Why Jake?

By Pat Cromwell

I recently followed a discussion on Amazon by readers of romance. It was their wish list of what they wanted writers to refrain from when penning a story. It was titled Dear Author…Don’t.

The most popular request was for writers to stop using certain names for their hero. It appeared that most of the contributors to the discussion were unanimous with their displeasure of the use of those dashing and charming names that we like to use. I did not see the name Michael in any of the post. That’s a good thing because the hero in my book, “Behind Blue Eyes” name is Michael.

One poster wrote:

“I swear if I read another romance with a hero named Rafe I'm going to SCREAM!”

Although I don’t have a particular problem with the name Rafe as a hero, I do understand where she is coming from. I have a pretty good ideal of who this Rafe character is; he is of the same mode as the guy that has graced the pages of so many of the romance novels that I have read. His name is well known and is synonymous with sexy hero among the members of my reading group. This one guy shows up so much that I feel as if I know him personally.

Maybe you’ve come across him to.

His name is Jake and he makes me want to scream.

Probably not for the same reasons as the “Rafe” poster does, but he makes me want to scream none the less. He has found his way into so many romance books, that as a reader there are times I’d love to have Jake officially banned, but am so glad he isn’t because he’s a bright spot and the perfect hero. As a writer, I steer clear of him – I’m afraid I may not give Jake the justice he deserves and IMO Jake is a legend, perched on a pedestal. Why else is he used time and time again? I opt instead to use his distant relatives – Michael, Stephen, Vincent, Chase, and Kenneth. I’ll make them as legendary as Jake someday.

That does not mean that I will not have Jake staring in one of my books, but for now, I’ll let him be. For which I am sure he is pleased to hear. I bet Jake wish he could take it easy and indulge in an extended vacation from the written pages. Perhaps let his twin brother Seymour stand in for him every once and a while.

Did I mention Jake has a split personality?

Sometimes he wears his persona of dashing millionaire playboy, others times he is the most handsome and understanding cowboy the state of Montana has produced. Jake has been a Dom with a submissive waiting in the corner, and he has appeared as the misunderstood guy with tons of issues who arrives on the scene just in the nick of time to save the damsel in distress and unravel the hidden meaning of life. I have read about Jake the Private Eye, Jake the Doctor, Jake the Lawyer, and Jake the Professor. Sometimes he shows up with black hair, other times he is blonde. But no matter what color his hair, he is always handsome, sexy, and in touch with his feminine side, yet manages to retain that strong Alpha Personality that I love.

So why use Jake instead of Seymour? Honestly, can you imagine the heroine in the throes of passion moaning uncontrollably, “Oh Seymour!”

No way!

I don’t care if Seymour looks exactly like Jake and that Seymour has Jake’s personality, somehow the “Oh Jake” sounds so much better than “Oh Seymour.”

Beside the “passion” factor that is the very essence of Jake, there is that unconscious familiarly that is attached to him. When I read a book staring Jake, I know that he is going to be taking care of business. As a reader of romance, I am drawn time and again to books that have Jake staring in the pages and I look forward to the persona he takes on. I’d be skeptical of Seymour. As a writer of romance, I’d love to have Jake star in one of my books. After all, he is to die for. But my muse has never presented me with a story line for Jake. Michael, Stephen, Vincent, Chase, and Kenneth to date grace the pages of my stories. Modesty aside, they are just as dashing, handsome, and Alpha as Jake. Jake is their role model.

Following is a little excerpt from Behind Blues Eyes featuring two of Jakes distance relatives Michael O’Neal and Stephen Lay’s:


Begin Excerpt

“There’s one other thing we have to work out,” Stephen said

“And that one other thing is?”

“Getting you out of the shit you’re in with that girl.”

“She’s staying with me. I’ll make it right with her. It will just take time.”

“You misunderstand what I mean. You need to forget about her. Get her out of your system. You should just walk away from her, man. I mean ASAP. What you are doing is crazy and bad for you. She has got you twisted. I mean honestly, if you counted the total number of hours that the two of you have spent together you wouldn’t get past a hundred. The entire time we have hung out together, you have not allowed yourself to get to know other women. Man, when you two are not together your brain is lethal. Five minutes with her and you are back in Idiotville. You need to walk away, just as you did years ago. That’s the only reason we got as far as we did and that is the only way you can stop being nuts.”

“What part of I love her do you not understand?”

“I guess God loves me because I’ve never been afflicted with that disease. With that said, partner, you need to get her out of here because in twenty-four hours her brother is going to be front-page news. She’s going to be pissed.”

