Emily, welcome to Romance Lives Forever. I’m Kayelle Allen, author and owner of this blog. Happy to have you here! Please tell us about Bird of Paradise.

Bird of Paradise by Marilyn Anne Hughes and Emily Hughes Johnson

Genre Romance

Book heat level (based on movie ratings): PG13

Lush emerald-green jungles, gentle breezes perfumed by jasmine and gardenia, crystalline cascading waters, and a sparkling turquoise lagoon. Gently bobbing boats and the rich Island cultures of the past meet the present. Regardless of where she was, she was never truly home until she felt the sun-toasted sands of the Island under her feet.

“He looked at me like I was the sun that filled his skies in the morning and the stars that filled his skies at night and that every breath he took was just so he could spend one more moment on this earth with me.”

Seventeen-year-old Arianna Heywood is a hopeless romantic who dreams of one day sipping Bellini’s with her love in Italy and when a trip home to the Island reveals that her innocent childhood crush no longer looks at her as his kid sister, Ari is eager to step into the world of womanhood. But as is so often the case, you cannot always choose what happens in life.

Facing immeasurable pain, Ari embarks on a decade long journey of self-discovery, but an unexpected encounter in the city of her dreams may change it all again. Torn between the pull of her Island and the possibility of what lies beyond, Ari must bridge the gap between her past and the story of her future. They say some love stories are meant to last forever. Will theirs be one of them? Only Ari has the power to decide.

From Emily Johnson

An Unfinished Manuscript and a Last Request – My Unintended Journey to Becoming a Published Author

Writing a book is no walk in the park (cliché, I know. It’s ok…roll your eyes!) While many do it because they love to write, it doesn’t mean the struggles aren’t real. Who hasn’t faced the daunting task of writing an opening sentence? I mean, even starting this blog had me hitting delete several times.

Outlining a story from beginning to end can take some writers months or even years (just ask George R.R. Martin). Fine tuning each character, flushing out multiple story arcs and then planning how they all intersect, figuring out the plausible passage of time, and even keeping details straight from beginning to end takes a lot of work and brainpower. You don’t want Chloe walking into a room she’s already walked into and if Ella suddenly ages backward (unless you’re writing fantasy I suppose), well…you have issues. And yes, I borrowed those names from a TV show. Just coming up with names for characters can take hours!

Many readers only see the final product, but writers…well, we know the blood, sweat and tears that go into each page (commence eye roll). And once you type “The End,” the real fun begins. There’s the editing process (yep, that takes several go arounds) and the formatting, design, querying, and more querying (and more and more and more,) publishing, marketing, advertising and then…if you’re crazy enough, you write a sequel.

I do not profess to be an expert on book writing by any means. In fact, my becoming a published author happened unintentionally. You see, I’m in marketing and advertising by profession, so the idea of publishing a fictional work never crossed my mind. Until that is, I found a letter with a request I couldn’t ignore.

To tell my story, we need to rewind the clock several years (well longer, but a lady never reveals her age) to the day 13-year-old me was told my mother had Breast Cancer. It’s moments like this when you realize your parents aren’t the invincible superheroes that you thought they were. Suddenly you’re forced to face the very harsh concept of mortality. The fact that what only “happens to other people,” can in fact happen to you too. Fortunately, my mom caught her cancer early (please do your monthly self-checks!) and was able to overcome the diagnosis with “relative” ease. I say relative because no cancer diagnosis is easy.

Fast forward two years and you’ll find 15-year-old me facing the unthinkable again. After several tests, my mom was diagnosed with advanced stage Ovarian Cancer. Statistically speaking, it was terminal. Women with cancer this advanced simply didn’t live long. A few years at best. And suddenly I wondered: would she be there to help me get ready for the prom, see me graduate from high school or college or walk down the aisle? Would she ever have the chance to be a grandmother? All questions that had no answers.

But my mother refused to accept the statistics – she never liked math anyway. She immediately began researching and found a group of doctors willing to look at her as an individual and not a numerical statistic. Her goal? To watch me walk down the aisle. Mind you, I was only 15 – she was asking a lot.

She endured countless surgeries, rounds of chemotherapy and setbacks, many of which seemed to align oddly enough with my final exams in high school and college. As a former educator, it wasn’t unusual to see my mom sitting in her hospital bed shortly after surgery with my notes and textbooks lying next to her as I paced back and forth while she quizzed me. My mom’s cancer was no excuse not to excel academically.

And so, the years passed. I graduated from high school and then received a degree in Journalism and Public Relations from UNC-Chapel Hill. I went on to work in sports marketing and advertising and in 2011 (a major middle finger to the statistics) my mom watched me walk down the aisle. But in 2012, after enduring years of chemotherapy and other treatments, her body could no longer fight and sadly she left us in December of that year.

So, what does this all have to do with my unintentional journey to becoming a published author? Shortly after my mom received her Ovarian Cancer diagnosis, she began writing a book. She spent hours writing and researching. I once asked her what she was writing, but she just smiled and said, “you’ll know eventually.” I asked her several times if I could read what she’d written, but again with a twinkle in her eye she said, “when you are ready.” I didn’t think much of it until later down the road when it suddenly all became clear.

A few weeks after my mom passed away, I found a letter from her and a copy of her unfinished manuscript. In the letter, she made one last request and by doing so, left one last gift.

“…I know now that this is where my story ends, so I hope you will begin where I left off. I will watch over you through the good times and the bad. I will be there with you to share the joys of becoming a mom, and I will be there watching as you and Matt grow old together. And each night I will be there to whisper sweet dreams. I love you.”

