Guest Post: Love Letter to Dear Old Duke & Durham, NC (Julie Tetel)
Duke Chapel, also shown on the cover of "Love After All"
My international travel has shown up in my recent books. My Forest Breeze trilogy is a prime example, since all three stories are set in Vietnam where I spent six months a couple of years ago. But, when it comes right down to it, there’s no place like home. In my most recent romance Love After All (May, 2016), that’s where I go.
I’ve taught at Duke University and lived in Durham, NC for over twenty years. Durham is one of the points on the Research Triangle, with Chapel Hill and Raleigh being the other two. For years and years, Durham was the ugly stepsister of the Triangle, with a nearly abandoned downtown and lots of ratty corners with boarded up buildings.
That was then. Now Durham is the place to be. In the past five years downtown has come alive. The ratty corners have shiny new apartment complexes. There are even – amazingly! – mini-traffic jams at some intersections. The New York Times recognizes Durham as a true foodie town. And where did the 2015 season of HGTV’s Love It or List It chose for their first location outside of Canada? Raleigh-Durham.
I’ve taught at Duke University and lived in Durham, NC for over twenty years. Durham is one of the points on the Research Triangle, with Chapel Hill and Raleigh being the other two. For years and years, Durham was the ugly stepsister of the Triangle, with a nearly abandoned downtown and lots of ratty corners with boarded up buildings.
That was then. Now Durham is the place to be. In the past five years downtown has come alive. The ratty corners have shiny new apartment complexes. There are even – amazingly! – mini-traffic jams at some intersections. The New York Times recognizes Durham as a true foodie town. And where did the 2015 season of HGTV’s Love It or List It chose for their first location outside of Canada? Raleigh-Durham.
Former tobacco warehouses, now shops
Durham has always had Duke, a truly beautiful college campus. But for years it was as if Duke was a draw in spite of being in Durham. Now Durham itself is a magnet for 20- and 30-somethings who have an entrepreneurial spirit and want an affordable quality of life. The old industrial buildings have become apartments and tech startups. The mellow red brick tobacco warehouses now house trendy shops and boutique restaurants.
Where does Love After All fit into the mix? Gino and Laurel are both mid-50s Manhattanites. He’s a widower, and she’s divorced. They’re at the top of their professional games, but they’re both rusty on dating chops. In spite of the rust – because of it – they agree to trade favors: if Laurel goes to his cancer benefit events and runs interference on the socialites chasing after him, Gino will go with her to her 35th college reunion at Duke.
The reunion at Duke is where the magic happens. They stay at the charming King’s Daughter’s Inn off East Campus:
Where does Love After All fit into the mix? Gino and Laurel are both mid-50s Manhattanites. He’s a widower, and she’s divorced. They’re at the top of their professional games, but they’re both rusty on dating chops. In spite of the rust – because of it – they agree to trade favors: if Laurel goes to his cancer benefit events and runs interference on the socialites chasing after him, Gino will go with her to her 35th college reunion at Duke.
The reunion at Duke is where the magic happens. They stay at the charming King’s Daughter’s Inn off East Campus:
They stroll the Duke Gardens...
...as well as the latest area to revive downtown, a place with Fullsteam Brewery, bars, restaurants, and plenty of food trucks.
They whiz past Cameron Indoor Stadium with all the basketball championship banners:
They attend reunion events at the Washington Duke Inn, off West Campus. Gino even plays a round of golf on the course that spreads out behind it.
It was a pleasure to write about characters with a lot of life experience. They’ve accomplished things. They’ve lived full lives. They know stuff. Their attraction to one another is not instantaneous. It has to mature and develop as they get to know one another.
It was also a pleasure to write about places I know so well. Duke has always had cachet. Now Durham does, too. In the stodgy old days, it made itself known as The City of Medicine. More recently, its slogan is Find Your Cool.
It was also a pleasure to write about places I know so well. Duke has always had cachet. Now Durham does, too. In the stodgy old days, it made itself known as The City of Medicine. More recently, its slogan is Find Your Cool.