“She’s already pissed.”

End Excerpt

You can find more excerpts on my website. Also, I have tibbits from my books that feature some of Jakes other relatives!


Until next week…Happy reading!

Pat Cromwell http://www.freewebs.com/patcromwell/ http://moonlightromanceauthors.blogspot.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgnV3uXKwmM
Behind Blue Eyes at www.amirapress.com

Sweet Revenge by Marly Mathews!

Hey Everyone, it's my day to blog again here at the Moonlight Romance Authors blog. Today I thought I'd talk about my short English Tea Rose, Sweet Revenge, published by The Wild Rose Press. This story is set during the regency times, but it's more of a mystery intrigue than your normal ballroom regency. Please read on to find out more about Sweet Revenge.
~Marly

BLURB:
SWEET REVENGE
English Tea Rose Line
historical romance
By Marly Mathews
Publisher: Wild Rose Press

Lady Carys Richardson is a woman set on a mission. She's convinced her brother, Charles was murdered during his service in the Napoleonic wars. On her path to vengeance, she falls in love with the Duke of Penrose, Thomas Williams. Thomas was her brother's commanding officer in the Navy. Her investigation leads her to point the accusatory finger in Thomas's direction and her world begins to unravel.

Lord Thomas Williams is a duke with wealth and power. He also is a man that knows too much without having enough evidence. When he finds out that Carys believes him to be the murderer, his heart is broken. But he hasn't lost his faith in Carys nor can he stop loving her. When Carys finally realizes her horrendous mistake, will it be too late to right the wrongs of the past and bring the true killer to justice?

EXCERPT:

SWEET REVENGE
© copyright 2007, Marly Mathews

"You come to me alone with no chaperone?"

She smiled. "Who would have accompanied me? Most of my friends are busy with other more pressing matters. They have to have their gowns pressed and ready for whatever social soiree they'll be attending tonight. It is after all, the height of the season."

"So it is." His eyes drank in the full length of her. "Though, you invite a heap load of scandal at your doorstep with your presence here."

"I know. That's why I'm here." Her blue eyes twinkled. "I need to discuss a matter of grave importance with you. I thought it could wait until the wedding night, but I daresay, I was quite mistaken."

"Then, we should get right down to it; no time like the present."

A hint of doubt glimmered in her wondrous eyes, and then faded as quickly as it had appeared. She was hesitant. He couldn't understand the startling change in her ... she'd always approached him with a certain amount of determined gusto.

"I--" She nervously cleared her throat. Her eyes took on a haunting sorrowful look that had him clenching his hands in worry. "Has your heart ever told you to do something, and your mind reels against it? Knowing that you couldn't possibly do what your heart tells you to do ... that it is beyond the realm of possibility?" With her last word, she dropped her voice to a faint whisper. She looked grief stricken, almost as if she were fighting an inner battle--and losing.

"If I hadn't followed my heart, I wouldn't be facing a lifetime of wedded bliss with you."

He hooked her arm through his, and they walked arm in arm down to the library. It was closed off, spacious and he happened to know that Carys had an extreme fondness for books. He was having his library updated before she moved in. Everything would be perfect for her. He'd have it no other way. He had to make her the happiest woman alive. If he didn't, he'd fail to fulfill a promise long ago made.

Available now from Wild Rose Press.
Buy it by clicking

HERE

Here's what Carly at Fallen Angels had to say about Sweet Revenge--she gave it FIVE ANGELS!
This is one Regency romance that is less about frippery and frills than about human nature and revenge. I was pulled into this story right away. The exchange between Carys and her horrid aunt is priceless! The nasty old woman is just plain rotten but Carys is quick-witted enough to give as good as she gets. I laughed out loud at the dialogue! So witty and fast paced, it made the words race by. The mystery of this is intricate and could be a bit confusing if the reader doesn't follow closely. The love story is sweet, and I like the fact that forgiveness and moving on is part of this story.

Sweet Revenge by Marly Mathews is a very enjoyable story, one that is both entertaining and amusing!
Reviewed by: Carly, Fallen Angel Reviews

NOTE: When I wrote this post it was Wednesday here where I live, even though the post says Tuesday. My apologies!
And if you want to keep up on my latest news and happenings, I'd love for you to join my yahoo author group! This group is usually low to moderate traffic, but you're free to set how you receive messages. I hold a few contests a month with all sorts of prizes being offered. Here's the link,

My Yahoo Author Group

See you there!
~Marly

Drive-by Posting

Hi, my name is Kayleigh, and I'm a procrastinator.

