Barbara Barrett: Dancing with book titles that are stars
Barbara Barrett, author of Tough Enough to Tango, shares her thoughts on terpsichorean romance titles.
Barbara: Great titles get attention. So I named the first book in my Sullivan's Creek series Saved by the Salsa, because the hero and heroine teach a Salsa dance class for baby boomers.
Though the second book doesn't include dancing, I stuck with the terpsichorean (dance) theme. What better way to describe the male-female relationship than as a dance between two partners as they come together, break apart, and come back together again?
I invented the title Tough Enough to Tango, which has its worldwide release today, while watching Dancing With the Stars. Almost without fail during its 19 seasons, the DWTS tango routines have been assertive, earthy and passionate. The steps are precise, and the looks exchanged by the dancers, when not staring into space, smolder. Just the qualities needed by Shae Harriman, the heroine in this second book.
When she becomes temporary head of her father's general contracting company, Shae is immediately challenged by her male-dominated crews. Ned Collier, the hero, advises her that to gain their respect, she can't just shout out orders. She must be able to give and take and "tough enough to tango." Later, when he hesitates to accept her invitation to stay the night, she reminds him of his own advice.
The tango is said to have been developed in the late 19th century amongst the lower classes and European immigrants in Argentina and Uruguay. What has evolved into today's ballroom version features the characteristic head snaps along with a staccato beat. The classic Argentine tango is more subtle, marked by complicated foot pawing (my term, couldn't find the appropriate term).
In film, the tango signals a change in the story line or the characters' relationship, or it elevates the emotion or makes a statement. In Scent of a Woman, a blind Al Pacino teaches Gabrielle Anwar the steps, telling her, "No mistakes in the tango… You make a mistake, you just tango on." Antonio Banderas grabs the attention of a troubled group of kids he's trying to help through his fiery encounter with his partner on the dance floor in Take the Lead. The Cell Block Tango performed by Catherine Zeta-Jones and her cell mates in Chicago defies the criminal justice system with their claim, "He had it coming." On the dance floor, bored attorney Richard Gere's spirit comes alive with the help of instructor Jennifer Lopez in Shall We Dance?
The word "tango" is also featured in the titles of other contemporary romances. Here's why a few of those authors chose it.
The story in Cynthia D'Alba's Texas Tango is similar to mine. She said, "I stumbled into using dances for my Texas Montgomery Mavericks series' book titles by accident. After my first book (Texas Two Step), my editor wanted to continue the dance-themed titles. With my second book, I looked up dances and started reading. Tango was described as "sensual and sexy" and a dance where the couple has to move as one, where there can be lots of improvisation as needed. That perfectly described Travis Montgomery and Caroline Graham in Texas Tango. They stage a 'fake' wedding to appease her dying grandmother, only the word gets out about their wedding and they find themselves trying to move in concert while making it up as they go. They 'tangoed' through every page."
Nicole Burnham's Slow Tango With a Prince is set primarily in Argentina. The heroine, Emily Sinclair, is the host of an American television show called At Home Abroad. When she spots a European man perusing real estate listings in a Buenos Aires cafe, she knows he'd be the perfect replacement for a guest who's fallen through. He balks — no one in Argentina realizes he's a prince in need of time away from home — but agrees when he realizes Emily could lose her show.
Because At Home Abroad is aimed at tourists and potential ex-pats, it combines house-hunting with cultural information. Part of Emily's episode with Prince Vittorio is shot at a dance school, and another is shot at an outdoor milonga (tango dance party). The tango Emily and Vittorio share at the milonga spurs an off-camera romance.
Alicia Street had in mind both the actual dance as well as its symbolic nature when she titled her book Touch Me and Tango. As part of the Dance 'n' Luv series she wrote in collaboration with her husband, Roy, the book features a dancer heroine, in this case a professional ballroom dancer. But the essence of the tango, with its stern, almost resolute embrace at face level — while the legs engage in a seductive, challenging push-and-pull, chase-and-retreat exchange below — is reflected in the way her hero and heroine find their stormy path to love. Having fallen in love as teens only to be torn apart, past resentments, the status quo of their small town, and a family secret that throws them together in a mutual challenge all stir the embers of the love that still burn within both of them.
A dance class and a phrase. What will I use in the third book in the series, Not Your Mama's Mambo? Any ideas?
About Tough Enough to Tango:
When her father's heart problems temporarily put him on the sidelines, Shae Harriman steps in to run his general contracting company and oversee the largest residential building project the company has ever tackled, Sullivan's Creek. Though she has the education, she has no management or supervisory experience, which immediately alienates her crews.
Megastar entertainer Ned Collier undertook Sullivan's Creek to get his mother into safer housing while he is on the road, but now he's running out of money, and his ego doesn't want her, his best friend or anyone else to know. To Shae's consternation, he insists on serving as his own project manager so he can control costs.
Their inexperience pitted against her desire to succeed, his autonomous penny-pinching maneuvers, and high stakes construction issues send them into each other's arms, even though they come from two different worlds.
Find out more about Barbara and her books at www.barbarabarrettbooks.com.