This post appeared in ROMANCING THE GENRES on July 24, 2020 and is still one of my favorite pieces ( and characters!)
So in deciding who my favorite villain is in literature, the only name that consistently showed up in my head really isn’t a villain, according to the book reading world. It’s a person whose actions are so wonderfully vile and self-serving, though, that she really must be declared a villain. If you know anything about me you’ve probably already guessed I’m talking about Scarlett O’Hara.
She of the original resting bitch face, Scarlett O’Hara, is supposed to be the heroine of Gone With The Wind, but in my mind she holds a dichotomous role as pure villain. According to Webster’s Dictionary, a villain is: a character whose evil actions or motives are important to the plot. Everything Scarlett does in GWTW is crucial to moving the plot line of the book forward. And everything she does can be interpreted as evil. Cases in point: She agrees to marry one man just to make Ashley Wilkes jealous. Then she marries another just to spite her sister ( because the sister loves him) Then she goes after Ashley again and lets everybody knows it. She tries to trick Rhett into giving her money while he is in jail. She runs a business using convicts as cheap labor and doesn’t care about them just so she can never be poor again. She blames Rhett for the death of their daughter and once again goes after Ashley after his wife dies. Everything she does is self-serving. She tries to convince herself it’s because she wants to protect her home, Tara, and her family, but, in reality, she is a narcissistic, egomaniacal, conniving, blatant manipulator who has been spoiled since birth and wants everyone to dance a jig at her feet. If that isn’t the offshoot definition of a villain, I don’t know what is. Yes, her life is tragic. Yes, she suffers loss in the most grievous of ways. And yes, she is a victim of circumstances. But…it’s how she handles and deals with all those events that make her a villain in my eyes. And she is such a delicious one, too.
Since LOVE MATCH will be releasing in 2 weeks (!) I figured I’d do a little tease for it today to whet your reading appetites.
Here’s a little motivation as to why Cody is such a playa…
She nodded. “So. You were out with the Canterbury girl last night.” The way she said it had the hairs on his forearms jumping to attention.
“Oh? Who’d you hear that from?”
She flipped her fingers in the air. “Just someone who happened to be at The Love Shack the same time you were.”
Mentally, his eyes dragged around the bar to try and remember who could have spotted, then reported, to his mother on his whereabouts. She had her spies everywhere around town.
“Katie’s a sweet girl,” he said.
“Yes. She is. A girl, that is. Has she even graduated from college yet?”
It took everything in him not to toss her a snide comeback. He knew his mother. His divorce had devastated her. Almost as much as it had him. The difference was she wanted him to get married again, while he was content to be single the rest of his life and just simply play the field as long as he could, which he hoped would be until he was six feet under.
Dating girls who were much younger than he was, who were only looking to be taken out and treated good by a guy without any of the happily-ever-after notions front and center was a plan that was fitting him nicely. The one drawback was his mother’s persistent disregard for his playboy – as much as you could be one in a small town – persona.
“Yes, Mom, she did,” he responded after taking a swig of beer. “With a degree in nursing, too. But you know that since her mom’s in your book club. I’m sure Mrs. Canterbury has mentioned how proud she is of her daughter and her new job over at Holy Mother of God Hospital.”
Sally bit down on her lip. Two could play at this spy thing. Katie had told him last night their mothers were in the same club that met every Tuesday night. She offered that she thought they didn’t read and discuss a book as much as drink wine, eat cookies, and gossip about everyone in town.
That sounded right up his mom’s alley.
“It’s just that she’s so, so…” She shrugged.
“Nice? Sweet? Pretty?”
“Young. She’s almost half your age, Cody.”
Okay, she wasn’t wrong. Forty to Katie’s twenty-three was a bit of a stretch. But it wasn’t like he was going to marry her or forge a life with her. They were friends. Simply having some fun, a few laughs over drinks and dinner. And if that progressed to friends with some benefits, well that was his business and Katie’s.
“I just don’t want to see her hurt,” his mother said.
“Why would she be hurt? Katie knows the score. I’m very up-front with all the girls I date. They know from the get-go that I’m not looking to get married again. Been there; bought the t-shirt.”
Got my heart broken he kept to himself.
Intrigued? Hee hee. You can preorder/order it a few ways:
Through my webstore, where you’ll get an autographed print copy. Of course, this is my favorite way because you get it directly from me, no middleman, and you get presents from me when you order, too, LOL!
Small-town labels are hard to shake. Hometown hero. Fallen angel. Can anyone ever escape their past?
A murder victim dumped at the dead end of a lonely country road, face and hands obliterated by a shotgun blast, is not the way sheriff’s detective Nick Fourcade wants to start his week. His only lead takes him to the family of a hometown hero suddenly gone missing. Marc Mercier left his home for a weekend hunting trip and hasn’t been seen since.
