T's Stuff: The Girl Most Likely by Jana Richards

Sunday, September 1, 2019

The Girl Most Likely by Jana Richards

Author: Jana Richards

Narrator: Leigh Linley

Length: 4 hours

Series: Class of '85

Publisher: The Wild Rose Press

Released: Jul. 26, 2018

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Cara McLeod, the girl most likely to have the perfect marriage, is now divorced and, in her own words, "fat, frumpy, and over forty." The thought of facing former classmates - and the ex-husband who dumped her - at her high school reunion terrifies her. Cajoled into attending by her kids and her best friend, Cara enlists help at the gym to lose weight and look great for the reunion. Personal trainer Finn Cooper is more than willing to help - but does he have to be so to-die-for gorgeous?

Finn thinks Cara is perfect just the way she is. She's everything he wants in a woman, except for one thing - she can't get past the fact that he's eight years younger. To Finn, age and weight are just numbers. But can he convince Cara the numbers she worries about add up to only one thing for him - love?

When Jana Richards read her first romance novel, she immediately knew two things: she had to commit the stories running through her head to paper, and they had to end with a happily ever after. She also knew she’d found what she was meant to do. Since then she’s never met a romance genre she didn’t like. She writes contemporary romance, romantic suspense, and historical romance set in World War Two, in lengths ranging from short story to full length novel. Just for fun, she throws in generous helpings of humor, and the occasional dash of the paranormal. Her paranormal romantic suspense “Seeing Things” was a 2008 EPPIE finalist, and in 2018 “Lies and Solace” won Best Contemporary romance in the I Heart Indie contest.

In her life away from writing, Jana is an admin assistant, a mother to two grown daughters, and a wife to her husband Warren. She enjoys golf, yoga, movies, concerts, travel and reading, not necessarily in that order. She and her husband live in Winnipeg, Canada with their geriatric Pug/Terrier cross Lou. Jana loves to hear from readers and can be reached through her website at www.janarichards.com

Hedbor is an amateur historian, linguist, brewer, fiddler, astronomer and baker. Professionally, he is a technologist, marketer, writer and father. His love of history drives his to share the excitement of understanding the events of long ago, and how those events touch us still today.

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Originally from Vancouver, BC, Canada, Leigh spent her twenties doing voice-over work and writing radio and TV copy for Palmer Jarvis Advertising. She was a theatre critic for 14 years for a Vancouver newspaper and has extensive experience working in "Hollywood North." With a B.A. in English, and 3 years of acting and directing classes, Leigh studied the Stanislavski Method of character acting. She now lives on a secluded lake near Austin, Texas and is a freelance narrator for all genres of fiction and non. Her work is on Audible and i-Tunes.

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When She’s Older- Jana Richards

One of the central problems in my novel “The Girl Most Likely” is that Cara is eight years older than Finn. The age difference bothers her to such an extent that she at first refuses any kind of relationship with him. She’s afraid of looking ridiculous for pursuing a younger man, and afraid that one day he’ll wake up and realize he was no longer attracted to her.

Though relationships between older women and younger men are becoming increasingly more common, there are still issues that such a couple must face to make their relationship work. First, let me explode a few myths, courtesy of Susan Winter, co-author, with Felicia Brings, of "Older Women, Younger Men: New Options for Love and Romance". She and her co-author interviewed more than 200 couples. Although this is not a scientific study, three myths kept popping up:

Myth #1: ”He’ll leave you for a younger woman.”. Winter says they didn’t find one man who did this, at least not for a specific younger woman. In some cases the man wanted children and the relationship fell apart as a result.

Myth#2: “The older woman is always the seducer – a Mrs. Robinson.” In all the cases that Winter studied, the man was the initiator.

Myth #3: “It will never last.” The average length of the relationships that Winter studied was 13 years.

Psychologists and dating experts believe that though age may be factor in determining whether a relationship will work, there are other factors that may be of greater importance.

Are your personalities similar? Are your energy levels similar? Is he the right maturity for you? Age doesn’t necessarily dictate maturity. Spend time with your younger guy and find out how he handles stress, money, work, etc. These things will help you determine his level of maturity.
Do you expect the same things from a relationship? If you want some fun and a no-strings relationship, and he wants family and commitment, you could be headed for trouble. Denise Washington says it’s important to match expectations: “Don’t be afraid to voice what you want. By being on the same page in the beginning, it will prevent frustration and heartbreak later if he doesn’t want the same thing.”
What are your deal breakers? Figure out early on what you cannot live with. Is it immaturity, him living with his parents, not getting along with your kids or your friends, spending too much time with his friends and not enough with you? Is he looking for a mommy or a midnight booty call? Asking questions at the beginning of the relationship will help you decide if he’s a man or a boy.

My couple in “The Girl Most Likely” eventually figure out that for them, age doesn’t matter. They learn that the things they have in common far outweigh their differences. Love, it seems, is ageless.