Because we’d been so consumed by the conversation on rape fantasies, I totally neglected to post a personal ad contest yesterday. Bad Candy! No treat for me.
So most of you know the drill by now: Give us the correct book title, author and heroine’s name, and lo, a Smart Bitch Title will be magically bestowed upon thee!
Shy widow living a calm, quiet life in small Midwestern city seeks nothing in particular except a calm, quiet life. Rock stars need not apply; rock stars who get me tipsy and take me a on ride on your motorbike definitely need not apply.
I’m Faux Jay this week, so may I make the guess? *hopeful smile*
Jay has her title and I have mine, but not as Faux Jay the Blog Hijacker.
If Faux Jay can’t guess, can I?
The Golden Touch by Robin James, AKA Tom and Sharon Curtis
Heroine’s name, we need heroine’s name!
Kathy Carter
Whoops whole thing.
Kathy Carter, Golden Touch by Sharon and Tom
Neil is the hero.
and I can share my title with Robin. . . Cause actually? I sort of cheated. I looked at AAR to get the names right.
Huh? I don’t even understand the answer! There are something like 4 names too many in what Kate said. And, Kate, don’t you have 16 titles already?
You would never know I read romance….[[shakes fists at sky]]
Can a person win more than one SmartBitches title? A European noble may have a whole string of them, but we’re in an alternate dimension here. 😉
Oh, sorry.
Neil Stratton and Kathy Carter. See, I got so excited I forgot the rules! If I lost I lost, though.
Oh, but I really did know it. In fact, he calls her “darlin’” or “pretty lady” or “lady” most of the time. And Neil drives a Harley, and it takes place in Wisconsin. And Kathy’s middle name is Allison. Kathy Allison Carter. Oh, God, I’m so desperate. It’s so sad.
And so stupid:
The Golden Touch by Robin James, AKA Tom and Sharon Curtis, featuring Kathy Allison Carter and (I know this is superfluous information, but I can’t help it cause I LOVE him) Neil Stratton.
“Can a person win more than one SmartBitches title?”
Sarah has threatened death and dismemberment to those who attempt to garner more than one Smart Bitch title through the personal ad contest. I think the rules are relaxed for the other contests we run because our readers vote on the results.
And Kate is the winnah, with an assist from Robin. I’ll dig through our pile of shiny new titles and find one fit to bestow on MisKate.
Robin: I love Neil, too. It’s amazing how even though the book is only from Kathy’s perspective, that we get to see how very, very kind he is—not just superficially so, but in the way he talks to and treats Kathy and everybody else. I have the book over here and I’m re-reading my favorite bits, in fact, like when she brings him to the Black Bridge and he’s surprised that it’s actually a bridge.
I’ll sneak in a Laura London Regency here some day, and I’m sure you’ll be the first to pounce on the answer.
The rule on whether or not people can win more than one should be: only after hell freezes over and Helenkay finally wins one. Uh-huh. That should be the rule. Of course, that would mean those of you who have one of the coveted honors would NEVER get a shot at another. Sorry, but the only chance I have is to eliminate all of the competition in some manner. This would be the least costly in terms of human lives.
“I’ll sneak in a Laura London Regency here some day, and I’m sure you’ll be the first to pounce on the answer.”
Thanks Candy. I’m sure I’ll get over it by then. Probably. Even though I was the first one to pounce on this answer and then took my time posting in the other topic, oblivious to my mistake, letting my imminent victory drift away, and even though I DID put the WHOLE authors’ name in my response. Really, though, even though I’m fucking pissed, I know Kate provided the critical missing link and that she won. Congrulations, Kate—I’ll try to keep the self-digusted rumbling and head bashing to a minimum over here.
I actually had a really hard time warming up to Kathy. Like the heroine from Lightning that Lingers, she seems a bit two-dimensional, with her anger not explored as deeply as I’d like it to be. Two great heroes, though, in typical Curtis/James/London fashion.
