Behind the Scenes: For Love’s Sake (An Epic Historical/Fantasy Romantic Adventure)
By Kelli A. Wilkins
This “Behind the Scenes” blog is part of a series examining my romance novels. In each blog, I’ll talk about why I wrote the book, share my thoughts on the plot and/or characters, and sometimes reveal what I loved most (or least) about writing the book. Warning: Blogs may contain spoilers.
If you missed any blog in this series, you can catch up here: https://www.kelliwilkins.com/blog
Hi romance lovers,
My latest romance, For Love’s Sake, uses the subtitle, “An Epic Historical/Fantasy Romantic Adventure”— that says quite a lot, but that’s the best way to describe it.
Here’s the summary and links:
For Love’s Sake
An Epic Historical/Fantasy Romantic Adventure
She left everything behind to be with him.
He risked losing everything to stay with her.
They were willing to sacrifice everything… for love’s sake
Through a case of mistaken identity, Prince Kevan of Alborg narrowly avoids an assassination attempt and wakes to find himself trapped in mad King Torok’s rat-infested dungeon. Just when he is about to give up hope, he is rescued by an unlikely ally—Torok’s daughter, Princess Adrianna.
Adrianna is desperate to flee her father’s kingdom and agrees to help the handsome stranger escape, but only if he takes her with him when he leaves. Although Kevan knows bringing Adrianna home will not sit well with his father and lead to other complications, he agrees.
They make their way to a waiting ship captained by Kevan’s brother, Mikhael, and set sail for Alborg. Along the way they are lost at sea during a ferocious storm, battle a murderous mercenary sent by Adrianna’s father, and try to deny their intense romantic feelings for each other.
When they arrive in Alborg, Kevan’s father, King Lenard, disapproves of Adrianna and drops the bombshell that Kevan is already engaged to be married. While Kevan tries to get out of the arranged marriage, Mikhael introduces Adrianna to members of the nobility in an effort to win over the king.
At his engagement ball, Kevan is forced to choose between his duty to his father and his loyalty to Adrianna. Soon after, Adrianna is kidnapped and Kevan and Mikhael band together to hunt down her abductors and rescue her before it’s too late.
Order your copy here:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DS2H1YMD
Other platforms: https://books2read.com/u/4jvDXj
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For Love’s Sake is divided into three parts: The Castle, The Ship, and The Palace. Each part is devoted to a specific section of the longer, overall story, and they’re almost novellas unto themselves. But what readers don’t know is… this wasn’t how the book started out.
I originally outlined the story as a trilogy. (Yup, this one book would have been three.) In my outline, each part would have been its own self-contained book with a beginning, a middle, an end, and a central story arc.
Looking back on my original idea, I only have one question: What was I thinking??? First, nobody would want to read all that. Second, I didn’t want to write, edit, revise, and proofread all that. Writing one novel is hard enough; why triple my workload?
I’m glad to say common sense kicked in, and my writer’s intuition of what works and what doesn’t work, prevailed.
The book is 86,000 words, which is plenty. I wanted to fully develop each part, but without adding unnecessary scenes or too many details. For example, in part two, I could have described every rope, set of rigging, and mast on the ship for readers as Dray learns about them. But I didn’t want to go overboard. (Ha-ha.) Readers get the feel of being on the ship without seeing the day-to-day events that don’t impact the plot. The writer’s credo is “write tight.” Even in novels.
Some readers have asked me: If this is a romance, where are all the hot and heavy love scenes? Well… as I was editing/revising, I decided to delete several scenes that, although they were very nice, didn’t move the story along or add character development. When I came to some of the explicit love scenes between Kevan and Dray, I cut them or had the characters recall them in flashbacks.
But For Love’s Sake is more than a romance, it’s also an adventure. The characters experience lots of action outside of the bedroom: escaping a dungeon, fighting pirates, being lost at sea, getting kidnapped… And there’s plenty of emotional drama for everyone. The book is filled with lies, deception, sadness, secrets, jealousy, revenge, regret, and love in all its forms.
The secondary characters, Mikhael and Derick, play an important role in part three. Mikhael (Kevan’s brother), is married to Derick, and together, they set events in motion that bring the story to its conclusion.
I love Mikhael and Derick, and for a while I considered giving them their own book. I even wrote their entire backstory—their first meet, Derick’s disastrous lunch with Mikhael’s father (the king), how Derick became a Lord, and what happened when Mikhael and Derick moved into the manor house—but I never intend to publish it.
Why? Because it’s not a book in the traditional sense that it’s a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end. There’s no plot. It’s merely a series of vignettes about their lives. But because I love them so much, I included Mikhael and Derick’s first meet as a bonus read. That story also explains the origins of the Freedom.
In the book Mikhael is sassy, self-assured, and bold… but he didn’t start out this way. As readers will see from the bonus read, he started out very confused and troubled. He’s come a long way (thanks to Derick) in the course of a few years. And because I love Mikhael so much, I gave him a fun bit of dialog: “Stand and deliver. Your money or your life.” I’ve always wanted to use that phrase in a story, and it fit Mikhael’s personality (and the scene) perfectly.
For Love’s Sake has plenty of action, drama, suspense, humor, love, and emotional growth to earn epic novel status. It was a lot of fun to write, and it’s one of my favorite romances. It’s also my last romance. (Yup, you read that right.)
I enjoy creating characters and settings and inventing troubles for my heroes and heroines to get into (and out of), and I love all my books. But when it comes to romances… I think I’m done.
Over the last twenty-five years I’ve been writing romances faithfully, and I had romances lined up in my head and/or outlined on paper just waiting to be written—but For Love’s Sake (my 24th romance) was the last one in line.
I’ll still write, but I’ll be focusing on horror/mystery/suspense short fiction.
For now, I’ll leave you with an epic tale of two people who risked everything… For Love’s Sake.
I welcome comments and questions from readers. Be sure to follow my blog for the latest updates and visit my site for a full title list and links to my social media.
Until next time,
Kelli A. Wilkins
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Kelli A. Wilkins is an award-winning author who has published more than 100 short stories, 24 romance novels, and 8 mystery/horror ebooks. Her romances span many genres and settings, and she likes to scare readers with her horror and mystery stories.
Her latest release, For Love’s Sake, an epic historical/fantasy romantic adventure, was published in January 2025.
In August 2024, she released Surreal Escapes, a collection of 7 speculative/spooky stories. Anything can—and does—happen in this anthology.
Kelli also released her fourth gay romance, A Thousand Summer Secrets, in 2024. This tender contemporary romance takes place over a summer weekend, where two friends reconnect while seeking love and acceptance.
She published The Route 9 Killer, a mystery/thriller set in Central NJ, in 2023.
Follow Kelli on her Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorKelliWilkins and visit her website/blog www.KelliWilkins.com for a full title list and social media links.
