Sarah MacLean's Blog, page 7

Lauren Willig on Girls Who *Should* Wear Glasses

Ok. We all know that I’m all for Girls Who Wear Glasses. I wear them, Pippa wears them in One Good Earl Deserves a Lover , and Gloria Steinem, Hillary Clinton and Tina Fey wear them.

But, of course, it’s 2013. And we all went to high school. Which means…some girls who should wear glasses don’t want to. And so…they wear contacts. To tackle this important subgenre of ladies in lenses, I went to an expert. My dear friend Lauren Willig, author of the amazing Pink Carnation series:

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We’ve neglected an important category here: girls who pretend they don’t wear glasses.

I was one of those for most of Middle School, which meant I spent a lot of time blundering into and over things.  (Ouch!  Who left that backpack in the middle of the hallway?)  Of course, it didn’t help that I had accidentally broken off one of the earpieces of my glasses.  Rather than tell my parents, I did what any sensible adolescent would do: I spent the rest of the year in class holding up the glasses to my face by one earpiece, like a dowager with a lorgnette.

All I can say is, thank goodness for contact lenses.

Don’t pretend I’m the only one.  I strongly suspect that my heroine Emma Delagardie, of The Garden Intrigue, is a secret glasses wearer.

In public, she’s a social butterfly, never without a ready quip or a glass of champagne in her hand.  In private, however, she’s a nerd manqué.  She might pretend that she only studied up on engineering and drainage techniques as a means of affecting a reconciliation with her late husband, but the fact that she’s still at it, five years after his death, strongly suggests to me that our Emma is studying engineering because… she enjoys it.  Of course, when Robert Fulton (yes, that Robert Fulton, who’s also hanging around Napoleon’s court, inventing steamboats and other interesting things) praises her skills and thanks her for her helpful and insightful suggestions,

Emma pretends it’s all nothing.  But we know better.

Just like we know she secretly wears glasses.

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So much fun! So, here’s the part where we get to honor those ladies who don’t wear glasses (after all, anyone could wear contacts!) 

Head over to the comment section and tell Lauren and me about the woman you admire most. Bespectacled or not, and one winner will receive a copy of The Garden Intrigue! (US Only)

An Open Letter from Cathy Maxwell to Lisa Loopner

Cathy & her date for the evening at 2012 Readers & ‘Ritas

I knew that when I asked one of my very very favorite authors, Cathy Maxwell, author of one of my very very favorite books, The Marriage Contract, to come over and celebrate her favorite Girl Who Wears Glasses in honor of the release of One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, I knew that the always hilarious Ms. Maxwell would have someone fabulous to celebrate…and boy was I right.

When she told me she’d chosen Lisa Loopner (the nerdy Saturday Night Live character played by the unparalleled Gilda Radner), I laughed out loud and clapped my hands. And I’m so so happy to share it with you!

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Dear Lisa Loopner—

Thank you for being a nerd.  Thank you for being earnest and naïve and corny.  Thank you for letting your glasses slide down your nose, and punching ‘em up with one finger when  you say to Todd, “That was so funny, I forgot to laugh.”

Thank you for wanting to please your mother and for performing  even when what you were doing—piano recital, science experiment, whatever-wasn’t perfect.  Thank you for  thinking stuff like Star Trek, the yearbook, and being on the debate team were interesting.

Thank you being both klutzy and wise, for being ordinary . . . and also extraordinary.

I know you are a character in a skit.  Everyone is supposed to laugh at you.  I laughed, but I also recognized pieces of myself.  The best humor is that rooted in reality.  You had me pegged and I must confess to you, I’m happy I am the way I am.

Like you, I didn’t worry much about what other people thought.  Neither did my friends and today, we are where we are because we were nerds.  I figured out that this is my life to live, no one else’s.  There are those who will make fun, but they are standing on the sidelines.  I’m not; I’m in the game.  I may have been klutzy and silly, but all of that was just the launching pad for where I knew I wanted to go.  So I laugh, but I’m laughing with you, Lisa.

And you know that guy like Todd?  He turned out pretty good, too.

Sincerely,

Cathy Maxwell

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Thank you so much for hanging out with us today, Cathy!

