50th party blog guest - Natalie Anderson

I first met Natalie Anderson through an author email loop, but I’ve also been privileged to meet her in person (and, given that she lives in New Zealand, that’s pretty awesome). Another tall, glam author, but she’s so nice and writes such great books (fast pace, hot, zingy dialogue – if I didn’t like her so much, I would have to hate her for that). Not to mention being one of the cleverest women I know. (You are, Nat, before you protest and hide your light under that bushel!)

Anyway, over to Nat:

The Generous Hero

Firstly, a huge thanks to Kate for having me here and a massive congratulations to her on a phenomenal fifty books!!! I’m so thrilled to be part of Kate’s celebrations. She’s a legend with her amazing ability to focus and produce such wonderful, emotional stories time and time again.

Kate was one of the first authors I ‘met’ online when I sold my first book to Mills & Boon and she has always been incredibly supportive – friendly, welcoming and kind, helping out with useful advice and peptalks.

In a word, Kate is generous—she gives to her readers and she also gives to those of us in the writing community.

I think generosity is one of the kindest and most admirable traits someone can have—and it comes in many forms. I love to write heroes who are generous. I don’t mean generous in terms of a Pretty-Woman-I’ll-take-you-shopping (and on my private plane) sort of way—though that can have its place! But generous in ways other than financial is even more awesome—I guess in terms of time and priorities.

I’ve recently written about three gorgeous heroes in a novella anthology that’s just released. FLIRTING TO WIN includes three stories: Bargain in Bronze; Seduction in Silver and Gamble in Gold.

All three heroes in these books are generous in different ways.

Jack, the hero in Bargain in Bronze—has been very generous in the sense that he has put everything into caring for his younger half-siblings. He’s worked incredibly hard to gain financial security for them, and he’s sacrificed some dreams of his own to be there for them. In Bronze he has to realise that maybe its time he let himself have some fun now too…

Eduardo Ruiz, the mysterious stranger in Seduction in Silver, does try a Pretty Woman type generous moment—but his true generosity is evident in his career and the way he’ll do anything and everything he can for his clients. He always goes beyond the expected duty. But this isn’t a facet of himself that he’s actually able to recognise—it takes a generous woman to help him ☺

Luke, the apparent playboy in Gamble in Gold, comes across all confident and successful and indeed he is those things. But beneath that arrogant, sly-humoured exterior there lurks someone willing to suffer for someone else. He’s fully into running, but his current mission is to help his running buddy, who is blind, compete in the marathon. Luke’s trained harder than ever in his life to get to the level required, determined to be a guide runner.

It was a lot of fun working on these three very different guys—and interesting to see how there are some traits my heroes all have in common. All of them are hot, yes! But all of them are generous too ☺

I’d love to give away an e-copy of FLIRTING TO WIN to one commenter – just tell me what trait to you love most about a hero? Is it generosity? Humour? Strength of character? What helps make a hero, a HERO in your opinion?

(Entries are open to anyone in the world, the prize is an ebook via Amazon. Please check back in three days to see if you won!)


USA TODAY bestseller Natalie Anderson writes fun, frisky, feels-good contemporary romance for Harlequin Mills & Boon and Entangled. With over twenty books published, she’s also been a Romantic Times Award nominee & a finalist for the R*BY (Romantic Book of the Year).

She lives in Christchurch, New Zealand with her husband, four children and what feels like a million ducks. Find out more at her website & blog: http://www.natalie-anderson.com . She’s also on Twitter http://www.twitter/authornataliea and Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/authornataliea
FLIRTING TO WIN is available from amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com/Flirting-to-Win-ebook/dp/B0090QVATA/ref=pd_rhf_dp_p_t_1 ) and amazon.co.uk (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Flirting-to-Win-ebook/dp/B0090QVATA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1345757753&sr=8-1)