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Answers after the jump.
Tyrant!
Working for Gray McGraw wasn’t easy. Especially when the man with the love-’em-and-leave-’em reputation made it clear to Ashley that coffee wasn’t the only thing he wanted from her.
But Ashley needed the job. Besides, she figured she was woman enough to handle the likes of him. She wasn’t about to become another notch on his bedpost.
Trouble was, once she got to know him, she wasn’t sure that was such a bad idea after all….
Answers:
1. She’s taller than he is
2. Her hair is shorter than his
3. Her hands are in the dominant hold
4. She’s dressed at least as professionally if not more so than he is
5. They are in a kitchen but she is not cooking
6. DH asked me to add: She has sideburns and he doesn’t
Extra credit:
Would this be more or less transgressive if “she” were, in fact, a “he”, perhaps a pre-op transexual?
Did I miss any? Please advise!
Unfortunately, I’d say he’s sitting down, which would actually make him considerably taller than her. But I do like the snazzy hair.
LOL – I always come to this site to read your observations and you NEVER fail to exceed my expectations. Brilliant.
It’s funny that the cover is so very different from the copy. The heroine who is taller, with shorter hair, dressed more professionally and not cooking in the kitchen – is also the heroine who is working for a man she is expected to get coffee for. She’s also, according to the copy, ‘woman’ enough to handle his extra-curricular activities which is something I’m sure is not a bullet point on her resume.
Her hair’s darker than his. This means he’s shorter, not-so-dark, and only possibly more handsome, than she is.
She’s wearing a skirt and she’s barefoot.
He’s sitting.
He caught her as she was on her way from making coffee at one end of the kitchen to the other end of the kitchen to pull chocolate chip cookies from the oven that she will then hand-feed him–if he’s finished propositioning her, that is. In which case, she will decide if she wants to be conquered on the floor or the island, and then will hand-feed him the chocolate chip cookies she just baked. For him.
See? I helped!
At least she is wearing earrings. Unless she is a cross dresser. O_O
Short hair is helpful because she spends much of the year in Honduragua helping poor wee orphans (only returning, reluctantly, twice a year to act as her politician father’s hostess, and only because it allows her to chisel donations from his wealthy friends). See how she sacrifices her beauty for others. Sniffle.
But her sacrifice will be rewarded. When revolution breaks out, Bitter Superspyguy will appreciate that she can travel through the jungle disguised as a youth, despite the orphan on one hip.
I love the sideburns one
DH is funny
Oh, you guys are good. I love RfP’s implied narrative, but as Marisa pointed out, the cover copy negates the transgressive possibilities of the cover (isn’t it usually the other way around?), so I’ve got to go with Mojo’s scenario.
Unfortunately for all of us, Professor Frantz unblinded us with science, by observing that he’s probably sitting down.
KB — The earrings are the best evidence that this is really a man. No woman – even in 1992 — would pair those things with a button down oxford. Trying a little too hard to assert “her” femininity, I think.
This is going in my next book, I swear.
Go for it, MoJo. I doubt the market for that character–or that storyline–will ever sag.
Though Jessica’s transgressive book cover does suggest a way to update the story. In some of the longer single-title heroine-succors-orphans-until-dragged-off-for-own-safety novels, the hero was betrayed and almost fatally wounded by another woman. Maybe in your book the heroine can worm her way into Bitter Superspyguy’s guarded heart with her deceptively boyish short hair and un-squealy ways… and then turn out to be an elfin, ambiguously gay man. Double-twist ending leads to twu wuv in the jungle!
What I meant was…
I’m going to use that line, “Bitter Superspyguy,” as an ironic insult.
The only trouble is, the hero in my next book isn’t in the least bit bitter, so I’m not sure it could be flung at him.
I’ll admit I was confused by your proposed plot line (WHAT AN ELEVATOR PITCH!) until I got here:
And then I had to go to OfficeDepot to get another keyboard. Spew alert, please!
Do you propose to market that as m/m and give up the plot from the outset or just piss off half the romance readers in the universe?
That could be a problem. How to give a just-right-sized hint? It has… the sexy gender play of Twelfth Night? The deceits and temptations of Così fan tutte? Love scenes that will make you wish The Crying Game had dared to ask “What if…”?
You know, until about 10 years ago Harlequin were the masters of encoding sticky topics in cover blurbs. They never quite said it, but you knew there would be a virgin, or a traumatic past, or a secret fiancée, or a class barrier. These days they would say it right in the title: The Mercenary’s Virginal Transvestite’s Role-Playing Jungle Adventure.
BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
Okay, now that you made us study the picture, it occurred to me that they are both tilting their heads in the wrong direction for a kiss, or am I crazy? I always go right, and I think I imagined most everybody did, with maybe some variation, of course, but right being more the home base tilt.
Carolyn Jean, You are right. There is something awkward about her pose, almost as if kissing did not come naturally to her, a “corporeal style, an act”, like she wasn’t merely role playing gender, but also humanity … I’ve got it:
The Mercenary’s Virginal Replicant Transvestite’s Role-Playing Jungle Adventure.
I kinda like the transsexual idea…especially since the title is “Rainbow of Love”.