Wah-hoo! It's gonna be a wonderful day! How do I know? Well, it's simple . . .
ANNA CAMPBELL is visiting us today!!
ANNA CAMPBELL is visiting us today!!
I've been a fan of Anna Campbell since I fell head over slippers in love with her dashing, but also very naughty Duke of Kylemore in Claiming The Courtesan. Whoa, Nelly! Talk about a man full of passion! What gal can resist one of those?!
Anna's latest release, MY RECKLESS SURRENDER, hit book shelves this week and is ready to steal your breath away. If you've got a sweet tooth for heroes who will make your knees buckle, then you're definitely gonna want to scope an Anna Campbell novel ASAP!
No use dawdling! Let's get the good times rolling! Here's Anna with . . .
Adopted Any Cool Secret Identities Lately?
Hi Sarah! Lovely to be here again! Thank you for inviting me!
This week I have a new book out. It’s called MY RECKLESS SURRENDER and it has a glorious yellow cover. You can read an excerpt here: http://www.annacampbell.info/recklesssurrender.html
It’s odd. When I have a new book out, I seem to look back on the ones that came before with a philosophical eye (well, actually TWO philosophical eyes, I’m being poetic, LOL!) seeking links and differences.
In MY RECKLESS SURRENDER, which is the story of a dangerous seduction in Regency London, my heroine Diana Carrick adopts a false identity in order to seduce the notorious Earl of Ashcroft, Tarquin Vale. In reality, she’s a hardworking, middle-class widow who helps her father run a country estate. Because she’s accepted a devil’s bargain from her employer, the Marquess of Burnley, that offers her everything she’s ever wanted in return for sleeping with Tarquin, she pretends to be a sophisticated, aristocratic lady with a mysterious past. The pretense doesn’t come easily to her, particularly the worldly part, and her ruse is further complicated when she falls in love with the earl.
He falls in love with her too – but the Diana he wants is an illusion, made up of self-serving lies. Or is she? Has something of the real Diana seeped through to enrich this affair? Would a man as smart as Tarquin fall so head over heels in love with a woman who offered him nothing genuine?
Can a secret identity reveal a truth about someone that everyday life might perhaps hide?
It’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? I hadn’t realized I was quite so enamoured of secret identity stories until I started to think about the previous books. Would you know EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM involves a masquerade of some sort? I’m not just enamoured of secret identity plots, I’ve married them and I’m having twins!
In CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, Verity masquerades as Soraya, courtesan extraordinaire. Her brother, who I feel got the short end of the stick, masquerades as the eunuch Ben Ahbood! In UNTOUCHED, the humble widow kidnapped off the streets of Bristol to keep a captive nobleman amused comes from one of England’s most powerful families. In TEMPT THE DEVIL, again, Olivia comes from a much more elevated background than she admits to the world. In CAPTIVE OF SIN, my runaway heroine uses a false name when she meets the hero and when they elope, they sign into the hotel under false names. And would you believe the book I’m writing at the moment also involves a secret identity? I’m addicted!
Of course, secret identities abound in Romancelandia, not just in Campbellandia! Why do you think they’re so popular? Do you have a favorite book that includes a secret identity plot? I can think of hundreds!
It’s no secret that my favorite comment wins a signed copy of MY RECKLESS SURRENDER!
Wowza!! Now that's what I call a sweet treat!! I'd like to thank Anna for both her time and generosity. If you'd like to know more about the lovely Anna Campbell, please click on over to her website: http://www.annacampbell.info/ Here's wishing you tons of success and sales with MY RECKLESS SURRENDER, Anna! :)
THANK YOU, TLN'ers!! Hope your weekend is straight out of a fairy tale! How about a little LOVE STORY with Taylor Swift! Enjoy your three days of R&R and remember to make some time for a little blinding passion, too! If you can't find your White Knight, pick up one of Anna's handsome heroes. Either way, you'll be in for a reckless surrender of your own! *wink wink*
This week I have a new book out. It’s called MY RECKLESS SURRENDER and it has a glorious yellow cover. You can read an excerpt here: http://www.annacampbell.info/recklesssurrender.html
It’s odd. When I have a new book out, I seem to look back on the ones that came before with a philosophical eye (well, actually TWO philosophical eyes, I’m being poetic, LOL!) seeking links and differences.
