Years ago I did almost all the research I needed to write about Regency England. I spent about a year reading everything I could get my hands on. I’d read a book, look at the sources that author used and read all those books. Read and repeat.

Finally I had either read everything cited or the works cited were unavailable. And mostly everything was becoming repetitive by then anyway. I compiled bunches of notes in huge binders and labeled them accordingly: Travel, Entertainment, Food, Gentlemen’s Pursuits, Country Houses, Servants, and so on. Now, after writing about 12 Regency historicals (not all of which have been published), I rarely have to consult my library or my binders.

You would think if I had it so easy, I would use that to my advantage. But what do I do? Instead, I decide to write about something I haven’t researched extensively: ships and sailing.

It’s not that I really want to write a book that takes place on a ship. It’s just I keep coming up with plots heading that direction. So finally I succumbed and am now working on a book set mainly on ships. It’s not even due until June, so it will be a while before readers see it. That’s a good thing because I’m pretty far behind the curve in the research department.

I don’t know what other writers do, but when I’m writing a draft and come to a point where I need to look something up, if I can’t do it quickly, I make a mark and go on. My mark is XX. Then later I can search all the XXes and do the research then.

So far I’ve written 50 pages, and I have a lot of XX. That tells me I might want to do some research sooner rather than later. I’ve found one of the best sources for researching things, like ships or castles, is children’s books. When I wanted to write medievals, I bought a bunch of kids’ books on castles. Some where illustrated and others just talked, very simply, about life in a castle.

So I adopted the same approach for researching ships. I ordered a book showing the inner workings of a nineteenth century ship. I also ordered a couple of movies that take place on ships of that time, most notably Master and Commander. I don’t know how I missed that one when it first came out. Until those arrive, I’ll be searching the internet.

As a reader, do you ever think about the research an author does? As an author, how do you handle research?

Last week I blogged about sexy heroes. This week I thought I’d take on appealing heroines. I don’t think readers necessarily want a sexy heroine as much as one we can relate to. We want a girl who could be our best friend. Or maybe a girl whose shoes we think would be fun to try out for a day—especially if she’s with that sexy hero!

So what makes a heroine appealing?

1. She’s a little insecure.
We all like confident women, but someone who is 100% sure of herself all the time? I don’t think so. Heroines are usually challenged by the circumstances in novels. We imagine ourselves challenged in that same way. How would we react? Hopefully the heroine does something interesting or brave or funny, but for us to relate, she should probably also question herself a little bit.

2. She’s not sure of the hero’s affections.
Who in a new relationship—sometimes even in an established one—doesn’t question the other party’s affections at least once in a while? Even if our heroine is drop dead gorgeous, she should wonder if the hero thinks so. Or even if it’s obvious he does, will that make him fall in love/lust with her? And will that feeling last? As a reader I love knowing the hero’s feelings toward the heroine when she is still wondering if he’s even noticed she’s alive.

3. She’s more than just a pretty face.
Lots of heroines aren’t conventionally beautiful. Readers don’t mind that at all because these heroines have a lot more than looks to offer. They’re smart, brave, witty, authoritative, soft, sensitive, compassionate, and so much more! Whatever kind of heroine you like, there’s a book out there featuring someone like her. I tend to like witty heroines. Think Elizabeth Bennett in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE. There’s nothing as appealing as a heroine who makes the perfect comeback at the perfect time.

What do you think? Do I have it right or am I way off base? What other characteristics do appealing heroines offer?

Recently I finished revisions on my next historical romance. It should be out in June 2010, and it’s tentatively titled DECEIVING THE DUKE. But that title will probably change!

During revisions I had the task of making the hero sexier. I thought a lot about how to do that, thought a lot about what makes a hero sexy. I came up with this list. I’d love to hear if you agree or disagree and if you have more to add!

1. He’s dangerous and untamed.
In real life, this is not the guy I’d want to be married to, but you can’t deny that romance novels with dangerous heroes are very popular. There must be something to this! So what makes a hero dangerous? He’s unpredictable. He’s not afraid to risk it all. He doesn’t follow the rules. What makes him untamed? No woman has ever held his heart before. He doesn’t care what society thinks of him.

2. He doesn’t talk a lot.
Again, a guy who didn’t talk would drive me nuts in real life, but in a romance novel, often the less a hero says, the better. The few words he does utter have that much more meaning. He doesn’t blather on about his feelings and thoughts. He keeps all of that to himself, making him kind of mysterious. His silence also draws the heroine to him. She wants to know what’s going on inside him. She wants him to open up to her.

