RELEASE TOUR: When Harry Met Charlie by Donna Costa (Excerpt & Giveaway + Guest Post)

Can two men who clash over everything ever agree on love?

When Harry Met
Charlie

by Donna Costa

Genre: MM Romantic Comedy

Harry is a number-cruncher. Charlie is a people-person. One
is bubbly and optimistic, the other serious and pessimistic. With an endless
stream of verbal sparring and heated debates filling the car on their road trip
from Vancouver to Toronto, they arrive at the conclusion they are complete
opposites and go their separate ways.

When they meet years later – older, wiser, and love-worn –
will their sparring become a prelude to romance? An exciting turn on? Will they
be there for each other when it’s needed most?

Boys’ Love + Nora Ephron Fan Fiction = When Harry Met
Charlie

“Fun, funny and wonderfully delightful! Reminds you of
experiencing your first crush – I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!” –
Leeanne Whitehouse, Pure Country Morning Host

Amazon * Apple * B&N * Kobo * Smashwords * Bookbub * Goodreads

Chapter
1

It’s 1977. Harry Burns
has just graduated from law school on the West Coast and is standing at the
window of his third-story dorm watching for the arrival of his ride to Toronto.
He crosses his arms and drums his fingers impatiently.

Behind him, Harry’s friend and dorm mate Rufus is
vigorously kissing his girlfriend, Sally. They’re sighing and murmuring to each
other. Oh, I’m going to miss you so much.
I love you. Will we ever see each other again? Kiss me again. Harry rolls
his eyes.

Out the window, Harry spots a VW Beetle pulling up to
the curb across the campus green. Rays from the rising sun glint off the car
roof. He pushes his glasses up his nose and shouts, “Ride’s here, Rufus.”

Harry slings his backpack over one shoulder and wedges
a heavy box of textbooks under his arm, then grabs his suitcase with his other
hand. Why couldn’t someone invent luggage
with wheels? Struggling to carry all his gear, Harry loses patience with
the couple’s sloppy sweet-nothings and shoves Rufus’ arm none too gently,
dislodging him from the embrace. “C’mon. Let’s go!”

“Bye, sweet-ums!” Rufus gives Sally one last smooch.
“I’ll call as soon as I get there.” He stares longingly into her eyes and blows
her a kiss, then snatches up his duffel and follows Harry down the stairs.

Harry stops as they reach the VW, taking in the
vomit-green color, which reminds him of the nauseating flight he took from
Toronto when he moved west to start university. He’s in no hurry to repeat that
experience. A two-day nonstop road trip is the lesser of two evils.

He eyes the car’s thick rust and immediately wonders
if the car will make it all the way across the country. With two unknowns—the
driver he’s never met and the state of the car—his anxiety increases. Why
hadn’t he been more prepared, done more research? Am I going to regret this?

A young man gets out of the VW, and Rufus, the common
denominator, makes the introductions.

“Charlie, this is Harry, my roommate here in Vancouver
and my pal growing up in small-town Ontario. Harry, meet Charlie, my friend
from karaoke. That’s where Charlie told me he was headed to Toronto, like you,
and why I suggested you ride together.”

I
don’t know what I was expecting, but it isn’t this.Shouldn’t
a future flight attendant be clean-cut and well groomed? Instead, Charlie
has the appearance of a furry teddy bear. Even his forearms, visible below the
short sleeves of his Oscar Wilde T-shirt, are bushy. His faded bellbottoms are
a little too tight. Is that the start of
a pot belly? Don’t flight attendants have weight restrictions? He extends
his hand to Charlie for a handshake.

As Charlie settles behind the wheel of the Beetle,
Harry places his suitcase and textbooks on the back floor behind the passenger
seat. A Coleman thermos and small picnic cooler already take up the floor space
on the driver’s side. Harry folds his long frame onto the rear seat beside
Charlie’s nineteen-inch Electrohome TV, complete with rabbit ears. The only
place for his feet is atop the box of his books. He squeezes his knees together
and holds his backpack on his lap. It’s
only a short drive to the airport. I
can manage.

