Over to you Suzan
In my mind, to be considered a great romance novel, you have
to start with a strong hero and heroine. They must be likeable people that you
want to root for.
So what makes a great hero? Well, I think it is different
for each of us. For me a hero is a strong yet slightly vulnerable man. I don’t
much care for the brooding type of hero, you know the one I speak of. The kind
of guy who goes through much of the book all sullen, hating everything about
love, romance, women, and marriage. For me, that isn’t the great kind of hero
that I like to fall in love with in a book.
For me, the hero must have some vulnerability to him.
Whether its something from his childhood that he must over come or something
involving a woman in his past that left him with a sour taste in his mouth, a
bit of vulnerability makes him human. Just don’t go way over the top with it.
I also like a hero who wants to win the heart of the woman
he has fallen in love with. For me, its important that my hero like the heroine and visa versa. And by
like, I mean as in like their personalities, like them as a person.
And my heroines? I like a strong heroine that isn’t stupid,
ignorant, or someone who hops from one bed to another to find happiness. She
must have a brain, not be afraid to speak her mind, yet she can still be nice,
someone you’d want to have as a friend in real life. She too must have some
hint of vulnerability. She doesn’t have to be a damsel in distress, in fact, I
like it when the heroine rescues the hero!
The romance novel has to be more than just writhing around
in bed together. There has to be some kind of bond between the hero and
heroine. A genuine, heartfelt adoration for one another. I like to see the
relationship grow and blossom into something that is going to last.
I know, that probably sounds old fashioned, but I don’t
care.
I am a huge proponent of marriage and this is how I look at
romance, marriage, and sex:
Think of a relationship as a frosted cake with florets,
candles, and all the pretty things. The cake is the foundation for which the
frosting goes on. If all you have is frosting, you can get sick rather quickly.
And if all you have is cake, you can get bored.
So the cake is the foundation of the marriage or
relationship. It’s all the stuff that binds the two of you together. It’s the
kids, mortgage, car payments and power bills. It’s the day-to-day stuff you go
through. If you’re smart, you’ll gain an ‘its us against the world’ attitude
and with that you can survive pretty much everything from financial worries to
teenagers!
Romance or sex is the frosting on the cake. Its what makes
having the cake both bearable and fun! The frosting is what makes it all
worthwhile. If the cake isn’t any good then the frosting isn’t enjoyable. And
if all you have is frosting, then you better start baking a cake or your
doomed.
So that is how I tend to look at romance novels. Yes, I want
to be whisked away to another time and place for a little while. I like to
worry about someone else’s problems instead of my own. I like to root for the
good guys and hiss at the bad guys. I
want to read a book where the hero and heroine actually develop a relationship
that is based on something more than just sex. If all that the author is giving
me is frosting, I’m not a happy camper. I want more than that.
So there you have it. My thoughts on what makes a good
romance read. I don’t care if it’s a contemporary romance or historical. The
hero must be strong yet vulnerable, the heroine has to have a brain, and there
must be more than just frosting.
All so very true Eh? What do you think?
Suzan lives in
the Midwest with her verra handsome carpenter husband and the last of their four
children-a 14 year old, 6"3’, built like a linebacker son. Suzan and her
husband are currently accepting monetary donations to help both feed and keep their
son in shoes.
They live in a
quiet little hamlet where the only traffic jams occur in the very early morning
hours when they must wait for the wild deer and turkey to cross the road.
In her
distinctive voice, Suzan combines history, romance, and adventure to create
epic tales filled with Highlanders, intrigue, romance, and laughter. Her first
novel, Laiden's Daughter, Book One in
her Clan MacDougall Series, was released December 2011, and has been on
Amazon’s Top 100 Best Sellers List since February 2012.
Laiden's Daughter takes place in the Highlands of
Scotland, 1344. Betrayed by lies told before her birth, Aishlinn is raised by a
harsh and cruel stepfather. Her life is forever changed one horrifying night
when she is forced to flee England for the safety of the Scottish Highlands.
Rescued by a fierce band of highland warriors, Aishlinn soon learns that
honorable men do exist. She finds a strength she never knew she possessed and
it will be tested to the limits when she is forced to make a heart-wrenching
decision…allow the English to kill those she loves, or surrender for the crime
she committed.
Our hero, fierce
highland warrior, Duncan McEwan, has survived numerous battles, bed countless
women, and survived a horrific storm at sea. He has scaled mountains and even
survived hand-to-claw battle with a cat-o’mountain. But none of that could have
prepared him for how his life forever changed one fateful spring day when he
rescued a lass from a freezing stream. He will do anything to keep her as his
own and will risk everything to keep her out of the hands of the English.
Continuing where
Laiden's Daughter left off, we have
the tale of Findley's Lass. When Findley McKenna returns after his battle with the
English to offer Maggy Boyle a home amongst his clan, he finds only death and
destruction instead of the young widow who has stolen his heart. The only things
left of her home are the burned out hut and decaying bodies of the auld people
Maggy has taken care of for the past three years. With only a prayer, his
Highlander heart, and a bit of bloodied plaid to cling to, Findley will crawl
through hell if he must, in order to find Maggy and her sons and avenge the
massacre before him. She had won his heart without trying, and he can only pray
for the chance to give her his.
Maggy
has secrets, and her own hell to crawl through, before she can give her trust
or heart to any man. Fearful
that the uncle of her late husband will force her into a marriage with another
cold and vindictive man, she goes into hiding to keep her true identity secret
and her adopted sons together. After her home is destroyed and her young son
kidnapped, those secrets begin to unravel, one agonizing thread at a time. How
can she place her trust or her heart in the hands of a man she barely knows and
still maintain her freedom and keep her secrets hidden? Findley McKenna is her
last vestige of hope at keeping both.
Suzan is
currently working on Book Three of her series, Wee William's Woman. It is set for release in the Summer of 2013.
"There is
great joy in writing, but the biggest joy comes in sharing what you've
written" Suzan Tisdale
You can find Suzan here...
twitter: @suzantisdale
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