March 4th, 2010 — Arranged/Forced Marriage, Contemporary, D-F, Guest Blogger, Marriage of Convenience
by Mary Margret Daughtridge, guest blogger and author of SEALed with a Ring
Marriages of convenience—romance fans love ’em, but when I tell people who aren’t romance readers that SEALed with a Ring: Sometimes you get a lot more than you bargained for is a contemporary romance with a marriage of convenience plot, you’d be surprised how many ask, “What’s a marriage of convenience?”
Next thing you know, I’m explaining marriage plots. You have arranged marriage in which choice of spouse is dictated by parents. Hero or heroine acquiesces, more or less gracefully. Forced marriage is one in which one or both is trapped into marriage against their will. And finally there’s marriage of convenience where one party has a need to marry (that has little or nothing to do with love) and the other agrees—usually for financial gain.
All have built in conflict. All are beloved staples of the romance genre.
With women’s enfranchisement, all have become hard to pull off in a contemporary—a reason, I think, that these days you’ll find three or four times as many historicals as contemporaries.
Although in some cultures arranged marriage is still the norm, in the West the expectation is that people marry because they fall in love. Period. It’s hard to get a plot out of that.
Forced marriage (happily) has also gone by the wayside in mainstream society. No one thinks a marriage to save a reputation or because of unplanned pregnancy is anything but a terrible idea. Marrying a girl too young, or unable, to consent is a crime.
That only leaves marriage of convenience. Once it was perfectly acceptable as long as it was aboveboard and a fair exchange. No more. I suspect many marriages today are quid pro quo contracts (witness the rise of the pre-nup) but who’s going to admit it? Marrying for money is thought “crass,” and being married for one’s money is the mark of a loser.
It’s not easy...
But I love marriage of convenience plots and I refuse to give them up. Character-driven writer that I am, I realized the difficulty of motivating a loveless marriage in a contemporary setting could play to my advantage. A person’s reasons (good or bad) for going against society’s expectations reveal a lot about character.
For the M of C plot to succeed, hero or heroine must be motivated by altruism. From the beginning they are sympathetic characters, invested with a degree of nobility. Since their goal is larger than they are, I have more latitude to make them multi-dimensional, strong yet flawed, without losing the reader’s sympathy.
It feels like love...
I also like to explore relationships—I think most women do. Unblinded by love, the M of C characters confront the details of living together and meeting the world as a unit. They consciously assess the other’s strengths, learn to read emotions, see beneath the surface. Again, a boon to the writer of character-driven contemporaries. When the two finally fall in love, the reader was there for every step. It really feels like love.
And it’s magic...
Best of all, an M of C plot (where they don’t pretend, they really get married) has inherent alchemical magic. For better or worse, marriage changes people.
Sharing is no longer optional. One’s destiny is irrevocably tied to the consequences of another person’s good judgment and luck—or lack thereof. And suddenly, there’s little real choice about how and with whom to spend holidays. Sublime or silly, sharing can be soul shaking. For the writer, it’s another chance to delve into character. For the reader, it’s fun. The plot can take a twist at any moment.
I liked putting a contemporary spin on an old plot so much, I think I’ll do it again sometime.
How about it? Do you love M of C? What is the appeal? If M of C isn’t your fave, what is? Cinderella? Secret Baby? Reunion?
SEALed WITH A RING BY MARY MARGRET DAUGHTRIDGE—IN STORES MARCH 2010
She’s got it all…except the one thing she needs most
Smart, successful businesswoman JJ Caruthers has a year to land a husband or lose the empire she’s worked so hard to build. With time running out, romance is not an option, and a military husband who is always on the road begins to look like the perfect solution…
He’s a wounded hero with an agenda of his own
Even with the scars of battle, Navy SEAL medic Davy Graziano is gorgeous enough to land any woman he wants, and he’s never wanted to be tied down. Now Davy has ulterior motives for accepting JJ’s outrageous proposal of marriage, but he only has so long to figure out what JJ doesn’t want him to know…
Buy: SEALed with a Ring
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mary Margret Daughtridge has been a grade school teacher, speech therapist, family educator, biofeedback therapist, and Transpersonal Hypnotherapist. She is a member of Heart of Carolina Romance Writers, Romance Writers of America, and Romancing the Military Soul, and is a sought-after judge in writing contests. She resides in Greensboro, North Carolina. For more information, please visit http://marymargretdaughtridge.com/.
