Get me!
Wickham versus Darcy (or Hugh versus Colin); Mr Big versus Aidan; Rhett Butler versus Ashley Wilkes. It’s always a tough call: if it wasn’t, then life, books and films would be pretty tedious.
So which heroes are really the best ones? The ones who have a little more swagger, who are more bold, more flash, more selfish? Or the ones who wait in the background kindly and patiently, perhaps slightly misunderstood?
Being a hero isn’t just about looks, because we all know that attraction runs deeper than skin. But then it doesn’t always seem to be about kindness either. It sometimes looks like it might be something to do with a certain kind of shining confidence that sometimes spills over into arrogance. But although that’s attractive for some, it’s only a good thing for so long. Arrogance definitely has a shelf life.
I think the best heroes, regardless of what they ooze (charisma, sophistication, crisp pound notes, sheer belief in themselves) are the ones who understand their heroines the most.
Take Mr Big and Aiden for example. It’s not just about Mr Big’s tendency to pour Carrie huge goblets of expensive red wine and turn up in a private car when she’s least expecting it that makes me (and her) love him (although it is a lot about that). It’s about something subtle that tells me he gets her more than Aidan, who is arguably a nicer person. That’s not to say he understands everything Carrie says, or never lets her down: sometimes quite the contrary. But he knows exactly who she is, and that makes him the one she can’t ever forget. Rhett Butler is the same. He gets Scarlett O’Hara more than she gets herself, right from the very beginning. He knows what she needs (to be kissed and often, and by someone who knows how) and is eventually prepared to give it to her.
My heroes are the people who know what I need and accept what I want. They are the people who get me: my husband, my family and my friends. And also Mr Big, because although the goblets of wine and the grand gestures aren’t everything, they’re pretty good to watch.
I have written stories for as long as I can remember. I love writing about how fragile the present is and how so much of it depends on chance events that took place years ago. I studied English at the University of Chester, and I now work in a college where I mentor degree students. The most important things in my life are my family, my friends, books, baking on a Saturday afternoon, getting glammed up to go out for champagne and dinner and having cosy weekends away. I live in Blackpool with my husband and our little girl.
In 1920s Blackpool, eleven year old Rose wanders away from her parents and has a unique gift bestowed upon her. This gift will leave a haunting legacy, seeping down through the generations…
Decades later, Louisa has a vision of her mother walking into the sea. This isn’t the first time it happens and it won’t be the last, but what she sees isn’t always what she wants. The rest of her life is spent trying to change the future that haunts her.
In present day Blackpool, Grace is going to be married someday. She knows this because she’s seen it; a vision of a white dress, daisies embroidered on the sleeves, the groom by her side, vowing to love her forever. Except the man in her premonition doesn’t belong to her - he belongs to her twin sister, Elsie.
Haunted by what they know and what they are afraid to find out, all three women must make a choice: in the face of certain destiny should you chase the outcome that’s “meant to be”, or throw away fate and choose your own future?
It sounds fascinating. Secrets in the Shadows is available now, so why not grab yourself a copy and decide for yourself what was meant to be.
www.harperimpulseromance.com/books/secrets-in-the-shadows