In MY RECKLESS SURRENDER, which is the story of a dangerous seduction in Regency London, my heroine Diana Carrick adopts a false identity in order to seduce the notorious Earl of Ashcroft, Tarquin Vale. In reality, she’s a hardworking, middle-class widow who helps her father run a country estate. Because she’s accepted a devil’s bargain from her employer, the Marquess of Burnley, that offers her everything she’s ever wanted in return for sleeping with Tarquin, she pretends to be a sophisticated, aristocratic lady with a mysterious past. The pretense doesn’t come easily to her, particularly the worldly part, and her ruse is further complicated when she falls in love with the earl.
He falls in love with her too – but the Diana he wants is an illusion, made up of self-serving lies. Or is she? Has something of the real Diana seeped through to enrich this affair? Would a man as smart as Tarquin fall so head over heels in love with a woman who offered him nothing genuine?
Can a secret identity reveal a truth about someone that everyday life might perhaps hide?
It’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? I hadn’t realized I was quite so enamoured of secret identity stories until I started to think about the previous books. Would you know EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM involves a masquerade of some sort? I’m not just enamoured of secret identity plots, I’ve married them and I’m having twins!
In CLAIMING THE COURTESAN, Verity masquerades as Soraya, courtesan extraordinaire. Her brother, who I feel got the short end of the stick, masquerades as the eunuch Ben Ahbood! In UNTOUCHED, the humble widow kidnapped off the streets of Bristol to keep a captive nobleman amused comes from one of England’s most powerful families. In TEMPT THE DEVIL, again, Olivia comes from a much more elevated background than she admits to the world. In CAPTIVE OF SIN, my runaway heroine uses a false name when she meets the hero and when they elope, they sign into the hotel under false names. And would you believe the book I’m writing at the moment also involves a secret identity? I’m addicted!
Of course, secret identities abound in Romancelandia, not just in Campbellandia! Why do you think they’re so popular? Do you have a favorite book that includes a secret identity plot? I can think of hundreds!
It’s no secret that my favorite comment wins a signed copy of MY RECKLESS SURRENDER!
Wowza!! Now that's what I call a sweet treat!! I'd like to thank Anna for both her time and generosity. If you'd like to know more about the lovely Anna Campbell, please click on over to her website: http://www.annacampbell.info/ Here's wishing you tons of success and sales with MY RECKLESS SURRENDER, Anna! :)
THANK YOU, TLN'ers!! Hope your weekend is straight out of a fairy tale! How about a little LOVE STORY with Taylor Swift! Enjoy your three days of R&R and remember to make some time for a little blinding passion, too! If you can't find your White Knight, pick up one of Anna's handsome heroes. Either way, you'll be in for a reckless surrender of your own! *wink wink*
50 comments:
Anna's in the HOUSE! Grins. Let's see now...what would make this your favorite comment? Hahaha.
Aren't you totally exhausted after that magnificent, over the top, wide-out-open-season tho' down in the Lair today? And yet, here you are, perky and fresh.
Hmmmm. I want what YOU'RE having. Snork.
Sarah, what a great interview. I sympathise with your toddler chase...mine are a wee bit older, but not by much.
BTW< Sarah, brace yourself. The Romance Bandits tend to invade when one of our own go gadding about.
Anna, I love secret identities--but that would figure, considering that I cut my teeth on Superman and Batman. Er, not literally.
Anyway, my favorite secret identity book is The Scarlet Pimpernel--closest literary figure I know to Superman and Batman. *g* I also liked Kathleen Woodiwiss's A Rose in Winter.
Oh--Zorro! I love the Tyrone Power version. In Jacquie D'Alessandro's The Bride Thief, the Earl of Wesley plays highwayman to help women elude unhappy marriages.
In fellow bandita Jeanne Adams's Dark and Dangerous, the hero is an undercover fed though his secret doesn't last through the book. In Christine Wells's latest, The Sweetest Little Sin, the hero is a rake who actually works for the Home Office. Not exactly a secret identity, but a secret role.
I think secret identities are popular because they provide a ready vehicle for romantic conflict without having to introduce an actual person (as in A Rose in Winter). They can also give a character freedom to move outside social restrictions (The Bride Thief).
Anna, congrats on another wonderful book! The h/h might not have been tortured going into it, but they certainly were by the end!
Sarah, before you know it, those toddlers will be driving actual cars.