Giveaway: Sourcebooks is offering up 2 copies of SEALed with a Ring. That means two winners! Yay! Open to US and Canadian readers only. To enter answer Mary Margret's question about marriage of convenience plots. One entry per relevant comment; multiple entries allowed. Ends: March 11, 2010.
Online Stores
January 15th, 2010 — 4 Stars, 4.5 Stars, Book Review, Dukes and Earls, Friends, Georgian, Great Britain, Heiress, J-L, Politician, Regency, Rogues and Rakehells, Widow or Widower, Writer
How I felt about Scandal by Carolyn Jewel in 140 characters:
@cjewel I just finished Scandal & it was completely wonderful. Thx for the past hours spent happily reading. Luv the "I hate you" love scene
I finished the book just before midnight with a happy glow. My favorite scene was in fact the scene after they got married. She was telling him how much she hated him, despised him, and deplored him with every breath as he brought her to orgasm. What makes it so hot is that we know as the reader the heroine really does love the hero, even if she’s unwilling to face it just yet. It’s toe-curling yumminess.
When it came to Scandal, I savored it. At first because it took me a bit to get into the story, which is entirely my fault and not the fault of Jewel’s writing. I’ve been a bit scatterbrained and have read several books all in a short period of time. It was good to slow down, read slower, linger longer on passages.
The way Jewel weaves the story is different than most historicals in that fact that it feels truer to life in several aspects with its depictions of personal tragedies and interwoven story of two people engaged elsewhere slowly coming together. The story takes place in the present and in the past, where the characters are now and where they were. I was expecting this divergence in the timeline and still it tripped me up once or twice. If I’m correct in my calculations Sophie is about twenty-five and Banallt is thirty-four or thirty-five in the present timeline. Or perhaps that was in the past timeline? In any case they're a bit older than the usual romance couple.
Sophie Evans is a tragic character. She made the worst choice possible in her youth and eloped with a scoundrel. Tommy had her convinced he loved her for herself when in truth Tommy loved only himself and the money his new wife brought to his pockets. Her marriage caused a rift between her family and herself that wasn’t mended until after her husband’s and her parent’s deaths.
The Earl of Banallt, whose first name I am currently unable to locate in the book, was exactly like Tommy if not worse when he first encountered Mrs. Evans. Her plain features and intelligent blue-green eyes arrested him and featured in his dreams. He too was married and unfaithful to his wife. With the deaths of loved ones Banallt grew up, but not before making an utter mess of things with Sophie.
They meet again, a few years after Tommy’s death and Banallt is quite determined to prove himself to Sophie. He wants her, desires her, loves her but Sophie is equally determined not to let another man hold power over her heart. She is good at denial and self-denial. The book nearly ends with Sophie refusing to give ground and admit her feelings, but happily she does and the result is spectacular if a bit hushed.
Rating: 4-4.5 Stars
Buy: Scandal
Originally posted 2009-04-26 05:44:29. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Online Stores
December 16th, 2009 — Gothic, Guest Blogger, S-U, Suspense/Thriller
by Donna Lea Simpson, guest blogger
I read a few gothic romances when I was much younger... you know, the kind with the cover that shows the girl running from a castle wearing a floaty dress. I keep getting, from readers and reviewers, that I write Gothic historicals, but I never set out to do that. Maybe Gothic style just comes naturally to me.
The usual set up of a Gothic, historic or modern, has the heroine trapped somewhere with a man who may be some kind of dangerous, murdering madman. Or... he may just be a nice misunderstood guy, but he insists on keeping secrets from the heroine and everyone else! The one facet of the heroine's character that is vital to the Gothic plot, is that she cannot leave the mystery alone. She doesn't pack her bags and escape the castle in a timely fashion, she doesn't just shut her mouth and ignore the weirdness, she's compelled to pick away at the hero's mysterious behavior, open the door to the forbidden room, or descend to the cellar from which the weird, clanking noises come.
