Sara Wilkinson

When Nat refused his offer, she figured that was the end of their brief interaction. But when he followed, albeit fifty paces behind, she had to smile and give him props for perseverance. That didn’t mean she’d go easy on him. She took it upon herself to have a little fun by seeing how far he’d walk before giving up. Unworried about another objectionable situation since his vibe communicated overprotective big brother rather than predator. Unlike the two Idiots. Or so she guessed as an only child. But now she was tired. Nat glanced at the Union, wishing the Dairy Store inside was open. She’d enter and see if he followed, then judge his ice cream selection.

One 'pursue' and its a spoiler so substituted 'follow'ed. A lighter snip than my last continuing Nat and Matt's first unofficial meeting.
-'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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Thanks for asking this question 🥰 I too have a prologue (a first for me) and am hesitant over whether to keep it or not.

Isn't that the billion dollar question. I wish I had the answer.

Thanks so much 🤩

And yet, the one person she worked so hard to impress remained in the wind. Nat played on the national stage, on the world stage and still her dad hadn’t reached out. Hadn’t even followed her on any one of her numerous social media accounts. His continued silence was a curse, yes, but also a blessing. She couldn’t disappoint him again if he hadn’t stopped being disappointed, clearly true given his radio silence, and how could she explain his reappearance without devastating her mom. Not only by rekindling the hurt of his unbelievably, unforgivably awful departure, but by making her think she wasn’t enough.

'Media' - 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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As do I every time I edit that scene 🫠

“Were you in Caleb’s room?” The heightened color of Priya’s cheeks was all the answer Nat needed. “Objection!” Lucy hit the island counter with her palm. “No changing the subject, Natalie.” “Seriously,” Charlotte added around a bite of frosted donut. “We aren’t surprised by Priya and Caleb, and neither should you be. They’ve only circled around it for the past year. Tell us more about your rescuer.” Nat shrugged with upturned palms. “I’ve got nothing else. Tall, not dark, but handsome. He smelled nice. Stubborn as an ass.” “Hmm, who does that remind us of?” Charlotte tapped her pink frosting coated lips.

Nat trying to deflect her roommates from their interrogation about her mystery man.

'Counter' - 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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Outside the large room with the equally large sign announcing the Wilson-Schafer engagement, Nat stopped. Peeking around the opened door, she recognized a few faces, but not most. All had similarly open smiles and bright, inviting eyes, renewing Nat’s belief that she should leave lest her presence kill the mood. No. She came here to see and be seen by one person and one person only. Even if only for a simple hello. Even if for a final goodbye.

'Most' from the prologue of 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'.
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Luckily, Jordan recognized a fish floundering on sand. She and Tess took Nat under their fins and helped her focus, helped highlight her positive additions to the team while correcting her negatives, helped, in truth, secure her spot on the final roster. Even helped her find a nice apartment near hers in a good nice, hip neighborhood. Now she glanced over Nat’s shoulder at the phone still in Nat’s hand. “Boyfriend?” Tess asked from the other side. “Best friend from college. Sends a text before every game since we met.”

Nat receiving her usual text from Matt before her first pro soccer game.
'Highlight'-'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love Details: Tropes: Strangers-friends-lovers Sworn off love Found family Slow burn Inspired by: "Kids in Love"- Pink feat. First Aid Kit Details: Contemporary Romance 86,500 words Dual POV Comps: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry When Harry Met Sally Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

Stubborn dreams and bottled love EXCERPT: “I’m not ready for this to end.” Nat searched his eyes with eyes full of understanding. Too much understanding. As if she too knew this, whatever this was, had to end. Every time he held her, he wanted more from her. Something Nat couldn’t, wouldn’t give. Not yet. Maybe someday. An improbable idea, not an impossible one. Where’s there’s life, there’s hope. But that hope dwindled with each passing semester, each passing season. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could or should wait. With his all-encompassing residency starting in a few weeks and Nat playing in the Olympics later this year on top of her already grinding schedule, such hope died a slow death.

