A good man can be hard to find, and curvaceous Jalila Goodwyn has had enough bad dates to know. But while Jalila is describing the hilarious details over her latest encounter over brunch with her girlfriend, another diner overhears her story and makes her an offer she can’t refuse. Television producer Keenan Armstrong believe’s Jalila search for love would make a hit reality show. Suddenly, Jalila is the start of QUEEN OF HEARTS, with a string of bachelors vying to win her attention—though it’s really Keenan that’s turning up the heat. But before the big finale, Jalila will have to figure out what’s real, what’s fantasy and what’s truly worth fighting for…

The One that Got Away by Adrianne Byrd

When I sat down to write this blog, I thought that it would be a fairly simple assignment. Until I realized that I didn’t really have a guy in my past that I necessarily thought got away. The truth is closer to the ones I’ve kicked to the curb and how I prayed that they would never show back up on my door again. Okay so that may sound a little harsh, especially coming from a supposed hopeless romantic. Sue me. I can’t help it that I’m just as picky about my men as I am about the heroes in my novels. I have my own ideals of what defines a good man and frankly the characters that have crossed my path just aren’t cutting it.

Okay…so I haven’t always had that view.

Once upon a time, I did think this one guy was supposed to be The One. And for awhile I even thought that I was the one that had screwed things up. I was too strong. Too independent. Too loud. Too anything and everything. Whatever the heck he tried to make me believe at the time. After a few years of pulling and tugging-we broke up. In between that time, I started thinking I had a good thing and messed it all up. I started thinking those just so-so dates were really the things that fantasies were made of. I tried to convince myself that all those annoying habits were just adorable characteristics. So what he was always broke. He was a man struggling against the system. A woman should stand by her man through good times and in bad.

I started pouring my heart out on page after page in my diary. Proudly counting the days I had managed NOT to call him. But those made up fantasies kept chasing each other in my mind. Then of course the inevitable wondering if he was seeing someone new which cause me to panic at the thought of him jumping back into the pool before I did.

During that time, my grandmother gave me more eyes rolls and impatient sighs than Florence Johnston gave George in the entire 10 seasons of The Jefferson’s. The whole melodrama lasted five months.

I called.

Another woman answered the phone.

My fantasies took a dark detour—something about me, him and a gun with a silencer. I’d change it up every once in a while and the weapon of choice would be a sawed-off shotgun but I think you get the point. Suddenly, I had to have him back. In my mind, I had put waaaay too much blood, sweat and tears into him to just let the next woman benefit from my hard work.

My grandmother just shook her head and told me that once you threw something in the trash you don’t go back and dig it out. It was my turn to do a couple of eye rolls with that one. So I dusted off my shoulders, put on my best freak’em dress and went out and got my man back.

Big mistake.

Once I had him, I quickly started remembering why I didn’t want him. The arrogance, the ego and that constant…breathing thing he always did.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Would it be too much to ask for him to stop doing that? So in the end, I was right back at giving him The Talk. You know: “It’s just not working out. I want to say it’s not you but it really is you. Please don’t call. I’m changing the numbers in the morning. I wish you nothing but love, yada, yada, yada. Waiter, check please.”

So like I said, sometimes they don’t get away.

They get thrown away.

So, do you have one that got away or that got thrown away?  Leave a comment to win an autographed book from Adrianne Byrd!

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About the Author

National Best-selling author Adrianne Byrd has always preferred to live within the realms of her imagination where all the men are gorgeous and the women are worth whatever trouble they manage to get into. As an army brat, she traveled throughout Europe and learned to appreciate and value different cultures. Now she calls Georgia home.

In books, Adrianne found a way out of her awkward teenage years and into a world of fictional friends that would stay with her for a lifetime. It wasn’t long before her imagination took flight and she was writing her own love stories. Within a year, she completed her first book, which she vowed would never see the light of day.

Ms. Byrd has won many awards, including RT’s 2004 Best Multicultural Romance, Romance in Color’s Readers Choice Awards, and Slam Jams Emma Award. She has also been featured in many national publications, including Today’s Black Woman, Upscale, and Heart and Soul. She has also won local awards for screenwriting. For the future, she looks forward to continue creating characters that make people smile, laugh, and fall in love.

Visit Adrianne online

About the book – click cover to purchase

A good man can be hard to find, and curvaceous Jalila Goodwyn has had enough bad dates to know. But while Jalila is describing the hilarious details over her latest encounter over brunch with her girlfriend, another diner overhears her story and makes her an offer she can’t refuse. Television producer Keenan Armstrong believe’s Jalila search for love would make a hit reality show. Suddenly, Jalila is the start of QUEEN OF HEARTS, with a string of bachelors vying to win her attention—though it’s really Keenan that’s turning up the heat. But before the big finale, Jalila will have to figure out what’s real, what’s fantasy and what’s truly worth fighting for…