The Power of Love by Ali Harris

I have a confession to make. No, it’s not that I’ve spent the past month watching the John Lewis Christmas ad on a loop (I have) or that I’m a closet fan of Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals (I am). It’s a far more serious affliction – and one that I can’t be cured of. Oh go on then. I may as well tell you now I’m here. My name is Ali Harris and I’m shamelessly, incurably addicted to love.

I love the idea of love so much that I can’t get enough of it. I need it every day. I fantasise about falling in it, I can’t imagine life without it. Luckily for me (and my marriage) I get to experience falling in love every time I write a book. Last year it was with Molly and Ryan, my main characters in The First Last Kiss. The book focuses on their relationship from teen crush to enduring love. And it does this by specifically focusing on their most sweet, sensual and tender exchanges of affection: their kisses.

Kissing; it sounds so old fashioned doesn’t it? Kind of sweetly asexual compared to what we’ve been reading about for the past year (thank you Fifty Shades of Grey). And yet I believe a kiss is infinitely more intimate and sensual than sex. More life-affirming. More love-affirming. A kiss holds the key to everything, our hearts and souls, hopes and fears. Kisses have the power to heal, inspire and strengthen. They convey affection, understanding, pain, pleasure, love, and loss. Kisses are precious, and yet they are so easily thrown away. How many times have you kissed your partner and barely registered it? Turned your cheek or brushed one away? I came up with the idea for The First Last Kiss when I wondered - what if you knew you only had a finite number of kisses left with the person you love? Would you do everything you could to savour every single one? Or would you try desperately to recall all the ones that had gone before?

Writing this book has taught me more than I ever expected about the everlasting strength and power of true love. From it I’ve learned to never take a kiss, or love, for granted again.  Love may not be as fashionable as sex right now, but as I’m concerned its power will live on long after the shades of grey have faded - and those John Lewis snowmen have melted away.

The First Last Kiss by Ali Harris is out in paperback and eBook on January 17th 2013.