People We Meet on Vacation x When Harry Met Sally

👭Two reluctant friends
😶‍🌫️Two lifelong dreams
🛣️Two separate paths
🍾One tradition holding them together regardless of distance
💖Can Nat and Matt sacrifice their dreams for the love and completion that only the other can provide?

#WSPit #Q #A #NA #R

Stubborn Dreams and bottled love EXCERPT: The offer, now that was a larger, more menacing beast. Sweet, yes. Probably one of the sweetest things any man, any person had ever suggested. As ever, Matt amazed her with his kindness, his valiantness. But that didn’t make his offer, or her acceptance, right. No matter how shiny, how tempting, how…breathtaking, accepting wouldn’t be fair. To her, yes, but mostly to him. It would only prolong the inevitable—one of them giving up their dream for the other. Nat by moving back to Lakeside Heights for his pediatrics practice or, more likely, Matt staying in Chicago, or wherever her soccer career curved, and practicing medicine away from the very people he sought to help. And Nat doubted she could make a relationship work while living in the same city any more than if they lived in separate cities regardless of their nearness. Somehow, she’d disappoint Matt as she had her dad, and he’d leave.

People We Meet on Vacation x When Harry Met Sally

Matt's rescue of Nat leads to a near decade long friendship that survives distance through a signal and tradition and might lead to love if they sacrifice their lifelong dreams.

✨Strangers-friends-lovers
✨Slow Burn
✨Found Family
#WSPit #Q #A #NA #R

Then again, she refused his repeated offers of reconciliation after she graduated college. She brushed away those olive branches as if nothing more than a nuisance while hiking in a dense forest. When he played the ultimate trump card, a stage four pancreatic cancer diagnosis, she stuffed down the hurt of being left behind and agreed to a meeting, discovering, in the process, she had a half-brother, a half-sister-in-law, and twin niece and nephew. Her family nearly quadrupled with one answered phone call.

'Hurt' from 'Love on the Vine'
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Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love EXCERPT: “I’m not ready for this to end.” Nat searched his eyes with eyes full of understanding. Too much understanding. As if she too knew this, whatever this was, had to end. Every time he held her, he wanted more from her. Something Nat couldn’t, wouldn’t give. Not yet. Maybe someday. An improbable idea, not an impossible one. Where’s there’s life, there’s hope. But that hope dwindled with each passing semester, each passing season. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could or should wait. With his all-encompassing residency starting in a few weeks and Nat playing in the Olympics later this year on top of her already grinding schedule, such hope died a slow death.

When Matt rescues Nat from being trapped at a frat party, they reluctantly form a near decade long friendship that threatens to turn romantic if Nat wasn’t determined to play pro soccer in Chicago and Matt wasn’t determined to practice pediatrics in their Michigan hometown.

#cupit #A #NA #CR #FBW

Love on the Vine Agents Guide

Pitch: *85,000 Word Contemporary Romance *Tropes: *Different Worlds *Strangers-to-Lovers *Found Family Becca Hopewell has trouble letting people in. She blames the death of her mom during childbirth and her father’s subsequent abandonment of her to a cold aunt. When she’s left part owner of a winery with her newfound half-brother she must decide if she’s willing to risk being rejected again. Not only by Sammy, but by Ian Baker, the demi-god portraying, disillusioned actor she rescues from rabid fans while manning the winery’s Christmas market booth. Despite his manager’s plan for his flailing career that doesn’t include a mystery woman selling wine she knows nothing about, Ian can’t seem to forget his kind rescuer and the lovely bracelet she designed.

Comps: *Romantic Comedy *Under Your Spell *Waiting for Tom Hanks *A Winter Wish *We All Live Here *Notting Hill

Except: “You’re right, better make it three. You’re too good a saleswoman even without the cheat sheet. Which begs the question how someone who professes not to know wine work for a winery?” “That’s a long, complicated story. Too long for a few sips of wine. Or coffee. Hell, I’m not even sure a three-course meal would suffice.” Becca froze. Eyes wide as her hands hovered over bottles. “That wasn’t me begging for an invitation or anything. Not that you thought such a silly thing. Or would ever think…” Becca snapped her lips shut, avoiding his twinkling eyes by assessing the progress of the three women. Now closer than she liked with more make-up and hands that flattened flyaway strands. Their hungry looks were reminiscent of the wolf at grandma’s house. “And if I did?” “What?” The man followed Becca’s frantic glance. His head snapped forward. His body straightened and angled toward Becca and away from the women’s eager glances. The openness, the calmness disappeared like wine at an awkward Christmas party.

