home   |   books   |   bio   |   ireland  |   tips   |   blog   |  forum  |   links   |   Press Info   |  contact

Harlequin Romance

USA & Canada

Check out the Behind the Scenes story of Marriage Lost And Found...

Read  What The Reviewers have to Say about Marriage Lost And Found...

"Marriage Lost And Found"

"A husband she can’t forget...

Abbey’s boyfriend has proposed. There’s just one small problem - the husband she hasn’t seen in eight years, since he left her at the airport and never came back! Is it time to let go of her last hope that he might return?

A wife he doesn’t remember...

Ethan lost six months of memory after a car accident. So when he receives Abbey’s letter, demanding a divorce, he’s determined to find out about the wife he didn’t know he had...

For more books like this one go to my Harlequin Romance page

     “So that’s her fiancé then.” Ethan leaned his forearms on the bar opposite Karyn as Abbey left with Paul.

He hadn’t wanted her to leave. It was the weirdest sensation. Half of him had just wanted to hold onto her and not let her leave the space beside him. A complete stranger. One he’d barely met and already he felt the need to be possessive of her company? Weird.

Karyn studied his face for a second before sipping through her straw and shrugging, “She hasn’t said yes.”

“Why not?”

“You’d have to ask Abbey that one.”

He raised a dark eyebrow, “She just left. In case you hadn’t noticed.”

“And that bugs you does it?” She twirled her straw around, tinkling ice against the glass.

Ethan considered lying for a split second before smiling, “Apparently so.”

“And why would that be do you think?”

He leaned back and began to tidy away some of the cocktail equipment behind the bar, “Damned if I know.”

“Because you don’t remember her.”

He stopped what he was doing to stare her straight in the eye, “You think I’m lying about that?”

Karyn looked straight back at him.

“You do don’t you?”

She shrugged in an ‘I dunno’ kinda way.

Ethan swore. Then tidied away the remaining bottles with a couple of slams before turning on her with, “Why the hell would I do that?”

Karyn sighed, “Maybe when you saw her you realized you’d made a mistake and this was the best way you could think of to get out of it.”

His expression was stunned, “What the hell kinda guys you dealing with over here?”

“Now you see that’d be a long story.”

“Well where I come from people don’t pull lousy stunts like that. If I’d screwed up that bad then I’d stand up and say so. I wouldn’t hide behind a lie.”

“That’s very honorable.”

“Yes it damn well is. Because,” He suddenly realized he didn’t even know her name, “lady that’s the way I am and I’m not about to apologize for that. You can think what you want but all I know is six months ago I got a letter outta the blue from some woman who’s been a face in a photograph to me for eight years. If I’d loved someone enough to damn well marry them I’d never have let them go.”

With a swift turn he lifted the bar’s hatch and stepped past Karyn just as Tom Flannery reappeared from the toilets, “You away Ethan?”

Ethan stopped to smile, “Yeah Tom I am. You look after that hip you hear.”

“I will,” Tom rubbed a hand at his left hip, “I’ll try them there things you said to ease it. And you can make me ‘sex at the seaside’ anytime. Can’t hardly feel the pain.”

Ethan grinned, “It’s a miracle.”

“Aye, you got to watch them miracles. Never know where they appear.”

“Bye Tom.”

Karyn’s eyes met Ethan’s again before he frowned and marched towards the door. She sighed then lifted her bag and slipped off the stool to follow him. Her hand touched his by the door, “Ethan wait.”

“What?”

“Firstly it’s Karyn by the way,” She reached her hand out to shake his, “I like to consider myself Abbey’s best friend. I thought I knew her better than anyone else ‘til you came along.”

Ethan ignored her hand and looked at her with guarded eyes, “So this is what, the protective act?”

“Possibly,” She dropped the hand, “But you’ve got to admit this is a little out of the ordinary.”

He brushed his fingers back through his short hair, looking at the door for a moment as he thought. Then he glanced down at her, “I didn’t come half way across the world to lie Karyn.”

“So what did you come for?”

Initially he’d just made the trip for answers. Had reasoned with himself that one trip would fill in the blanks that had tortured him for so long. But in an extremely short space of time he found he had a different answer to her question,

“I came to get to know my wife.”

“To find out if you still love her?”

He looked at the door again, “Maybe to find out why I loved her enough to get married to her.”

“You haven’t considered getting married since your accident?” Karyn raised an eyebrow at his profile, “Eight years is a long time to not get involved with anyone.”

Ethan shrugged as he glanced back at her again, “Nothing that serious. I guess I thought I was a confirmed bachelor.”

She laughed, “Apparently not.”

He managed a smile as he pushed the door open onto the street, “So it would seem.”

Karyn followed him when he held the door open for her, turning to face him again as the door closed behind them, “Abbey didn’t get involved with anyone for a long time either. I always thought it was just because she was so career orientated. But maybe there was another reason.”

He smiled at her words of encouragement then glanced over her head to the couple down the sidewalk from them, “Well whatever her reason was, she’s sure as hell involved now, isn’t she?”