3. He’s tall, dark, and handsome.
Again, we all have personal preferences. You might like blond men (in which case read PRIDE AND PETTICOATS, which features a blond hero!) or short men. But most readers want to read about a hero who is tall—taller than the heroine at least—dark—if not in looks then in attitude—and handsome. I know there are quite a few well-known books who feature sexy heroes who aren’t handsome (I’m thinking JANE EYRE), but by the end of it, hasn’t Mr. Rochester’s ugliness become handsome to Jane? And he’s definitely dangerous, dark, and brooding (i.e. silent).

So, agree? Disagree? What else makes a sexy hero?

Check back Monday. I’ll be blogging on what makes a heroine appealing!

About a year ago I stumbled upon a blog that mentioned a revision technique I found very intriguing. It was something I wanted to try then, but wasn’t conducive to the book I was working on so I shelved the idea. But recently when it came time to do revisions for my next book I read up on the process again. It’s my understanding that the concept was developed by a children’s book author and is presented mostly to workshops for other children’s authors. And while the books I write are a tad longer than a picture book I figured the process was worth a try. Here’s what I did:

Basically you take your manuscript and you shrink it down so that it can be laid out on the floor and all examined at once. I managed to get my 300+ pg manuscript down to 44 shrunken pages. All the text is sort of smushed together so that you can read it enough to see what scene that is, but clearly you wouldn’t want to sit down and read the whole book this way – you’d go blind!

So I sat at the table with my 44pgs of tiny text and got our my highlighters and post-it flags. First I came up with a list of things I wanted to track – like point of view scenes (whose head I’m in in any given scene), action-driven scenes, major plot points, romantic plot points and then I wanted to track where I could add a new subplot I wanted to include. I assigned each of these items either a colored flag or a highlighter and then I went through and marked the entire 44 pgs. It didn’t take more than an hour, I don’t think.

Next I placed all the pages on the floor, 4 rows of paper and I sat back and examined what I saw. Right away I could see areas where I needed to add a more action-driven scene, places where my villain had simply disappeared and long stretches between my romantic plot points. I got out my post-it notes and began tagging the areas with instructions on what to add. I found places to add that secondary plot line. And as an added bonus, seeing the manuscript shrunk up like that really highlighted the areas where I too much white space. I’m a dialogue-heavy writer anyways, but seeing all the white space clearly revealed scenes that could benefit from another layer of detail and texture.

Frankly the whole process was pretty darn amazing. And I think if time allows I’ll use this technique on future books as well.

So how about you? Have you tried anything new lately? Do you normally like to try new things, like new types of food, new recipes or perhaps a new hairstyle? And fellow writers, what is your revision process like? Any favorite tricks you can share?

To read more about the shrunken manuscript revision technique, visit the following links:
http://kmessner.livejournal.com/9135.html
http://wow-womenonwriting.com/31-FE3-NovelRevision.html
http://sarahmillerbooks.blogspot.com/2008/10/incredible-shrinking-manuscript.html

No matter what kind of work you do, it seems like funny little sidetracks can take you places you never knew you would be going…

About a year ago, I was busy writing a really fun story, my October release from Avon, the cover of which debuts here, today! The story is about Brianna Munro, a runaway bride, who escapes a dreaded marriage and flees to the east coast of Scotland. She hides in what should have been a deserted castle, but -oh no!- its laird, Hugh Christie, is in residence, and he’s in the midst of trying to figure out why his smuggling operation has gone awry.  Obviously, he’s got to get Brianna out of there, because if they’re found together, there will be hell to pay! And Brianna wants out because the east coast of Scotland will be the first place her bridegroom goes looking for her. Unfortunately for them – and luckily for us! – they get caught in a blizzard and can’t go anywhere. I’ll tell you more about the story in a future blog, as well as some of the details that played into writing this book, including why the heroine is wearing a plaid blanket on the cover you see above!

I turned in this story, then started on my next book, The Rogue Prince  (Avon Books, May 2010). I had to do a lot of reading to prepare for this one, because the hero is a young man who was wrongly convicted of a crime in London, and transported to Australia. The story does not revolve around his prison term in the penal colony, but I had to know what kind experiences he would have had, because they would have shaped his personality and played into the story I was about to write.

