New Zealander Bronwen Evans grew up loving books She’s always indulged her love for story-telling, and is constantly gobbling up movies, books and theatre. Her head is filled with characters and stories, particularly lovers in angst. Is it any wonder she’s a proud romance writer?
She writes both historical and contemporary sexy romances for the modern woman who likes intelligent, spirited heroines, and compassionate alpha heroes. Her 2011 debut novel, INVITATION TO RUIN, received a 4.5 star rating from RT Book Reviews and was nominated in the RT Reviewers’ Choice awards – Best First Historical.
Please give Bronwen a warm welcome back to the Romance Dish!
Wuthering
Heights. Was it all Catherine’s fault?
I’m so pleased I write romance, the
happy ever after type of love story, where you have true heroes and heroines. I’d find it very difficult to write a romantic
tragedy because I’m not sure I could write a story where I didn’t like the main
characters.
I watched the BBC version of Wuthering
Heights again last night. I’m still not sure how I feel about the story or the
two main characters. On the one hand, I
understand Heathcliff’s character and the psychological reasons behind his
demeanor, but only to a certain extent will I excuse his behavior. In fact, as
the story unfolded I began to hate him more and more. Hero material he
definitely isn’t. Or is he?
Perhaps he didn’t fall in love with the
right woman. They say a woman maketh the man. Perhaps Catherine was not strong
enough to help him overcome the ghosts of his past. What would have been the
outcome of this story if the heroine had been stronger? I suspect if Heathcliff
had fallen in love with my heroine, Rheda Kerrick, from my latest Regency
romance, Invitation to Scandal, the outcome of the story would’ve been
different.
Rheda Kerrick typifies a heroine. She
has beauty, brains and fights for the underdog. She has her own code of honor
and although she’s prepared to bend the rules, she only does so when forced to
protect her friends and family. Don’t get me wrong, she has her faults and this
makes her come across as human. Here’s a
taste…
“I have been beating
the odds for over five years, Meg,” Rheda said quietly, “and I will not stop
now. Not for the Revenue men, nor fines, nor all the rest.”
Meg paused in adding
more stew into a bowl. “Not even if the coin involved in your smuggling ends up
in Napoleon’s coffers?”
Rheda hesitated, then
shrugged her shoulders. “Incidental, and not my intent. That’s why I only trade
in goods which I sell for coin. In any event, when I get my horse stud started,
I’ll be helping the war effort. I’ll supply our troops the finest cavalry
horses and be done with smuggling.” She tried to end on a triumphant note and
smiled brightly. “I just need a bit more time.”
“That’s what you’re
running out of. The government’s determined to stem smuggling. And you know
what they’ll do to you if you’re caught?”
Rheda nodded and
looked away, into the bubbling pot. Yes, she knew. Prison. Or if she was really
unlucky—transportation.
Meg shoved a bowl
filled with stew into Rheda’s cupped hands. The broth inside was warm, but
Meg’s next words chilled her. “There’s been news, Rhe. They’re stepping up
their patrols of the beaches. There will be Revenue men in every port, on every
beach. Any time. You need to find a way out. Now.”
She looked out the
window, down the path to where she’d last seen Lord Strathmore. Was her hunch
right? Was he a government man? She cupped the bowl tighter, so that the warmth
started to chase away the chill seeping through her bones. Whether he was or
wasn’t, he was still trouble. Or maybe he was just what she needed. Her brain
began whirling with ideas. “I might just have found a way,” she murmured.
The sound of the boys
slurping their food and the crackle of the stove were the only sounds in the
stuffy room. Rheda silently ate her stew, all the while thinking up her grand
plan.
Glancing at Meg she
stated, “I only need a few more months. I’m quitting at the end of summer. I
should have enough stores by then to carry everyone until I sell the first
foal.”
Meg’s face screwed up.
“Foals? What foals? I thought you couldn’t afford a stallion?”
Rheda moved to hug
Meg good-bye. “I don’t, but Lord Strathmore may come in useful there. Or at
least his stallion.”
Meg pushed her away.
“I don’t like that look on your face. It means trouble. What are you planning?
You can hardly ask to borrow his horse when you’ve just pretended you’re
someone you’re not.”
She slid Meg a sly
smile and made her way to the door, her shoulders straight, her step light.
“Who said I had to ask?”
“Lordy,” Meg said as
if in prayer, “you’re inviting trouble.”
The trouble with making Catherine the
heroine in Wuthering Heights is that she is selfish. Selfish is definitely not
a pleasant trait in any heroine. Not many of us like selfish people.
Nothing clearly demonstrates the
difference being a romance novel and a romantic tragedy than Wuthering Heights.
Quite frankly, I think that Catherine and Heathcliff were a pair of tragic,
star-crossed lovers that were never going to have a happy ever after, mainly
because they were totally ill-suited.
Even if Catherine hadn’t married Edgar,
the pair would never have made it as a couple, because not only was Catherine
not heroine material, Heathcliff was certainly not heroic.