Notting Hill x Waiting for Tom Hanks

When Becca inherits a winery with her newfound half-brother, Sammy, and rescues Ian, a celebrity hiding from an oversized role, she must decide if she’s willing to risk being rejected yet again or open her heart to the possibility of love.

#cupit #A #CR #FBW

Happy V-day to you as well! Good luck today. I saw your pitch and you had me at moving to the North Pole Village 🤩

Thanks so much 🥰

This sounds amazing. I hope you garner some interest from agents 🤩

Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love Agents Guide

Details: *87,000 Word Dual POV Contemporary Romance * When Nat is waylaid by some idiots at a frat party, Matt comes to the rescue and chivalrously escorts her home despite Nat’s insistence she’s fine. They meet again in a shared class, and a friendship develops that neither sought nor particularly desired. Both are on paths shaped by childhood experiences and are loathe to change course even when their friendship deepens and threatens to turn romantic. Nat has dreams of being a professional soccer player in the hopes it will make her dad proud and entice him back into her life. Matt wants to honor his childhood best friend’s death by practicing as a pediatrician in their hometown. As they advance down their respective, solitary roads, they must decide if success is enough to make them complete if it means being without the other.

Tropes: * Friends-to-lovers-to friends-to lovers * Sworn off love * Slow Burn Comps: People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell Every Summer After by Carley Fortune When Harry Met Sally Inspired by: Kids in Love by Pink, featuring First Aid Kit

EXCERPT: “I’m not ready for this to end.” Nat searched his eyes with eyes full of understanding. Too much understanding. As if she too knew this, whatever this was, had to end. Every time he held her, he wanted more from her. Something Nat couldn’t, wouldn’t give. Not yet. Maybe someday. An improbable idea, not an impossible one. Where’s there’s life, there’s hope. But that hope dwindled with each passing semester, each passing season. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could or should wait. With his all-encompassing residency starting in a few weeks and Nat playing in the Olympics later this year on top of her already grinding schedule, such hope died a slow death.

People We Meet on Vacation x When Harry Met Sally

A chance encounter at a frat party starts a decade long friendship between Nat, a pro soccer hopeful, and Matt, a future doc, that could turn into love if one of them is willing to sacrifice their lifelong dream for the other.
#Cupit #A #CR #FBW

“No.” Becca was too quick with an answer given the spark in the woman’s eye and tilt of her body closer to the counter. “He gets that all the time. Up close you would never mistake him for that actor.” “Ouch,” a soft, but distinctly husky male voice said. Becca laughed to cover his slip while waving a finger behind her back as a warning for him to shut up. “Oliver is a regular customer and sweetheart, but he’s getting a big head with all the confusion.” She swore she heard another chuckle, as enticing as his smile, but she quickly covered it by asking again if they wanted samples.

I might have posted this snip before but I shockingly don't have as many 'sweetheart's as I thought.
- From 'Love on the Vine'. Becca is hiding Ian from eager fans.
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“What did he mean?” Ashley asked halfway down the concourse. Of course she picked up on the vibe. The girl was smart, a mini-Nat according to Matt. Oh, wouldn’t Leslie just love such a moniker. “Are you and Dr. Matt in love?” “Oh, Ashley.” Nat wrapped an arm around her shoulders. “It’s far more complicated than that. And not something you or your sister need worry about.”

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'Vibe' from 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'

The force, the speed should’ve been a warning, but Matt ignored his inner, blaring tornado siren. He wanted back in her good graces and that meant playing the role of a proper goalkeeper. Stretching his arms wide, he thought he had it, but he misjudged the arc, the spin. Direct hit to the face. Pain radiated from the center out. Iron flavored liquid ran down his lips. Matt’s hands flew to his nose as he fell to his knees.