Your turn, readers! Tell Cathy and me about your favorite nerd (bespectacled or not) in comments, and one lucky commenter will win a copy of Cathy’s latest, The Scottish Witch ! (US only)

Lorraine Heath on Spectacular Spectacles!

Lorraine Heath is one of my very very favorite authors — Her  Waking Up With A Duke  is the romance I give to people who ask for a book to start them on the road to romance. I love her lyric, lovely style, and her gorgeous, unbelievably strong heroes and her heroines who deserve love more than most people. 

I’m currently rereading her  Lord of Temptation , about a pirate and a quiet Victorian miss, and I love it even more the second time!  

I’m so thrilled that she has joined us today for Girls Who Wear Glasses to talk about her favorite bespectacled beauty — Miss Edwin Henrietta Bollash from Judith Ivory’s The Proposition.  

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Thanks for inviting me to join you today, Sarah. I’m a huge, huge fan and One Good Earl Deserves a Lover is on the top of my Reward pile as soon as I finish reading the books that I’m judging for a contest. Although I do keep sneaking in moments to read a little of OGEDAL, and I’m loving it.

One of my all-time favorite heroines is Miss Edwina Henrietta Bollash from The Proposition by Judith Ivory. She’s perfect for this post, because she does indeed wear spectacles. She’s a spinster who has spent much of her life studying linguists and teaching people to speak with the proper diction. She has accepted the challenge of turning rat-catcher Mick Tremore into a gentleman. He’s flirtatious and fun, while she has developed a hard shell around herself to protect her heart. In one of their encounters, he says, “’Cause you be a beaut, if ever I seen one.”

In her response, she reveals a good deal about how she views herself. “Mr. Tremore, I am a gangly, plain woman with speckled skin, who wears glasses on a nose that looks like an eagle’s. I am taller than any man I know.” In a moment of confusion, she had to rethink that statement. “Except you.” She went on with forced patience, “But I’m an honest woman, a smart woman. And I don’t hold truck with a lot of lying falderal from some Cockney-Cornish womanizer who thinks he can talk his way out of being caught red-handed in the liquor shelf.”

Of course, later in the story, Mick will remove her spectacles. I’m not sure why, but I always find it sexy when the hero removes his lady’s glasses. When he’s caught in the beauty of her eyes. Eyes are my favorite part about a person. They reveal so much. I think it’s rather nice when glasses serve as a frame for the eyes, drawing our attention into the windows of the soul.

Miss Bollash is such a strong character. I can’t really imagine her without spectacles. They are such a part of who she is. For those of us who wear glasses, I think over time that they don’t necessarily define us, but they do say something about us. They aren’t a symbol of weakness, weakening eyesight, but rather a testament to our refusal not to live in a blurred world. They don’t make us plain. They give us character.

So three cheers to the glasses-wearing readers!

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Hear hear!  I admit to never having read The Proposition–but I love love love a Pygmalion story–so I have just downloaded it to my eReader and am going to start…just as soon as I finish Lord of Temptation (read #2)! 

Mick is a ratcatcher! What a fascinating, not at all sexy on the surface job. But it makes me think of Mike Rowe and Dirty Jobs–Mike Rowe, whom my mom adores, in part because he’s not afraid of a dirty job. So! What’s the sexiest dirty job in your mind? Tell us in comments, and we’ll select one winner (US Only), to receive signed copies of the first two books in the Lost Lords of Pembrook series, She Tempts the Duke and Lord of Temptation.

Anna Campbell on Men Making Passes at Girls Who Wear Glasses

Anna Campbell is awesome. Aside from being able to write one heckuva dark and brooding and super duper sexy romance, she’s also tremendously fun and willing to take risks on her heroines that make them some of the best in books. For proof, check out her most recent book — Seven Nights in a Rogue’s Bed ! 

I’ve loved Anna since before I met her…and afterward…we became fast friends. And all this was before she wrote a girl who wore glasses as a heroine in the 2011 release (and quite possibly my favorite of all her books–Midnight’s Wild Passion)! 

