Thursday, January 16, 2014

Makeovers: Yay or Nae?

Thank you to Hellie for letting me bring the Belated Blog Tour for UP TO THE CHALLENGE over to her Ramblings blog. I've had lots of fun discussing all sorts of topics during this tour, and today we're chatting about makeovers.

With only a few books under my belt, I've yet to do something high concept like re-writing a fairy tale for modern day readers. But, there is a little ode to Cinderella included in the story of Sid  Navarro, the heroine of Anchor Island book 2, UP TO THE CHALLENGE.

The makeover of sorts starts in the first book, MEANT TO BE. Sid and Beth (the heroine of book 1) are having a girls night out, and Beth helps Sid get ready. Now, Sid is a foul-mouthed boat mechanic whose every day wardrobe is loose cargo pants, work boots, and a shirt with a saying on it that is most-likely PG-13.

A Cinderella only covered in motor oil instead of cinder ash.

Beth gets Sid in a killer dress, has her hair blown out and gets some makeup on her. Voila, she's ready for the ball.

Now, the man that Sid wants, Lucas Dempsey, is an ambitious lawyer who wears Polo shirts in his down time and his normal work attire is a well-cut suit. He's busting his ass to become a partner in the law firm where he works in Richmond, VA. This requires a lot of schmoozing.

Dinner parties with the bosses and their wives.

Needless to say, Sid is not the type of girl you take to a dinner party. Or anywhere near the bosses' wives. The question became, how could this ever work out. I had no desire to turn Sid into the Stepford wife Lucas believed he wanted. With that one sticking point, I had my answer.

I had to convince Lucas that what he wants and what he needs are two very different women.

Sid does have a soft, mushy side. Just don't ever tell her so and you'll stay healthy. But she is who she is. Profane, rough around the edges, covered in motor oil. This Cinderella didn't need a fairy godmother (though she kind of has one, you'll have to read the book to catch that part.) She just needed to be herself and let Lucas get to know her.

The question is, does Lucas change his mind once he does?

So my question to you. Do you like re-tellings of Fairy Tales? Think they're done to death? Do you like when a character gets a makeover for love, or prefer that they be loved for who they are without having to change to please anyone?

One lucky commenter will win a Kindle version of UP TO THE CHALLENGE! And if you want a chance to win my Belated Blog Tour grand prize of a brand new Kindle and Amazon gift card to get you started, hop over to my website (after leaving a comment!) and enter now. (Grand prize contest ends Jan 20.)







UP TO THE CHALLENGE by Terri Osburn
Contemporary Romance
ISBN: 1477809686
October 22, 2013

Blurb:

Opposites attract in a sexy tale of unexpected love

When the Dempsey patriarch suffers a heart attack, Lucas Dempsey steps up to keep the doors of the family restaurant open. The proverbial prodigal son returns home to Anchor Island—putting family first and his quest to make partner at his high-powered law firm on hold. Sporting a bruised ego after losing his fiancĂ©e to his older brother, Lucas would rather walk on glass thanspend six weeks within spitting distance of the happy couple. But family duty calls. And thatduty includes working side-by-side with a tantalizing spitfire intent on driving him mad.

Tough-as-nails boat mechanic Sid Navarro is happy to trade her tools for an apron to help the Dempseys in their time of need. That is, until she realizes she’ll be working alongside Lucas, the man she’s loved from afar since she first laid eyes on him in high school. Lucas could charm the paint off a schooner, but Sid knows she doesn’t fit his girl-next-door type. To show her true feelings would mean certain heartbreak, but the temptation of Lucas in her bed might be more than she can resist.

After a rocky start punctuated by verbal barbs and exasperating arguments, things heat up between them—big-time—but their steamy affair turns more than casual in a matter of weeks. Sid’s life has become the dream she’s always wanted, and Lucas has fallen hard for the last woman he ever expected to love.

But this affair has an end-date, as Lucas must return to his life and career in the big city, a place where Sid would never fit in. When the end comes earlier than expected, walking away turns out to be a challenge neither of them wants to win.

Up to the Challenge is a sexy, fast-paced, romantic story of family, island life, and finding love in unexpected places.

Buy Links:

Kindle > http://amzn.to/12TzHez

Print > http://www.amazon.com/Up-Challenge-Anchor-Island-Novel/dp/1477809686/ref=tmm_pap_title_0

Website > http://www.terriosburn.com

Facebook Page > https://www.facebook.com/TerriOsburnAuthor?fref=ts

Twitter > @TerriOsburn

28 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for letting me hang with you today. It's like we're back at the Revenge. :)

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    1. Isn't everyday almost like how it was hanging on the Revenge? *LOL*

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  2. Hey hey!! Where's Chance with the drinks?

    Hello dearies!

    So, makeovers. I know it's not the PC/feminist response, but I love when a character gets a makeover. I don't think it's because it makes her more appealing to the guy, but because it makes her realize that she's more than she expected. It sorta foreshadows later realizations that she's more than she expected inside too.

    And I love fairy tales. There's a reason they're classic.

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    1. Gunner is in the house. :) I'm with you if it's just bringing out the beauty she already has and didn't know how to find. But I remember that reality show where they gave women MASSIVE plastic surgery to make them beautiful. The problem with that is on the inside, you're still the same. A new face isn't going to change that.

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    2. Exactly. Makeover as metaphor is fine. And I like stories where there's still stuff from the "before" that shines through and those things are things that the significant other finds most appealing. Like in Hitch. You see that movie? Hitch is trying to get his people to be the "best" versions of themselves, but what they all end up falling in love with is the imperfections of the others. And that feels so real to me.

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    3. I did see that, but I can't stand Kevin James and all I remember is the crazy stuff Will Smith's character did. I think I blocked out the rest. :)

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    4. Well, nevermind then. :) Kevin James is a little annoying. I didn't really like the female in it, come to think of it. Huh. Maybe not a good example.