'Liquid' from 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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For half a second, Matt considered lying. The reason behind the signal was one of the things Nat refused to discuss in interviews, along with her dad. She merely said it was for a friend before moving on. Like Noah’s role in Matt’s life, Matt assumed only a few select people knew the truth—Nat’s mom and her closest teammates, possibly Chelsea and his family. But he could trust Ashley.

'Select' from 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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“Uh-oh,” Devin stopped midsentence. Reaching over the table, he slapped Matt’s arm and nodded toward the door where a medium-height blond stood looking around. “She must have a sixth sense or something.” Matt’s head fell to his chest as his torso subtly shifted until his back faced the door. “I wouldn’t be surprised.” Priya looked between the group and the door. “Why do I feel like the temperature dropped twenty degrees?” “Matt’s ex at three o’clock. Brace for impact, we have incoming.” Devin slouched on his stool and wrapped his arms over his head as if a tornado approached rather than a pleasant looking woman.

Matt avoiding his college ex.
'Sixth' from 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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“Friends, Lakeside-ians, visitors, lend me your ears.” The room, and Nat, groaned except for one deep-throated laugh near the stairs. A laugh Nat would recognize anywhere. She caught Matt’s eyes as they found hers, as they always found hers whether in a large stadium or a deserted college campus. Those sparkling gems held as Georgie announced the first half of the celebrated couple. Unlike his older brother, Matt casually walked on stage, the dimmed lights highlighting the raised color of his cheeks as he puffed out the held breath before good naturedly grimacing at Nat. Clearly, he’d rather be anywhere other than in front of this crowd, but the things we do for love.

'Except' from 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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“Okay, ladies, good half. Far from perfect, but good. Morris, nice goals.” She paused for cheers, then dampened her praise. “But the second was lucky. You should’ve passed to Gonzalez. She was in a better position.” Nat caught Maria’s eye. “Sorry,” she mouthed. Maria waved the apology away and mouthed, “I wasn’t ready.” Even so, Nat apologized again as they exited the locker room for the second half. She knew too well what it was like when a teammate kept the ball for their own brilliance rather than allow a player in a better position to shine. It happened to Nat in high school, but, thankfully, the girl graduated, and Nat shone during her remaining seasons, earning her a scholarship to MSU.

Many instances of 'position' since Nat is a soccer player.
-From 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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Ashley remained silent with her arms crossed around her bent right knee, too peeved for words. As he reached the nurse’s station to order an X-ray, the laugh Matt held back finally escaped. He almost sent Nat a text, patient confidentiality and another patient stopped his hand. Thirty minutes later, he reentered the curtained room, X-ray in hand. When Ashley caught sight of it, her cheeks drained of color as her eyes widened and her body stiffened. “My sister wants to ask you out, but she’s scared,” Ashley said as a deflection.

My only 'confident' in 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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The anger dried the hint of tears. Any residual drive to confront the men, boys, idiots really, died when her so called rescuer brushed past with the same freshly laundered cotton and peppermint she whiffed when she grabbed his hand. A smell that redirected her anger. Who did he think he was? She had the situation under control.

'Died' for 'perish' - 'Stubborn Dreams and Bottled Love'
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Thanks 🤞

Stubborn dreams and bottle love EXCERPT: “I’m not ready for this to end.” Nat searched his eyes with eyes full of understanding. Too much understanding. As if she too knew this, whatever this was, had to end. Every time he held her, he wanted more from her. Something Nat couldn’t, wouldn’t give. Not yet. Maybe someday. An improbable idea, not an impossible one. Where’s there’s life, there’s hope. But that hope dwindled with each passing semester, each passing season. He wasn’t sure how much longer he could or should wait. With his all-encompassing residency starting in a few weeks and Nat playing in the Olympics later this year on top of her already grinding schedule, such hope died a slow death.

Nat dreams of playing pro soccer for her dad’s love, Matt dreams of practicing pediatrics in his hometown in honor of his late childhood best friend, when Matt rescues Nat from being trapped at a party, a deep attraction forms that will force one or both to stray from their path.
#questpit #Q #A #R