Talking About Strong Women With Christie A.C. Gucker

Please welcome Christie...

My novel The Purple Heart focuses on a woman who was previously an army nurse turned psychologist who helps acclimate soldiers returning from war back to every day civilian life. I originally thought of writing her in her wartime role, but at the time I wrote the story, women were not allowed in combat positions. I am thrilled to know that they are now being offered the same opportunity as their male counterparts.

Women are strong. Women are brave. Yes, we are not backed by the same testosterone-filled-body that men are, but some of the strongest, toughest people I know are women.

Why is this? Maybe it’s because we have to fight for our place in this world to compete with men. Maybe it’s because we are mothers, and go through pregnancy and labor and childbirth. I’m not actually sure why, but I have to give props to the girls and women of our time and what they have to deal with to be seen as equals.

There are so many stereotypes thrown on us. Men can cheat and are seen as studs while women are branded whores if they are caught. Take poor Kristen Stewart, for instance. She has been shredded to pieces, bashed and bullied by tabloid magazines, for months now, for her alleged indiscretion, while her male counterpart; not a word about him. Yet through all of the lies and trashing of her character, she has remained a strong woman, holding her head up high, not letting the stories that disparage her, tear her down.

I strive to be that kind of woman. I thank my grandmother and mother for that. I watched them both as I grew up; they molded me into who I have become. I don’t back down, I never give up. I fight for what I believe in. I speak my mind. I demand respect. I urge all girls and women to live this way.

I am raising my daughters to be independent women, who can survive the toughest of times, remain strong, yet still be compassionate loving women.

Adele was recently told to lose weight. Why? She is beautiful as she is. No one needs to be what the media dictate. You are beautiful. You have to accept and love everything about yourself. Because you deserve it and no one has a right to tell you anything different.

It’s so amazing to me how a woman can one minute be an emotional, gentle being and in the blink of an eye, stand on her own two feet and fight harder than any man I know. Yes…you have that in you. You do. I promise you that.

So what is my point here? I want to empower you. I want to support you, my fellow sisters. Sometimes we need to band together to feel the strengths we contain within. Sometimes we need each other to draw that out. You have it inside you. I know you do, because I do. And the wonderful females I have around me have it. I can see it. Feel it.

We should do everything we can to mentor young girls and let them know that they are amazing and beautiful no matter what their body or face looks like.

I am so proud of every one of you. Be everything or anything you want to be. Stand up for yourself and other women around you.  Now get out there and show them what you’re made of!"

Christie's latest book is The Purple Heart:

When does hiding the truth become an outright lie?

As an Army psychologist, Sydney Porter has heard her share of horror stories. The battle-scarred, down-trodden, and guilt-ridden have come to her office, seeking her help. When a highly decorated soldier is referred to her, she feels confident she can help heal his wounds. The chemistry between herself and Sergeant Aiden Thane is instantaneous. Sparks ignite and against her friend’s advice, she opens both her home and her heart.

Torn between a voice of reason and her undeniable feelings, Sydney begins to question just what is hiding behind her lover’s decorated uniform. What secrets are hidden behind his Purple Heart?

And does she really want to know?

Strong is Sexy Heroine of the Week: Megan Harris

Book: American Goddesses
Author: Gary Henry
Heroine: Megan Harris

Megan, slim brunette 40-year-old editor of scholarly books, is a veritable goddess now, courtesy of an experimental medical protocol that accidentally induced unlimited telekinetic power throughout every cell of her body. She is now beyond harm and beyond coercion.

She can fly. She can bend steel with a thought, and make men kneel with a word.

None of this is what makes her strong.

On the contrary – power like this would make most people weak, since everything becomes effortless. She could have lost her power to persuade, since her whims have the force of natural law.

Megan could have lost her power to inspire love, since she can so easily compel worship.

The power could have transformed her from slightly bossy wife into feared, unstoppable tyrant.

What makes Megan strong is her capacity to love and accept love. From this well she draws the fortitude needed to withstand the temptations and corruptions of unlimited power.

It wasn’t easy or automatic. The first chapters of AMERICAN GODDESSES detail her struggle with the power, and that of her friend and fellow goddess Trish. Megan comes close to losing John, her husband. But she finds that love and forgiveness are far more powerful than the punishment and possessiveness she could so easily enforce.

What makes her sexy:

Megan is “a slim, dark-haired, brown-eyed woman with a patrician nose and proud, arched eyebrows.” She’s attractive, favoring outfits like the “long-sleeved yellow blouse, khaki pencil skirt and brown pumps” she wears in the opening chapter of AMERICAN GODDESSES.

But the same thing that makes her strong also makes her sexy. Megan’s capacity for love, coupled with the gentle and tender use of what could be a crushingly brutal power, makes her irresistible – to her husband at least.

That insight doesn’t come automatically or easily either. At first, the casual use of her power to enforce her will drives John to another woman. But Megan realizes at the 11^th hour that it’s love and tenderness that binds John to her more tightly than any telekinetic power.

Though when “kiss comes to love,” so to speak, Megan and John discover telekinetic power in the hands of a gentle, loving woman can also be sexy.

Are you an author with a strong heroine in your book? Want to see her featured? Find out how here.

