RED COLLAR'S SCARLET CINDERELLA

Warning: Contains Spoilers to Red Collar

Source: http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/File:
Cinderella-cinderella.jpg

Cinderella has been one of my all time favorite childhood fairy tales. Perhaps, it was the dream of being swept off the feet by a prince or the possibility of a poor damsel finally achieving her victory that attracted me to the tale. Sometimes, I do think it was the secret wish of having a fairy godmother just like Cinderella's. Whichever is the case, Cinderella continues to woo many small girls because of its charm and magic.

Kate Ripley of Red Collar  is a Cinderella of a very tainted sort. She is not just poor but she is also riddled with the burdens of her poverty stricken family. So when she loses her job because she won't succumb to the advances of her horny boss and is at her last straws on finding another, she finally agrees to become a sexual escort.

And thus begins her adventure with the mysterious CEO, Clayton Reid.

1. Why did Kate become an escort when she refused the sexual advances of her boss? This doesn't make sense!

Source: www.quotehd.com/quotes/catherine-deneuve-catherine-
deneuve-prostitution-happens-to-you-because-of-troubles

When Kate is made redundant, she thought it was only a matter of time before she would find another employment. She would never have guessed that she was going to drag her resume on for the long haul. She probably would have persevered in her job hunt. However with the sudden responsibility she had to take on as the sole breadwinner for her family caused her to panic. In addition, her mother's dire need for medication pushed her into the escort business. 

This is not an original premise. In fact, one has to only scour the internet to find women who have been forced into prostitution because of their desperate financial needs.

According to http://freethoughtblogs.com/taslima/2012/04/11/prostitution/ "women are in legal prostitution for the same reason they are in illegal prostitution, a lack of alternative survival options. Most women in prostitution did not make a choice to enter prostitution from among a range of other options. They did not decide they want to be prostitutes instead of doctors, engineers, lawyers, pilots. Instead their 'options' were more in the realm of how to get enough money to feed themselves and their children... Most women end up there only because other options are not available."

It further quotes researchers on saying that "When prostituted women are asked, consistently around 90% say they want out of prostitution immediately, but the decision is out of their hands and in the hands of their pimps, their husbands, their addictions, their children's bellies...If they are because they cannot leave, then prostitution is not a freely made choice."

And that is exactly what Kate plans when she accepts Clayton's offer of mistress and secretary. She is buying time during which she honestly believes she can find another respectable employment. As a result, she sacrifices her dignity for the sake of her family.

2. Clayton's offer to hire Kate as his mistress makes him a jerk.

You know, it probably does. But keep in mind, Clayton never did expect to fall in love with Kate. 

Like Clayton, there are numerous incidences of employers having office affairs. What makes Clayton different is that he doesn't want to be tangled in the emotions that could arise from such a liaison. He likes his relations cleanly cut and diced.

Image Source: http://izquotes.com/quote/216410

The reader does come to know towards the end of the novel that Clayton had first set his eyes on Kate in Madame Madge's parlor. He was introduced to Madame Madge by Bob Whitton who presumably had been soliciting her services. When Madame Madge offers Clayton her services, he declines. This evidently proves that Clayton is not in the habit of hiring escorts. 

But when he does spot Kate in Madame Madge's massage parlor, he is attracted to her. And when he does inquire about her, he discovers that she used to work as a secretary. This fact affects him, seeing that she is resorting to the business of escorting out of her desperation for finance. Knowing that he is in lack of a good partner during his social meetings and the want to have a secretary who would understand her boundaries without entangling herself emotionally with him, he feels that they would serve each other's needs. His honorable intentions to save her from the abusive business of sex prostitution is however somehow marred in his sudden possessiveness to keep her with him forever.

3. How could Kate fall in love with the very man who contracted her services?

Source: www.16quotes.com/the-more-you-get-to-know-a
-person-the-more-attractive-they-become/

Some readers may claim there isn't one redeemable quality about Clayton that could have caused Kate to have fallen in love with him.

But how do people fall in love? Time.com lists a variety of factors that contribute to why people fall in love in http://time.com/2918758/how-to-make-someone-fall-in-love-with-you/

Regardless of how Kate initially feels about Clayton, his physical attributes and his success attracts her. And these constitutes her first steps to loving Clayton.

Kate has struggled to achieve what she's got in her life. And when she discovers that Clayton has worked equally as hard, she is fascinated by him. And finally when she meets his perfect loving family, this somewhat seals her affection for him as she secretly begins to wish to have a part of that happiness. Something which she had never quite received in her own gloomy childhood.

In addition, Kate associates sex with love, proven by the seriousness of her past relationships. And although she first refuses to believe that she is in love with Clayton, the more she spends time with him, she inevitably can no longer sever her emotions from the sex. On the whole, the time she spends with Clayton still plays a crucial role in why she falls in love with him- and vice versa.

4. Kate and Clayton and their misunderstandings

Yep, there are misunderstandings abound. And here's why.

Image Source: http://www.long-distance-lover.com/10-worst-long-distance-relationship-problems-solved-advice-for-men/

Kate and Clayton come from completely contrasting social backgrounds. Their behavioral principles differ. Their perspective on life is different. What did bind them together were their core values and their passion for each other. But these were not enough to make them trust each other completely from the very onset. Especially when one has contracted the other for his own needs, and the other despises him for having hired her.

