Monday 4 May 2020

May the Fourth Be With You: Powerful Women and the Men Who Love Them.


Sorry. This blog post is not about Star Wars!

image purchased from i-stock 477399888
Did you know that 4 May 1979 was the day Margaret Thatcher became the first female Prime Minister of the United Kingdom?

No?

Well, it was. And, love her or loathe her, women like Thatcher are the women I like to write. Strong, complex women – lawyers and doctors and bankers and stockbrokers and entrepreneurs – who are navigating work and life and love in big cities.

So, of course, when I sat down to write this blog, I thought, who better to write about on May the Fourth than four of my favourite fictional women who have the Force (and the men who love them).

Yeah, yeah, sue me. I told you this blog wasn’t about Star Wars! 


Meet Chloe Mills
Chloe Mills is the heroine of Christina Lauren’s first book: Beautiful Bastard.

Chloe has stuck with me a long time… probably since this book started as a fanfic (I still have the original… shhh!). She’s focused on completing an MBA but is also completely consumed by her Bastard - and he's completely consumed by her. She's the one who stands up to him, sticks to her guns and makes him think. She's courageous. And that's kinda hot.

Also, I do love a man who has good taste in lingerie (for his lady, of course!).



Meet Alice Lawrence
Alice Lawrence is my latest favourite heroine, who comes alive in Kylie Scott’s recent release The Rich Boy (hoo boy – have you seen the cover for this one. Hot!)

As Alice is navigating her relationship with the swoon-worthy Beck, she has to deal with a whole host of mess from his VERY WEALTHY family and she does it with style, grace, and wit. There are a couple of scenes where she takes on his Grandmother which are 5-star scenes. Alice is awesome.

Now, if only I could find my very own Beck…


Meet Laurel McBane
Laurel McBane is the baker extraordinaire in Nora Roberts’ Bride Quartet series. Laurel's book is book three in the series.

Now, I partly love Laurel because she bakes… and I love to bake. But she’s also feisty and forges her way through culinary school (with a little assistance from the indomitable Mrs G who's also a fave!) into a successful bakery/events business and a relationship with Delaney Brown - lawyer, brother of one of her BFFs and her long time friend.




Meet Miranda Gray
Last but not least, let's talk Miranda Gray. 

We first meet Miranda when she's been sleeping on a park bench, trying to get a better understanding of what should be included in housing for the homeless, and we pretty quickly learn that Miranda goes ALL IN - whether it's for work or play! 

But Miranda's not a push over. And when her Knight (tee hee hee - Lucas Knight, see what I did there) doesn't give her what she needs - she walks away.

Thankfully, Lucas finally gets his head on straight!

Tell me about your favourite female with the Force (whether factual or fictional) in the comments below.

As a final note, did you know that, on receiving a school prize, aged nine, Thatcher said:
I wasn’t lucky. I deserved it. I just love her moxie… and I do deserve the things I work for, darn it!



Kristine Charles writes sexy tales where coffee (and red wine) is abundant, designer shoes and handbags are cheap, chocolate has no calories and men always put the toilet seat down. Find her at www.wordsbykristinecharles.com or on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

I love to love… my healthy and happy family and friends #stayathome

I love to laugh… at the ridiculous Zoom backgrounds everyone’s finding to make online meetings more entertaining!

I love to learn… online! How many great classes can you find online at the moment – ballet, yoga, dance, cooking… try something new this month!



12 comments:

  1. What a wonderful selection of feisty heroines, Kristine! Nora and Kylie Scott never fail to deliver great female characters, do they? I loved Jayne Kingsley's Miranda Gray, too. My favourite 'female with the Force' is Clare Fraser from the Outlander series.

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  2. That is some feisty gals there, Kristine. Jess from Lord of Scoundrels (Loretta Chase) is one of my faves. I like to think my Lisbeth from A Scandalous Wager is pretty feisty too.

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    1. Absolutely Cassandra! LIsbeth is definitely on my list... takes after her creator ;-)

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  3. I love strong, feisty heroines, Kristine! The sort that don't wait for the prince to rescue them, but simply rescue themselves and then say oh, hello prince, you're here too!... Nora Roberts has some of my favourite strong heroines, and Anne Gracie's heroines also have backbones of steel - cloaked in muslin! Abigail Chantry from The Autumn Bride comes to mind immediately, as does Eve Dallas from JD Robb's 'In Death' series. Have you seen the film 'Ever After'? I love the part where the heroine rescues herself, and the hero comes charging along and says 'I'm here to rescue you' and she says 'What for? I rescued myself.' Classic. Love that so much!

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  4. I love strong heroines, especially those with awful/tragic backstories that have made them stronger. My favourites are in the romantic suspense books by Nora Roberts and, of course, Eve Dallas by Nora's alter-ego JD Robb. I also love Kylie Scott's heroines.

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    1. Nora and Kylie definitely do it well! And they're kick ass in their own right too!

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  5. When I think of feisty heroines Elizabeth Bennett comes straight to my mind. It's amazing to think Austen created such a strong, decisive female character so many years ago.

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    1. Very true Sharon. Again, possibly character reflecting maker to an extent!

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  6. Ah! Consumed with return to school craziness I totally missed this post! Thank you for mentioning my book 🥰 I do love a strong heroine! Laurel is one of my favourite characters too. I haven’t read Any Kylie Scott or Christina Lauren but I’ll be adding them to my list stat! Xx

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    1. Oh, Jayne! You're missing out! Plenty of backlist from both to keep you busy in between creating your own kick ass heroines! And yes, three exclamation points were necessary in this response ;-)

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