Campaign for the American Reader: Pg. 69: "Scandal"

Julie Kistler is the author of 30 romance novels and other works. She won the Madcap Award for the best romantic comedy of 2001 for Just a Little Fling and she was nominated for Romance Writers of America's Rita Award for Black Jack Brogan.

Her latest novel is Scandal, which she was kind enough to put to the "page 69 test." Here's what she discovered:

Scandal was written for Harlequin’s Blaze line, and they’re intended to be hot and spicy reads. Not in a cookbook way, but in an R-rated, adult content way, with sex as a major part of the romance. That isn’t something that necessarily lends itself to taking one out-of-context page as your entire experience with the book.

So I was happy to peel open Scandal’s page 69 and conclude that, while its content is probably a little racy, it’s more in a funny way than an OH MY GOD, TELL GRANDMA TO COVER HER EYES! sort of way. I think.

I don’t know that this applies to each and every page, but my feeling (before I looked at individual pages) was that pretty much any scene chosen at random ought to accomplish certain things in a book like this. Those would be:

1. Some idea of the plot (in this case a time travel romance where my heroine finds herself launched back to the Chicago Columbian Exposition in 1893)
2. Some definition of the characters
3. A sense of humor, and
4. Enough sexy bits to make it clear that it deserves to be a Blaze.

I‘ve concluded that page 69 of Scandal does all of that, if you know what you’re looking for. My heroine, Jordan, goes back in time when she falls under a piece of sculpture – a marble arch – carved with erotic figures from Greek mythology. On page 69, she happens to be accidentally resting against that arch, with her hand at the place where Narcissus is getting what she, as a woman of the New Millennium, calls “a blow job.” The two characters’ reactions to that should make it clear that he’s from 1893 and she’s not, plus I think it’s at least mildly funny and sexy, AND it highlights her method of transport back in time.

Not bad for one page!

Here’s most of that page, with an extra line from page 70 that finishes it off:

…She sagged in relief against the cool marble, bracing herself against one side.

Across from her, Nick clenched his jaw. He seemed to be staring at her arm. "Miss Albright, would you mind?" He waved a hand. "You'll probably want to move away from the, uh..."

She followed the path of his gaze. What she saw was her own hand, resting about an inch from a perfectly carved, fully erect penis. Not only was that definitely an erection, but there was a female face carved in stone right next to it, eager to pounce.

Her fingers burning, Jordan yanked back her hand. "Oh. Narcissus and the blow job. Well."

"I'm not familiar with the term, but... Yes. That." He shook his head fiercely, looking about as uncomfortable as Jordan felt. "Damn Isabella! What was she thinking? And how does she know enough about that to have carved it for posterity?"

"But you see," Jordan tried, "that's why Isabella is important. Not the, uh, blow job specifically, but the idea of women owning their own sexuality. That's so crucial."

He didn't say anything, but she saw the question in the sardonic lift of one dark brow. Do you own your sexuality?

Yes, yes, I do, she wanted to shout. But I'm willing to share it with you!

Many thanks to Julie for the input.

Read an excerpt from Scandal.

Julie's 2004 novel Packing Heat was nominated for Romantic Times' Best Temptation of the Year.

In addition to winning the 2001 Madcap Award for Romantic Comedy, Just a Little Fling was a Waldenbooks Bestseller (2000).