Ha ha! And we've got two Bandits in the house already - three if you count me. And why not? Honestly, I'm so wrung out after that HUGE launch day in the lair! What an amazing party! Thanks, guys, for making it so special! Oh, no and it's both BOOM girls at that! Sarah, take cover!
Wow, Nancy, last time we talked, they'd only had that quite heavy session outside the courtesans' ball. And now you've finished it! Thanks so much for saying you enjoyed MY RECKLESS SURRENDER! Yeah, plenty of angst in the end before the happy ending! Oh, I love Zorro and the Scarlet Pimpernel. Perhaps that's where my fascination for secret identities started. I love the Anthony Andrews Scarlet Pimpernel - he's just delicious in that. Actually I love fairytales which involve a secret identity too - you know, the prince disguised as the swineherd or whatever. I think it's probably something really deep seated in my psyche. So much so that I didn't realize it turned up in EVERY book! That really is something that comes naturally if you don't notice it's happening.
It's a Bandit Invasion *g* Gotta watch out for those Bandits... they're wild ;-)
Anna - I adore secret identity stories. I've written one, and danced around the idea in two other books. Its just so sexy and tantalizing, I think. There's always a naughty sort of mystery with those types of stories that pull me right in.
I'm so jazzed about My Reckless Surrender!! I have a copy waiting for me, as soon as I'm off deadline its my curl up and relax treat :-)
Oh, man, it IS a Bandit invasion! Three out of three and all Bandits. Great to see you girls. Are you avoiding clean-up duty in the lair? And yes, I know that's a horribly cynical question, LOL! There's something really fun about a secret identity story, isn't there, Tawny? And I think there's an element that once the normal persona is abandoned, the person who comes out is true to the real person inside if that makes sense. I think it's definitely true about Diana who isn't nearly the staid widow of her normal life. Tarquin brings out the devil in her!
Hope you have fun with MY RECKLESS SURRENDER when you've caught up!
Isn't it like putting on a costume and playing dress up, Anna? That freedom and excitement of letting the inner self out to live out a few fantasies...
And hey, of course I'm not avoiding clean up. I wouldn't do that! After all, I'm on cave duty this week and have a 'get out of cleanup free' pass ;-) What I'm doing is avoiding writing. Much different animal, don't you think!?
HI Anna and hi to Sarah, too, this is my first visit to your blog and I've enjoyed looking through it.
Anna, I love an element of masquerade in a romance. To me, it really adds to the suspense of it all as the reader races towards the moment of unmasking. Will it change things? Will he or she love the real person behind the mask?
It's like in the best versions of the Beauty and the Beast story (and I believe all your books have an element of B and the B) where Beauty hesitates when the beast is transformed into a handsome prince, Beauty takes a little while to get used to it as she had come to love the Beast...
I write romantic comedy and that masquerade element is almost a given. But it works so well in historicals, too. In the case of MY RECKLESS SURRENDER I love that you use it to play with the class system of the time.
Please don't put me in the draw for a copy, I already have one winging its way to me--I can't wait to read it!
LOL, hi, Tawny!! Hi, Anna!! Hi, Nancy! Hi, Jeanne! Hmm... how many more Banditas do you think might pop by? I'm putting off cleaning the kitchen ;) And it's ALWAYS a treat to hang out with you all!
Secret identities are generally fun plots! I don't know what my favorite is, but I think part of the fun is either taking on an alternate persona or having one forced on you that lets you be someone else for a while. I think we've all had times where we wonder what it'd be like to drop our own life and step into someone else's, and reading about characters who do just that is a way to enjoy the ride a bit :)
Tawny, your Blaze in the Dressed to Thrill series was a fun one--I do love stories where you get a chance to have a "re-do" and see whether people recognize your new self. And the question of which is your true self then :)
Congrats again on My Reckless Surrender, Anna! Looking forward to reading this one!
Hi, Sarah and Anna.
The weather's lovely here in Campbellandia! Though, I do seem to have a touch of yellow fever--that cover is just gorgeous.
Anna, I think secret identity plots offer up so much in terms of internal and external conflict for the characters. As a reader, that constant tension keeps me in thrall--will they be found out? What will happen then? Will the heroine ever forgive the hero for keeping this terrible secret???
Holy smokes! Anna, you sure know how to party! I love it! :)
Jeanne, mine sure lead me for a loop, that's for sure! I love having them around, but really enjoy nap time if you know what I mean! LOL
Too funny, Nancy! My 3 yr old son already tries to drive. The little turkey even knows which key I use! He is the reason I dye my hair! :)
Heya Tawny!! Great to see you! It was wonderful seeing you at the YRW meeting!
