"The Complicated Heroine" with Guest Blogger Victoria Dahl

hosted by Jo Robertson

We are so fortunate to have Victoria Dahl, whose debut book To Tempt a Scotsman was released last year. Her newest release from Kensington, A Rake's Guide to Pleasure, is absolutely wonderful. Victoria writes my kind of historicals -- spicy, sexy, and smart. If you like clever heroines with nefarious backgrounds and a hero who's able to sift through her exterior layers, you'll love this book.

Victoria: It's so great to be back with the Romance Bandits! Thanks for having me again. I'm glad I didn't wear out my welcome the last time I was here. My first heroine, Alexandra Huntington in To Tempt a Scotsman, was a scandalous woman. A very naughty heroine (though that wasn't QUITE the word used to describe her in some emails I received). I've blogged plenty of times about writing a scandalous heroine, but today I'd like to talk about a different kind of heroine. Let’s call her The Complicated Heroine." (Some people might call her The Unsympathetic Heroine, but I’m not talking to them right now, so there.)

So who is this complicated woman whose story is told in A Rake's Guide to Pleasure? Well, her real name is Emma Jensen, but she has a few aliases. Actually… her real name isn’t Emma. Even I’m having trouble keeping track of this slippery girl. Her real name is Emily, but she goes by Emma, as well as the Dowager Lady Denmore… not her real title. And the widowed Mrs. Kern… also completely false. You may be catching on to a bit of the problem here.

Jo: I gotta tell you, Victoria. Emma sounds like my kinda heroine.

Victoria: So what do I mean by the complicated heroine? Well, she’s not simple, obviously. She’s not necessarily easy to love. Her darker motivations aren’t offset by grand, selfless ideals. You probably don’t want to be her when you grow up, even if you love her hero (Mmmm… Hart). Hell, I wouldn’t set foot in Emma’s shoes if you paid me. So what’s up with this chick? What’s so complicated about her?

Jo: I want to remind our readers that Hart, aka Somerhart, is the brother of our heroine in To Tempt a Scotsman. To have a sister like Alexandra, you know he's got to be one strong Alpha male and a perfect match for Emma.

Victoria: Let’s take a look at the complicated heroine in A Rake's Guide to Pleasure.

Complication #1: Emma is a liar. Seriously. I’ll let Somerhart, the hero, put it in his own words: “She was a liar. A consummate liar. A woman who lied about important things. Her life, her past, her feelings, her thoughts.”

Ouch! Emma isn’t mentally ill or anything. She’s lying for a reason. A good reason, though it has nothing to do with generosity. She’s not trying to save the widdle orphans or rescue her sister from a brothel. She’s lying for her own benefit. Sooo… I guess that makes her selfish as well.
Ha! Emma is simply trying to protect herself from a world that has been awfully cruel to her. She has a plan, and part of that plan has to do with pretending to be somebody else. The other part of the plan is…

Complication #2: She’s an unrepentant gambler. She will bet on anything as long as she feels she can evaluate the odds properly. A foot race, a card game, or an upcoming duel. If she thinks she can turn a profit, she’ll place a bet. In fact, the whole reason she is in London is to gamble her meager inheritance into an amount that will support her for the rest of her life and free her from dependency on anyone.

Complication #3: Her sexuality is a tangled mess. Emma is a virgin pretending to be a mature widow, and she’s very good at that pretense because she might be the least innocent virgin you will meet in a (non-erotic) historical. She witnessed her father’s orgiastic house parties from a very young age and is interested in trying some of that stuff out for herself. But she’s a virgin who’s not supposed to be a virgin, so she can’t really indulge her curiosity.

Or can she??? *snicker* You’ll have to read the book to find out.

Jo: Okay, you had me at "orgiastic house parties." I just finished the book and our readers have GOT to read it. It's an amazing historical with lots of pathos, emotion, and, yes, sex, the good kind with the person you're in love with even if you don't know it. Ooops, sorry, Victoria, I got carried away.

Victoria: It's okay, Jo.

Complication #4: Well, Emma can be cruel. When she pushes the hero away, she’s not screwing around. As Eloisa James said about this part, “This is no nimby-pimby novel where the heroine wails, ‘Go away,’ and the hero walks around the block before going back. Emma is a grown woman and she makes him go. Really go.”

Jo: This is a wonderfully heart-breaking scene too.

Victoria: I’ve already seen a few complaints about this scene. Emma is deliberately cruel to Somerhart, but she has a reason; she is terrified. Why?

Complication #5: She has trust issues. This probably goes without saying. *g* She’s scared to death of loving the hero and even more afraid he might love her. God, this is all making me tired. This was kind of a draining book! I think Eloisa James, in continuing her review, summed it up nicely when she called it a “complicated, somewhat demented love affair.”

Jo: I know what you mean. I had to put the book down and walk away for a moment or two, reminding myself "It's only a book, it's only a book." So much emotion!

Victoria: I love Eloisa's quote. I think it captures the feel of the book perfectly. If any of you have read it, you’ll have to let me know what you think.

Do you like your heroines complicated? If so, who’s your favorite complicated (maybe even unsympathetic) heroine? Was she redeemed by the end of the book? (FYI, mine is Sugar Beth from Susan Elizabeth Phillip’s Ain’t She Sweet. I thought she was completely unredeemable at the start of that book.)

Or if YOU were the heroine of a romance novel, would you be spicy and complicated or sweet and lovable?

We'll be giving away a copy of A Rake's Guide to Pleasure to one random lucky commenter, Banditas included, so be sure to leave a comment.