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Sarah, so excited to be here. Thank you for having me as your guest. I’m almost as excited as I am to read your wonderful One Good Earl Deserves a Lover. I’m deep in revisions as we speak, but you’re first off the TBR pile once I’m done!

As a reader (and dedicated old movie watcher – hmm, does that mean I’m old or the movies? Please don’t answer!), I always adore that scene where our hitherto oblivious hero removes the heroine’s glasses and murmurs with breathless wonder, “Why, Miss Jones, you’re BEAUTIFUL!”I’m a girl who wears glasses myself so I love that your new heroine is vision challenged. Heightens the other senses, don’t you know? Ooh la la!

There’s a moment like that in my May 2011 historical romance Midnight’s Wild Passion. Antonia isn’t shortsighted – well, in everything except her weakness for rakes! But she’s hiding her identity under a dowdy disguise and that includes tinted glasses. Everybody’s fooled except the Marquess of Ranelaw who discovers the secret when he first kisses her. He sets out to discover the truth about the mysterious Miss Antonia Smith – and much mayhem ensues!

You can read an excerpt of MIDNIGHT’S WILD PASSION here!

So are you a sucker for the romantic clichés? The hero taking off the heroine’s glasses? The twisted ankle at a crisis point, meaning he has to carry her? The wallflower at the ball who gets to dance with the prince? There are so many and I have to say they nearly all work for me (the twisted ankle might get a bit tired!). Anna’s offering up a copy of MIDNIGHT’S WILD PASSION for one commenter today.

The winner will be notified on Friday. Good luck!

Barry Lyga on Diana Prince and Wonder Woman

As you know, I’m currently hosting a month-long celebration of Girls Who Wear Glasses in honor of the bespectacled heroine of One Good Earl Deserves a Lover. Today, I’m super excited to get the male perspective on ladies in lenses…the fabulous Barry Lyga is joining us to talk about his favorite girl in glasses.

Barry’s a star…there isn’t one of his books that I don’t love — from Boy Toy to Goth Girl Rising to his terrifying I Hunt Killers. And while we disagree on some superheroes — one thing that we can agree on is that Wonder Woman is pretty awesome. 

Take it away, Barry!

What is the appeal of a Girl in Glasses?

Somewhere along the way, our culture decided that glasses = smart. There are a spate of reasons for this, and I won’t go into them. Just accept it.

More recently, our culture decided that glasses are also a complement to a superhero’s secret identity. It started with Superman and Clark Kent, of course, but check out the movie versions of Batman (the Michael Keaton series), Iron Man, and Spider-Man. Glasses everywhere! Even on heroes ― like Iron Man and Batman ― who never, ever wore them in the comics.

Even Wonder Woman is not immune:

I’m tempted to leave it at that: An image of the inimitable Lynda Carter, decked out as Wonder Woman’s alter ego, Diana Prince, right down to a pair of 70s-era cheaters.

But Sarah would want me to say more. So I will.

Here’s the thing: You’d think Wonder Woman, the Amazing Amazon, wouldn’t need anything more on her side than her obvious charms in order to win the hearts, minds, and, er, interest of boys and men everywhere. You’d be wrong.

Because a strong girl? Is hot.

A chick who can wrestle you down and make you tell the truth? Is cool.

But a smart woman?

Is sexy as hell.

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I. Love. This. Post. 

Thanks to Barry for stopping by to celebrate Girls Who Wear Glasses…let’s take a moment to talk favorite female superheroes! Who did you want to be (or be with?!) when you were a kid? (Oh, who am I kidding…what I wouldn’t do for a lasso of truth now!) 

Share in comments for a chance to win Barry’s latest — I Hunt Killers!

Betsy Prioleau on Sirens in Spectacles

I’m so jazzed for today’s post! I came to know and love Betsy Prioleau‘s work long before I wrote my first book, when some lovely person gave me a copy of her Seductress: Women Who Ravished the World and Their Lost Art of Love. What a tremendous read it was…filled with all kinds of interesting women and fascinating tidbits from a long history of smart, sexy females.

