Alannah Lynne on why first love is the hardest to get over

Alannah Lynne, whose Matter of Time, book five in her Heat Wave series, is out today, shares why first loves often wreck us the most.

Alannah: There's nothing like falling in love the first time. It's like a wild, thrilling roller-coaster ride that leaves you squealing with delight and gasping for air as you hold on tight through the ups and downs and twists and turns. You feel more alive than ever before. Colors are vibrant and bright. Sounds are sharper and clearer. Treats taste sweeter. Your mind is filled with the hope and promise for a beautiful future that will always be like this. You can't imagine life without the other person … don't know how you survived without them in the first place, and you're sure it's always going to be this magical.

But then, in all but the rarest occasions, the ride stops being as thrilling as it once was and you grow confused and fearful by the changes. Lumps in the seat (ones you noticed at the beginning of the ride but chose to ignore) become uncomfortable, and you start to squirm, trying to find the previously comfortable position. The bar holding you in place loosens, and afraid you're going to fall out of the seat on a corkscrew turn or upside-down loop, you scream with fear. That annoys your partner, who is also starting to panic, and so rather than holding on to each other for the rest of the ride, you bicker and fight. The next thing you know, you're returned to the safety of the platform, but you've missed the last third of the ride because of all the drama.

This is where things start to get complicated and confusing. We don't like this new place we've suddenly found ourselves. We want the thrilling excitement back. We want the bright colors and the sweet treats and the beautiful future we'd planned. And so, desperate to hold on to the feelings we experienced in the beginning, we mistakenly think if we choose a different cart, we can get back on the ride and have a different outcome.

There are also first-love romances that are cut short before the couple finds out if they could've gotten to the end of the ride without coming unglued. Personally, I believe those are the loves that are nearly impossible to get over. Sometimes a couple has everything going their way. The love is there. The ride gets a little rough, but it's still thrilling, and they're holding on to one another, making it work. Then all of a sudden, the ride screeches to a stop. One of them is yanked back to the platform, then whisked away to an undisclosed location to work out unexpected circumstance from their previous life. The other one sits in the cart alone wondering what just happened.

It's difficult to find closure in those circumstances. The bright future hasn't been tarnished by fussing and fighting or extreme discomfort, it's still shining brightly in the person's mind and heart, but now it's out of reach.

I know that kind of love … I lived it 25 years ago. I was lucky and found my husband afterward (I can't imagine life without him), but I always thought it'd be fun to rewrite history. And so I wrote Matter of Time.

Logan and Lizbeth were making their bright future a reality, and then, during a chance meeting in the grocery store with his ex-girlfriend, he learns he has a daughter. Being a man who faces his responsibilities head on and lives up to his obligations, he ends his relationship with Lizbeth and marries his ex. He's spent 15 years being a good father and husband, but sometimes a man's best isn't good enough and his marriage crumbles.

Lizbeth has spent 15 years desperately searching for someone to fill the void left by Logan disappearance from her life. However, rather than finding love and happiness, all she's found is disappointment, heartache and an ever-present longing for the man she can never have.

When Logan's identical twin surprises him with a reintroduction to Lizbeth, he feels like he's been given a second chance — at life and love. But after hurting her so badly the first time, building trust isn't just hard, it's nearly impossible — especially when duty and obligation pull him away again.

Find out more about Alannah and her books at www.alannahlynne.com.