Hi Kandy and flchen1! Thanks for swinging by! I adore meeting new people! :)
*waving hi to Fedora and Sarah*
Fedora, I totally agree. Secret identity stories definitely offer the characters wonderful chances to figure out who they really are ;-)
Wooot!!! Aren't Anna's parties the best?! Sarah, it's great to see you here -thanks so much for having Anna over to play :-D
Well, whats a party without a stalker :P
Do you know how awesome it is to feature on a blog in the same week as her Majesty, Queen Anna? Sarah, you do an amazing job with this blog, I love it!
Okay, seriously I have a secret to reveal... I have a thing for Batman. As far as all secret identity stories go, Batman does it for me everytime. My brother went to Malaysia with the Army and the only thing I asked for was all the Batman movies. He delivered, I was in heaven. Even the one with Chris O'Donnel as Robin couldn't distract from Batman's appeal. That said, I'm off to work and maybe fantasise about a hero or two while the boredom kills a few more brain cells...
Anna, get some sleep! The matchsticks are about to snap and then you'll be in a world of trouble =) Tawny, always a pleasure to hang where you're hanging! Sarah and everyone else, have a fantastic weekend.
Bron.
Well, I already spilled the beans about my adoration of Claiming The Courtesan and Verity's secret Saroya plight. *sigh* Love it!
I've always liked The Thomas Crown Affair. Pierce Bronsan's character hides his thieving nature behind his good looks nad $$$.
Now, my ultra favorite is the Count Of Monte Cristo! Good times and danger for all! lol
Tawny, I hate to say it, but there are days I'd rather clean up after the dragon than write! Sounds like you might be having one of those!
And yeah, you're exactly right about that secret identity thing. There's a sudden freedom - it's like actors are often shy people in real life which I find fascinating! I think it's ironic that Diana's truer to herself when she's seducing Tarquin than when she's repressing all that sensuality and passion. And as I said, he's too smart to fall in love with her if she's COMPLETELY false. Although of course, he comes a cropper when he finds out how many lies she's told him!
Kandy, congratulations on winning the copy over at the Season blog. I was really pleased when I saw Beverley had drawn out your name!
Sarah's blog is great, isn't it?
The whole masquerade thing is so romantic, isn't it? And you're so right about Beauty and the Beast. Even when I don't want to write BATB, I write BATB. I can't escape it! I love the way you mention that Beauty has learned to love the Beast so there is that moment of uncertainty. Delicious uncertainty! Of course your latest story, Home is Where the Bark Is is based on a secret identity, isn't it? I'm preaching to the converted, aren't I?
These books sound grand. I will have to find time in my review schedule to start reading them! I like secret identities, maybe its the mystery... They usually allow for some good tense moments and complications to overcome!
I hope you have a great weekend ladies!
Hello, Fedora! Always a pleasure to see you. This is like a continuation of the launch party, isn't it? I think all these girls are skyving out of cleaning up! Don't you? Hmm, sounds like you might be too.
Secret identities are a mainstay of romance, aren't they? I was even thinking of Shakespeare! Look at all those boy disguised as girl plots that he used! There's a fairytale quality to secret identity plots that I know I respond to, no matter how many times I read them! And as you say when you mentioned Tawny's wonderful story, there's all those questions about which identity is the 'real' one then!
Thanks for the congrats! I've certainly had a whopper of a release week!
Vanessa, I've just written a blog for Avon on very much the tension you mentioned. You know, the reader just sits back waiting for the bad stuff to hit the fan! And as you say, then there's the problem of forgiveness and will the love be big enough to get over this massive hurdle in the relationship! Fun all round. Love your comment about yellow fever! Snort!
Sarah, thank you for that gorgeous introduction! I think I might move in. The Bandits aren't nearly so sweet to me, snort! Laughed at your three year old turning you gray. I think a lot of mothers have said that!
Tawny, I think we're exactly on the same page with secret identity stories. Although I have to admit I was rather horrified when I realized every single story I've ever written involves a secret identity. And for some reason - it's always the heroine! I wonder if that means I have a deep hankering to adopt a secret identity!
Hey, Bron, really enjoyed your blog here earlier in the week! And thank you for treating me with suitably royal respect, snort! Sarah's great, isn't she?