I am fairly clamoring for the book she has out today – Swoon: Great Seducers and Why Women Love Them – in part because I know it’s going to be another fascinating look at an undiscussed part of history, and in part because (and this will come as a surprise, I’m sure) I love a rake. I love a scoundrel. I love a rogue. I’m a swooner. And so, this book is clearly about me. And, I’m guessing, not a little bit about you.

When I spoke to Betsy about joining Girls Who Wear Glasses month in celebration of the heroine of One Good Earl Deserves a Lover (and her swoony hero), she knew immediately who she would write about…and I knew immediately that it would be a fabulous story.

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Stunning Sophie, sans spectacles.

A Bespectacled Siren of Eighteenth-Century Paris

Paris in the mid-eighteenth century was not a time for girls who wore glasses. Spectacles had large, round steel frames, often without stems, and were such objects of shame that a lady would sooner leave home in her shift as wear eyeglasses in public. Yet the bespectacled Sophie Volland edged out all the 20/20 beauties and won the most desired, handsomest ladies’ man in Europe.

Enlightenment philosopher Denis Diderot was a celebrated favorite of women and veteran of many affairs when he met Sophie in 1756. He was forty-three and she, three years younger—a “spinster” (perhaps due to a past indiscretion) from a prosperous family who lived with her mother in a Parisian townhouse.

Diderot fell “suddenly, violently, and enduringly” in love with her at first sight, and remained faithful until her death. Little is known about her because her letters to him have vanished, but she was a great reader and a lively, angular free spirit who spoke her mind with “manish” authority.

Their passionate liaison lasted twenty years with stolen assignations in her Paris bedroom and her country house in Isle-sur-Marne. He adored her just as fervently over time, he wrote, and when he pictured her most lovingly, he imagined her “chattering,” and “standing erect” behind an armchair with “her spectacles on her nose.”

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I love this story — because it just goes to show that girls who wear glasses most definitely get passes. Thanks so much for joining us today, Betsy! 

Let’s talk about famous rakes, shall we? I know…I’m twisting your arm! Tell me which famous scoundrel (historical or otherwise), you’d like to try your hand at seducing in comments. One lucky commenter (US only, sorry!) will win Betsy’s Seductress! (Winner chosen on Wednesday!)

Meg Cabot Gets Her Smexy On

It’s February 1st! Which means it’s the first day of Girls Who Wear Glasses Month! I am super excited to kick off this amazing celebration of bespectacled beauties, ladies in lenses, awesome astigmatics, nearsighted nellies and farsighted foxes with a newly crowned girl who wears glasses — the amazing Meg Cabot!

(Yes. That Meg Cabot. I KNOW!!! But shh. I’m trying to be cool.)

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Everyone in my immediate family wears glasses. I married a man who wears glasses, whose entire family wears glasses, too. Most of our nieces and nephews now wear glasses.

It’s surprising our distant ancestors survived to produce offspring instead of getting eaten by a saber toothed tiger they couldn’t see coming.

Madam Secretary finds you specious.

I personally didn’t need glasses until the words on my computer screen began to get blurry.  Even then I only needed reading glasses, which I thought a bummer until I discovered that you can tilt them in a dramatic fashion a la Hillary Clinton at the Benghazi committee hearings and say, “Really?” in a sarcastic voice, and come off as authoritative.

The poet Dorothy Parker is famous for claiming in the early 1900s that “Men don’t make passes/At girls who wear glasses” but I can assure you that this is no longer true. Now everyone seems to find people who wear glasses smart, and smart is the new sexy, or as many people are calling it these days, “smexy.”

The downside of this is that being perceived as “smexy,” or a “nerd,” has become increasingly popular, and tons of girls (and guys) are buying clear-lensed glasses they don’t need in order to look the part.  This is not smexy at all, as illustrated by this brief Nerd PSA:

Recently my vision has gotten worse, so much so that I need to wear glasses all the time. The words “contact lenses” have been mentioned to me, but as someone who is frightened to stick foreign objects in my eyes, I’m happy to keep wearing glasses, especially when there are so many other people out there proudly wearing them, and kicking butt while doing so, like Sarah’s heroine:

So go ahead and get your smexy on, but remember to always keep it real.

