READ A LITTLE BACKGROUND ON HOW THIS NOVEL CAME TO BE. IT MIGHT SURPRISE YOU. As the author, I want to invite you to read a most remarkable book, not because I wrote it, but because it is a genuine and old- fashioned love story where emotion, not lust, carries the characters’ hearts. I’m not prudish, and I guarantee you will find some wonderfully gritty stuff within these pages. You’ll laugh, be shocked, and scream, “no way,” but in the end, you will ride an emotional roller coaster demonstrating the complexity of finding, falling for someone, and staying in love for a lifetime. Every conceivable reason to or not to love is probed here. Then, somewhere within its pages, you will see, discover, love, and perhaps fondly recall a little piece of your love life told with startling accuracy. So, why did I write A Simple Act of Kindness, and who is my target reader? You are! My name is Mike Way, and I adore a good love story. Read the foreword if you don’t believe a guy can write a romance novel. There are many romance novels available, but few combine romance, mystery, morality, melodrama and the difficult scenarios that are often part of loving someone. So, I set out to write a solid tale addressing middle-of-the-road taste in sentimental fiction based on real-life situations. I’m a bit old- fashioned in that I don’t believe swipe-right intimacy on the first date is the forerunner to a long and fruitful relationship. If you agree, this may be the tear-jerker novel for you. I am a voracious reader and long-time writer of periodicals, web content, and transliterated technical documents, 18 screenplays, 15 novels, and two non-fiction books. My writing background led me to write the love story I would want to read as I hope others would also. My story’s title is A Simple Act of Kindness – an Old-Fashioned Love Story. The plot is of two strangers, Jonathan and Audrey, who have no idea they’ve known each other since childhood. Audrey and Jonathan serendipitously meet at crucial points from childhood to adulthood, but they never recognize the other, and life moves them along like ships passing in the night. Now, as young adults, they meet but have not seen each other since they were 14 and 16 years old, respectively, and neither recognizes the other. Something stirs during the first unexpected meeting since becoming adults, and they become accidental, casual friends, but both are unwilling to commit to anything more than being buddies. Life throws Audrey and Jonathan many curves, including another woman, Clair, from Jonathan’s past, who also wants his affection, and Harold, Audrey’s friend-boy who tries to force her into intimacy against her will. Other hurdles pop up, some evaded, a few catch them off guard, and deliciously present a complex gaggle of missed opportunities for the reader. The story is crafted so that neither the would-be lovers nor you, the reader, can predict their outcomes. Nevertheless, the baked- in romance/mystery tale creates what I hope will be a page- turner leaving you, the reader, hungry for resolution. As each chapter concludes, a new circumstance emerges to prevent them from becoming a couple. This novel gently tells how folks used to fall in love with just a touch of God and morality sprinkled in. What was expected in a relationship decades ago comes alive again in A Simple Act of Kindness. Finally, think of my novel as a cross between the movies, An Affair to Remember and You’ve Got Mail/Sleepless In Seattle, with a touch of starcrossed lovers as in Casablanca baked in. Thank you for stopping by michaelalvinway.net Best and kindest regards, Michael Alvin Way