by Kate Hewitt, author of Count Toussaint’s Baby (Harlequin Presents, August 2010)
Count Toussaint’s Baby started with a scene I couldn’t get out of my head: my heroine, Abigail Summers, playing a piano on a stage. The hush of the concert hall, and then a single moment when she meets the tormented gaze of a man in the audience. Of course, then I had to ask myself questions: Who was this man? Why did he share such an instant connection with Abby? And who, exactly, was my heroine?
Slowly, as I wrote, Abby came to life for me as a woman who has experienced little of life and yet at the same time possesses a quiet confidence that comes from years of public performing. Her one night with the hero, Luc, changes everything for her. No longer content to live the separate, sheltered existence of being ‘The Piano Prodigy’, Abby decides to leave performing. I really enjoyed writing about Abby’s ‘awakening’, and how she claims a new life for herself, living independently, making her own decisions, and of course standing up to the hero! Yet it got me thinking about sheltered heroines, and how they can continue into the twenty-first century.
What draws us as readers to sheltered heroines–women who have experienced little of life, of men, of physical pleasure? By the plethora of virgins in romance novels, they must have some popularity! As an aside, I typed ‘innocent virgin’ into Google and half of the results were Harlequin Presents titles!
The Swooning Virgin
I’m drawn to the sheltered heroine’s journey to a stronger sense of self, which is found at least partly through her relationship with the hero. A hero, in my opinion, should always enable the heroine to be the kind of woman she needs and wants to be, so she grows in confidence and ability through his love. In a great love story, both the hero and heroine will become better, stronger people through their relationship; in the words of Jerry McGuire, ‘you complete me’.
Yet there is also something powerful about reading of a woman’s awakening to physical pleasure–obviously found in the arms of the hero! Knowing she is experiencing everything for the first time (and not just like the first time) makes us feel the newness of it as well, the thrill of that kiss–and more.
Yet how realistic is it, really–in the realms of fantastical romance, of course–for a heroine to be so sheltered in our modern society? How can we find new ways to keep our heroines innocent and untouched while still seeming savvy, liberated, and certainly not TSTL (too stupid to live!)? Or has the age of the sheltered heroine passed, and we’re moving on from swooning virgins to heroines who have more know-how and no qualms about getting what they want? Or can a heroine be a combination of the two?
The Experienced Heroine
What do you think? Do you enjoy reading the sheltered, virginal heroine, or someone with a bit more of living under her belt? Are there any heroines–sheltered or otherwise–who stick in your mind?
Happy reading,
Kate
Dear Kate
Personally, I don’t really mind whether the heroine is a virgin or not, although I’ve found some authors (eg Sara Craven, Lynne Graham) tend to write heroines who are untouched. As you say, the “newness” of falling in love and the thrill of a first kiss makes us feel nostalgic, which is probably why the sheltered heroine novels remain so popular. And, let’s be honest, we don’t read Presents because we’re expecting them to be true to life
Oh no, we read them because we love them. And if they were cream cakes, I’d need a gastric band!
Two things always make me smile (fondly) when reading sheltered virgin stories. The first is at the deflowering moment, if the stunned hero stops, looks down, and says – usually harshly – “My God, why didn’t you tell me?” Er yes, why didn’t you tell him? The second is the fantastic sex that automatically follows the crucial moment – one brief sting and then multiple orgasms all the way!!!
Finally, I’ve only read one Presents where the hero was a virgin, so I’d quite like the heroine to seduce a sheltered Alpha male for a change: “Don’t wriggle so, Raffaele, I promise I’m not going to hurt you…”
Yes indeed, Mary! As you say, they are fantasy–and that includes the fantastic sex first time round
I’d love to write a virgin hero, but I think in Presents they’re quite hard to pull off. I read Susan Napier’s virgin hero story, which is wonderful–are there any others, I wonder? I did once write an inexperienced hero, and even that garnered some comments!
Sorry Kate but I find virgin heroines distinctly irritating. I love reading about the alpha male but I always want him to find his alpha female, a woman who will drive him insane and is as troubled and difficult as he is.
What bothers me is that I sometimes think romantic novels are trying to tell us that only virgins are entitled to find true love. Whatever happened to feminism?
Kate, I love a virgin heroine. Because I love that there’s something different about the hero that inspires her to make that step that she’s held back from with everyone else. It’s not about morality, and when I write a virgin heroine, it’s because it’s what’s right for her character, not to make social commentary. I’m just captivated by that first lovr fantasy.
Michelle Willingham wrote a Historical Undone with a virgin hero and it was fabulous! The first love fantasy works both ways for me!
No need to apologize, Karen! We all have different preferences when it comes to our Presents. I actually agree with you; I love it when the heroine is as troubled and difficult as he is, virgin or not. Yet I find that readers are not always as forgiving of the heroines as they are of the heroes… a terrible double standard, I know! Yet it is important to me as both reader & writer to have the heroine experience a transforming emotional journey just as the hero does. So often we talk about the reformed Alpha at the end of the book, and how different he is from the beginning–well, the heroine should be different and better too!
And my captcha phrase is twosome cohesion!! How appropriate!
Hi, Maisey! Good point about it being the hero who enables the heroine to relinquish her virginity. And I’ll definitely have to check out the Michelle Willingham Undone.
It’s interesting to note that we’re mainly talking about the heroine being sheltered sexually, because really there are all sorts of sheltered heroines… in Count Toussaint’s Baby, Abby is sheltered from a lot of different aspects of life. What does everyone think about heroines who don’t have a lot of life experience (never mind the bedroom)?
(And another great captcha phrase–relation engineers!)