Rufus jumps into the front passenger seat. The bud
vase on the dash holding a single daisy catches his attention, and he flashes a
peace sign at Charlie. “Cool!”

“I knew you’d like it,” Charlie says, beaming a
hundred-watt smile. He grabs an imaginary microphone. “Good morning, ladies,
ahem, gentlemen. Welcome aboard Flight 2B with service from Vancouver to
Toronto, with a short layover at the airport. We expect to be on the road for
approximately forty-eight hours. Please fasten your seatbelts and stow your
baggage. Please note there are two exits.” Charlie points at the car doors,
then adds, “Thank you for choosing Charlie’s VW Air.”

Harry rolls his eyes and wonders if he’ll have to put
up with aviation demonstrations every time Charlie takes the wheel.

Maybe
flying would have been a better option?

Too late now.

The Research That Comes Before Writing

The type and amount of research required before writing will vary by genre, as well as the author’s familiarity with the subject matter.

My first novel, Breathing With Trees, was a YA fiction coming-of-age story. Because it had a contemporary setting and I stuck to topics with which I was familiar like nutrition, holistic health, and line dancing—a strange combination, I know—there wasn’t a lot of research required. I did have to familiarize myself with teen slang in use at the time, words that have already become outdated.

For my memoir If I Could Remember: Bears & Brains & Caring For My Mother, the story is about caregiving for my mother who had Alzheimer’s. Much of the story is about my lived experience and my own feelings, together with Mom’s physical decline. Yet I had to research various symptoms and treatments for Alzheimer’s, particularly those that we didn’t encounter ourselves. I then assigned those aspects to fictional characters in the story. I researched a wide range of holistic treatment options. We didn’t utilize all of them, but I touched on a number of the options through characters in the story. Scientific research about causes of Alzheimer’s, just like teen slang, changed rapidly and in some cases was outdated before the story was published.

I began my research for When Harry Met Charlie by reading the original screenplay written by Nora Ephron. Research also included watching rom-coms like Sleepless in Seattle and French Kiss, along with a large bowl of buttered popcorn. (Yes, sometimes research is soooo difficult!)

For the careers of Harry and Charlie, I stuck with occupations where I had some familiarity. Charlie, for instance, is a male flight attendant, a demographic which, historically, is 30% to 50% gay. I worked as a secretary in the aviation industry for sixteen years, mostly in Flight Operations, and have travelled a fair bit, so was comfortable writing the aviation scenes. (Nevertheless, I had these scenes beta-read by my friend, Martha Morrison, an author and former flight attendant.)

For Harry, who is a corporate lawyer, I again drew on my secretarial experiences, having typed many corporate minutes as a legal secretary. I was able to consult family members—one a lawyer, another an accountant/wealth management advisor—to round out Harry’s role as corporate lawyer. (Any mistakes or misinterpretations are my own!)

The story of When Harry Met Charlie, just like the original Nora Ephron screenplay When Harry Met Sally, begins in 1977 and ends around 1987. I lived those decades and was comfortable writing and revisiting those years. (It’s always enjoyable to trip down memory lane.)

My next novel, a WWI historical fiction, has been the most challenging to date in terms of research. I spent six months investigating before I wrote a single word of the story. Research topics included Canadian politics, Home Children, conscription, homeopathic and allopathic treatment of the Spanish flu, as well as fashions and décor of the times. Fortunately, my local library has a specialized local history section, including two city newspapers on microfiche. These were invaluable in getting a feel for the language and styles of 1918. I’ve also read approximately thirty books about the WWI period, dove into the archives of homeopathic journals no longer in print, and checked into my own ancestry from that era.

My historical fiction, yet to be titled, will be released in 2027.

Donna Costa draws on her love of romance, both novels and
movies, plus her years in the aviation industry for When Harry Met Charlie. She
writes in a variety of genres including YA, memoir, romance, and historical
fiction. She lives in London, Ontario.

Website * Newsletter * Facebook * Instagram * Amazon * Goodreads