In this sense, I suppose Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark
(Sourcebooks Casablanca - April 2009) does follow classic Gothic sensibility. There are mysteries here, weird things afoot at night, and Lord Anthony Darkefell, the dark brooding hero, is not telling all he knows. Lady Anne Addison is the ultimate intrepid heroine, not willing to let the mystery rest. She must know the truth! However, Gothic heroines often seem to blunder mindlessly through the novel, making discoveries by accident, and Lady Anne uses all of her wits and considerable skepticism.
One enormous difference between Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark and the true Gothic is the use of the hero's viewpoint. Gothic novels never feature the hero's viewpoint, because to do so dilutes the 'unknown'; a viewpoint character exposes some of their soul to the reader, or it's not proper characterization. I wanted readers to get to know Darkefell, to understand him, and his changing feelings for Anne.
I guess when you get down to it, the use of some aspects of the Gothic is just plain fun, both for the reader and writer. In Northanger Abbey
, Jane Austen had great fun with Gothic sensibility. Her heroine, Catherine Morland, imagines all kinds of horrible things-that General Tilney murdered his wife, or imprisoned her-until she is shown how wrong it is to let her imagination run riot like that.
Now, in a true Gothic, Catherine's worst fears would have been proved right!
Another big difference between my Lady Anne books and classic Gothic style, is, you never get a sequel to a Gothic. I have managed to stretch the series to Lady Anne and the Ghost's Revenge
(Sourcebooks Casablanca - August 2009) and Lady Anne and the Gypsy Curse (Sourcebooks Casablanca - November 2009), and having fun all the way, with Lady Anne and Darkefell's increasingly romantic entanglement.
I hope you all enjoy the books, and I would be interested in hearing if you feel there are Gothic elements in the book, and how they work to the story's benefit, or detriment. I had a great time with these characters; they often do quite unexpected things!
Visit me at http://www.donnaleasimpson.com for more information on the Lady Anne series!
Donna Lea Simpson is giving away one copy of Lady Anne and the Howl in the Dark today. Open to US and Canada readers only. Enter by leaving a question for Donna or by telling us why you love/hate Gothic elements in romance! Winner will be announced April 1, 2009, no joke... sorry couldn't help myself. 
Originally posted 2009-03-31 05:57:47. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Online Stores
May 29th, 2009 — 5 Stars, Book Review, Children, Contemporary, Entrepreneur, Executive, Lisa Kleypas, Rogues and Rakehells, United States of America
I am a big fan of Lisa Kleypas. I love her historicals. I heard about her contemporaries. I wanted to give them a try, but I was afraid I wouldn't love them as much as I do her historicals. Contemporary novels and I have had our fair share of issues in the past. So I waited, and waited, and waited, until I finally found it in the library. Then I snatched it so fast, it made the other patrons' heads spin.
I laughed, and chuckled, and giggled, out loud and in my head all the way through the book. Kleypas wrote a gem when she wrote Smooth Talking Stranger. I can't possibly say enough good things about this book. The dialogue was witty, the leads had phenomenal chemistry, the path from singledom to motherhood and coupledom was breathtaking and sweet.
When I finished the book, I closed with a blissful sigh and one thought running through my head... must own my very own copy. I wanted to sing praises about this book to the nearest person I could find -- and I did. It happened to be my mother. She's now borrowing it from the library.
I'm so thrilled to be converted to the dark side (contemporaries). I've put my name on the hold list for Blue-Eyed Devil
. I just can't wait to read it. If it's half as good as Smooth Talking Stranger
, it's going to be a toe-curling and very yummy read indeed.
The book pits a high society Texan playboy against a woman who has no use for his charm, wealth, or position other than forcing him to admit he's the father of her sister's new baby.
Rating: 5 Stars
Buy: Smooth Talking Stranger
Online Stores
