Hey there, folks! Today we are lucky enough have Lauren Grimley visiting with us again. She's winding her way through her Romance for a Reason tour and today we get to read what she has to say on list item number five. Enjoy!
Top ten things more fictional (and
real-life) females ought to do:
5. Embrace their
sexuality.
6. Champion
their femininity.
7. Appreciate
chivalry.
8. Celebrate
girl power.
9. Eliminate
cattiness.
10. Cry a little
& laugh a lot.
I am surrounded
by real-life women warriors fighting life’s toughest battles, something that’s
become even more evident as I’ve talked with people about my recent project: Romance for a Reason.
Yet, as a reader and writer of romance (among other genres), I find few
admirable fictional female warriors. So I decided to explore the issue, making
a plea to writers and readers to demand more of their fictional heroines and
explaining my reasons in posts throughout the month. Today, thanks to Kelly, I’m
talking about number five on my top ten list. (See the calendar on the Romance for a Reason
page for dates and links to the other posts.)
Where Romance Has it Right
Of all the
requirements I came up with for kick-butt heroines, embracing sexuality is one
area that most romance writers get right already. So why mention it? Because
society still gets it wrong, sometimes infuriatingly wrong! And writers and
their readers need a reminder that there are those of us out there who
appreciate an honest look at women as lovers.
A little over a
year ago, in the height of the Fifty Shades madness, I gave in to the hoopla
and read all three books. Even as an amateur author myself, I agreed with the
literary critics that they weren’t the most well-written works I’d read
recently. I also agreed with the fandom, though, that they were a fun and
interesting summer read. Ana fails to meet most of my requirements for strong
females, particularly in the first book or so. Since it was a trilogy and based
off the same basic plot as the Twilight series, I wasn’t bothered by that,
knowing that her sexual awakening was just around the corner and would bring
with it a stronger, more self-aware heroine. It did. The trilogy ended with a
young woman who wasn’t afraid to admit she liked it a little kinky between the
covers and who finally saw herself as an equal to her partner.
Enter Pastor
Douglas Wilson, and his blog post “Fifty
Shades of Prey,” in which he basically implies that women who willingly
engage in certain types of sex are asking to become victims. I won’t repeat my
complete irate rebuttal (you
can read my reply to the good Pastor here), but let’s just say things got
ugly.
Clearly this was
an extreme example of someone who can’t accept females embracing their own
sexuality, but society is full of less extreme examples. Single men who have
healthy love lives, for instance, are studs. Single women with the same are called
by another five-letter s-word. It seems only in romantic fiction, which unlike
society and the media, tends to be ruled by female writers, readers, and first
person narrators, is it okay for a woman to enjoy love making as much as her
male counterparts. (Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse with her variety of
lovers—not just in number, but also in species—and her honest comments about
her sexual appetite is probably my favorite example of this.)
So how do we
change society’s double standard? By pointing it out whenever we see it. I’m
not sure Miley Cyrus got it right, but I seriously wonder if anyone would have
cared if some male artist rubbed himself all over a half-dressed dancer—which,
from what I remember of MTV, is pretty much what happens in nearly every rap
video ever made. Her twerking, like E.L. James’s writing, got everyone talking.
Now we just need to turn the topic of conversation to the real issues: women,
like men, have desires. It ought to be perfectly acceptable for females in
real-life, like in our fiction, to embrace these desires...Although perhaps we
can all agree to keep it off prime time!
Unbridled:
A collection of short stories from the Alex Crocker series
By Lauren Grimley
“Think
Law and Order SUV meets The Breakfast Club” was Ellie’s trite
explanation of what Alex had been dragged into. Add a few fangs, Fifty
Shades of Oversharing, and a dash of Dr. Phil, and she was in for quite a
Thursday night.
Alex
couldn’t deny she had become the pint-sized poster child for PTSD lately, but
she didn’t exactly expect to find a support group for teachers turned vampire
chew toys in Bristol, MA. Listening to the tales of the four other females
gathered to help her heal, however, she accepts that perhaps both the worst and
the best of life can blossom from the unexpected.
Unbridled is
a novella-length collection of four connected stories focusing on the unlikely
friendships and less likely lovers of the female characters from the Alex
Crocker series.
“Grace
and Dignity”
Ireland,
1713
Even
a female whose mating has been arranged most of her life still thinks about
what she wants in a mate. Not one of the qualities Sarah had hoped for were
easily evident in her betrothed, the future Regan of the Rectinatti coven.
Perhaps, though, there were more layers to Darian than he liked to reveal, but
how does a subject unmask a prince?
“Rules
and Recollections”
Bristol,
Massachusetts, 1902
You
can’t fall in love with someone you barely recall, but that, Vivian supposed,
was the point. After a terse meeting with the Knower, a mind reader, memory
manipulator, and the coven’s most notorious lecher, Vivian isn’t herself. She
can’t shake the feeling that the solution to her mood lurks just below the
surface of her consciousness. Only plunging into darkness, though, will bring
everything to light.
“Blood
and Secrecy”
Bristol,
Massachusetts, 2008
The
shared need for blood brought them together, but individual desires for secrecy
are keeping them apart. Each already left behind a life of privilege for
reasons the other likely couldn’t understand. Now both Rocky and Ellie need to
decide if they’re willing to open up about their pasts in order to ensure a
future.
Series: Alex Crocker series, can definitely be
enjoyed without reading the first two books in the series, but is written to
fit after the events of book 2, Unveiled.
Genres: paranormal romance, vampire series,
urban fantasy, short stories
Release date: October 1, 2013
Available formats: ebook & paperback (178 pages)
Website page: http://www.laurengrimley.com/Unbridled.html
Purchase links:
Amazon
Or for those who
want just a bite, three of the individual stories are available as well:
Barnes & Noble
October is
National Breast Cancer Awareness Month and National Domestic Violence Awareness
Month. As the daughter of a breast cancer survivor and a friend and teacher of
too many women who’ve been affected by violence, I chose it to also to be the
release date for Unbridled. I may not
love wearing pink or purple, the colors of these two issues, but I do love a
good fight for great causes. I’ve just chosen to battle this one with my pen.
Please consider helping in your own way!
How you can help:
Read some romance. Proceeds from Unbridled
will be donated to the two charities listed here.
Donate. Make your own
individual donation to these two charities or choose a local charity supporting
these and other causes affecting women in your area. To learn more about each
charity and my reasons for choosing them, visit the Romance for
a Reason page. Or click through to donate directly.
Party hard. Gather the women (and men!) of your book club or
just a group of friends for a Romance for Reason party. Party ideas? Check
out my blog for ideas on how to plan your gathering.
Then download the Romance Reading Questionnaire and/or the Body Lingo Bingo for some fun party
activities!
Share. Tweet, status update,
review, or just chat with friends about the books, the tour, and the charities
(mine or yours)!
Lauren
Grimley lives in central Massachusetts where she grew up, but her heart is on
the beaches of Cape Cod where she spends as much of her time as possible. After
graduating from Boston University she became a middle school English teacher.
She now balances writing, reading, and correcting, all with a cat on her lap
and a glass of red wine close by.
Unforeseen, the first novel in the Alex Crocker
Seer series, was Lauren’s debut novel. She was thrilled this spring to continue
the series with Unveiled and now Unbridled. To learn more about her or
her writing or to connect with her online visit her website at
www.laurengrimley.com.
Amazon page: http://www.amazon.com/Lauren-Grimley/e/B007Y5ZZSG
Twitter @legrimley: https://twitter.com/legrimley
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/authorlegrimley/
Feeling lucky? Enter Lauren's giveaway!
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