– Forever and Beyond, Mom

It’s hard to put into words the feelings that washed over me when I realized what she was asking. She was entrusting me with the story of her characters whom she had spent years creating.

I lost count of how many times I read through her manuscript. The first time (ok, maybe the first several times) I simply read and cried. It was therapeutic in a sense. Through her words, I was able to continue having a conversation with my mom and as I read on, it became clear that although Bird of Paradise was a work of fiction, it was also meant to put into words the pieces of wisdom, experiences, and guidance one would hope to pass along to their children throughout the course of their lives.

My mom left no notes or outline of where she intended to take her story and looking back, I think she did this intentionally knowing all along that I would be the one to finish the story of Arianna Heywood.

But where do you start? It’s not often that you are tasked with finishing a story you didn’t begin. For many writers, the characters are pieces of them. They become your family, your friends, and in some cases may even represent your greatest fantasies or utopian ideals. Forming that kind of emotional bond with characters who I didn’t give birth to was difficult. Until I realized I already had a bond with them. My mom’s characters were a part of her, a part of me, and a part of my family.

Then came a copious amount of note taking. From their physical details, backgrounds, and emotional motivations, I had to get to know the characters and their individual stories as intimately as my mom did. Fortunately, she had firmly created all but one character, simply leaving me with a name and an idea of the role that character was intended to take. And boy did I enjoy getting to create that one!

Many people have asked me how I came up with the rest of the story. And you know something? That ended up being the easy part. I immediately knew where I wanted to take it. I even wrote the end first and then, with relative ease, was able to backtrack my way to that black and white line of where she left off and I began.

It was important to me to stay true to her story. To do so, I changed very little of what she wrote. I simply added in events and conversations that later down the road would lead to the completion of each character’s individual story arc and a running theme that would connect the beginning and the end of the book.

But then came the technical part. As a marketing and advertising professional, my natural writing style is more economical – facts, single sentence taglines and brevity. Say what you need to say and get outta dodge (apparently, I’m full of clichés today!) My mom’s writing style was descriptive, deeply poetic, and picturesque. If you were to read my first draft, I’m fairly certain that black and white line would be lit up like the Las Vegas Strip! That was unacceptable in my mind. With each pass, I added layer upon layer of description and emotion (I’ve often compared it to an oil painting) to bring my writing to a level that would seamlessly integrate into my mom’s writing.

I used Google to find images that spoke to me emotionally. Images upon which I could base my descriptions – colors, weather, buildings, clothing, people…you name it, I used it. Like my mom, I was also able to draw upon memories of places I’ve been and seen, things that have happened, and emotions I’ve felt. Like she did, finishing this novel gave me the opportunity to immortalize my legacy and leave a bit of me for my son to have forever. There is one scene in particular (perhaps my favorite) that I took directly from my memory. It was one of those moments in life that is so significant you don’t just remember it, but you live it over and over again. That’s a major hint if you read the book!

Bird of Paradise is set in the 1960’s and 1970’s. It follows the story of a young girl as she embarks on a decade long journey of self-discovery along which she learns that through immeasurable pain, life’s greatest beauty can emerge. I’ve had people call it everything from a coming-of-age story to a family saga to a romance. As the main character ages and develops, so too does the genre. Again, without revealing my age, I was not alive during the time this story takes place. My mom did an immense amount of research to ensure that each detail of place was perfect and that everything (and I do mean everything) made sense in the context in which it took place. So, when I picked up Bird of Paradise, I had to do the same. When I took Arianna to the city of her dreams (you’ll have to read it to know where) I had to make sure I was writing about what was there in the 1960’s and 70’s, not today. I had to call museums, use newspaper clippings, and search historical records. I even had to pull from my long-forgotten foreign language courses in college.

Eight years on and I finally typed “The End.” It was a very emotional moment for me as I felt like I was finishing the last chapter (no pun intended) of my life with my mom. I never intended to publish Bird of Paradise. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time and suddenly I found myself with a published novel. Bird of Paradise was released on March 29th, 2021 – on what would have been my mom’s 71st birthday.

I am often asked on podcasts if I will ever write another book and honestly, I really don’t know. There’s one floating around in my head, but whether it gets from there to the pages of a book is anyone’s guess. What I do know is that collaborating with my mom and melding our stories together has been the gift of a lifetime and I’m beyond honored that she entrusted me with Arianna’s story. And now, I am even more honored to share her story with the world.

Where to buy Bird of Paradise

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08ZYX339Z

Emily Johnson Social Media

Emily was born in Aspen, Colorado where she enjoyed skiing, dancing ballet and playing golf. At the age of 13, she and her family moved to Pinehurst, North Carolina. She played competitive golf and was a member of the Nike All-American Junior Team. She attended UNC-Chapel Hill and graduated with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication with a concentration in Public Relations. From a young age, Emily was fascinated by Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius leading her to an intensive study of Mediterranean Archeology while at UNC.
After graduation, Emily began her professional career in the Marketing Department at the PGA TOUR before moving on to agency work. She eventually moved back to North Carolina where she began writing grants for a professional ballet company before starting a freelance marketing and consulting business.
Emily currently resides in Raleigh, North Carolina with her husband and son and enjoys playing golf, running, kickboxing, reading, hiking, travelling, and spending time with her family.
Website https://emilyjohnsonwrites.net/
Twitter https://twitter.com/elhughes01
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/emily.johnson.5036459
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/ejohnson2014
Goodreads https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21371186.Emily_Hughes_Johnson