By Tosca Lee

There are questions authors get asked all the time: what was your path to publication? Where do you get your ideas? What do you hope readers will take away from this book?

(I am curious about all of these things when it comes to other authors, too.)

Another regular question: which book of yours is your favorite?

I explain that it’s impossible to say. Our books are like our kids and we don’t play favorites. Sure, there’s the easy one, the more difficult one, the one that didn’t turn out at all like we thought, and maybe even the surprise one that just kind of came along. I mean it, too—this is true, and every single book of the 12 I’ve written is my absolute favorite.

But if I’m being completely honest, there’s one that’s a little extra special to me.

It was before I turned to suspense and thrillers. In 2013, I began work on a historical novel about the enigmatic Queen of Sheba. That same year, I fell in love. I don’t know what hit me—I’m not normally a romantic person (my agent at the time asked me if I’d ever consider writing romance and I said only if a) someone dies and b) there’s kung fu), but that year I caught myself watching rom coms and tuning into the Hallmark Channel. I began taking my laptop to my boyfriend’s rural acreage as he planted, sprayed, or harvested, working at his big kitchen island in the quiet of the day before he came home and we went out at night.

I finished the book and began edits. Bryan and I talked about our future. In September of 2014, The Legend of Sheba: Rise of a Queen released and I celebrated with my usual tradition: a book signing at my “home” Barnes & Noble. 

At some point I looked up at the line and saw Bryan standing in it. When he got up to my table, I said, “What are you doing?”

“I want you to sign my book,” he said.

“But you can get your book signed any time.” I leaned in and whispered: “I’ll get you one for free.”

“I want you to sign this one,” he insisted.

With a shrug, I turned to the title page, where I always sign, to find that it was already written on. There was a message from Bryan that ended with “Will you marry me?” 

He got on his knee and proposed right there.

So do I have a favorite among the dozen books I’ve written? I must admit, that one is just a little extra special to me. Do you have a book that has had extra special significance in your life?