greatest achievement so far in your writing career?
Having a career at all, lol! I submitted for 25 years before I became a published author. Publishing has changed in countless ways in the 13 yrs that I have been publishing. Indie publishing is both easier and harder now, with more tool available and more books against which mine competes. The same goes for traditional publishing. In the early days, wide distribution was enough. Now it’s a very tough market.
Perseverance is the key here, too ☺
What inspired Beached Wedding?
My husband and I went to Hawaii in 2018. The receptionist at the resort was named ‘Love.’ I immediately thought he ought to be a wedding planner for a destination wedding.
I have since removed that element. ‘Love’ was too on-the-nose, but by the time I was writing him out, I had a destination wedding gone awry because the groom failed to turn up. The hero is the best man. He supports the heroine as they navigate this week of vacation and they slowly realize they’ve been in love all along.
Award-winning and USA Today Bestselling author Dani Collins thrives on giving readers emotional, compelling, heart-soaring romance with laughter and heat thrown in, just like real life. While she is best known for writing contemporary romance for Harlequin Presents and Tule Publishing, she also writes historical and erotic romance. When she’s not writing—just kidding, she’s always writing. Dani lives in Southern BC, Canada with her high school sweetheart husband.
