You’ll read my novels and you’ll think I want an old-fashioned Neanderthal man, but nothing could be farther from the truth.
I was typing up the blurb to my second romance and describing my hero “king looking for his submissive queen” and I thought, I hope no one gets the wrong idea. And then I thought about my first romance with the country man with wide shoulders and the “stick up his backside” and I thought, hmm, I hope no one gets the wrong impression. Because I do not want a Neanderthal. Let’s make that clear.
What I do want?
A man who understands what he needs to do. A man who knows he needs to be a stand-up guy, take care of his family, fight for what is right, stay true to his beliefs and do it all in a greater than six-foot chiseled frame draped in cocoa-colored skin that smells as good as it tastes.
Oh, don’t get all shy, I know you romance readers have read a lot steamier stuff J.
What I don’t want?
I don’t want a man who thinks he can treat me like they treated women back in the day. So long as he knows how to be as strong as above and also knows how to respect that boundary of not trying to impress all that upon me, we’re fine. Cause I’m a modern woman. I only listen to men when I want to and half the time I forget what they say a second later. Women do not need men to run roughshod for them. Now, I don’t mind letting one think I do every once in a while. I don’t mind turning one loose on the world if it will serve my purpose. I don’t mind letting one pick me up and carry me to the bedroom every now and again (got to work those muscles). But I will never allow one to think they have dominion over me.
I think the key is in the boundaries. And the respect. So long as a man, or a character, respects the woman he is with — her mind, her opinions, her power to get things done – he can be comfortable being the man he is for himself. So sure, my heroes are tall and handsome and slightly stubborn and grouchy. But my heroines are beautiful, curvy and even more stubborn and much grouchier. So you see, it all works out. Everyone’s happy.
Do you think sometimes heroes are too mired in Neanderthal jerkdom to be attractive?
Glorious Sunset
Blurb:
African King Taka Olufemi has traveled over four hundred years to find the woman who holds the soul of his murdered queen and he’s a little cranky. With a ruby brooch as his vessel, the former king is forced to grant wishes to ungrateful mortals hoping to one day find, and win, the heart of his lost love.
But it will take more than good looks, superior intelligence and an impressive pedigree to earn the love of Violet Jackson. The ambitious interior designer doesn’t remember Taka or their history. Love—with its inevitable heartbreak chaser—has no place in Violet’s immediate life plan. All the handsome “genie” can do for her is pony up on the three wishes he’s promised and try not to be a pain while he’s at it.
While the arrogant king is praying for his submissive queen and the faithless object of his affection isn’t praying at all, guardian angel, Aniweto, is praying for them both. With Ani’s help, Taka and Violet’s epic love will be rekindled and this royal couple-behaving-badly will finally earn their happily-ever-after through the grace of the Almighty.
Excerpt:
1600 A.D., Jaha, West Africa
The acrid smell of a burning village brought King Taka Olufemi awake, sputtering, coughing and wincing in pain as he did so. Slowly memory returned and with it the horror. He cracked his eyelids open, his eyes immediately burning with the pebbly smoke that floated in a low hanging cloud. Pushing himself upright from where he lay causing sharp pain to streak through his torso and the agony brought his gaze down as he sucked in his breath and jerked his hands to the source. Seeing the jagged, torn flesh of the wound in his side, the rest of his memory came and with the memory…
“Oh no … no, no, no….”
He forgot his pain. He fought off the sway of the world as he stood, struggling to focus and see through eyes watering with smoke and something else he didn’t dare identify. He didn’t need to see when he could smell. He was a king and warrior; battle was in his bones and death always a close companion. He smelled both here.
He looked around. Men, women, children; the massacre was complete. Beyond the hall huts and houses of his village were blackened ash. The air still burned with the stench of fire. He couldn’t understand this. In all his life he’d never seen such brutality; never known such dishonor. Still, he firmed his jaw and kept looking, turning in a wide circle until his feet staggered to a stop before his brain could even register.
His body knew how to find its heart…
You can find Glorious Sunset at:
Bio: Ava Bleu lives and loves in the Midwest, countering bitter winters with smooth jazz and tasty edibles. Ava Bleu is the author of the contemporary romantic comedy, The Diva of Peddler’s Creek, and Glorious Sunset, an edgy inspirational romance with a time-traveling king, an angel and a love for the ages.
Ava can be found in bookstores and the public library camped next to the cookbooks and/or on the town keeping an eye out for hero-material. She can also be found at her website and visitors are always welcome.
You can find Ava at:
Website: http://www.avableu.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ava.bleu
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AvaBleu1
babettejames.com 