No Wimps Allowed

 

Writing romantic suspense means balancing.

The romance angle usually does best when the male lead is strong. Let’s be honest, women read romance, and women like strong men. What a strong man looks like can vary (leadership, fight skills, intelligence), but I’ll stick with that general term. But I have read (or attempted to read) way too many books where the male is strong, and it seems the writer deems that the female must then be a simpering wimp. She gets overwhelmed and cries constantly, she can’t take the lead, and she’s often rather stupid.

Or occasionally, the opposite—the female is excessively aggressive, and the male is a wimp. These books are usually dubbed female-empowering. But if the woman can be balanced only by a wimp man, how empowered is she really? And the female is often written with exaggerated characteristics. She can fight better than any man, including when mass and strength are at play. She can command authority from anyone. She knows everything. And if I’m being honest, she’s often written to be a bit masculine—she’s strong in the exact ways men are strong. Not that women can’t be fighters or aggressive, but why isn’t it okay for women to be strong in ways that men typically aren’t?

I’ve always loved that line in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, where the mother tells her daughter, “The man is the head [of the house], but the woman is the neck, and she can turn the head any way she wants.” Men tend to be direct, and that can be good. But women often have the amazing skill of nudging things along more subtly. Maybe this skillset isn’t often incorporated in books because it’s harder to write. I don’t know.

In my opinion, the best romantic suspense books are the ones where the male and female leads are strong in their own ways. They lean on each other. For Example, in The Lost Library, Asher (billionaire, ex-Navy SEAL) has resources to help Cali escape quickly and also the skills to deal with deadly physical attacks. Cali has self-defense skills, but she recognizes Asher’s abilities far exceed hers, so she assists but lets him lead. But when it comes to decoding, Asher trusts Cali (master cryptologist and linguist) and defers to her expertise without question. They don’t become passive or wimpy, but they become the supporting role in certain situations.

When balance is achieved in these relationships, it can be very fulfilling. Not just in books but in life.

 

Check out Melissa Koslin’s latest book: The Lost Library

Her past has caught up with her. Again.

Cali Lebeau has been aiding hackers with her cryptology skills to track an apparent terrorist organization. When they discover what she’s been doing, they target her. Asher Cross, billionaire recluse, insists on aiding her, though she doesn’t understand why.

Asher Cross has secrets. He must help Cali, keep her alive, but he cannot let her understand his past or his motivations—in order to protect her.

They discover that the terrorist organization is searching for the Golden Library of Moscow, which was first assembled by Ivan the Great and had grown over time to include the oldest and most valuable texts in the world, including missing masterpieces. They believe the library holds black magic and the secret to everlasting life. It was stolen from them by Cali’s ancestor, and Cali holds a clue to its location handed down by her mother. In order to free herself and Asher, Cali must race against the terrorists, find the library, and share it with the world.

Will they be able to solve the mystery surrounding the Lost Library or risk losing their lives?

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Melissa Koslin is a fourth-degree black belt in and certified instructor of traditional Taekwondo. During the day, she masquerades as a commercial property manager. She and Corey, her husband of twenty-five years, and three-year-old daughter live in Florida, where they do their best not to melt in the sun.