Oh, I LOVE Batman - and that's the whole secret identity thing in spades. And of course, he can't fall in love, it's too dangerous. Poor darling! Nobody else will get this reference but when I was a REALLY little girl, I loved a dubbed French TV show on the ABC here called the King's Outlaw which was about a duke who adopted a secret identity to become a guerilla fighter against the English in the 100 Years War. The lead guy was gorgeous - even my four-year-old heart used to thump! And it had this great theme music. Obviously secret identities and I were fated to be together!
This is my last blog for the week! We're definitely finishing on a high with the launch yesterday and Sarah today! But yeah, the matchsticks are getting very thin!
Ooh, Sarah, what great examples! You're right - I actually love the OLD Thomas Crown Affair too. It was so stylish in that funky 60s way and Steve McQueen was mega cool as Thomas. And the Count of Monte Cristo is another guy who hides his identity. Actually the Favorite Things column in June on my website is about another Secret Identity plot - I love the BBC adaptation of Our Mutual Friend and that's what I'm talking about. Secret identities rock!
Martha, glad you swung by! And extra glad you like the sound of the books. You're so right about the automatic dramatic tension in a secret identity plot - will they be found out? What are the consequences of discovery? How will relationships forged on a lie survive? It's all fabulous stuff!
I think secret identity plots work so well in romance because INTRIGUE is an integral part of falling in love. The feeling of mystery, of not knowing but wanting to know more of this person you are attracted to, just heightens the chemistry. What's more intriguing than a secret identity?!
Judith Ivory's, BEAST comes to mind and Rachel Gibson's, SEE JANE SCORE has a secret id subplot. And of course, my favorite: CLAIMING THE COURTESAN. I felt so much tenderness for Kylemore when he wanted both Soraya & Verity because there really was no separation in his mind. :)
Hi Anna
You are partial to secret identities, aren't you! It's something I hadn't considered until I read your post. And I know the secret identity plot is a favourite in Romancelandia... but do you think I could think of one - other than yours! Fortunately someone mentioned Kathleen Woodiwiss and the very first book I read of hers had a secret identity - Ashes in the Wind. The heroine, Alanna, was masquerading as a grubby urchin boy. Part of the attraction of this theme is that delicious fear of when and how they'll be unmasked!
Lovely blog, Sarah! And you've got a fab collection of Blogger Awards! Thanks for having Anna to visit today!
Can't wait for My Reckless Surrender to hit the shelves, Anna. I was going to see if I could spot an early shelfing today but it was crazy in town! Friday! Argh! Next week for sure! Love the covers you've got for this book!
:)
Sharon
Another Bandita swinging by to join the party! Glad I donned the mask *g*.
I like secret identity stories too - for me, they work particularly well when the secret identity combines with the whole fish out of water theme (one of my favourites) to cause maximum mayhem and angst.
My favourite is a film starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn called Charade. Each turning point in that film is when AH discovers that CG has been lying and finds yet another identity.
Hey, what a gorgeous blog! I've never come across this one before. Hi Sarah! Thanks for having Anna on the blog today. Yay, Anna! Congrats on the release of MY RECKLESS SURRENDER. This is such a fabulous book!
Secret identity stories--I suppose I can't go past THESE OLD SHADES, in which Leonie pretends to be a boy. And THE MASQUERADERS, which I adore! Two of a long line of girls dressing as boys in Regency/Georgian romance! I'm not a huge fan of this trope, but it seemed to work in those books. I suppose if no one knows who you really are, it does give you a bit of freedom, doesn't it? Like an overseas holiday:) Of course, it all goes pear-shaped in the end!
Hi Anna, I love romance where either the male or female are pretending to be someone else and they fall in love with that person and they fall in love in turn. These stories have humor and so much mystery and intrigue that I just can't put down. And most of the stories that have one or the other trying to avenge someone else fall in love (each one) and then find out all the stories they heard and were told were all false. So I get my HEA. lol.. I can't wait to read your newest release as I know it will be awesome. I also love when the hero plucks a young lady down on her luck out of her horrid life and lifts her up and in turn falls in love with her and she with him. aahhh..I am a romantic at heart but love the exciting stories they tell. Thanks for your great books and pls don't ever stop writing them.
misskallie2000 at yahoo dot com
Hello Sarah and Anna. (Lovely cover, by the way.)
