Nice to Meet You!
I’m Blaze Martel, an emerging Canadian Author.
Where is it decreed that the heroine in a romance story must be helpless and totally dependent on the hero to validate her agency? Why can't they be strong and dangerous to the men who surround them?
The dearth of empowered females in romance novels breeds yet another generation of hand-wringing, helpless heroines who need a man to rescue them from themselves.
So, my books explore what happens when the heroines in romance stories start and end their journeys empowered. How they inspire the men in their lives to become better … to become worthy of them.
And how they grow when they value the men who affirm them instead of the ones threatened by them. Suck it up, heroes; the heroine is demanding more of you, and you'll just have to figure out how to remain sexy and masculine within her boundaries, not yours.
I'm a strong and dangerous woman in my personal life, a female bodybuilder with black belts in both Karate and Jujitsu, the kind of alpha-female who terrifies insecure men just by being myself. Fortunately, there is no shortage of men who are secure in their masculinity, and they are the role models for the heroes in the stories I write.
So, it's easy for me to write about dangerous women who occupy space and claim their own agency by sheer force of their own existence and of the men in their lives who earn their hearts forever by affirming their strength.
My books differ from the norm, because I have yet to meet a woman who fits conveniently into any "norm". They push the limits of "romance" into uncharted territory because, in my experience, gender doesn't matter in strength, love, or power. My stories invite discussion, which is why you'll find a discussion guide and author's commentary in the Free Extras section to kick-start the conversation.
If by the end of my novels you cannot decide who was stronger and who was more vulnerable, the alpha-female heroine, or the unlikely hero whom she tolerates long enough for him to profoundly change her, then I have succeeded.
And if that debate is still raging with your friends weeks after reading my book, then we both have triumphed in enjoying a good feminist romance story.
— Blaze Martel
