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Friday, March 7, 2014

Spotlight Author: Alissa Baxter

Please welcome Alissa Baxter today and hear about her Decadent book, The Blog Affair.  



Heroes and their Women
The heroes in romance and chick lit novels are frequently single, successful, attractive men who are eagerly sought after and pursued by women. The more high status the man is, the more likely it is that he’ll be pursued. And he’ll generally enjoy dabbling amongst the females who surround him.
This is the kind of man who often features as an Alpha Male hero in a romance novel. He has been spoilt by all the female attention he has received over the years and he takes it for granted… that is until the heroine of the novel turns up in his life and acts unlike any woman he’s ever met. She doesn’t fawn all over him, and this piques his interest. And so the dance of romance begins as the hero, rising to the challenge, starts to pursue her…
Very often Alpha heroes in romance novels can be described as commitment phobic – that is until he meets a woman who wins his heart.
In my latest novel, The Blog Affair, my main female character sets up a blog in an attempt to analyse the shortfalls of men that she calls “serial datists”. Here is an extract from her blog, where she describes commitment phobic men:

PENELOPE’S PANTRY
…A PLACE FOR YOU TO POINT OUT YOUR VIEW
The Commitment-Phobe
The difficult thing about the Commitment-Phobe (CP) is he very easily fits into the other categories of serial datists I’ve outlined. CP can be an emotionally unavailable male, or a bad boy, or a wannabe player. Or he can be none of these male types.
It isn’t easy, therefore, to define him. However, I will outline some of the major characteristics of this male type, so you can spot him from a mile away.
Firstly, he’s still single in his thirties. He may have had a couple of long-term relationships, but he’s never taken that fatal step toward marriage.
Secondly, he is terrified of the M-word (as in marriage). Even if you casually mention to him you will be attending your cousin’s wedding next month, you will notice he’ll start to shuffle his feet and look uncomfortable. His eyes will go all shifty, and he’ll rapidly change the subject.
Thirdly, if you ignore his signals and insist on speaking to him about the M-word, you will notice he’ll be very quick to cite the high divorce rate, or the number of his married friends who have had affairs, or want to have affairs, but are too terrified their wives might find out to do anything about it.
Fourthly, if he is hitting his mid-thirties, you’ll notice he’ll grudgingly start to acknowledge marriage might become an option for him at some point. This isn’t because he WANTS to get married. Oh no. Rather, he feels left out. He’s always been one of the boys, but all his drinking buddies are now tied up in the dreaded bond of matrimony, and so CP starts to feel like his peers have moved on ahead without him, and this makes him feel slightly panicked.
Fifthly, he is convinced there is a better woman for him around every corner, and so it’s no real surprise he often feels trapped when the woman he is currently with starts pressing him about commitment. Ironically, being such an avidly devoted corner man, CP hates to feel cornered. (My advice to CP is to set up a corner café. Then he can keep his eye on passing women, and indulge his love of turning corners to an unlimited degree).
To sum up, if CP was a bee, he’d be a killer bee, because of his defensive strategies, and his dangerous habit of murdering a woman’s affections with his swarming tactics. He guards his hive aggressively, and is determined to keep it off-limits to any female bee who might take it in mind to try and get past his defences.
Sadly, he’ll constantly comb the countryside looking for his latest Honey, but he’ll never ever find his pot of gold at the end of the rainbow….
Posted by Penelope on Saturday, August 21 at 14:30 p.m.

BLURB:

Twenty-something, white, South African Emma Bradshaw has a pattern of falling for unsuitable men and starts a blog about these so-called “serial datists”. Her search for new beginnings takes her to Cape Town, where she gets a job working for sexy author, Nick Reynolds. Romance with her boss is a no-no, but slowly, Nick works his way around her defenses. Trust him, or not, especially with her awful track record with men?

When an anonymous male reader of the blog challenges her on her ideas about the male species, Emma realises she must confront her past and find her true self before she can move forward...and love can blossom again in her future.

AUTHOR BIO:
Alissa Baxter was born in South Africa, and grew up with her nose in a book on a poultry and cattle farm. After school and university, where she majored in Political Science and French, she published her first novel, The Dashing Debutante. Alissa travelled to London, England, and did an odd assortment of jobs while researching her second novel, Lord Fenmore’s Wager, which she wrote after she moved back to South Africa and settled in Durban. Alissa then relocated to Cape Town where she wrote her third novel, Send and Receive, before moving to Johannesburg, where she currently lives with her husband and two sons.


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2 comments:

  1. Alissa,
    Thanks for sharing the information about your book, The Blog Affair. It sounds like a great read!
    Teri

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks for hosting me on your blog! :-)

    ReplyDelete