Meanwhile, sheriff’s detective Annie Broussard begins her first day back on the job after suffering a brutal attack by taking on the case of B’Lynn Fontenot, a mother desperate to find her grown son, a recovering drug addict. Robbie Fontenot has been missing for eight days, but the local police have no interest in the case, telling B’Lynn that an adult has the right to disappear, and a missing addict is no big surprise. But B’Lynn swears her son was turning his life around. Sympathetic to a mother’s anguish, Annie agrees to help B’Lynn, knowing she’s about to start a turf war with the city police.
As Annie searches for Robbie Fontenot and Nick investigates the disappearance of Marc Mercier, it quickly becomes apparent that nothing is as it seems in the lives of either man. And it’s still not clear whether either—or neither—of them might be the unidentified murder victim. Old jealousies and fresh deceits, family loyalties gone wrong and love turned sour all lay a twisting trail that leads deep into the Louisiana swamp, endangering all who cross the path of a bad liar.
Now…what are you reading?? Share, because I’m always looking for new author and book recommendations. ~ Peg
Kids…this is a PRESTIGIOUS award! I’ve had honorable mention twice for the award and was a finalist one other time with other books, so I am really, really stoked about this!!
I’ll let you now if I make it all the way sometime after June 1.
Wish me luck, and if you haven’t readINFLUENCE, now is a good time to! It’s available in print, Kindle, and KU, all through Amazon and from me ( autographed copies) here, from my webstore
To celebrate my upcoming 10 years in the biz, I give you… my life in a timeline. My writing life, that is, lol.
It’s been a heck of a ride so far. 4 publishers; indie publishing; professional speaking gigs on writing.
Sometimes my head whirls. Sometimes I pinch myself. Sometimes I’m tired ( who am I kidding? I’m tired all the time!)
Would I do things differently? A few Would I change one moment of the feeling I get when a new book is in my hands after publication? Not even a little bit.
I chose this life and I embrace it wholeheartedly.
here’s to the next 10 years…20…(gulp) 30.
And thank you for all the love and support and words of encouragement along the way… ~Peg
Today, I’m going to talk about 5 authors who inspire me.
Inspire me to read. Inspire me to be a better writer. Inspire me to use my talent.
Nora Roberts/JD Robb. You had to know this would be the first one, lol. From the moment I read my first SIhoulette Nora in the early 1990’s until this very day, she is the author I love most to read, emulate, and wish I knew personally. I’ve met her at a signing event, but I’d really just like to spend one day with her and watch her writing process. She is my ultimate inspiration for writing, career, and just plain talent.
Lisa Kleypas. Everything she writes, from lusty historicals to modern-day steamy love stories makes me want to be a better writer. She is so talented at conveying emotions through her words. Love that.
Lorraine Heath. From the moment I read her first book I was hooked as a reader. And as a writer. The way she weaves backstory without ever making it boring or dull is more than a talent – it is a miracle!
Lauren Layne. A modern-day writer, she takes contemporary topics and women and makes them so relatable. I love her sassy, quirky and always positive heroines. She was the one who made me think I could write series romances.
Janet Evanovich. I know some people say this 30+ book series about Stephanie Plum and the two men in her life is getting stale- and that she needs to make a choice between them. What these people don’t realize is that it takes true, true talent as a storyteller to keep that amount and quality emotion and WANT up for 30+ books and have the reader keep coming back. Truly, inspiring talent.
The second blog I ever wrote from February 4, 2014
The Origin of TAWK TO ME…
Those of you who know me personally and have heard me speak, know there is little doubt that I grew up in Brooklyn, NY. My diction, the way I can’t pronounce the letters “er ” at the end of words ( I say “mutha” for “mother”) and my oftentimes nasal twang all give my birthplace a shout-out. So instead of calling part of this site “Talk to Me,” I wanted you to really hear my voice when I said it, so “Tawk to me” is how it would sound if we were face to face.
This got me to thinking about my writing and writing in general when you want to bring your characters to life. The United States language is a huge mix of accents, colloquialisms, and cliched metaphors all melded together to form our wonderful country. No one speaks the same way as someone else, and neither should your characters. They can share phrases, accents, and even diction, but each character should “sound” different even if they are from the same place.
I lived in Wisconsin for seven years and the natives called a water fountain a “bubbler,” and soda, “pop.” In Brooklyn, my aunt called “Oil”, “Earl,” as in “They delivered some earl to the burna ( Burner!) yesterday and now I’ve got to pay for it.”
Wouldn’t you recognize someone who was from Ireland, if they said, “aye” and ‘Tis?” Or our neighbors to the north when they end every sentence with “eh?” Valley girls in California spew “Oh, m’Gawd! and “Fer sures!” to this day. In the U.K. the words “Brilliant” and “bloody” are descriptive staples. Australians call each other “Sheila” and “Mate.”
Southerners say “Hey,” while Northerners say “Hi.” Highly educated people wouldn’t think of saying “Gotta” or “lotta,” and my cousins would never end a sentence with “Don’t you agree?” They’d be more likely to say, “ya know?”
I live in New Hampshire now. Wicked weather, eh? (Get it?!)
So, “TAWK TO ME.” Tell me something, ask me a question, give me some needed guidance. Just “TAWK TO ME.”
Peggy Jaeger, Author 