“Sugar and spice and everything nice.” Yep, that’s what the old nursery rhyme tells us little girls are made of. And for so long it seems to have been the ideal standard for woman. The woman that we should look up to, the heroine for everyone to adore. But of course, living in reality and in the age of ‘not so real’ reality TV, we know that as women we can’t always be sugar and we definitely can’t keep everything nice, at least not all the time without blowing a gasket or two.

That said, even with the reality of it all, I have seen so many times in romance, especially the romances of the past, that the heroine must be perfect. She must be the Sandra Dee and never the Rizzo. The girl without a past, always a virgin, never one to swear and although she may have flaws, they are sweet little flaws like clumsiness or a penchant for over-generosity. The things that make my eyes roll to the back of my head by page three of a book. Looking at all these perfectionists that I know I can’t live up to I wonder, who are these women and what about the men that fell for them? How can they be truly relatable? This level of perfectionism doesn’t leave much room for the Rizzos of romance and the “not so bad boys” that may fall in love with them. Don’t the cranky girls need love too? What about the girls with a past, the women that are not virgins or even born again virgins? What about the mouthy… ahem, ladies? Can a woman speak her mind and still get her HEA?

I say yes. That is if there is a hero strong enough to face the mouth, the emotions and the past head on and man it up to the plate. My 2^nd book from Crimson romance: Seduction’s Canvas ,out now, features what some would consider my most divisive heroine yet. A cross between, Paris Hilton and Lindsey Lohan with a bit of Ivanka Trump thrown in,  Samara Leighton is a woman with a past, forced to take long hard looks at her mistakes and face them head on. But still she’s not apologizing for her needs and desires. Samara is the type of woman that if you don’t already know, you wouldn’t mind knowing and a bit of her may be you. That part that you want to whoop it up with and sometimes shake and say, “woman, get it together!” over drinks.

Thankfully, she’s found a hero in Mark Thorn, who is just as strong as she is and alpha as she is to give her the space she needs when she needs it and the shake and the shakes (*insert wink here*)  she needs just when she need them too. I think this is what makes a truly great alpha hero. When he is tough enough, but still secure and soft enough to let a strong women be the woman she was meant to be.

I hope you give Seduction’s Canvas at try as well as more books with heroines who have a little more Rizzo and a little less Sandra Dee or if it is more Sandra Dee, let it be Sandy with those cool, can’t breathe leather pants at the end of the movie.

Here’s a blurb for Seduction’s Canvas:

“I want to paint you” Artist Samara Leighton had wanted to say those words to the sexy motorcycle rider who lived in the building ever since she first laid eyes on him nearly a year ago. But now that the words were out she couldn’t stop her heart from beating wildly in her chest.

“Honey, you don’t have enough paint to cover me.” Security specialist Mark Thorn didn’t mean to come off as a hard ass. As a matter of fact he wanted nothing more than to let the tempting artist from across the hall do whatever she wanted to him and then some. But her haughty demeanor left the normally cool rider off his game.

Samara knew this was her only chance to live out her long-standing fantasy and she wasn’t going to let it slip through her fingers. She has very little time before her show is done and the pressure of her family legacy means she will finally go through with living out her life under the umbrella of the Leighton name and its responsibilities. There would be no more downtown jaunts, lazy museum afternoons and evenings spent lost in the magic of color and her canvases. And definitely no time spent holding tight to the muscular form of her dark rider while the horrors of her past and her cares drifted further away with each mile of road they covered.

All the best,

KMJ

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