I actually got a little behind schedule with all my reading and research, but I was finally getting into the writing when an editor from Running Press in England contacted me and asked me to contribute a short story to an extremely popular series of anthologies. They are The Mammoth Books of [blank], and I decided it was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up, even though it would tighten my schedule even more than it was.

My contribution would go into The Mammoth Book of Time Travel Romance and will be released in December. Not that I’m a major time travel writer – but I’ve been known to dabble. And it was quite an intriguing proposition, since the editor gave me very few guidelines for this story… only that it had to be a romance, somewhere around 35-40 pages long, and incorporate a time travel element.

Wow. I could do anything I wanted! I used this as an opportunity to flex my creativity, and wrote a sexy little tale with a hero from the year 2743 AD, where sex is nearly non-existent, who returns to modern day Chicago to work out some problems that will influence his time. Of course he encounters our lovely heroine … an exotic dancer! 

I am just putting the finishing touches into The Rogue Prince for Avon, and The Mammoth editor has contacted me again. She’d like me to contribute a story for The Mammoth Book of Irish Romance. This anthology will have tales of Irish gods and Celtic heroes, of faeries and little people, dream lovers, and who knows what else? It’ll be out in January 2010.

As I said… A funny thing happened on the way to getting my regular work done! I yet haven’t figured out what my Irish story will be… but I need to get cracking. My deadline is early next month!

I would love to know what unplanned little sidetracks you’ve taken - at work or personally. I’ll draw one person’s name and send them something really cool: the tote bag I received when I attended the RWA national conference in Washington DC, and an autographed copy of Wild, my January book. 

I really love the English language. I know it’s kind of an amalgam of lots of languages, and some of the rules and pronunciations don’t make sense. Still, I love it. I love finding just the right word or phrase. I love the sound of it and the rhythm. I love the way people who aren’t native speakers sound when they speak it. I just love language.

What I don’t love are some of those quaint old phrases people use. I guess they’re called idioms. I don’t love some of those.

These are my three least favorite.
3) “Beating a dead horse.”
I understand what it means, don’t belabor a point or don’t go on about something that is already resolved, but it just sounds so horrible. And I’m sure it comes from the days when people used horses a lot more, got frustrated with them, and beat them to death. Why are we keeping idioms about animal cruelty around?
2) “Kill two birds with one stone.”
Again, I understand what it means—to solve two problems at once, but can’t we say it in a nicer way? I’m sure killing two birds with one stone is very difficult and impressive, but why are we killing birds?
1) “There’s more than one way to skin a cat.”
What? Why would anyone skin a cat? Now, maybe I just like cats more than your average person (I have two), but this seems really cruel. I researched the idiom a bit, and some people say cat is short for catfish in this idiom. Still, what’s with all the killing of animals?

So what about you? Any idioms you think are kind of weird or that you really like?

Emily For today’s special blog, I have the honor of interviewing my long time critique partner (and general partner in crime) about the release for her new book, Seduce Me. Before we get started, I have to admit that Seduce Me is my favorite Robyn DeHart book so far. It’s filled with grand adventure, sigh-inducing romance, and a hero you’d love to … well, some things are best left to your imagination (and to the pages of Robyn’s fab book).

Robyn Well, thank you, Emily, that’s so kind. And I’m thrilled you loved this book, I’ve been waiting to write that hero that would sweep you off your feet. Especially since you did that for me with the first book of yours I read.

Emily Oh, he definitely swept me off my feet. Whew … is anyone else getting hot in here?

But back to the interview. Years ago, when Robyn and I first met, we were both Entertainment Weekly fans. They had a weekly column called Five Stupid Questions. In a nod to our shared past as collectors of arcane pop culture trivia, I am resurrecting the tradition of Five Stupid Questions.

So, Robyn, if you were the heroine in one of your favorite movies, who would you be?

Robyn I think this one is pretty easy, I’d definitely be Evie from The Mummy. How awesome is she? Not only is she so beautiful, but she’s intelligent, brave, charming and has a wonderful sense of humor. And hello, she gets Rick who is so very hot! And while Rick’s quick gun wielding keeps them out of jeopardy many times, it’s Evie’s equally quick thinking truly saves the day.
While I didn’t consciously model my new heroine, Esme Worthington (from Seduce Me) after Evie, I know there must be similarities. It will probably be difficult not to notice especially since the tone of my new Legend Hunters series mimics that of The Mummy movies.

