Revenge. It Sounds Good.

Have you ever had someone dump you?  And when that person dumped you, did you plot the many ways you would get even?  Boy, I have.  Years ago, there was one “guy” in particular.  Another word comes to mind, but you know...  Anyway, he told me I was special.  He said all kinds of flattering, sweet things to me, but he didn’t mean a single word he said. As it turned out, he was a Lying Sack of Trash.  When his coldhearted dumping of me was fresh in my heart, I spent hours—hours!—plotting my revenge in my head.  Because I am generally a polite girl, I started in polite girl mode, in which, in my fantasy, I told him off in front of a large group of people.  But that gave me no satisfaction whatsoever, so I moved onto mean girl mode and began to think of things that would make him uncomfortable.  Like brownies doctored with laxatives, or sand in the gas tank.  But those ideas only made me thirst for more, so I began to fantasize about the full-bore, kick-to-the-curb, stiletto-to-the-neck, make-him-beg-for-me revenge.

That was fun.

Unfortunately, in real life, revenge always sounds better than it actually is.  If I had done any of those things, I probably would have been charged with some form of domestic violence, or worse, gotten myself hurt.  In The Revenge of Lord Eberlin, a young man (Eberlin) returns to the town where his father died for revenge.  It’s sort of a twist on Wuthering Heights—he’s made himself a rich man, and he lives, breathes, and eats his desire for revenge.  He holds one person responsible—the girl who placed her father at the scene of the crime for which he hanged.  But that girl, Lily, is now a woman, and she’s alluring in a way he didn’t expect.  Eberlin tells Lily that he wants revenge, and he will have it by destroying her livelihood or taking her virtue—her choice. 

What a great revenge fantasy!  But of course it doesn’t go down like that.  First, Lily is not a shrinking violet.  And it’s far more complicated than Eberlin ever dreamed.  There are plenty of unanswered questions, and well, the woman he means to ruin becomes the woman he can’t live without.

I guess in a way Eberlin ultimately gets his revenge, but it’s not as good as the revenge fantasy.  It never is. 

Have you ever had a revenge fantasy?  Have you ever sought revenge, or do you know anyone who has gone for it?  I read an article years ago about some women who didn’t have the “this isn’t practical” filter and went for it. 

Look for The Revenge of Lord Eberlin, on sale today!  I am offering three lucky commenters signed copies of the first book in the Secrets of Hadley Green series, The Year of Living Scandalously.  And look for the third book, The Seduction of Lady X, in stores March 27.