Thank you so much for sharing this read and work with us. It does look grand. I hope that it is a great success and may many more muses arrive your way.
Scorpio, what a lovely description of
Claiming the Courtesan - you're right! Oh, I'd forgotten Beast by Judith Ivory. I adore that book! I adore Beauty too and The Proposition which has a Secret Identity that's secret to EVERYONE! I think when we fall in love, we reveal that secret inner self who we don't necessarily show the world. So probably there's an element of secret identity in every romance! I'm loving all this pondering on the secret identity plot!
Actually a couple of my favorite Loretta Chases involve secret identities. In Captives of the Night, Esmond the hero is a man of many disguises. And in the Sandalwood Princess, master thief and spy, the Falcon, has to disguise himself as a butler to worm his way into our heroine's trust. Both are fabulous reads!
Sharon, actually the book should definitely be on the shelves next week. Happy hunting! You're right about Ashes in the Wind - years since I read it but I remember the heroine disguised as a boy!
Oh, Anna, I adore Charade. That's one of the cleverest scripts I've ever seen made into a movie. Actually another beloved secret identity Audrey Hepburn film is How to Steal a Million (you knew that would get a mention, didn't you?). Peter O'Toole is not exactly what he seems in that - and he and Aud are just gorgeous together. Actually I think you're right about the fish out of water plot combining beautifully with the secret identity - Diana's definitely a fish out of water pretending to be a brazen seductress in aristocratic London.
Christine, is this your first visit here? It's great. Sarah had me as her guest when COS came out (I don't think I made it for Tempt the Devil, did I, Sarah?) and I just love it. So warm and welcoming!
Interesting you're not a fan of this trope. As I say, clearly I'm a devotee ;-) And you're right about pear-shaped - I think that's one of the reasons I love, I'm waiting for that other shoe to drop.
Actually Heyer loved secret identities - there's the Toll Gate guy (haven't read that for ages but doesn't he masquerade as a humble tollgate keeper?). There's the Unknown Ajax which while not exactly secret does involve quite a bit of playing around with identity. As you say, there's the Masqueraders and These Old Shades. There's also False Colours - that's the one about the twins, isn't it?
Actually there's a wonderful Anne Stuart which is long out of print where there's a double romance and in the second one, the hero's brother dresses as a woman and romances the local heiress. That's not something you see everywhere. Actually and in that one (it's called Shadow Dance), the heroine is dressed as a boy but the hero is well aware she's a woman. And she's a runaway aristocrat too.
Oh, now I've re-read your post and realize it's the girl dressed as boy thing you're not keen on! Sorry - too early for my brain to be working!
Hey, Miss Kallie, lovely to see you! Another fan of secret identity plots, I see! You're right about the fact that our people usually have really high stakes reasons for taking on the secret identity - automatically makes the story intriguing. Actually the false impressions thing happens in MY RECKLESS SURRENDER. Diana arrives expecting your standard, love 'em and leave 'em rake when she offers herself to Tarquin. And of course, he's MUCH more interesting than that! Thanks for your lovely message about my books!
Hey, EA, thanks for swinging by. That cover really is gorgeous, isn't it? Thanks for the good wishes and good luck in the draw!
Hi Anna and congrats again on MRS!
One of the reasons I like reading historical romances with secret identity plots is because I like to suspend my disbelief as a reader. In Emily Bryan's Vexing the Viscount, the heroine disguises herself as a notorious courtesan who is irresistible to the hero and this heightens their sexual chemistry. In Blythe Gifford's In the Master's Bed, the heroine disguises herself and pretends to be a young man and this definitely added to the tension in the story. Secret identities in a story intensify the drama in the characters and in the story. I like that! I also like the character's (actually the author's) creativity in improvising ways to change identities!
I used to always question how flimsy Superman's disguise was but once I decided to suspend my disbelief, I had more fun! Now I'm not anal anymore when it comes to reading romances or even watching movies (Tootsie is one of my all-time favorites) or TV shows. Oh, I still try to analyze a character's motivation for choosing a secret identity but I don't think too hard... I just enjoy what I'm reading!
Thanks for all the kind words about my blog! You gals are making my day! :)
I managed to think of another movie. Wasn't Cary Grant in "To Catch A Thief" operating under a secret identity? I just love that movie, because I like the chemistry between Cary and Grace Kelly. But it's been so long since I've seen it that I can't recall if he was trying to keep his past as a jewrly thief on the down low or not. Hmmm?
