Typical? What's Typical?

I was chatting with a friend the other day and she made a comment regarding my new book, DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY, that really made me think. It was the observation that the heroine, Nicki Styx, was not the “typical” romantic heroine and how the story itself was not a “typical” romance.

She actually meant it as a compliment. It was her way of congratulating me for going “outside the box” with my writing, but I couldn’t help but consider how completely wrong she was.

Yes, Nicki Styx is a free spirit; a spunky, independent, former Goth girl with a preference for black lipstick and a zest for life. She's never been the shy and retiring type, yet her new love interest, Dr. Joe Bascombe, quite literally had to use electric shocks to get her attention. Nicki wakes up in the hospital after suffering a near fatal heart stoppage to discover both the man of her dreams and the makings of a nightmare--she can now see and hear the dead...and boy, do they want to be heard!

When a friend is murdered, the friend's restless spirit seeks Nicki's help, pulling her into the dark underworld of Voodoo, and complicating an already complicated burgeoning relationship with her hunky new doctor. Being a “dead chick magnet” isn't easy--Nicki had plans for her life, and they never included becoming an unwilling “ghoulfriend” to the dead.

While I might agree that Nicki's situation isn't typical, I believe that Nicki Styx is indeed your typical romantic heroine. She's a strong, independent woman who faces her issues head-on, laughs when it would be easier to cry, does her best to do the right thing even when it's not the easiest thing to do, and who wants, at heart, what most women want--a man who loves her no matter what. A man she can count on not to flinch in face of hardship, or even death, if it comes to that. A man who sees her flaws, knows her secrets, and wants to be with her anyway.

Not your typical romantic heroine? Not your typical romance? In DEAD GIRLS ARE EASY, Nicki Styx wants to live her life with passion and she wants to live it with the man she loves by her side. Even if there's no white picket fence involved, she wants the love-at-first-sight butterflies in the stomach, the “you can depend on me” in the here-and-the-now, and the promise of a happily-ever-after.

And that, with all due respect to my well-meaning friend, makes her pretty darn typical, don't you think?

Terri Garey