Durham makes the perfect cool backdrop for a warm and fuzzy love story.
Love After All is Gino’s and Laurel’s story of second chances. It’s Durham’s story, too.
It just came out on the Kindle library – I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed telling it..
Footnote: I only recently learned that the origin of the term bullpen came from a Bull Durham Tobacco poster that once hung over the player’s pit at Yankee Stadium. Durham is still known as The Bull City.
Love After All is Gino’s and Laurel’s story of second chances. It’s Durham’s story, too.
It just came out on the Kindle library – I hope you’ll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed telling it..
Footnote: I only recently learned that the origin of the term bullpen came from a Bull Durham Tobacco poster that once hung over the player’s pit at Yankee Stadium. Durham is still known as The Bull City.
About the Book
NYU professor Laurel Jennings has spent her career climbing the ladder in the academic world. Dedication has yielded a deanship and a home in New York City's Greenwich Village, but her smile hides her long-suppressed pain of rejection.
Gino Milano is one of New York's most successful restaurateurs. Family-oriented, generous, kind, and hospitable, the death of his beloved wife of thirty-five years has left Gino wandering from fling to fling, without the intention of finding that kind of relationship again.
On the eve of college reunion season, this reserved divorcee and passionate widower cross paths in the lobby of their building. Faced with the prospect of being the only one of her friends to attend their thirty-fifth college reunion alone, Laurel impulsively asks the first man she sees. Gino, intrigued by her candor, agrees to help -- but dismisses any possibility of romantic interest.
In need of help of his own, Gino offers Laurel a deal: he will accompany her to her reunion at Duke if she helps him fend off the advances of women at his own weekend of fundraising events. Initial doubts give way to playful moments and personal revelations as matters come to a head on a beautiful April weekend at Duke University. Can both of them find love after all they have been through?
Amazon Buy Link
Gino Milano is one of New York's most successful restaurateurs. Family-oriented, generous, kind, and hospitable, the death of his beloved wife of thirty-five years has left Gino wandering from fling to fling, without the intention of finding that kind of relationship again.
On the eve of college reunion season, this reserved divorcee and passionate widower cross paths in the lobby of their building. Faced with the prospect of being the only one of her friends to attend their thirty-fifth college reunion alone, Laurel impulsively asks the first man she sees. Gino, intrigued by her candor, agrees to help -- but dismisses any possibility of romantic interest.
In need of help of his own, Gino offers Laurel a deal: he will accompany her to her reunion at Duke if she helps him fend off the advances of women at his own weekend of fundraising events. Initial doubts give way to playful moments and personal revelations as matters come to a head on a beautiful April weekend at Duke University. Can both of them find love after all they have been through?
Amazon Buy Link
About the Author
Julie Tetel Andresen has written about language and love for more than 20 years. A professor of linguistics at Duke University, Julie has also written more than twenty romance novels and novellas. Before moving to publish exclusively on the Amazon Kindle library, she was published by Fawcett Crest, Warner Books, and Harlequin. Her novels cross many sub-genres of romance, including mystery, contemporary, BDSM, motorcycle club, and historicals.
Julie loves to travel, and has lived for extended periods in Germany, France, Romania, Vietnam, and Mongolia. As a child, Julie had a passion for playing the piano, and transferred that passion as an adult into writing romance novels and scholarly books about language. For Julie, writing essays in foreign languages is like playing scales and arpeggios as a warm-up exercise for writing in English.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjulietetelandresen
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JTAbooks
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/654435.Julie_Tetel_Andresen
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/110836139498903771104/posts
Julie loves to travel, and has lived for extended periods in Germany, France, Romania, Vietnam, and Mongolia. As a child, Julie had a passion for playing the piano, and transferred that passion as an adult into writing romance novels and scholarly books about language. For Julie, writing essays in foreign languages is like playing scales and arpeggios as a warm-up exercise for writing in English.
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorjulietetelandresen
Twitter: https://twitter.com/JTAbooks
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/654435.Julie_Tetel_Andresen
Google+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/110836139498903771104/posts
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