It's no secret that I'm in my second year of law school, which makes me seriously busy, and seriously miserable, most of the time. And there's no worse example of that than the two weeks following each semester during which I am subjected to those diabolical torture devices, final exams. For those unfamiliar with the law school machine, the final exam is in most instances the only contributor towards my grade. Three hours. One test. 100% of my grade. Source of a teeny bit of stress?

You bet your ass.

At the moment, I've completed one class, with four to go. Law and Literature did not require a final, but a final paper instead, and there were other grades in that class - a midterm paper for which I got a 39/40 (and I'm pissed about that one point!), participation for which I have 100%, and a few mini-papers.

The big bears are coming up Thursday and Friday of this week, and Wednesday and Friday of next. Business Corporations is on Thursday, Professional Responsibility is on Friday. Wednesday I have Administrative Law and Friday Constitutional Law I. I've spent today studying Professional Responsibility, which is basically attorney ethics *insert lawyer jokes here*. That ties nicely into my rant from the other day regarding author ethics. Just goes to show there are shiesty people in ALL professions. Lawyers just get a bad rap because, well, a lot of us deserve it. No, seriously, attorneys have very rigid standards of ethics to follow, and we police ourselves well. The reason why people have such a bad opinion of lawyers (aside from a few bad apples spoiling the bunch) is that we have an adversarial system of justice, which means that in any given case two sides are pitted against each other - either the People versus an individual in a criminal case, or individuals versus individuals in civil cases. Someone always wins, and someone always loses. Naturally those who support the loser, or those who are the losers, aren't going to be happy. And there are bad lawyers out there, along with bad laws, but that's a rant for another day.

My current source of procrastination material, outside of this blog posting, is the December RWR, which just came in the mail. And as usual, I could wank for hours about the current state of the RWA, but all in all I really must get back to studying.

Instead, I'll leave you with an excerpt from my upcoming Regency, Reckless Liaisons, here.

-KJ

Exerpt from Destiny's Holiday...

Destiny's Holiday is the holiday sequel to my romantic suspense Destiny's Choices. When you purchase a copy of Destiny's Choices you get a copy of Destiny's Holiday for free! Get your copy today!

Exerpt:

Tiana stepped back holding the door wide. James lowered the tree so it would fit through the doorway and then took it over to the corner Tiana had cleared and leaned it against the wall.

James shook his head and snow flew everywhere.

Tiana ducked and covered her own head. “Hey! That stuff’s cold, watch where you’re shaking it!”

“Sorry.” James grinned. “Some of it was starting to slide down the back of my neck.” He pulled off his coat, and threw it on the couch.

Tiana walked over and picked it up taking it to the hall closet. “I swear I will get you trained to hang up your own coat one of these days.” She muttered beneath her breath.

When strong arms reached around her as soon as the coat was hung, Tiana leaned back into James’ strength. “But it’s so much fun to watch you do it for me.” James teased.

Tiana turned in his arms and arched one brow. “Are you telling me you do it on purpose?”

“Oh definitely. As long as I can see this gorgeous backside walking away from me…” He
grasped one butt cheek in each hand. “I’ll probably keep doing it.”

“Uh huh. I see how you are.” Tiana draped her arms around his neck. “Maybe I’ll just have to give you some sort of incentive to start doing it yourself. What do you think?”

“I think it would have to be a pretty good incentive for me to not want to watch your ass moving in a pair of tight jeans.”

“I’ll bet I could think of something.”

James stroked her rump. “What did you have in mind?”

Tiana reached up and kissed him sliding her tongue along the seam of his lips, her arms tightening.

James pulled back a bit, “So is this what you have in mind?” He murmured.

“Nah, this is just an appetizer.” Tiana smiled then stepped away. “I’ll think about what kind of incentive I can come up with while we decorate the tree. Oh, and I do hope you remembered a tree stand, because I don’t have one.”

Come join me, and a bevy of authors who are giving stuff away!

“Destiny’s Digs” is set for Monday, December 3rd from 9 until 1 over at CATA!

CataNetwork Readers

The giveaway is a chat where the primary theme will be the giveaways. Authors will still come in and promote with excerpts but the overall idea is to give away some of their favorite things. Some of your favorites will show up to give…give…give so come on out and join in on the fun with your favorite authors!