Karyn turned and looked to where Paul was drawing Abbey into his arms. She grimaced as she looked back at Ethan, “Life is never simple.”

Ethan  couldn’t drag his eyes away from them. His gut twisted at the sight. What right had he to walk in and take that away from her? Maybe he’d been wrong to make the trip after all. It had been selfish. To walk on in and complicate this strangers life. Maybe he should just give her a divorce and leave her to make a life with someone else. That would be the logical thing to do. The sensible and right thing. And Ethan had always tried to do the right thing, hadn’t he?

Hazel eyes glanced down at the woman in front of him, “Thanks for the talk Karyn,” He reached out his hand to shake hers, “It was real nice to meet you.”

“You too Ethan,” She held onto his hand for a moment, “But I wouldn’t run off too fast if I were you.”

He raised an eyebrow in question, “You think?”

Nodding she released his hand and glanced back over her shoulder again, “You both need some kind of closure to this. Abbey as much as you. And you have to remember she’s had more time than you to torture herself over this.” 

Back to books

The book inspired by what was almost a real life tragedy - and the book that went on to be my best-selling title to date...

When I started plotting this story it was as part of a linked ideas series that some new author friends and myself hoped to pitch. We themed it on First Loves and we all outlined our stories together... and I'm not the only one of us that went on to write the actual book...

Mine went along the lines of 'How well do you know your best friend'? A tag-line of sorts. And I do that quite a bit when I'm plotting - I ask a question that I seek to answer in the story... In this case the answering question to the tag was - 'Would you know her well enough to know she had been married before?' And that was the crux of Abby's story...

But I had to ask myself why, if she married for love, had she not stayed with her husband? What happened to him? Why didn't he ever contact her, or come to find her? And as I was starting to write the book - everyone's worst nightmare happened - friends of mine were involved in a bad car accident! And my writing stopped...

One of them was very badly hurt, he was in a coma, not expected to live. When he eventually started to recover the doctors went through varying scenarios - he wouldn't walk again, then they said he would be brain damaged, they they said he would have memory loss... He came through every obstacle - except the last one. And as the small child next to him in the car was killed, it was almost a blessing that he didn't. It was the awe inspiring strength and bravery of this truly amazing young man that led me to Ethan's story - and that's the reason the book is dedicated to that very same young man...Knowing him, and seeing what he went through to come out the other side was humbling...I'll never forget it. And this story was my tribute to him.

So Ethan didn't remember the summer he met, fell in love with, and married Abby... And out of respect to the real life events that led to his story, he never does, right to the end of Marriage Lost And Found and beyond...  The book became a story not just of love, but of hope, of never losing hope, and most of all in believing in second chances.

Locations for this book:

This book gave birth to a very special place - the imaginary village of Killyduff... A place so vividly real to me by the end, that it even made it into the Reader Letter at the front of the book in the States! And just recently in Rescued: Mother-To-Be, it has made a very small, if brief, reappearance. I don't think it'll be the last time it appears either...

It had a special Irish charm to it that made Ethan stand out even more. Because Ethan may well come from a small town, but his real world centres around his job as an Army Helicopter Pilot in the States, so he's a bit like an alien to the local population of Killyduff! People like Tom, with his own stool at the bar in The Fiddler's Elbow; the man who's rheumatism Ethan helps with when he introduces him to cocktails for the first time...

I loved everything about Killyduff! And having lived in small Irish villages just like it for a good portion of my life this last decade or so - I can promise you - places like Killyduff really do exist!!!

Soundtrack playing: 

Nope - still didn't have a specific music *thing* at this stage... I think that started with The Wedding Surprise to be honest... Which was my next book as it happens...

*All Photographs are used to give a visible representation of the Authors 'view' and are in no way representative of the people or places in real life beyond the realms of the Authors imagination.

"Trish Wylie's fresh, witty style will entertain readers, as will Abbey and Ethan."

Romantic Times

"Warm, witty and deliciously romantic, Marriage Lost and Found is romantic fiction at its very best! Trish Wylie weaves a magical spell on her readers and draws them into Abbey and Ethan's world from the very beginning..."

Julie Bonello -   Cataromance

"Wylie is adept at writing believable characters, and she shows much more than she tells."

All About Romance

"...Trish Wylie offers the reader spunkiness between her characters and light reading. Forgiveness is the meaning of this story and to begin a new life all over. This reviewer enjoyed this book, the writings of Ms. Wylie, and it would be a keeper for anyone's shelf."

Romance Junkies

"Overall, the sense of hope and a chance for happiness permeates the story and makes Marriage Lost and Found a recommended reading experience"

The Romance Reader

"What can i say just excellent. It had everything i like in a book. Easy and enjoyable, Hot and sexy, and also fun to read as well."

Julie A - UK

home   |   books   |   bio   |   ireland  |   tips   |   blog   |  forum  |   links   |   Press Info   |  contact