I like a savvy heroine who knows what she’s doing and what she wants…and I like a sheltered heroine. It’s wonderful to watch a sheltered heroine discover life, discover who she is and what she wants. It’s fun to see a non-sheltered heroine do that too!
(captcha Monotheism proviso…O_o)
I basically think of sheltered and virginal as two separate, though sometimes overlapping categories. I can think of several heroines who have lived life absolutely to the full but haven’t had sex for whatever reason. Conversely the shy heroine who lives a very constricted life need not actually be sexually inexperienced.
I like both, if they’re done well. I loved Lucy Monroe’s The Shy Bride, recently, with a heroine who was as sheltered as they come, with good reason. And I liked Sharon Kendrick’s Kat’s Pride (in the Balfour series) with a strong, confident, modern heroine who happened not to have found a man she wanted to have sex with, until she falls into the hero’s bed.
What I don’t like are the ridiculously implausible situations that some authors will contrive to keep their heroines a virgin. Lynne Graham had one recently where the heroine had previously been married for three years and yet was still a virgin! There’s nothing wrong in having an experienced heroine when that’s what the story and the character call for.
Hi Ros! I completely agree with you, there are different kinds of sheltered heroines. I really like reading heroines who are confident and worldly without having had sex–and they’re not apologetic about their virginity either. The heroine doesn’t need to stammer and over-explain why she hasn’t had sex! That’s what feminism is really about, right? Embracing *all* the choices women have now.
If a heroine is written well, then she becomes a fully rounded personality. The dedication given to her music will have shielded Abby from many ‘normal’ temptations over the years, so that’s an ideal starting point.
Thanks Christina! Yes, it was interesting to write Abby’s character, with such a specific reason for her sheltered state. The heroine I’m writing now is sheltered in an entirely different way–and doesn’t realize it, which is also fun to write!
I think that the sheltered heroine has appeal because she is both like and radically different from the reader. I lead a pretty normal American life (ie, I dated my husband before marrying him and we met as equals) yet even with my own career and a comfortable life I would be way out of league with a Harlequin billionaire and his yachts and diamond buying. The sheltered heroine lets us experience things with her. I have some favorite Presents which have more sophisticated, wealthy heroines (still might be a virgin but at least a social equal to the hero) and while I enjoy those I prefer the heroine being put into radically new situations and being somewhat appalled at the lifestyle of the hero.
I have been thinking about this as I contemplate trying to write a medical romance this month. I have been working on writing a presents on and off for years but get stuck on the conflict. Most Presents conflicts are so out of my realm of day to day reasonablesness that while I can read and enjoy them I have trouble creating them as my heroines keep wanting to resolve stuff with open dialogue, and maybe premarital counseling… And the hero and heroine who live fully fledged in my head have commensurate levels of education, career experience, money and sophistication which makes the conflict creation harder for me, yet she refuses to backtrack in her personal development.
As I have been reading medical romances for research I am frustrated by how much more realistic they seem to be. Married couple grows apart for all the real world reasons. Then they reconcile through honest communication and personal growth. Maybe it’s because I’m an RN and my husband is an MD, but I read Harlequins for the escapism, and reading about lives like mine or my friends doesn’t lend to that.
So this was a verbose way of saying that I think the sheltered heroine coming into her own and achieving equality in her own eyes and the eyes of the hero has the pull of escapism for many. Plus they all of nannies so don’t have to argue about who misses an important meeting for a snow day
Like almost any theme, it’s all in the telling for me. If I fall in love with the character and understand the WHY then I go along with anything. And talking of the telling – Kate, I loved Count Toussaint’s baby, especially watching Abby develop. And of course Luc was gorgeous too!
Exactly, Sarah! It really is all in the telling. And thank you for your kind words–I’m so glad you enjoyed Luc and Abby’s story!
Erin, your post just appeared and I’m glad I didn’t miss it!! You make a great point about the sheltered heroine allowing the reader to experience the story along with her. Most readers are unfamiliar with the lifestyles of Alpha billionaires! I agree with you about the escapist element too–reading a romance that is too real sometimes feels like just more of life rather than a few hours’ escape from it. And yet, for me, the emotional conflict has to have a ‘real’ element to it–I want to be catapulted into the lives of the rich and famous, but I want to understand where they are coming from!
I really like it when the experienced hero is thrown out of control by the wonderfulness of the first lovemaking with his heroine, whether she’s experienced or not. I think the core to a good romance love scene is that it should be a revelation to both parties, and change them.
Definitely, Sally. And it can be really powerful when a jaded, experienced hero is overcome in a love scene with his heroine
. I love it when the hero realizes that all his sexual experiences are reduced to nothing after being with the heroine!
I love reading about heroines who keep their virtue, until Mr. Wonderful shows up…but a virgin can be spunky w/ smarts! She’s a prize to be won, and it’s going to take a real man to win her!
Yeah!
Sun Chara
I agree, Sun. Just because a heroine is a virgin doesn’t mean she isn’t smart, spunky, or confident in herself.
I think it’s entirely plausible for a woman to be adult, smart, sophisticated, live and work in the modern world … and be a virgin until that man that is absolutely perfect for her comes along. (Been there, done that and we just celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary last week.)
I know there are tons of statistics and stories out there about modern sexual mores, but there are just as many that remain untold about how “the other half” lives.
To me, it is a turnoff in a story if the heroine has “been around the block” a few times. That doesn’t mean a good story can’t be told, certainly, and I’ve read some wonderful stories with experienced heroines in the Presents line. But, if I had a preference, I suppose I’d fall into the traditionalist camp. And I second the other post that said it’s far more believable for a smart, sophisticated, successful woman to be a virgin at, say, 28 (just to pick a random age) than it is to be a self-made billionaire at 32.