I know, Robin. You were ignominiously distracted by the Rape discussion. *shakes fist at thread*
You know, I like Kathy. I agree that her anger and ambivalence weren’t explored in as much detail as I would’ve liked, but just when I think she’s hopeless, she says something funny, and I tend to forgive a lot if a character makes me laugh. Like this bit, when she’s getting ready for the trip to see Neil in Tennessee:
“You know, I like Kathy. I agree that her anger and ambivalence weren’t explored in as much detail as I would’ve liked, but just when I think she’s hopeless, she says something funny, and I tend to forgive a lot if a character makes me laugh. Like this bit, when she’s getting ready for the trip to see Neil in Tennessee:
Kathy wandered unwillingly into the bathroom and pulled off her nightgown, but sat on the edge of the tub, trailing her fingers in the water.
“Bathe!†called her sister from outside the door.
“Bathe; perfume your body with scented oils; prepare yourself for the Caliph,†Kathy called back.”
She worked better for me on the second read. I tried not to see her as superficially bitter when I read the book the second time, since I think that tougher Romance heroines are often unfairly classified as bitches, and that allowed me to see the real struggle Neil presented to a woman who didn’t want to confront her own less than stellar marriage, especially since her husband was dead and that guilt/disappointment had no outlet. So I understood why Neil had to suffer a little for that. So by the second read, I felt better about her. I loved, for example, the first time they make love at Neil’s cabin, and her ambivalent response to her own arousal. And the discussion they have afterward about notfying someone in Congress was pretty funny.
I think my favorite thing about Kathy was her willingness to express her insecurities, in part because I don’t really like those Bid Misunderstandings that come from characters not giving voice to important information. Plus that’s where I really got the insight into her character.
Actually, while I really liked the scene of her scrambling to LA to find Neil at the end, I wish that the Curitses had paid a little more narrative attention to that shift in Kathy. What really broke inside her while she listened to The Black Bridge song. What made it all so different finally? I think that would have given me a deeper understanding all the way around of her grieving process and the was she eventually gives in to her feelings for Neil. I guess in a way Neil and Kathy are like Cal and Min in Bet Me. Neil is the super-slick hunk who tries to charm the slightly embittered widow who doesn’t feel she can totally trust him. But whereas I understood all the nuances of Min’s anger and distrust, and her shift, I didn’t understand all of Kathy’s and since she was the much more complex character in the book, I wanted the stretch. I don’t think it’s an issue of length, since those Regencies are incredibly dense, especially Love’s A Stage, which is extremely short but really intense, and oh, so funny. Remember when “Prudence” walks in on Landry when he’s drunk and he asks her is she’ll ever “come and stand naked in [his] library?” Or when he saves her from the brothel and tells her that her stupid story makes total sense, “except . . . for the enormous gaps.” Or when she tells him she’s doing a “private investigation” and he askes her “whose privates do you want to investigate?”
Where THE HELL IS MY TITLE???
I figure now that I’m royalty I can turn Paris Hilton on you.
Are you sure I can’t like share it with Robin? Maybe we were twins mixed up at birth and no one is sure who the real princess de pizzpot is so we both get the title? Wait, Robin. Uh oh. Are you turning green with HISS (historical inaccuracy stupidity syndrome)?
All right, all right, title coming up! Geez!
(Oooh, Princess de Pizzpot. That’d be a good title.)
“Are you sure I can’t like share it with Robin? Maybe we were twins mixed up at birth and no one is sure who the real princess de pizzpot is so we both get the title? Wait, Robin. Uh oh. Are you turning green with HISS (historical inaccuracy stupidity syndrome)?”
No, Kate, you take it. That way if and when I eventually win, I will know I did it fair and square and that I am not just the bastard daughter of the dowager princess’ coachman. You see, she really did have a soft spot for studs, and since the stable master was othewise engaged with one of the younger and more buxom chambermaids, she had to make due with the coachman (especially after one of the tigers had looked at her with disdain at the idea of a riding lesson).