One Smexy Author

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No better way to kick off Girls Who Wear Glasses month than with Meg — A terrific lady in lenses (or, as it is February 1st, should I say, A bespectacled birthday girl?)! Thank you so much for coming over to start the party, Meg…and happy happy birthday!

In honor of the release of One Good Earl Deserves a Lover, Meg’s happy to be giving away a signed copy of the latest installment of her Heather Wells mystery series, Size 12 and Ready to Rock, in stores now!

To win, tell us in comments…what kind of smart do you find most sexy? One commenter will be chosen at random on Monday.   

An Ode to Girls Who Wear Glasses

Pippa Marbury, youngest daughter of the Marquess of Needham & Dolby, sister-in-law to the Marquess of Bourne, and heroine of my book One Good Earl Deserves a Lover…is blind as a bat. Seriously. Her spectacles, which are one of the first things her hero–oh, who am I kidding?–anyone notices about her, are thick-lensed disasters that make her eyes seem preternaturally large.

Girls who wear glasses don’t get passes.

She has to stop and clean them at inopportune times. They fall off her face when she leans over high balcony edges. And, by God, they are in no way sexy. I mean. That’s in the handbook, isn’t it? It’s why we (as nearsighted Nellies) are conditioned to take our glasses off when we take pictures, to wear contact lenses when we go out in public, and to generally do whatever we can to hide the frames on our faces.

But here’s the thing…Cross, Pippa’s tall, ginger-haired, genius of a hero…hasn’t gotten the memo. He likes the lenses. He finds the spectacles undeniably sexy. And there is one moment…well…I’ll let you see for yourself:

Spectacles. There was nothing tempting about spectacles. She reached up to remove them.

“No.”

She stilled, her hand halfway to her face. “But–”

“Leave them.”

“They’re not–” She began. They’re not smoldering. They’re not seductive.

“They’re perfect.”

I can tell you, the saying is wrong. Girls who wear glasses most definitely get passes. They most definitely have character and charm. And they most definitely win love in the end.

Sure, sometimes it takes us ladies in lenses a little longer to find ourselves, to believe in ourselves, to honor ourselves. But if that’s true, it’s only because we’re so clearly focused on the great wide world around us.

Please join me all month long for a celebration of “Girls Who Wear Glasses,” from Tina Fey to Diane Keaton, from Wonder Woman to Gloria Steinem, from Hillary Clinton to Marilyn Monroe, I’ve got four weeks of lens love lined up, and hope you’ll join in the love!

Tell me…who is your favorite Lady in Lenses? 

Share in comments for a chance to win a signed copy of One Good Earl Deserves a Lover (US only, sorry!). Winner to be chosen on Friday! 

One Good Earl Release Week Excitement & Giveaway!

You guys! It’s here! It’s finally finally here!

One Good Earl Deserves a Lover is out TOMORROW…and I am SO so excited to share it with you! I’ve spent much of my spare time over the last week (i.e., time when I’m not working on Temple’s book, which is coming along and due out in the fall!) answering what feels like a million blog questions and writing what feels like a million blog posts…all talking about this book that I love so much.

I cannot wait for you to see Cross & Pippa’s story unfold–and I’ve saved one nugget of information for here, on my own blog, to thank you for coming over and joining me this week!

Here’s the thing: Pippa was never supposed to be a heroine.

She was supposed to be a sweet side character in A Rogue By Any Other Name — the odd younger sister who ends up married because that’s what happens to odd younger sisters. And Cross was supposed to (get this!) marry a lady doctor. I had plans for him that involved neither ruination of engaged aristocratic misses nor falling head over heels for strange bespectacled beauties.

Not to mention the fact that Temple’s book was supposed to come first.

I’ve never been one of those writers who has characters who speak to her. I am lord and deity over my books. I tell my heroes to do stuff and they do them, for heaven’s sake. But…for some reason, for this book, I wasn’t in charge. They were. To be more specific, Pippa was. She wanted her time in Cross’s office and she wanted to know what she was missing out on, and she wanted…well…him. And she shocked me just as much as she shocked Cross, honestly.