Emily You’ve often mentioned that you got your start writing romance as a child when you used your Barbie and Ken dolls to star in romantic story lines. I’d like to hear more about those stories. Dialogue has always been one of your strong suits. Can we hear some of the Barbie and Ken dialogue?

Robyn Oh, now I don’t know if I could recreate that dialogue, but no doubt it was stellar and oh-so-romantic. But I will admit that my Barbie “games” were very elaborate and would last forever, sometimes all the way through the night and into the next day. The Barbie dream house was too limiting for me, I needed more space for my story lines. I remember there were often masquerade balls and lots of kissing – wasn’t it amazing how perfectly Barbie’s head turned and you could mash her lips up against Ken’s? Ah, those were the days….

Emily I’ll never forget the time I tried to talk a boy into playing ball with me. He kept looking around for a basketball and I couldn’t understand why he would dance with me.

Instead of asking you where you get your ideas, I’m going to assume that–like me–you order yours from the Sears catalogue. Which department do you like to shop from?

Robyn Absolutely, and in a pinch I use Oriental Trading because you can buy in bulk. I tend to favor the Outdoor Living and Sports & Fitness sections since my characters so often are on the run and in danger, they need the appropriate equipment. But of course sometimes you need ideas from the Home department, always luxurious bedding to be found there.

Emily Wow, I think you and I should go shopping more often. You obviously have excellent taste! And speaking of shopping, tell us three things you bought the last time you went to the grocery store.

Robyn Rice Krispie treats for The Professor (he’s a snacker), cherries and Diet Big Red.

Emily No Diet Coke? It’s like I don’t know you at all!

Robyn Well, in your defense, normally I am a Diet Coke drinker, but since moving back to Texas I’m able to have Diet Big Red (no where to be found in SE Tennessee) and I haven’t quite gotten my fill just yet.

Emily I heard that for the release of Seduce Me, your publisher is sending you on a high-powered book tour. I’m thinking they’re sending you to New York, San Francisco, Tokyo … Can you tell us where they’ll be sending you?

Robyn Hmmmm….well, they are sending me on a promotional tour and I suppose I might reach readers in Tokyo and San Fran, but actually I’ll be able to participate in this tour from the safety of my own home and in my pj’s! How awesome is that? They’re sending me on a blog tour the first two weeks of August and boy is my schedule packed. You’ll find guest blots, lots of Q&A’s and plenty of reviews and giveaways. Not only will you have a chance to win copies of Seduce Me, but I’m actually hosting a scavenger hunt contest to coincide with the blog tour. All of this you can find more info on my website.

So come on show your excitement for the release of Seduce Me! Tell your friends, run to your bookstore, make some noise…

Having just returned from RWA’s National conference and seeing so many lovely first sale ribbons I’m reminded of my own first sale. I know there are many of you out there who are aspiring writers and perhaps need the encouragement and for you readers well hopefully it will be an entertaining story. I started out reading romances the way many of you probably did. I was in high school and my mom was a big romance reader and she suggested I try one. I grabbed Kathleen E. Woodiwiss’s A Rose in Winter and I devoured it. To the point of staying up way too late and not studying for finals. But hey, what were they going to do? Fail me? I’d already been accepted into college. Reading that book not only transformed my reading habits and choice of books, but it answered a question I’d been struggling with for a few years.

I’d always known I wanted to be a writer, but I hadn’t yet found WHAT it was I was meant to write. Reading A Rose in Winter, it was like the gears in my brain shifted and I had an immediate A-HA moment. So I began my quest, which for the first few years primarily meant I read a lot of romances and went to a few conferences and took notes. I didn’t really start writing with any consistency while I was in college. I thought I was too busy. (feel free to roll your eyes) Seriously, what was I doing with my time? In any case, I read a lot, which is always a good place to start when you’re trying to narrow down your writing focus.

The one thing I kept hearing when I’d go to workshops of conferences was, “write what you know.” So the first novel I started was an historical set in Texas because I grew up in Texas and when you grow up in Texas, you know Texas history. But as much as I’d been told this, I longed to break the rules because I wanted to write British historicals. Well, I wised up after a trip to England and realized what they should be saying is, “know what you write.” Once this became my new motto, I put my Texas book aside and began my first British historical.