I
agree wholeheartedly with Holly Lisle’s four characteristics of a hero are:
1. He holds
consistent MORAL values – Heathcliff doesn’t appear to have any moral values
2. He takes
responsibility for his actions – Heathcliff was partly to blame. He MUST face
the fact that he didn’t send word to Catherine for over three years. No woman
waits forever if ignored, nor should she have to.
3. He cherishes
that which genuinely matters – Heathcliff doesn’t seem to cherish anything
except revenge.
4. He takes
extraordinary action to preserve what matters—Heathcliff did his best to
destroy the one person he said he loved.
My
hero in Invitation to Scandal, Rufus Knight, Viscount Strathmore is a
delicious hero. He is fighting to clear his late father of treason so that his
mother and younger sister can be accepted back into Society. He sacrifices
everything to protect his family. He gives up his life to enter the secret
service in order to atone for his father’s sins. He has honor and integrity and
a moral code, as this excerpt demonstrates.
Rufus refused to notice the shaking
in his fingers as he poured himself a stiff brandy. He could barely swallow the
liquid past his guilt.
Had he learned
nothing? He’d let his rampant desire for a woman cloud his judgment for a
second time. Upon entering her room and seeing her lying naked in the tub, he
should have immediately turned around and escaped. He should have let Stephen
retrieve her. Could have, should have, would have . . . But one step into the
room was all it took for his resolve to crumble, for his driving need to possess
her rise up from the ashes like the phoenix and burn every other thought out of
his head.
His gut swirled in
agony as the fiery liquid hit. He clenched his fist tightly around the glass.
The thought of Stephen seeing Rheda’s nude body, touching her body—he wanted no
other man to see her, or have her. The words, you’re mine, pounded through his brain. [CLUE TWENTY: SMUGGLER]
She was certainly his
now. He’d taken her virginity. He didn’t want to focus on the implications his
bedding Rheda wrought. Finding Daniel and capturing the spy had to come first.
He’d deal with the aftermath later. He hadn’t even withdrawn. What if he’d
gotten her with child?
He took another swig
of his drink.
Tonight had been an
unmitigated disaster all around. He’d let Daniel slip through his fingers. He’d
been knocked unconscious. He’d let smugglers escape, and worst of all he’d
taken great pleasure in deflowering Miss Rheda Kerrich.
There would be a
price to pay for each of his failures.
With a grim smile he
recognized which one of his mistakes would demand the worst punishment. Rheda.
On the heels of his
disparaging thoughts, the door opened and Rheda swept into the room. The fresh
scent of orange blossom sent his senses reeling.
For a moment he could
not respond, deafened by his own heartbeat. Rheda’s spirited beauty made speech
impossible. He gazed, riveted, upon that perfect heart-shaped face, sleekly
framed by her long golden tresses spilling over her shoulders like a silken
waterfall.
The golden flecks in
her tawny green eyes sparkled with anger. Her tall, slender, and luscious body
was once more fully clothed, but now that he’d seen the delights that lay
underneath, Rufus’s memories became feral.
It took a supreme
effort of will to pretend a casualness he did not feel. His pride and the
raging hunger to take her again made his voice sound harsher than he’d
intended. “Do you know what the Crown does to traitors? Have you ever
seen a man hanged?”
Poor Rufus, he’s met his match in the
determined and resourceful Rheda. I feel sorry for Heathcliff. If he’d met a
woman like Rheda, perhaps his life would not have been the living hell it
obviously was.
It just goes to show that the saying ‘behind
every great man is a fabulous woman’, is not wrong. I prefer, ‘beside every
great man stands a woman’.
The characters in Wuthering Heights
prove to me, that when writing a great romance novel, and if you want to ensure
the reader gets their ‘happy ever after’, you need pretty special men and
women. I hope if you read Invitation to Scandal you’ll think Rheda and Rufus
are pretty special too.
Tell me who your favorite hero and
heroine are and be in to WIN one of three SIGNED copies of INVITATION TO SCANDAL. (Giveaway open world-wide.)
Invitation to Scandal
Her secrets are coming undone...
Plagued by scandalous
rumors, Rheda Kerrich will stop at nothing to restore her reputation and make
an honest living for herself-and she's determined to do it without a husband.
But times are hard, and smuggling is a risky though profitable trade. So when a
dashing agent for the English government catches her in the act, she
desperately resists his charms and conceals her illicit profession. Until she
realizes he may be the key to her ultimate freedom-and unbridled passion.
Rufus Knight,
Viscount Strathmore, has never had trouble beguiling the ladies of Kent. When
his search for "Dark Shadow," a cunningly elusive smuggler, leads him
to alluring and headstrong Rhe, her objections to his amorous advances merely
incite a tantalizing game of cat and mouse. Soon, they'll find the very secrets
driving them apart could ensnare them in a love they can't escape…
There are 30
clues that must be collected to be eligible for entry into this contest.
Collect all the clues and spell out a paragraph relating to Bronwen’s 1 May
2012 Regency release – INVITATION TO SCANDAL.