Suffice to say, she may not be my favorite heroine…and he may not be my favorite hero…but together they are absolutely my favorite couple. And I cannot wait for you to meet them.

That all said, let’s celebrate! You may know that I have dedicated this book to a very special group of people:

And in honor of glasses wearers everywhere (and Pippa!) I’m spending all of February celebrating ladies in lenses with guest posts all month long from authors and musicians and other cool people talking about their own favorite girls in glasses. I’ll be giving away books and other things…as well as special “Girls Who Wear Glasses” microfiber lens cloths (which work well for phones, tablets & computers, too!). So please come back starting February 1st to celebrate with me, meet awesome people, and win great prizes!

Speaking of winning great prizes…let’s do that today, shall we?

How about a One Good Earl Deserves a Lover gift pack, including:

- A movie collection including my Rules of Scoundrels inspiration, Ocean’s 11 (both the 1960 and the Clooney/Pitt version), Ocean’s 12, and Ocean’s 13, and my biggest Girls Who Wear Glasses inspiration: How to Marry A Millionaire

- A deck of the incredible Bicycle Guardians cards–which I’m 100% certain would have been the cards of choice of the men of The Fallen Angel had Bicycle made amazing cards in the 1830s. Check out the gorgeous art…those angels are as badass as the owners of my casino.

- A pack of rose seeds in honor of Pippa’s horticulture-skills.

- A pair of “Rules of Scoundrels” casino dice–I had these made specifically for the release of A Rogue By Any Other Name and in honor of the new series!

- A Rules of Scoundrels totebag, complete with the Second Rule: Do Not Wager If You Cannot Win.

- A Girls Who Wear Glasses microfiber lens cleaning cloth, made specifically to celebrate One Good Earl Deserves a Lover.

- Signed copies of A Rogue By Any Other Name and One Good Earl Deserves a Lover.

- And other goodies like bookmarks and door hangers and the like.

YAY! So…TO WIN…comment below and tell me which of my Scoundrels is your favorite (or which one you’re most intrigued by!) — Bourne, Temple, Cross or Chase — and why! One lucky winner (US Only, sorry!) will be chosen at random on Friday!

If you haven’t yet, you can preorder One Good Earl Deserves a Lover from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, from your local indie or for your Kindle or Nook! You can also order signed or personalized copies of Earl online at my local indie: WORD Bookstore.

xoxo

Signed Copies of One Good Earl Deserves a Lover!

Happy New Year, all!

I’m so excited that 2013 is finally here, in large part because it means that there is LESS THAN A MONTH OMG OMG OMG until One Good Earl Deserves a Lover finally releases! It feels like this book has been coming FOREVER…and I cannot wait to share it with you.

Cross and Pippa are definitely my favorite of all my couples (Aside: I know, a mother isn’t supposed to have favorite children, but they all do, don’t they? I mean–I’m totally my mom’s favorite. Don’t tell my sister, Internet.), and I just know you’re going to love them as much as I do. They work so hard for their happily ever after–and I don’t think I’ve ever written a couple who so deserved it.

I know it’s three weeks until the book is out and so I’m being a wicked tease by telling you all this–but I swear there’s a reason! As with my last few books, my local indie–WORD Bookstore in Brooklyn–is selling *signed* preordered copies of One Good Earl Deserves a Lover to anyone who would like them!

Here’s how it works:

1) You go to the WORD website and preorder Earl (and anything else you’d like).

2) They order your books.

3) I go in and sign them the week before the publication date and stuff them with bookmarks, doortags and a very cool special gift–These Girls Who Wear Glasses microfiber lens cleaning cloths!

4) WORD ships you your goodies in time for release date!

5) You hang your “Do Not Disturb: Scandal In Progress” door tag on your door, and get reading!

Don’t want a signed copy? There are other ways! You can also preorder One Good Earl Deserves a Lover from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Books a Million, from your local indie or for your Kindle or Nook.

And, as always, I’ll be having a big blog party for One Good Earl Deserves a Lover for the entire month of February…in honor of Pippa, my bespectacled heroine, the theme is Girls Who Wear Glasses! So be sure to come back and hang out with the amazing authors and others who will join me for that all February long!