Tag: Heroines

The Smell of Desperation.

Posted October 12, 2011 by Holly in Discussions | 12 Comments

I recently read a contemporary romance novel where the heroine was 30 and desperate to get married. When I say desperate, I mean desperate enough to pay a matchmaker $1500 to set her up with her one true love. Only the matchmaker died, so her grandson had taken over the business. And naturally the grandson had an ulterior motive and no experience (and of course they fell in love in the end, because this was a romance novel), and was basically just bilking her out of the money. In other contemporary romance novels I’ve read, heroines have been so desperate that they’re willing to trap an man with pregnancy so he’ll marry her, or rape a man to get at baby.

My question is: Who are these women and do they really exist?

I’m skeptical, I admit. It’s not that I don’t think there are women out there who desperately want to get married or have a family. But with technology today, there are so many avenues to explore. I don’t understand why a woman would have to tie a man up and rape him to get pregnant. She could go to a local sperm bank and get the same results with a lot less hassle. If a woman wants to get married enough, tricking a man into having sex so she’ll get pregnant is silly. Especially with online dating sites and etc. If you’re going to marry a man, why not marry one who actually wants to marry you?

I think my biggest problem with these tropes is how it makes us, as women, look on the whole. A woman who is so naive she’ll shell out $1500 just for a chance at love? At 30 years old? Or one who will trap a man into marriage by getting pregnant on purpose, or worse, tying him up and raping him so she can get pregnant to have the baby she so desperately needs? These women make the rest of us look bad. Very bad.

Maybe I’m just being judgmental, but I’d like to see more strong, independent women in romance novels. Ones who don’t need a man to have a baby, or a baby to get a man. Where are the 30-somethings who have careers and are comfortable with themselves? Maybe they want a man in their life, but they aren’t so desperate they’ll resort to drastic measures to get one.

12 Comments

Tagged: Heroine Hating, Heroines, Holly Says, Holly Says, Holly's Annoyed, Ponderings

Author Spotlight: The Heroines.

Posted October 22, 2009 by Rowena in Features | 14 Comments

We usually talk mostly about the heroes in our favorite novels. Our favorite heroes, why a hero is so studly, which hero we want to lick and so on and so forth. It’s rare that we talked about the heroines. I know that Kristie J’s favorite LK hero is Derek Craven, I know that Holly loves her some Sebastian St. Vincent (Sybil too), I know that Lori’s favorite hero is Nick Gentry but I couldn’t tell you who their favorite heroine is. I couldn’t tell you the first thing about what heroines spoke to them.

Because it’s not very often that we do talk about our heroines but that changes today.

Today we’re going to talk about what Lisa Kleypas heroine we want to be our friend. We’re going to talk about our favorite heroines dammit.

My favorite heroine is Daisy Bowman from Scandal in Spring. When I first met Daisy in Secrets of a Summer Night, I knew that I was going to love her character and as the series went on, I did love her more and more. By the time her book came around, I connected with Daisy more than any other heroine in any LK book. Her story reminded me so much of myself and her personality shone through each page. She was just a caring and warm young lady who I was was cheering on right from the very beginning. I love the way that she took charge of her situation toward the end of her book. I loved how she loved Matthew and the lengths through which she went after him. She is my LK best friend.

Who’s yours?

As much as Daisy is my LK best friend, the most memorable LK heroine for me is Haven Travis from Blue Eyed Devil. With Daisy, I connected with her because I saw a lot of myself in her. With Haven, I had nothing in common with her and yet, I connected with her, with her character. She was such a strong and brave heroine to have endured what she did and still come out on top. She overcame a lot in the course of her book and at the end, I was so happy for her. She remains the most memorable LK heroine for me.

What about you guys? Who is the most memorable LK heroine for you?