Author of Steamy Romance & Goddess Facilitator: Books, Divine Library & Services
Blurb
A date arranged through an internet dating site, starting with a conversation by the river. She is very much taken by the American immigrant’s good looks and intelligence.
After a night of passion with this businessman who is as kind as he is attractive, things take a sudden turn. His past catches up with him and after a trip to Afghanistan, he needs to return to the States for good. She is now faced with a choice between staying behind to continue her life as it was or giving up everything and following the man of her dreams after such a short acquaintance.
Will she take the plunge or stay in the security of her own, familiar environment?
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The Book's Creation
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Dating A Hero was an experiment in style. It is the first and, thus far, the only book, I wrote in the first person solely from the point of view of the female protagonist whilst speaking of her male counterpart in the second person. Not once are names mentioned, either in direct or indirect speech. Still, it worked. At least for me. The readers need to decide for themselves on whether this little bit of unsolved mystery is to their liking.
My idea was to write it in a way that you wouldn’t even notice that names were missing while reading the book and a few people have told me, they didn’t even realise names were missing until they wanted to speak about the book to someone else, which generally requires talking in the third person, and therefore, you notice names missing.
The setting itself came about from a family outing, walking in the sunshine along the River Rhine in Cologne and taking a boat trip to see the sites up and down the river. It was a lovely, sunny afternoon and my children, my mum and I had lots of fun. When we walked along the waterfront of the old, medieval part of town called “Altstadt” (literally meaning “old city”), which has outside areas in front of bars and restaurants overlooking the river, we saw quite a few couples laughing, flirting and kissing.
I’m a sucker for love and romance and I will freely admit to it. I love seeing people happy together, being affectionate and kissing and flirting. I’m not one of those people who believe public displays of affection are out of place and should only be done out of sight of others, indoors, like something shameful and dirty. What’s wrong with showing someone you care about and love them? Kissing is a beautiful thing and light flirtation with your partner keeps things spicy and hot. That’s my opinion of it and naturally, you are free to have your own.
Returning to this summer’s day of love with exceptionally many couples around kissing, laughing and flirting gave me the idea for the storyline of this book, Dating a Hero. In many aspects, it is as happy and sunny as that beautiful afternoon I spent with my children, even though the theme is very adult in nature. However, the happiness and lightness is an energy I carried over into the book.
Nonetheless, Dating A Hero doesn’t lack depth, and so there are some challenges to be overcome and fears to be faced and dealt with in a constructive manner. It also shows how a loving and supportive partner will not hold moments of weakness against you, but rather, encourage you to grow beyond your current self, expand and reassure you that you are still loved, despite - or because of - the fact that you are human, infallible and imperfect, that you are loved for your little quirks as much as for your strengths.
True love means to support each other, also when the free expression of what makes the other one happiest and most fulfilled is not always in line with our own personal preferences. In Dating a Hero, the male protagonist leaves for a while to do what he feels is his duty, according to his personal sense of honour, which also has an impact on the relationship. But instead of sulking and condemning, the woman who loves him supports him in it and understands that he needs to do this, even though she would much rather have him stay home with her without interruptions.
In the same way, he honours her life choices and never makes demands, even when he hopes she will decide in a way that goes in line with his own wishes. He allows her the same freedom to make her own choices without trying to force her hand by making her feel guilty or setting ultimatums. He is very considerate and caring as well as appreciative of her presence in his life, which he shows her in many different smaller and greater ways.
Dating a Hero is also a call to not underestimate the power of those small gestures, which will, consistently applied, carry a relationship much further than one-time grand gestures. My intention for this book was to transport this message on many levels and through different life situations, whilst remaining a light, entertaining (and hot!) read throughout.
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Teaser
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“As a matter of fact, I do. You have two choices now. Take your clothes off and come back to bed or wait till I’m dressed and I’ll take you out for breakfast. And then we come back here, get undressed and go back to bed.”
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I grin happily. Like a little child at Christmas. I can see it reflected in your smirk. I want to go back to bed at once, but then my tummy rumbles.
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“Breakfast it is,” you say before I can ignore it and get undressed anyway.
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As we walk down the street, you hold my hand in bright sunshine around people who know you and greet you as they pass. You smile and greet everyone as we go past some shops, a newsagent, a café, a gas station. They all know you and I can see from their smiles, they like you. You’re probably a really nice person. I feel bad about my earlier assumptions now, projecting my fears on you. That wasn’t fair.
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As we come to the bistro you want us to go in, I stop and look up into your eyes and apologize. You only smile, stroke my cheek and kiss my forehead. My forehead! How sweet is that? I’m moved and quickly swallow around that big lump in my throat. There’s nothing better to scare a guy off than getting emotional on him on the first date. Well, the morning after the first date. But it was still the first date, wasn’t it?
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“I can see those wheels turning overtime up there. What are you thinking about?”
