The Blush-O-Meter

When I finished my first book, The Amoveo Legacy, I wanted to have a couple of people read it and give me their honest feedback. Before I put it out to fellow authors for feedback, I had to start closer to home. You know, let it go a little bit at at time. In my world that meant utilizing my immediate family. I know, you're thinking that they would respond politely even if they hated it. Nope, not my family. They are brutally honest and would definitely tell me if they thought it sucked.

So I bit the bullet, hit the send button and shot my book through cyberspace. I sent it to my Mother and Father, two brutally honest people. They love me too much to lie to me. After sending the email, I wandered into my living room to find my husband reading my manuscript intently. The look of concern on his face stopped me dead in my tracks.

"Babe? What's the matter?" I braced myself for his criticism.
"I don't know if I can tell people you wrote this." He stammered through an increasingly red face.
"You mean because of the love scenes?"
"Um. Yeah. You really didn't leave anything to the imagination, huh? It's very.....descriptive."
I chuckled and plopped down next to him on the couch. "You should be proud big guy." I placed a kiss on his bright red cheek. My hubby Will, scored a perfect 10 on the Blush-O-Meter.

After seeing how uncomfortable the sex scenes made Will, I started to wonder how my parents would react. While both of them are avid readers, neither of them are into romance, let alone paranormal romance. Would it weird them out to read erotic scenes written by their little girl? Hmmmm.

About a week after they got the manuscript, I decided to just come on out and ask them. Where would they fall on the Blush-O-Meter?

"So Dad, what do you think of the book so far?"
I barely finished my question and he went right to the point. "I had to skip the sexy parts. It grossed me out because my daughter wrote it. Sorry."
I smiled and stifled a giggle. "No problem Dad." Dad had avoided the Blush-O-Meter all together.

Next up...Mom.
"Mom, Dad said he couldn't read the sex scenes. How about you?"
"Not me," she chirped pleasantly. "I read the whole thing and loved it. Very good."
I couldn't help but smile. Mom didn't even register a twinge of pink. Zero. Nada. Zip.

The best reaction, however, came from my 87 year old Grandmother. Mimi has been after me for months to give her a copy of my book. I was reluctant to have her read it. I mean she IS my Grandmother. She's currently in the hospital and asked to read it yet again. Let's face it, you can't say NO to someone in the hospital, so I printed out a copy of my book (pre-edit) for her to read.

Yesterday, I went to the hospital to visit with her. We chatted for over an hour about everything under the sun. Then, just as I was about to leave, she brought up my book.

"I'm almost finished with your book dear. I just love it!" Her eyes twinkled at me mischievously.
"You like it? Really?" I couldn't help but feel some hesitation.
"It's very spicy." She winked and continued, "That Will, he really must be good!"
My jaw dropped and the heat of embarrassment burned my cheeks red. I scored at perfect 10 on the Blush-O-Meter. Mimi continued to giggle like a school girl. I guess when you're 87 nothing makes you blush anymore!

If you don't blush easily, I hope you'll check out The Amoveo Legacy. Due for release mid-2009.
http://novelromance.net/