Author: Matilda Swinney

Guest Post: The True Story Behind The Texts Before We Met

Posted on February 7, 2022 by Nadene @ Totally Addicted to Reading in Guest Post / 7 Comments

 

Guest Post: The True Story Behind The Texts Before We MetTitle: The Texts Before We Met: The prequel to The Girl Who Jumped, a magical laugh-out-loud love story
Author(s): Matilda Swinney
Published by Chapter Eight Publishing on January 4, 2022
Pages: 52
Genre(s): Contemporary Romance, Romantic Comedy
Goodreads
Purchase: Amazon

A steamy romantic comedy to be remembered! Join Tilly as she begins her journey of empowerment and unexpected love story. The Texts Before We Met is a fun romance with a little steam and lots of laughs.

The Texts Before We Met, a short story and romantic comedy, follows Tilly who dreams of becoming an oscar winning actress. She also dreams of something far less family-friendly. She has always longed to be dominated. She wants an alpha guy of her own. During an acting course in Brighton, she decides to embrace her desires and makes a risky decision. After trying out online dating, she agrees to meet the stranger she has been talking to online for a mere few weeks. Will he be the dominating guy she's been dreaming of?

As the acting course progresses, so does the romance. As Tilly begins to make friends, her texts with her online mystery man accelerate too. She worries whether she has made the right decision. Should she listen to her heart’s desire or pay attention to the warning signs? Is he the perfect alpha man or is she in over her head with online dating?

On the day she's due to meet her online guy, she races to the five star London hotel. She's running late, but she's ready to finally find out who he is. Will he live up to her expectations and be the sexy alpha guy she's always wanted?

This short story and online dating adventure is a romance to remember and the prequel to the debut novel and steamy romantic comedy, The Girl Who Jumped.

 

The True Story Behind The Texts Before We Met

The Texts Before We Met is the prequel to The Girl Who Jumped. It’s a steamy romantic comedy set the week before the beginning of The Girl Who Jumped. It’s a short read of 58 pages and was published on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Apple, Smashwords and Kobo on 4th January 2022.

I will always remember the day I decided to write The Girl Who Jumped. I was in a hostel in Brighton in the UK. I was staying there for a week to do an acting course. 

I’d just come back from seven weeks of solo-travel and a three-month charity placement in Nicaragua. I was supposed to be a new woman — enlightened, wise, selfless.

So, why as soon as the plane landed in Manchester had I joined an online dating site (eight sites to be exact)?

The truth was, I’d not had sex for nine months and as enlightened and as wise as I was supposed to be after “finding myself” in South East Asia, I still had desires that needed to be met. 

After a horrendous time on dating sites were the only men who were interested in me were sleazy and rubbish at listening, I realised one essential thing.

I had to take control.

The truth was, I didn’t want a boyfriend. I wanted to have sex. But I wanted it to be magical and mind-blowing. And I wanted to feel respected and happy afterwards. I wanted it to be an amazing experience. It had to feel good for my soul as well as, ahem, down there.

I had always craved domination. I say Christian Grey style, but that’s not really accurate — we weren’t about to engage in a persuasion game where the guy was messed up and the girl was coerced into doing something she didn’t want to do.

I was the leader. I created my online profile on the popular women forward sex site, Killing Kittens and I checked through guys to find the one I wanted.

The only thing I was worried about, was meeting a stranger. I guess that’s all it was. My hands were shaking and I felt sick. It was the most terrified I’ve ever been. It felt like I was stepping into a dangerous situation. Why couldn’t I just enjoy my acting course in Brighton and go home to my mum? A trip to London to meet a man I’d never seen in person was a risky move.

And honestly, I’m not exactly sure what propelled me forward to take the biggest risk of my life. Was it the fact I’d not had sex for nine months? Or that I’d never got what I wanted during sex? Perhaps, it was the urge to put aside the terrible relationships of my past and move forward with what I hoped would be a sexually empowering journey.

What I realise now, after the cathartic experience of writing The Girl Who Jumped (May 9th, 2022) and the prequel The Texts Before We Met (out now) is that humans have an urge to love, to feel desire, to connect deeply with another human. 

That urge never leaves you. Even if you describe yourself as a sensible person or someone who has strict morals you know you’d never break, I believe the urge to connect with a person and fall in love is the strongest compulsion ever. It overrides everything. 

As soon as you jump, there’s no stopping. You’re crashing forwards with no way of reversing, you’re jumping in headfirst, risking your heart again and just hoping it will pay off. You have to be with the person you’ve fallen in love with, no matter what. You ache when you’re not together, you think about them every second of the day and you automatically prioritise them above everything.

Love is dangerous. But it’s also the most joyful, blissful and beautiful experience of any person’s life. It makes you vulnerable and that’s a wonderful thing. 

The Texts Before We Met builds the danger, excitement and joy you will feel in The Girl Who Jumped. It’s a prequel to show Tilly’s (me) background story, her motivation for jumping into such a risky situation and the first ever messages between her and S. It’s an exclusive preview of their desire and love for each other. If you like the sound of it, you can get it free on Amazon today. 

 

About Matilda Swinney

Matilda Swinney is a freelance writer, author and mother of two girls. Her novelette, The Texts Before We Met, is the prequel to her debut novel, The Girl Who Jumped (05 April 2022). The series is based on a true story. To access the real images from the texts featured in the novel go to https://pages.thegirlwhojumped.com/

Nadene @ Totally Addicted to Reading

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