I'll have to check if the BBC America channel picks up the Our Mutal Friend show. I'm always game to find a new show. I know there is one Australian movie I'm dying to watch called "Gabriel" because of the hunkalicious Andy Whitefield. :)
Hi Sarah! I just discovered your blog, love it and more power to you! BTW, totally enjoyed your posts about your recent Hawaii vacay and encounter with local boy Jay Nicolas Sario, Project Runway top 4 finalist! Now and then we like to play tourist, too!
Etirv, actually I still need to believe it's kinda possible that this is real! ;-) I'm a bit with Christine on the girl disguised as boy thing - it's not always convincing. Although when it's done well, it really works. Actually Tootsie is a great example of a secret identity story! And that one, I actually could suspend my disbelief. Actually there's a really cute old Marilyn Monroe movie with Yves Montand where he's a millionaire pretending to be poor. Very sweet. Actually talking MM, Some Like It Hot is also a secret identity movie. I can see I'm not the only person addicted to this particular style of story!
And actually you're kinda right about Superman. Especially when Christopher Reeve was equally handsome with glasses or without and that seemed to be the only change! Guess you gotta go with the flow!
Sarah, Our Mutual Friend was a BBC six parter - you can definitely get it on DVD. I recently re-watched it and that's how I saw it. It starts out as very dark but stick with it - it's VERY romantic! Ooh, I love To Catch a Thief! Cary was luscious in that and didn't the sparks fly between him and Grace K?
Hey, Sarah, isn't it lovely that everybody loves your blog? Not that I'm surprised!
I think it's wonderful! But I can't take all the credit, I have some pretty awesome authors who dress the place up a bit! LOL
Thanks for the info on the DVD's. I'll have to find them. Will make for a great movie night watch.
I agree with you on the girl as boy secret identity. It has to be done right. My favorite example is Johanna Lindsey's Gentle Rogue. I've re-read that one so many times! Although, it has a twist, the hero knows she's a gal, he just doesn't know WHO she is, and the heroine has no idea he knows. (got that?! lol) So, that's probably why I like. It's not too trope-ish. :)
Yeah, it almost always seems more realistic to me when he twigs that she's a girl. These Old Shades, he knows she's a girl pretty well straightaway.
Aloha, Anna and Sarah! I agree that secret identities are fun plot lines ... two books that I enjoyed:
- Victoria Alexander's The Lady in Question. When the heroine realizes the hero (who has been courting her) actually spied on her as the butler, she engages in a classic meltdown (I'd quote the book but I put it in storage).
- Elizabeth Boyle's Love Letters from a Duke. When an absentee heir returns home to break off an engagement that his grandfather arranged, the heroine mistakes him for someone seeking employment as her butler. The "butler" assists the heroine in reigning in the hero as she must marry for money to save her family. The ensuing madcap mayhem results in a HEA.
Both stories reveal a truth that the hero and heroine did not realize about themselves.
Anna, looking forward to meeting you at RomCon!
Sarah, I found the way to see the mothball ships in Pearl Harbor ... so come back to see the rest of the sights!
Hi Anna,
I hope I'm not too late to join this party. Congratulations again Anna, on the release of MRS. Still hoping to snag a copy!
I love secret identities and masquerades too. I think my very favorite book with a masquerade is 'Lady Be Bad' the last book in the 'The Merry Widows' trilogy by Candice Hern. The book opens with the H/H at a masquerade ball. They sneak outside together and end up behind the bushes up against a brick wall. Neither knows the identify of the other during this hot, hot hot encounter! Gotta love an opener like that.
Kim, there's always the classic meltdown scene when the identity is revealed, isn't there? I think we all wait for that moment! There's a really angsty meltdown moment in MY RECKLESS SURRENDER - actually there's a series of them as the extent of the deception becomes clearer and clearer to my hero! I just wanted to give him a hug by the end. Both those books sound like great fun - love the butler in disguise thing. Makes me think of My Man Godfrey!
Ooh, Karen, that Candice Hern sounds delicious. I love masquerade balls - there's one in MY RECKLESS SURRENDER. And what a great opening scene. Because of course all these mistaken identities lead to the meltdown scenes that Kim mentioned and we LURVE them! Good luck in the draw - you're certainly not too late to join the party!
Hey, thanks for a great day on the blog, Sarah! And thanks to everyone who swung by to say hello!
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