Rue Allyn and “One Day’s Loving”

The Shy Heroine

I love series books, especially when a family (yes, metaphorical families are fine) is involved. What I don’t like is when every family member feels like the same person with a slightly different appearance. You know the type—they talk alike, walk alike, even make love alike. Every man is the MOST handsome and every woman is the BRIGHTEST beauty. I don’t know a single family where all the relations are exactly alike.

When I set out to write my Wildfire Love series about the Alden sisters of Boston the first two books, One Moment’s Pleasure and One Night’s Desire, came easily because Edith (the oldest) and Kiera (the middle child) were both bold. Edith was more of a planner than Kiera and a bit less of a risk taker. Edith was attractive, but not beautiful. She knew how to present herself. Kiera never had to worry about her appearance. She was stunning in a potato sack. These women let me know right up front who they were and what they wanted.

Not so with their youngest sister Persephone Mae. As the youngest, she’d always been sheltered and protected by her siblings. She grew up shy and unassuming and a bit on the dowdy side. When circumstances leave her on her own to deal with the disasters caused by her grandfather’s will, she’s forced to come out of hiding. But getting her there wasn’t easy.

Have you ever dealt with an extremely shy person? Someone who is too awkward and/or ignorant to be able to express what he/she wants. Someone who lacks the experience and confidence to act assertively. I feel for the shy ones in life because all too often they are ignored or derided and they don’t even realize they don’t have to put up with ill treatment.

Because she’d been sheltered all her life, Mae had no idea what she was capable of. For her, simply traveling from her home to the attorney’s office for the reading of the will was a challenge. She went, despite her worries. Once I got her out of the house, I wouldn’t let her go back to hiding until she recognized that a shy, retiring life wasn’t what she wanted or needed. I won’t spoil all the fun by telling you how Mae changes her life. I will tell you that despite all the difficulty of dealing with a shy heroine, I think she’s the most courageous of the three Alden sisters. She is absolutely not a mirror image of her siblings, but is her own woman.

Please leave a comment and let me know if you like heroines who are shy, feisty or somewhere in between.

If you’d like to know more about Mae and discover the answers to some of the questions raised here you may read a longer excerpt at http://rueallyn.com/2c3ODLexcerpt.html.

One Day’s Loving will be released on November 18, 2013 and is the third book in the Wildfire Love Series. Freedom or love? Courage or comfort? Unless Mae Alden meets the terms of her grandfather’s outrageous last testament she will lose everything. She’s ready to sacrifice all creature comforts to preserve her principles, but is she willing to lose her one chance at love?

Available

You can find the first two books of the series here, or you may pre-order One Day’s Loving here.

About the Author

Author of historical, contemporary, and erotic romances, Rue Allyn fell in love with happily ever after the day she heard her first story. She is deliriously married to her sweetheart of many years and loves to hear from readers about their favorite books and real life adventures.