Larriane Wills
Gracie McKeever
Emma Wildes
Aleka Nakis
Sloane Taylor
Morgan Ashbury
Anya Huerta
J.L. Foster
Regina Paul
Susan Smith Alvis
Samantha Lucas
Beth Wylde
Lyn Armstrong
Missy Lyons
Destiny Blaine

We're all going to be giving away our favorite "things" including e-books, print books, and so much more. See CATA's calendar for complete details. Come on out and join us for a party full of giveaways! Starts at 9 AM on Monday, December 3rd!

Greetings Everyone From Sarah McNeal

Hello everyone. I'm really happy to be here with such extraordinary writers. My thanks to Regina for thinking of this blog and for putting her time and effort into it.

My name is Sarah McNeal. I love to write romances especially fantasy and time travel. My first two novels are part of the Valmora series, fantasy novels about two families: one from the modern world where we live and the other from a magical place called Valmora where the fight between good and evil is a daily struggle. The modern world family, the McKnights, travel across time and space to enter the Medieval world of Valmora to help their friends, the winged Nimway, fight against the evil from the people of the Dark Isle led by the witch, Queen Mahara. Those novels are at New Concepts Publishing. I am presently working on the third in the series, The Light of Valmora.

The Violin is quite a different story. It's an almost true story about Genevieve who buys a violin and is taken back in time to 1927 where she attempts to save the life of John Douglas. She finds it easy to fall into the life this time period gives her and becomes fond of the delightful Douglas family especially the handsome but doomed John Douglas. But maybe it isn't John who needs saving and perhaps there are many mysteries about herself that Genevieve has yet to discover. The Violin will be released by Amira Press this month and I can't wait. This book means more to me than anything I've written so far.

I'm also working on a short story for charity with JL Foster and some other very talented authors. Every story is about a breast cancer survivor and. of course, there is romance. ooh-la-la

After that, I'll be writing the story of Harmonica Joe's Reluctant Bride.

Writing stories brings me joy and peace I can find no where else. It is so exciting when a reader tells me how much they loved reading one of my stories. I will continue to strive to tell a good tale and leave the reader satisfied that, at least in fiction, all ends well.
Thank you for listening to my chatter. I hope to talk with you again next week. Until then, all good things to your corner of the universe.
Sarah McNeal
www.sarahmcneal.com

A world of reading and writing - Nikki Watson

I found myself with enough time, today, to lie down on my bed and spend a fair amount of time reading. It's a past time that I used to indulge in vastly more before there was this thing called the internet *smiles* and it's a past time that I realised today I had quite missed.

I managed to finish off two of the books I've been reading, Widdershins by Charles De Lint, and Kelley Armstrong's first novel Bitten. Of course, I couldn't finish two novels without starting another one, so I figured Diplomacy of Wolves, because it's been clearly too long since I last read that. The book is the beginning of the Secret Text trilogy by Holly Lisle. Clearly I didn't fill my shape changing fix by finishing Bitten. *grins*

Of course, I should probably spend some of this first post promoting my own writings. I write what I love reading, which is fantasy, and have a fantasy trilogy coming out with New Concepts Publishing. I also play my hand in social realistic writings, and currently have the novel Spiral out with Aphrodite's Apples Press.

Here is an excerpt:



She kissed him, and it was perfect. It was unlike every practice kiss that she had made with boys at holiday houses over the summer, or ones she had had in her dreams over crushes in high school. It was nothing like the boys she'd kissed to try to make some spark happen after they asked her out and she was too polite to say no. It wasn't like anything she'd ever experienced, and then it was over, and Elena had to try to hide her pout this time.

'I dunno. I've had better than that.'

Sam's silhouette was stroking his jaw in contemplation. Elena arched her eyebrows, feeling a sense of déjà vu come upon her as fun was made at her expense. She propped herself onto her elbow, supporting her head with her hand and looking down at him daringly, even if he could not see her expression clearly.

'Have you?'

'Maybe.'

'Really?'

'Possibly. Okay, no.'

'No?'

'No.'

'No what?'

Sam smiled up at her, taking her arm out from under her and positioning himself so she fell almost on top of him—and certainly into easy kissing position—when she lost balance.

'It was a great kiss. I'd like to do it again.'

And he did, this time taking the lead himself and stroking her hair out of her face with a gently caressing hand. Elena closed her eyes, not that it made much difference, but in the midst of the mood, it seemed like the thing to do. And then there was no thinking, only instinct, and Elena was placed on her back, with Sam's hand stroking down her side...

Buy Spiral Here!

Nikki Watson
Dark Fantasy and Romance Writer
http://www.nikkiwatson.110mb.com/