Romeo, Romeo is about an independent businesswoman without a domestic bone in her body. Her life would be perfect if she could just figure out how to keep her nosy, pushy, Italian family from trying to marry her off.
Nick Romeo, Brooklyn’s Donald Trump (without the comb-over), thinks independent women are an urban myth, until he meets Rosalie and realizes they’re no myth, just a pain the ass. He’s finally met a woman who is looking for the same thing he is–a commitment free relationship– and is shocked to discover that all he wants to do is take care of her. Before too long, he’s moved in, cleaned her apartment, stocked her refrigerator and adopted her dog.
Romeo, Romeo is the first book in my Domestic Gods series. I think there’s nothing sexier than a man cleaning. I find it sad that many women think this is a myth. We live in a world where women are expected to work outside the home and still do the lion’s share of the childcare and housework.
Men certainly are doing more housework now than they used to. According to the CNN Article, “Housework and sex: What’s the connection?” In 2005 men did about 13 hours of housework a week compared to about six in 1976 whereas women’s weekly housework decreased from 26 hours to 17. It’s not equal, but it’s definitely moving in the right direction.
That same CNN article quotes Joshua Coleman, psychologist and author of The Lazy Husband: How to Get Men to Do More Parenting and Housework as saying, “When a man does housework, it feels to the woman like an expression of caring and concern, which then physically reduces her stress.” Well, duh! Of course it does! Any woman who has watched a man do the dishes after a nerve-wracking day of work, kids, laundry, and cooking knows that. Give me a husband who will take his share of the childcare and housework, and I’ll show you a happy wife.
When I write a romance I write about men I find to be sexy, desirable, and with whom I’d want to share my life. Nothing is sexier to me than a man doing dishes, except for maybe a man scrubbing the bathtub, or better yet, the toilet. I love a man who can be man enough to fix your car and fix you dinner too—the kind of guy who thinks of a vacuum cleaner as a power tool and gets a thrill out of using it. Every woman wants a man who is as good in the kitchen as he is in the bedroom. Who wouldn’t?
Since I’ve been married to a Domestic God for the last 19 years, I have to say, it rocks. My DG is the inspiration for every hero I’ve ever written. I really appreciate him and it seems as though most of my readers do, too. He’s become a bit of a legend. He’s even been interviewed by one of my blog-mates, who, at first, went in search of kinks in his armor –now she claims first dibs on him if anything should ever happen to me.
A few weeks ago, my sister called me after watching an episode of “The Starter Wife.” Debra Messing’s character was fantasizing about a gorgeous man – in the fantasy he was vacuuming. The Domestic God is working his way into popular culture and if you ask me, it’s about time!
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