Guest Blogger - Lynne Marshall

We have something a little different on the blog today. Rather than our usual author spotlight, author Lynne Marshall is talking about: Putting the Minx in your Manuscript.

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Thank you, Minxes of Romance, for inviting me to guest blog today. As you can tell, I love the name of your blog, and decided to incorporate it into my topic:

The Pert and Plucky Heroines of Romance!

Who they are
• If you’ve read one or a hundred romances, you’ve probably already been introduced to a particular character type presented by Tami Cowden and cohorts named The Spunky Kid in their Sixteen Master Archetypes book Heroes & Heroines. This spirited underdog not only has to sort out her messy life, but win the guy along the way.
• These characters are the unsinkable Molly Browns of the world where “I ain’t down yet” is their mantra, and they are my favorite kind of character.

Who does them best?
• My absolute favorite author of these types of characters is Susan Elizabeth Phillips. She manages to strip her plucky heroines down to the bare bones in the beginning of her stories, force them to lose everything, leave them dangling over a cliff without a foothold, yet she still manages to bring them back to life…one step at a time, until they conquer all, including the hero, before the end of the book.
• Isabel Favor watches her self-help empire come crashing down around her in the opening pages of Breathing Room.
• Blue Bailey begins her journey wearing a beaver suit in Natural Born Charmer.
• Meg Koranda is down to her last few bucks and, as Maid of Honor, manages to ruin a perfectly planned wedding before the end of chapter one in Call Me Irresistible.

Why do we love them?
• Because we can relate to them.
• From where they’re standing, there is only one way to go – UP! These plucky, pert, minxes pick themselves up, dust themselves off, head into battle, and conquer both their lives and the most unlikely heroes. As readers, we believe every step of their paths. We cheer as they rebuild their lives and themselves into the women they were meant to be.
• When these pert and saucy underdogs conquer obstacle after obstacle, we believe we can do the same in our own lives. If they can come back from “there” (whatever major fix or disappointment they must overcome) so can we!

I like to think that both Anne Grady, the protagonist in Courting His Favorite Nurse, and Carrington Hanover from An Indiscretion, are in their own way, spunky kids. Both leave their old lives behind and build new ones, totally independent, but are forced to face their past again and finally set things straight.

Courting His Favorite Nurse:
Anne Grady knew better than anyone that love was complicated. When she’d left her hometown, she thought she was leaving her past heartbreak behind for good, as well. But practically the moment she returned to care for her injured parents, she stumbled headlong into their confidant—her first love, Jack Lightfoot.

Jack had been unable to deny his feelings for Annie when he was a teenager dating her best friend, and he certainly couldn’t muffle the spark twisting between them now—even if memories of the past kept threatening to push them apart. This time Jack wasn’t going to let history repeat itself—he was going to show Annie that the two of them were meant to be much more than best friends!

An Indiscretion:
A doctor... A nurse... An indiscretion...
Paul Valverde is stretched to the limit, caring for an elderly relative while running a business and maintaining a full-time medical practice at St. Stephen's Hospital--with no time for a relationship.
RN Carrington Hanover leaves her money-hungry fiance at the altar and moves on to a new job at St. Stephen's Hospital in Los Angeles. The next man in her life must love her, not her money.
All work and no play has made Paul an unfulfilled man, and the resurrected redheaded crush from his youth is driving him to distraction. Can their complicated past become untangled by their newfound attraction--or will their love be doomed by mistrust and long-held resentment?

WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE SPUNKY KID HEROINE AND WHY?

One commenter will win their choice of e-book or print for

Courting His Favorite Nurse, or e-book for An Indiscretion.

Courting His Favorite Nurse is available from Amazon, Amazon UK (as a Cherish book) and Harlequin. An Indiscretion is availble on Amazon and Amazon UK.