To Virgin or not to Virgin

by Donna MacMeans

I have a secret. I have to admit I'm a little bit nervous about my August release.

You see in all my other books, the heroine has been

a virgin. This isn't a shocker as many, if not most, historicals utilize a virginal heroine. There's a reason for this. Sex was a lot riskier in the nineteenth century (and earlier). It came with consequences beyond that of the heart. This was a time when property passed from father to son - and if that son wasn't really his son - well that might prove problematic. While a means of birth control existed, it wasn't necessarily pleasant and reliablel - not like today - and we won't begin to talk about STPs. So a virginal heroine makes sense - but not always. In REDEEMING THE ROGUE, my heroine thought

she was engaged and offered her virtue as proof of her love. Too bad she gave it up to a slug. I can't call her a woman of experience - not after one unsatisfactory experience - but she's not a virgin either. So I'm a bit

nervous about that.

Now in contemporaries and paranormals, the heroines are often very experienced. I'm guessing that the virginal heroine in a contemporary is as unusual as a non-virginal heroine is in a historical. They're out there but their existence requires a little explanation. LOL - I just remembered

that my one and only contemporary romantic suspense, IN A HEARTBEAT, published under the name Donna Richards also had a virgin heroine...but there was a reason for that - and it helped play into a really hot love scene. Thus I've published three historicals and one contemporary - all with virginal heroines...can you see why I'm a little nervous about this new release?

So I'm curious about your preferences, virgin or non-virgin. Do you have a preference? Is it a preference tied to genre? What are your thoughts?

I'll let you in on a secret. I've had to type this blog pretty much one-handed due to our recent new addition, Shadow. We went to the animal shelter looking for a puppy, but didn't see one that would suit - so we brought a kitten home. I picked out a black kitten as Anna Sugden once told me that people tend not to adopt black cats. While there were some really cute striped kitties available - we decided to adopt one that had a strike against it through no fault of her own. I can pretty much guarantee, she's a virgin (grin).