Jeannie Lin, Guest Blogger

It’s my pleasure to welcome award-winning author Jeannie Lin back to Thoughts in Progress as the special guest speaker today as she makes a stop on her virtual blog tour with her latest release, BUTTERFLY SWORDS.

Jeannie stop by today to talk about “Guy Friendly Romance.”

When one of my guy friends learned that I had a romance novel coming out, he was very supportive.

“I’ll pick it as my choice for our book club,” he said proudly.

First I was ecstatic, but then the reservations kicked in. “Maybe you want to wait to make sure there’s no naked man chest on the cover.”

“Are you kidding? That would be even better!”
I know this friend was well-meaning, and I really do think he’d enjoy BUTTERFLY SWORDS, romance and all. I mean there are plenty of sword fights and escapes intertwined with the smooching. Other than the under-aged, I’d never dissuade or dismiss anyone who wanted to read my book.

There have been a handful of male readers that have expressed interest in reading the book and several of them came back with a sigh of relief after the cover was unveiled. I think they were committed to reading the book no matter the cover, but were happy to have something they could carry around that didn’t have heaving bosoms and bare-chested men. Some, on the other hand, were disappointed like my friend Mike. They wanted to go all-in and reveled in the fact that they were going to read a Harlequin.

So here’s some “reviews” from the male population so far:

My personal trainer was one of the first to purchase and has read the first five pages. “It’s the most I’ve ever read of any romance novel,” he boasts. Ringing endorsement?

An editor at a Vietnamese newspaper read through the book and reported that the writing was excellent and that he enjoyed the swordfights, especially the big showdown at the end. “But I didn’t quite expect for there to be so many love scenes!” Just for the record: Fight scenes – 7, Love scenes – 2.5. (I’ll leave you to wonder what the .5 is for…)  

I do hope to hear more from male readers in the future. I’ve read plenty of traditional fantasy, science fiction, mysteries, and suspense thrillers that contained very strong romantic elements. I wonder if the credo that guys don’t like romance isn’t a bit of an outdated stereotype itself.

I’d like to end with a final thought about “Guys and Romance.” In the initial romance writing class, there was one male participant. He was creating an online role-playing video game and told us that the successful storylines usually contained a hint of romance.

He was a more quite participant, his writing was very solid, his romantic elements not as overstated as ours, but definitely present. At the end, when we were discussing men and their reluctance to discuss emotions, he spoke up to challenge our thoughts.

“Men don’t have a problem with emotions,” he said. “Somewhere along the line, we’ve had our heart broken too and learned that it wasn’t acceptable to show it.”

Heck, it sounds pretty much the same for women. I hope BUTTERFLY SWORDS is a guy and girl friendly book, fight scenes and love scenes in all.    

Jeannie, thanks for stopping by again and guest blogging. It is funny that girls can read about fight scenes and wars and it’s normal, but let a guy read a romance story and that seems strange. Go figure.

For a bit of background on Jeannie. She writes historical romantic adventures set in Tang Dynasty China. Her short story, THE TAMING OF MEI LIN from Harlequin Historical Undone was released September 1. Her Golden Heart award-winning novel, BUTTERFLY SWORDS, was released October 1 from Harlequin Historical and received 4-stars from Romantic Times Reviews—“The action never stops, the love story is strong and the historical backdrop is fascinating.”

To learn more and to join her book launch celebration visit http://www.butterfly-swords.com for giveaways and special features. Visit Jeannie online at: http://www.jeannielin.com

Guest Blogger, Jeannie Lin

Please join me in welcoming author Jeannie Lin as the special guest blogger here today at Thoughts in Progress as she makes a stop on her virtual blog tour.

Jeannie’s latest release is THE TAMING OF MEI LIN, which is a connected novella that takes place prior to BUTTERFLY SWORDS and provides an intriguing glimpse into the heroic warrior culture prevalent in the entire series.

Here’s a brief synopsis of the book: “Faced with a proposal from a man she despises, impetuous Mei Lin makes a daring declaration: she will only marry the man who can defeat her in a sword fight. She has bested everyone who has so far tried to teach her a lesson…until a handsome stranger comes to her village. In captivating swordsman Shen Leung , Mei Lin finally sees a man she wants to marry. A man she’s willing to surrender to in every way…..”

THE TAMING OF MEI LIN (ISBN-13: 9781426852923) is published by Harlequin Historical Undone and is available from eHarlequin, Amazon, B&N.com

Jeannie has stopped by to talk about the family in THE TAMING OF MEI LIN and BUTTERFLY SWORDS.

THE TAMING OF MEI LIN is a historical romance short story which takes place in the Tang Dynasty. Writing a romance in so few words holds quite a bit of challenge. You need to get two people together convincingly with very little time. A historical short story has an additional challenge of that extra layer of historical detail.

Normally, I’d consider limiting secondary characters in a short story, but family is so important to the cultural backdrop of my stories. THE TAMING OF MEI LIN itself is tied to my debut novel, BUTTERFLY SWORDS, by the idea of family legacies which change and guide our lives for generations to come.

Since the short story was written as a link to an existing novel, I was constrained about the sort of characters the hero and heroine had to be.

Mei Lin is a very strong-willed and rebellious young woman.

Yet why couldn’t she simply be orphaned and accountable to no one?

First of all, a woman like that didn’t seem very sympathetic as a character. If she had been cut off from all family, she might have come off as too harsh or cold. Second, in this time period, if an unmarried woman had no family ties, she didn’t have many options. She’d most likely become a nun or a prostitute. She’d have to become a very hard, very shrewd woman to survive otherwise. Though I may indeed explore such a heroine in the future, it didn’t quite fit the love story I envisioned.

As a result, the story features several secondary characters who must, in very few words, establish Mei Lin’s place in the family and the small town where she’s been transplanted. Every action, no matter how subtle, was meant to establish the time, the place, and the character of Mei Lin. Fitting, when family is ever present in Chinese culture. The bonds of family are often subtle, yet no less significant. In a culture where speaking one’s mind publicly is frowned upon, the strongest of emotions must be communicated in so many tiny actions. 

Jeannie, thanks so much for guest blogging here today. It’s always interesting to find out background on a story. For more information on Jeannie, as well as an excerpt from THE TAMING OF MEI LIN, visit her website at http://www.jeannielin.com