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“Is this still the first date or would it count as the second?”
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“You’ll stop counting soon anyway, so what does it matter?” you shrug.
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My eyes widen in surprise.
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“I don’t like meaningless affairs. And neither do you. So let’s see if we can make something meaningful out of it,” you grin and this time you kiss the tip of my nose, melting my heart some more in the process.
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Reviews for Dating a Hero
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I finished this book in one sitting and absolutely loved it.
Obviously, at the time, the author was experimenting with her point of view and digressed from the traditional 3rd person to first person narrative. The interesting thing in this is that she only told the story from the female MCs perspective and she addresses the male MC as "you", so you never actually get to find out what their names are throughout the entire book.
Some people might not like this but for my personal reaction, I can say that I found it intriguing and mysterious and added some "forbidden" spice kind of atmosphere to the entire book. I'm quite a daredevil myself and I love when people get off the beaten path and risk trying out something new. I respect that a lot. And for a first attempt, I have to say, the author aced it.
It starts out really hot and although there are deeper feelings and a storyline, the sizzle never dies. I particularly liked the scene with the pancake. Not saying more because of spoilers but that's wayyyyy naughty. My kind of girl! ;) On to the next book!
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Tuari Eagleswing, Reader
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Sensual, Erotic and Fun!
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An internet dating site brought them together, but love and lust kept them that way! Dating a Hero is the second book I've read in the Tamera Shobhan Erotic Series and it's just as interesting, entertaining and erotic as the first book I read (Born to be Wild)! Looking forward to reading more of her work!
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Karen Bennett, Reader
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A Superb Erotic Military Romance.
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A carefree quasi-hippie girl goes on a blind date arranged through a dating site and ends up hooking up with a masculine Navy Seal. The morning after is a bit awkward, but neither one can deny or resist the strong attraction they feel for each other.
Unfortunately, the Seal gets sent to Afghanistan. When he returns to Germany, he informs the girl that he must move back to the US permanently and wants her to return with him. The story itself doesn't have a lot of twists and turns, there's no doubt in the reader's mind what will happen, but the story earns the 5-star rating by delivering some of the hottest, paint-peeling sex ever committed to a story.
It is vividly described and very arousing. If you like military romances filled with hot, hot, hot sex, this is definitely for you.
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Kevin Lintner, Reader
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Hippie Girl Meets Military Boy; Steamy Erotica Read
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As a bit of a hippie myself, the main character in this story immediately caught my attention. This story follows the life of a woman in Germany who meets a US Marine when he's deployed over there. They connect on a dating site, spend one passionate night together, and then things go ary when the marine first deploys to Afghanistan, and then must return to the US. Left in Germany, she must decide if she's going to stay in her comfort zone, or take the risk and leave all she knows for a chance at love.
There are so many ways this tale caught my attention. I'm a bit of a hippie who's currently madly in love with my very masculine-macho military man. We're the exact couple this tale was written about (heck, we even met on a dating site!). So the fact that I could so deeply relate to the characters immediately made me fall into the storyline. I loved how the main female really spoke to me and was so beautifully developed. Sometimes it's hard to connect with the female characters in romance and erotica novels, but in this story I felt like everything cliqued easily, and the characters easily stole my heart. Mister military guy was equally as appealing and the entire story, full of it's twists and turns, had me begging the author to just let them be together already!
This was such a fun read. There are definitely some very risque parts, and the passionate sex within moments of their first introduction was a lot of fun for me. As a girl who tends to move a little quickly, I loved seeing a main character in a romance/erotica follow the same habits. I just felt like everything about this book really related with me as a person and that made it so enjoyable for me to delve into.
This was just yet another brilliant, fun, sexy novel by Tirza. I've read one of her other books so far ('Birthday Present') and absolutely loved it. This book, I loved equally as much if not more. And I cannot wait to delve into more of her work.
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This book is exciting, hot, sweet, deep, versatile and different. Just beautiful!
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I love how Tirza Schaefer experiments with different styles and surprising turns in her storylines. There is always something new and it never gets boring. That's why you don't have to worry about reading all of her books. I'm at it.
This book, you never find out the two main protagonists' names. It is written in the first person, from the femal perspective and when she talks about the hero, she addresses him in the second person. That in itself is an unusual thing to do. But it works so well and you really get to crawl into her head and want to be her! In fact, I forgot I wasn't when I was reading the book.
And her hero is just so awesome! What a man! I love how he takes her out for pancakes and won't let her go. That melted my heart right there. Little things that mean so much to a woman, he sees it and does it. But his character doesn't give the impression of being larger than life. He is very human and humble, his own background is explained and why he is the way he is. You can really picture him in your mind as a real life person, not a fantastical super hero that doesn't have a chance of existence in real life. This book is exciting, hot, sweet, deep, versatile and different. Just beautiful!
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Joyful, Reader
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