But as they slowly came to know one another, both intimately and emotionally, they did begin to contemplate the idea of remaining in the facade of a proper relationship.

5. The big one! What the f*** does Red Collar even mean?

Nothing, if you're searching for a literal meaning.

The Red Lights of Prostitution
Red Light District- Amsterdam
Image Source: http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8501/8312834904_aa50352f38_c.jpg

The color red, though has long been associated with sexuality, eroticism and immorality and thus significantly became a color of prostitution. History states that prostitutes in some cities were required to wear red in order to announce their profession, or display a red light indicating it a house of prostitution. And thus arose terms such as 'Red Light District', which is still found today in cities such as Bangkok and Amsterdam.

For Kate, her contract with Clayton Reid was just a job- a scarlet and tainted one. And for this reason, I coined the term 'red collar'.


Kate was fortunate that the first man who contracted her fell in love with her. However, this is only a tale. A fairy tale even. There are real women caught in the circle of sexual abuse and slavery. Hopefully, they will also one day find their prince to free them from their chains of enslavement.

RED COLLAR is available at all Amazon Stores

SOULMATES OF WINTER'S END

Warning: Contains Spoilers

As I was writing my new novel, A Jar of Dreams, a tale of how an assassin falls in love with a blind girl, I realized I was completely absorbed in the story, and writing it almost akin to a reader's eagerness to finish it so I too could know how it would end. Although, I do love this story as much as I do all my other books, I can undeniably admit Winter's End will always be my favorite of all my romances. I suppose the fact that it was my first romance stands for a sentimental reason. But as a true romantic at heart, I love the idea of a soul-mate romance.

Each person might probably have their own definition for a soulmate. But the one that does intrigue me is the old, cheesy romantic definition- a soulmate is someone who is the perfect match for you, pre-destined by fate, one who completes you. Perhaps, this is too idealistic to the point of almost mythical. But it does make me think, do soulmates exist?

You might read the entire book of Winter's End, but never once have I used the word. But there are references, inclinations to the idea that Emma Winston and Chris Cameron were destined by fate to be together.

It is evident from the beginning of the book that there is a superstition underlying the basis of the story. But it is not until the end the reader discovers that Ethel Kinnaird, Chris' grandmother, sets her sights on Emma because of a prediction her close friend and clairvoyant, Rosanna once revealed to her. Rosanna foretells that her young troubled grandson would find his peace in the arms of a red-head. Is Ethel superstitious? Probably so, because she does begin to keep an eye on any flaming haired maiden in her vicinity. She finally settles for young widow Emma because she knows the young woman's temperament would suit her grandson very well.


Her drive to see her grandson marry Emma was in part because of superstition as well as the idea that she, being older and wiser, was more capable of finding a suitable partner for Chris. And therefore, she could have acted as match-maker in this arranged marriage. But that's for another post.






Emma is an abandoned child, left to fend on her own while her mother romps with every other man in town. Her difficulties lead her to set up high principles for herself as a means of protecting herself from getting hurt again. Regardless, her principles fail her and she is hurt time and time again by the men who enter her life. She compromises her fate with her cheating husband, Robert, believing he is the best she would ever get. He treats her right, he pays for the bills, provides for the family and when time calls, he tries to be a good father. She realizes much later, thanks to Ethel Kinnaird, the man she truly loved, Richard, never really revealed his feelings for her because he never really prioritized her. Her trauma of abandonment and neglect from her childhood revisits her and she lets Richard go in order to marry Chris. She begins to believe that if there is one thing she could get right is to at least give her children the grandmother they love. She sacrifices her chances of love for her children and her friend, Ethel.

Chris, who is orphaned as a baby and brought up by Ethel, loves his grandmother dearly. Having been grown up in a close-knit family and rural town, he highly respects, cherishes and values his grandmother. However, his love life is at a loss because of the deep hurt his once close friend and girl-friend cause him because of their affair. He silently vows to never fall in love again, indulging in a string of affairs. When Chris meets Emma, he believes her to be opportunistic, after all Ethel's insistence on him marrying her is absurd by all standards. He thinks Emma may have convinced Ethel into such an idea until he discovers that Emma is just as averse to the idea as he is. Her reluctance to form a relationship even if a pretenseful one, intrigues him. She is not the typical gold-digger. As his curiosity leads him to grow closer to her, he forms a unique and loving relationship with her children. In due time, he comes to realize that Emma does complete him.

Image Source: http://www.selfhelpexplained.com/how-attract-your-soul-mate-subliminal-messages-work

So had it not been for Ethel Kinnaird, would Emma and Chris still have met? Were they indeed soulmates?

Dr Carmen Harra in http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-carmen-harra/elements-of-a-soulmate_b_3595992.html discusses ten elements of a soulmate. One element she raises is the idea that they get each other. When Emma weeps for her lost love, Richard, Chris draws her into his arms feeling for her. Despite his earlier rage on discovering that she had gone to visit Richard behind him, he melts the moment he sees her weep. Emma is also drawn to Chris in spite of her efforts in putting up a wall between them. She immediately jumps to his defence when Ethel's relative, Deanna Boyd tries to incite sparks of jealousy against Chris.

The allusion that Chris and Emma were meant to be together is there, but there is also the idea that sometimes you just need that third person to bring them together when all else fails.

Winter's End is free at Amazon