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    5. I love that image--that the HEROINE realizes she's more than she imagined as well. Good point! You know, we all struggle to believe we're enough and worthy--and sometimes A DRESS shows that you're more than enough, you know? And I did like HITCH (but I think Kevin James is kinda funny. But I'm a fan of Will Ferrell too...so there you go.)

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  3. Ohhh i cannot wait to read this.. Sounds fantastic ...

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    1. Thank you, Jewels. (What a pretty name!) I hope you'll give it a try.

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    2. It is a great read! Hope you like it...and tell us what you think after! (We love book discussions around here. *LOL*)

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  4. It matters that there loved for who they are...it has to be true not fake...I don't mind the fairy tales and in UP TO THE CHALLENGE it was beautifully done..I enjoyed the transformation from Sid the grease girl to the Sid a bit girly...she made me laugh a lot...her and Beth had a nice night out and loved the friendship that developed between them...

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    1. I agree, Mona, you have to be loved for who you are--but part of it is that who you are is not necessarily what you look like--you're still the same person, even if you're a grease monkey or a runway model. In the end, it's one's loyalty, sincerity, kindness, vulnerability, and all those other things that make people worth keeping that shines through. I love that quality in stories.

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    2. Thank you, Mona. I did want to make sure to show Lucas was falling in love with the person, not just the hot body she happened to have. It took the body for him to wake up and notice her, but it was the real Sid he found himself falling for.

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  5. I loved 'Up to the challenge' and felt that it was (even) better than 'Meant to Be'. The writing seemed to me to have matured considerably with Sid really blossoming as a character.

    Not sure that the analogy with Cinderella really holds. Sid might 'get to the ball' but her heart is really on Anchor Island and in the end Lucas 'abdicates' to join Sid where she can remain herself in just the way that he likes her most!

    Fabulous love scene Terri. I thought it was handled brilliantly and made the book memorable for me. Lisa Kleypas had better watch her back! LOL

    I listened to it on audio and the narrator Amy Rubinate was excellent. One point of warning though; In the middle of THE Love scene, as I was reaching for the scotch bottle, I heard "You have come to the end of a part. Please search your library..."
    Hell of a place to split the audio book! LOL

    Really impressed and very much looking forward to 'Home to Stay'
    Definitely worth celebrating.
    Where has that pirate bar maid got too ..... never here when you need her! LOL

    Cheers anyway
    Here's to more of the same!

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    1. OMGoodness! They cut the audio in the love scene? That is both disturbing and hysterical. I wonder if that can be fixed. LOL!

      Thank you for your very kind words. And you are exactly right. Sid does go to her prince, her prince comes to her. As it should be. :) I hope you like the next one. I'm very proud of it. And I'm happy to hear you see growth in my writing. That is the goal, to get better with each one.

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    2. Totally agree on the Lisa Kleypas comment. And that is a ROTTEN place to split a book. *LOL*

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  6. I'm here! With the booze! (crickets...) Late, as always...

    I love a good fairy tale retelling. But I like to see them twisted and torqued. Let Beast be a woman...let it be a curse of phenomenal beauty, but beastly behavior. That sort of thing! Or put it all on a pirate ship... ;-)

    Hi, Q! Miss you...

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    1. I'm a beast fan too. And dude, everything about this blog was late...so don't worry. You're just in time, I assure you.

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    2. Mo, you need to go pick up Nicki Salcedo's debut, ALL THE BEAUTIFUL THINGS. It's a modern Beauty and the Beast story in which the heroine carries the Beast role.

      Thanks for stopping by. And bringing the booze!

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    3. Thanks for the rec...Ill go check it out!

      I go nowhere without booze...especially when sailing the Cyber Sea.

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  7. Love your books Terri! And I do love a good fairy tale. I don't think they've been done to death - I'll probably always read them!

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    1. I know, right? What is Terri worried about?

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    2. I wasn't worried. I was just trying to start a conversation!

      Thanks, Leslie!

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    3. LOL! Terri has nothing to worry about, ever, as long as she keeps feeding us (and my mom) books!

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  8. I'm with all the rest - I love makeovers but not if that's why the hero falls in love with the heroine. It has to be because of who she is and the makeover just reinforces her inner beauty. I read a book a while ago with a heroine who purposely took no effort to make herself look beautiful because she didn't feel it (she was either physically or emotionally abused, can't remember which). It was like she was making her outside match what she felt inside on purpose. That was a little bit of a twist on the whole makeover theme.

    I do love the re-telling of fairy tales in romances. There's a reason they're so popular - I think all of them, in one or the other, speak to us about the impossible being possible. Everyone wants to believe that no matter they have a chance at a HEA. My personal favorites are Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast.

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    1. I read something recently that romance arcs goes in three ways: the Cinderella arc, the Beauty & the Beast arc, and the Romeo & Juliet arc. The Cinderella arc is the heroine falls in love with the hero before he falls in love with her, you know trying to be deserving of him. The B&tB arc is the hero falling in love with the heroine first, so the reverse of the Cinderella. And the R&J arc is that they fall in love at the same time, so the conflict is something outside rather than one of the main characters. I thought that was interesting. I'm not sure that's the absolutely of arcs available, but I think it'd be interesting to use those models for clearer plotting/writing in WIPs, you know?

      And I'm sorry I totally went aside...yes, fairy tales speak of the impossible being possible. What's that line? Don't tell the person making it possible that it's impossible, or something to that effect?

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    2. Irish, that does sound like an interesting twist. Making the outside look the way she felt on the inside. That takes a deft hand to bring around to a happy ending. I'm not sure I could name a favorite fairy tale. Now I'll have to think about that.

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