Repossessed by Sandy Parks

I can list a ton of reasons why I liked this book, starting with woman pilot. :D Second, woman mechanic. Whoo hoo. Though she has a very small role...well, not a small role--she's very necessary--just not a lot of her in the book until the end. It also takes place in Brazil, an exotic location.


Jet has to steal a plane...to repo it. Unfortunately, the plan is in the possession of a very bad man...a kingpin of sorts, only he deals with emeralds instead of drugs. I was surprised by that. But he's running out of money and has a cruel streak wider than the runway necessary for his private jet.

This is one of those books in where the less I say, the better. It's action packed, there's betrayal, mind games, guessing games, hidden runways, scaling castle walls, drugs, potential rape, broken arms, fake emeralds...

Parts of it had eyebrows going up. I was like, "really?" It did come off a preposterous at times, but it is a fiction and what's the point of reading if you don't have some fun, experience the improbable. I certainly won't be doing any aircraft repos.

It was a fun, action packed ride. It ended the story, but left me dying of enough curiosity that I'll no doubt pick up the next. I bought this on Amazon.

Four bikes.

A Murder at Rosamund's Gate by Susanna Calkins

A good yarn and a fascinating look at life in England in a time when things began to change...social classes, positions, servants' rights...all because of plague and fire. There was also Quakers and I found this an intriguing look at how the law operated then.


The story is a murder mystery really, though, at its heart, all told from the POV of a serving girl Lucy. Women all around are being murdered in fields. Stories and penny books claim each was a servant, lustful, wanton, giving their good away to men who discard them...partly true, but could all of them be related?

Really liked the heroine. She was spunky, yet respectful. She helps her brother, vows to get to the truth of the murders, asks questions, goes "undercover", helps when the plague hits, and has an overall charm that is most appealing.

I rooted for her from beginning to end.

I did, however, find the mystery a tad slow. Though bonus points must be given for the fact that...I did NOT foresee the ending at all. Did not expect it.

The romance was there, but subtle. It didn't wow me in anyway, but I wasn't looking for it.

I think this was a good, solid, historical read. One of those books that makes you feel as though you're time traveling. Well done. Four bikes. I received this from netgalley.

Love Request Prize Winner

Winner of the Love Request Grand Giveaway is Christal C! I've sent you an email, Christal. You have 48 hours to get back to me. Thank you!

Huge thanks to all who entered. Hope you enjoyed your free read!

Train To Nowhere by Kay Bratt

Mao's Red Guards and this time in China is not something I am familiar with so I learned a lot from reading this novelette. It was like walking into a new world.


Mao believed all people should share a kitchen, share everything, share money, share children...good intentions that ended up abused, perhaps?

Red Guards or bullies? Read this and form your own opinion. Besides giving us a look into history, it also makes one think about how political factions go too far, how power is constantly abused.

These kids--in the name of Mao--just sit on a train all the time, free of charge, forcing working people off or elsewhere, as they get free food and shelter. The heroine is being forced to join them for her own protection...but by the end, through a good friend she makes and a nasty twist of events, she realizes that being with her family is preferable--no matter the conditions.

Found what the friend does...a little too implausible and not satisfactorily explained, but this was a solid and informative read. I enjoyed it.

Four bikes. I bought this on Amazon.

Madam Curie, The Movie, The Woman

I learned about this week's Strong is Sexy Woman of the Past from a movie I saw on TCM. It really resonated with me. Made me laugh, made me cry, and taught me something at the same time.

Radium was discovered by a woman.

It's a chemical that in the movie, comes from a rock. It has a glow. It's used in  gases, it treats cancer, it can be found in glowing paints.

A woman (Marie) made this possible, at serious cost to herself. The movie from 1943 show us a young woman (Greer Garson) attending school far away from her father and country of Poland, a lone women among many men, do experiments and working toward her degree. Professor Curie at first declares a woman has no place in the lab, but she soon wins him over with her witty intellect.

He convinces her to marry him. Together, they discover a "magic rock" that accidentally "took a photo." Or I guess it was an X-ray.

Greer Garson as Madam Curie

The school is not willing to give them much resources to find this radium this crazy woman and her enamored husband speak of. They work endlessly in a rundown building leaking water. They shovel, they cook, they sweat, they separate chemicals pain-stakenly for years.

Their passion just literally comes off the screen. Their love for each other, their love for their work, their drive to find it. When they do, tragedy strikes. Very sad. This is the point I cried. And Madam Curie had to carry on.

The real Curie

Superb acting and a terrific story about a very determined woman who faced down hardships and said, "You can't stop me!"

Madam Curie was the first woman to win a Nobel prize. From what I can tell, the move did take a few variations from the real-life story. Instead of going home to Poland and coming back to marry him after things didn't work out professionally for her there, the movie Curie agrees to marry Pierre a lot sooner. However, the movie portrayed the tragic death of Pierre to a T.

The real Madam Curie died from her exposure to radium. This was not in the movie. Rather I did more research online, having been inspired by her story.

Random:

-She graduated high school at 15 with honors.

-She was a governess for three years and taught the "lower class" children to read as well as her charges. This was a crime then.

-She earned much of her own money for college.

The next time this is on TCM, be sure to record it.