It took me entirely too long to write this book (2 years), mainly because I wasn’t writing consistently. I wanted it to be a priority, but I didn’t know how to make it that way. Eventually, it took, after joining RWA and spending time with other writers and going to more conferences. And one day I woke up and realized I was really on the track to pursuing my dream. It took 5 manuscripts and 7 years, but eventually (on June 12, 2004 to be exact) I got “the call” from Avon.

My sale is one of those you could consider a “slush pile” sale because I was un-agented at the time and my original submission was requested in a group appointment at an RWA National conference. The kind of appointment where the editor doesn’t remember you. Eventually I followed up on that proposal and she got back to me quickly and requested the full and then a few months later the call came.

And then came the total, utter disbelief. I’d done it. I’d made it. Sold all on my own. I couldn’t believe it. For months, it was still unreal. Even after I got my revisions and had to turn in a new proposal, it was still unreal. I got my first cover in the mail and it was so cool and yet, still unreal. I guess it caught on because next week my 5th book comes out.

I think my road to publication was unique to some degree since I didn’t have an agent at the time of my sale. Not only that, but I’d never done well in contests – only placed in 2 with the book I sold and always came in last place. ☺ I also never stopped getting form rejections that you hear will eventually go away when you get close. Never happened that way for me. Oh, I got some “good” rejections, but the others never stopped completely.

Just another reminder that the road to publication is as unique to each of us as the way we meet/met our spouse. No one’s story is the same as someone else’s and in that way we’re all special. But more than that, we all have something to offer the writing community.

Tell me about your own call? What dream have you worked toward that came true? As readers do you enjoy hearing about how your favorite authors broke into the business? Make a comment today and you might just win an autographed copy of Seduce Me which hits stores next Tuesday, July 28th!

No book is the same when it comes to its creation. Even my process deviates to some degree with every book, though I have several tricks in my bag that I pull out from time to time, what worked on one book might not work at all on another. One thing is consistent though that that’s the stages I travel through. Today I give you a glimpse into my mind, as scary as that might be. Read on at your own peril.

Stage 1- the new idea: This could be called the euphoric stage. I’m so brilliant, I’m a total rock star. The romance world will never be the same because I am so very clever.

Stage 2 – brainstorming: What was I thinking? This idea is never going to work. I’ll never be able to make a book out of this crap. Clearly I’d been drinking or something when I thought of the idea. Call Emily in a complete panic and we gossip and talk about movies we love and somewhere in all of this the book begins to emerge. These might actually be pretty cool characters and the plot devices aren’t that contrived.

Stage 3 – synopsis: OHMYGOSH! Why do we have to write these things? They’re like ancient torture devices. And then I get past the first two pages and things start swinging together and ta-da I do have a story and it might not suck after all.

Stage 4 – writing the rough draft: (notice I’m skipping the send the proposal to the editor/agent step because that has a neuroses all its own) I hate beginnings. I mean I loathe them. The first chapters are terrible. I don’t know these characters. Aren’t these the same people I just wrote about? Nothing is happening. They’re just sitting in a room talking about nothing and I’m bored. If I’m bored the reader is really going to be bored. I call Emily again and we do more brainstorming. We work out the next scene, I write it, then once again I feel as if I’m swimming through mollasses. I’ll never be done with this book…

Stage 5 – rewrites: wow, my rough draft is so short and terrible and has humongous holes in it, I still don’t know my characters. I’m wandering around through a cave in the dark, feeling my way around, completely lost and I don’t know where I’m going.

Stage 6 – rewrites part deux: someone has given me a candle, I can see a little light, find my way around in the dark and I know I’m at least moving and not walking in circles. The characters are beginning to make a little more sense, I think I’ve captures their “essence” and can work on their inconsistencies in the book. I’ve found my plot holes and have worked on my time line. There might be a book in this mess yet!

Stage 7 – layer, layer, layer: After the first book rewrite I go back through the book, fill in more holes, layer in texture and add sensory details that have been sorely lacking, and make sure the emotional growth is on the page. This really is a book. (this stage might repeat itself multiple times)

Stage 8 – critique: now I’ve worked my magic and its time for my readers to take a peek. I eagerly wait for them to call and tell me how brilliant I am and how it doesn’t need any changes at all. I’m deluding myself, but I’ve been in a book fog for months now and this is the first time I’ve come up for air in a while.

Stage 9 – spit & polish: here I work with my critique partners’ comments as well as fix any research holes I’ve been ignoring up until this point. I begin to panic that it’s not good enough that it sounds terrible and that I’m a total hack. But I keep going because the deadline is looming. I turn it in almost convinced it’s a good book and I really pulled it off this time.

