I've drawn Annfes and Jen Recigno as winner of Mia's two books.

Please give a warm welcome to my fellow Kensington Brava and historical author, Mia Marlowe. Not only is Mia an award-winning author, but she is also one of the founders of Rock-it-Reads. Mia  writes historical romance for multiple publishing houses. Her debut title received advance ovations from romance luminaries. #1 New York Times bestseller Victoria Alexander says Mia’s Touch of a Thief has "adventure and heat and everything I want in a great story!" UK’s BooksMonthly has crowned Mia Marlowe “the queen of saucy historical romance.”

Today Mia's talking ot us about heroines, while over on her blog I'm discussing heroes!

Trying on the Heroine’s Life
By Mia Marlowe
      
Thanks so much for having me here, Bronwen! I’m delighted to visit with your readers and hope they’ll pop over to my blog http://www.miamarlowe.com/blog to read your post as well. (There’s a terrific giveaway in both places!)

 When I give my writing workshop on Characterization, I often ask my students to share their favorite heroes. The names fly fast and furious. Then I ask for their favorite heroines and the crickets start chirping. Finally after a long uncomfortable silence, a timid hand will rise and someone will say uncertainly “How about …Dorothy?”
 
 It reinforces to me that we writers need to do a better job crafting memorable heroines. Too often the heroine is a mere placeholder, a cipher into which the reader can pour whatever she likes because there’s so little there. At the risk of angering TWILIGHT fans, Bella is a prime example of this. I totally get why readers are swept up in the Edward/Jacob conundrum. They’re both worthy heroes, but why are these guys so wild about Bella?

The heroines who interest me have lives of their own, apart from the heroes. They have a unique perspective on the world. They have a goal. People respect and need them. This sort of heroine makes me want to try on her life for a while, to walk in her shoes.
 
When Connie Mason and I created Katla the Black for our upcoming LORD OF FIRE AND ICE (coming out July 3rd!), we wanted her to be a sort of Viking era single mom—except instead of just children to care for, this widow has a whole settlement of folk who depend on her. She’s a strong woman. She has to be. But beneath the no-nonsense, capable exterior she shows to the world, she longs for “inn matki munr”—the mighty passion. She dreams of love ungovernable, of a bond between souls so deep the lovers can speak to each other without words. Katla is a worthy adversary/soul mate for our alpha hero.
 
Excerpt: Katla has accepted Brandr as her new thrall (slave) and needs to establish her authority. He’s vowed to obey her commands, so she decides to test him.

 
She had to show this man his place and quickly. “I saved you from the gelding knife this night. You will show your appreciation by kissing my foot.”

Katla lifted her nightshift to ankle height and presented one to him, toes pointed. That should wipe the smug expression from his face.

Brandr shrugged, bent over, and grabbed her ankle. Then he yanked her upside down. Her bottom took a glancing blow on the floor before she found herself hanging precariously, her foot level with his mouth when he stood back upright.

It happened so quickly, surprise forced all the air from Katla’s lungs. Her nightshift billowed down to bunch at her armpits, exposing her to him. When she tried to kick free, he grasped her other ankle as well. Her fingertips splayed on the slate floor to steady herself. [CLUE TWENTY-FIVE: ARRESTING]

She clamped her lips shut to keep from crying out. There were a dozen strong men snoring on the other side of the door. They’d all rush to her aid, but she’d die before she let anyone catch her in this undignified position.

 He planted a wet kiss on her instep then lowered her to the floor. She managed not to land on her head, but her right shoulder took most of her weight before she rolled to lie flat on her back on the cold slate.
               
He glared down at her and bared his teeth in a wolf’s smile. “Want me to kiss anything else, princess?”

End of Excerpt.

If you’d like to read more, please visit http://miamarlowe.com/books/fire.php.

Then there are the heroines who do things I don’t have the courage to try. While their shoes might pinch a bit, I willingly force my feet into them for the joy of living this sort of heroine’s edgy life. In TOUCH OF A SCOUNDREL (coming July 31st!) my heroine is the scoundrel.

Excerpt: Emma and her foster father Monty have hopscotched around Europe selling fake reliquaries. Now they have a questionable Egyptian statue they hope to parlay into a big payoff since Monty is battling consumption and his cough keeps getting worse. Unfortunately, their mark, Theodore Nash, has lost his heart to Emma as well. She’s very conflicted over Teddy. Especially after his brother, Lord Devonwood, kissed her.


It was hard to imagine her life without Monty and his outlandish schemes twirling at its center. The small scared child who still lived inside her shivered. With Monty gone, she’d go back to being plain Emma Potts, alone, cast adrift in the world.
 
     “Don’t be afraid, Emmaline,” Theodore said softly.
 
His words startled her. She hadn’t thought him able to divine her emotions so accurately.
      
 “You have me now.” He pressed a kiss to her knuckles.

 Her breath caught at the shining goodness of his heart. Not for the first time, she wished there was something real, something true about her courtship with Theodore.
     
Maybe she could will it to be so. She leaned down and cupped his chin, inviting him to kiss her. She needed him to kiss her. Needed it to be more searingly real than his brother’s kiss in the  orangery.
   
Theodore’s mouth closed over hers for a few heartbeats.

It was pleasant. A gesture full of comfort. Sweet enough to melt the heart. But Teddy’s kiss didn’t make her toes curl in the slightest.

Why couldn’t she love this kind man? Theodore’s soul might glint with shining whiteness, but hers was black as a Stygian stream. She drew back. “You’d better go.”

“I wish I didn’t have to. I wish we were already married so I could stay with you.”

She bit her lower lip. “I haven’t even said yes, yet.”

 “Why don’t you?” He plopped down on the floor beside her chair and rested his head against her knee. “You know how I love you, Em. What’s stopping you?”

Yesterday she’d have told herself it was because she was a confidence huckster and he was her mark. She needed to maintain professional distance. But what if she convinced Monty to abandon the game? Maybe then she could accept Theodore’s proposal.
     
 Emmaline had picked up the pigeon drop in no time. Would love be so difficult a game to learn?

 She stroked his thick blond hair, feeling very tender. Teddy was sincere and attentive. He made her feel like a princess every time he looked at her. So what if his kiss was as exciting as a second cousin’s? Plenty of women made do with the merely pleasant and were grateful to have found it in a husband.

 Emmaline might have been one of them if she hadn’t kissed Lord Devonwood. Twice.

End of Excerpt.

If you’d like to be notified when TOUCH OF A SCOUNDREL is available, please sign up for my newsletter.

I’m giving away an ARC of LORD OF FIRE AND ICE or TOUCH OF A SCOUNDREL to two random commenters. All you need to do is share your favorite heroine. And you can’t say Dorothy!

Mia Marlowe’s Bio: Mia Marlowe’s work has been featured in PEOPLE magazine. One of her books is on display at the Museum of London Docklands alongside Johnny Depp memorabilia. Mia’s TOUCH OF A ROGUE was named a Top Ten Best Romance for Spring 2012 by Publishers Weekly. But the accolade that means the most to her comes from her readers! Catch Mia at www.miamarlowe.com, www.facebook.com/MiaMarloweFanPage , and http://twitter.com/Mia_Marlowe .