For the Love of Gothic Romance

I began my love of romances with Victoria Holt, one of the queens of romantic suspense/Gothic romance. I devoured her books as a pre-teen/teenager and after I married, collected them. (To be totally, frighteningly honest, I collect all printings of Victoria Holt books, not just a copy of each title. Freaky weird, right?) 

After reading every Victoria Holt at least once (some more), I can honestly say my favorite will forever be On the Night of the Seventh Moon, but The Spring of the Tiger (pictured here) is my second favorite. 

Besides Victoria Holt (who also wrote as Jean Plaidy and Philippa Carr), I adored the Zebra Gothic line that was out several years ago. Does anyone remember those? I have a respectable pile of them. 

Of the Zebra Gothics authors, Clara Wimberly is one of my favorites. The first book I read by her was The Ghostly Screams of Stormhaven (pictured here). (I am a HUGE fan of these old Gothic covers: scary, dark house/castle in the background; frightened girl running from said house, her face contorted with terror. I LOVE IT!!!) Stormhaven is one of those books that I will never forget.

And I can't forget to mention Madeleine Brent and Carola Salisbury as favorite Gothic authors. The thing that ties these two authors inextricably together (other than a phenomenal storytelling ability) is that they're both men. Yup. Men.

Brent's Moonraker's Bride made me laugh, cry, cheer, and kept me on the edge of my seat throughout. Fabulous!

Salisbury's Winter Bride had the most shocking twist at the end. Even now, years since I've read it, I shiver thinking about it. 

In my own writing, I've always been influenced by the classic Gothic themes even though I tend to shy away from the actual ghosts and the "innocent" heroine. My heroines are a little less perfect than the ones in so many Gothics, or most romances, for that matter. 

While going through some of the books I wrote, I realized that one of my earliest ones—one that will probably never see publication—ends in quite a Gothic manner, complete with crazy woman leaping from—or falling from—a high window. Wow. Almost makes me wanna dig it back out and tweak it a bit. Maybe I will. Maybe I'll post it as a free read.

All that aside, if you are a fan of Gothic romance/romantic suspense, there is a group on Goodreads you should check out: Gothicked (Gothic Novel Lovers). It's a friendly group with chats about popular Gothic authors as well as lesser known ones. There are also Gothic giveaways on the Gothicked blog.

That's all for now (sorry for the super long post). Until next time, happy reading, writing, and blogging!! 

*For those of my blog readers who prefer "clean" romances, Victoria Holt is totally clean and all the Clara Wimberly Gothics I've read (5-6) are also clean. Madeleine Brent and Carola Salisbury also qualify as clean romance but a few of them can be a bit violent. 
**Book title links go to Amazon. (And yes, if you make a purchase through any of these links, I'll get a commission. That doesn't mean you have to.)
***No, I haven't been paid to love any of these authors/books. No, I do not personally know the authors (I wish!). No, I have not been paid by the Gothicked group mods and no, I am not one of the Gothicked group mods.

It is NOT a Sign of Weakness

So many of us are taught, whether on purpose or just through the examples of others, that to ask for help is a sign of weakness. 

IT'S NOT. 

Far from it, in fact. To ask for help is a sign of strength. It's acknowledging that you have a problem outside your realm of expertise, that you need a fresh set of eyes to determine what's wrong. Whether it's something simple like the color of a wall or a particular scene in a book, or something far more important like heartburn and cold sweats, to be able to admit you need help and ask for it shows what a strong person you are. 

What prompted this blog post? Wednesday morning, my 60-year-old father had a heart attack. He was at work at the time. Going into his boss's office, he closed the door and told her something was wrong. She listened to him describe how he felt and when he was done, she told him to get in the car and she'd take him to the hospital. 

When they arrived, he went through some tests and they realized he was still in the middle of the attack. They went to work immediately to prevent some of the damage the attack would have most likely caused. 

Because my father asked for help, not only were the doctors able to prevent some permanent heart damage, but they most likely saved his life. 

What did he feel that prompted his actions? There was a burning in his chest that he thought was strange. Sort of an intense heartburn, which he thought might have been brought on by what he'd eaten for breakfast. But when he considered that his hands were like ice and he'd broken out into a sweat, he knew it wasn't just heartburn. He didn't have the shakes or a dizzy spell. I don't think his arm went numb either; he never said it did. Bottom line, he wasn't feeling quite right and asked for help. 

Please, please, please, don't hesitate to ask for help when you feel unwell, or different, or odd. So many heart attack fatalities could probably be prevented if we could just accept that to ask for help is strength, not weakness or overreacting.

I know it's cliché but.....BETTER SAFE THAN SORRY.