Stage 10 – doubt: if more than a day goes by from my turning it in and feedback from agent or editor (which is always the case b/c they do actually have full-time jobs) the doubt sets in. I’m back to thinking I’m a hack. But that new idea I’ve been having is seducing me, convincing me it’s brilliant. I’m so super clever…well, you get the picture.

As readers do you like to read about authors’ writing processes and tricks of the trade? Or do you prefer to think of them sitting at their antique typewriters pounding out brilliance with every key stroke? What are the things in your life that make you crazy?

So as a romance author I spend a great deal of time thinking about what it is about a man that makes him sexy. It’s really part of the job description because it’s our duty to write heroes that our readers can fall in love with. So all this time I spend staring at pictures of gorgeous men, it’s all research, I promise.

But in thinking about this lately (since I’m working on a hero-centric series) I’ve wondered about a few things. Like why is it easier for us as readers to love a heroine who is plain or even not beautiful rather than deal with a hero is height challenged or follicle challenged. I happen to find some bald men quite attractive, but you rarely find that in books. Is it because that’s part of the fantasy? That as romance readers we like to put ourselves in the place of the heroine so having a plain jane works well since most of us consider ourselves in that category and nothing is sexier than being that plain jane and having the sexiest man cross the room to find you. Kind of makes your breath catch when you think about it, doesn’t it? I think that appeals to most women.

So let’s talk about this, what is it that makes a hero sexy? What makes you, as a reader, fall in love with some heroes but others you can put on the shelf. I know that for me as a reader I can still enjoy a book if I don’t love the heroine, IF the hero is scrumptious. But if that hero isn’t to die for, a great heroine will not save the book.

I present for you some things to consider… a sexy hero has great eyes. This is just as true for me in real life as it is in fiction and it shows in my books. I’m big on eyes. There is just something about a man with intense eyes. Dark eyebrows, long eyelashes, brown/blue/green or whatever color, that doesn’t matter as much as how he looks at you. Or rather the heroine. We like men that see past the heroine’s defenses, see past how she perceives herself or how others perceive her to the beautiful, passionate woman she is underneath. A man who can do that can penetrate our heroine’s walls and find his way into her heart as well as her bed. Joseph Fiennes is an actor who has those eyes. I can scarcily watch him in movies without being totally distracted by the sheer power in his eyes. Wooo!

A hero has to have a great smile. Now whether it be sly or fully dimpled doesn’t matter, but we like a man with a sense of humor. Growly, surly, brooding alpha males are great, but everyone finds something funny and it’s nice to see that. Especially if it’s the heroine that tickles his funny bone. Even if it only evokes a slight chuckle it grounds those characters and makes them more reachable to us, the everyman, because we laugh at ourselves (and eachother) all the time. Josh Holloway has one of those sexy, come-hither grins that just kind of melts the bones right out of your knees.

Let’s not forget that our heroes, more than likely, need a nice physique. That doesn’t mean they all have to be super athletic body builders, but even a London fop has nicely toned arms and a well defined stomach. More than like most of our significant others don’t look like this, but chances are most of us don’t have long flowing, gloriously curly hair with eyes that look great without mascara. It’s part of the fantasy and it’s okay to way our heroes strong enough to carry us over a puddle, among other things. Ryan Reynolds, I mean seriously, check out those abs! Scarlett Johansson gets to wake up to this every morning. does anyone else think that’s grossly unfair?

Okay this one might be a little personal, but I love a man in glasses. Matthew McConaughey in A Time to Kill, hello, so sexy in that with his wire-rimmed glasses! And while I dig the spectacles thing, I think it has less to do with the actual glasses and more to do with the fact that even though it’s a stereotype, glasses do tend to make people look smarter. I love smart men (hello, married a college professor, not one of mine though, in case anyone is wondering…) as smart often means witty which goes back to the sense of humor thing. But cleverness and intelligence are sexy. Who doesn’t want a man who can solve the puzzle and figure out who the bad guy is or build them a raft so they can escape the dessert island. Smarts are sexy as are glasses and just in case you were prepared to argue otherwise, I’ve provided proof a la Johnny Depp.

So what about you? What do you find sexy in a hero? What is the one thing that gets you everytime in a book and makes you swoon with delight? I’ll pick a random comment today to receive a prize packet from me including an autographed advanced reading copy of Seduce Me.