Today is “Get A Different Name” Day, and before you ask, no, I’m not making that up. My name is Donna, there are no real nicknames for Donna, no good way to shorten it. It’s just boring old Donna. My middle name is Voldemort. That’s a lie, but my middle name pre-marriage shall never be spoken aloud; it was very southern, very horrible, and still gives me hives when I hear it, so that wasn’t a nickname option. Hold your laughter because what I came up with, in my youth, for a nickname is even more ridiculous than my given middle name. Okay, here goes. As a kid, I liked pickles a lot. I still like pickles, they are delicious. I thought “Pickles” would make for a fun and awesome nickname, so I boldly listed it on my first grade “getting to know you essay” for the first day of school. That damn piece of paper hung on the door to my classroom for the first full month of school. It ended up being the longest first month of school in my entire elementary career. Yes, Pickles was the different name I selected for myself, and I can not believe I just shared that nugget of information with you, dear reader. Don’t judge me, I’m sure you’ve wandered into the brine. Sorry, that was terrible, I’ll show myself out. Let’s never speak of this again.
Since I was unable to find a hero or heroine that goes by the name Pickles, I decided to throw it back to books that have main characters using aliases. I’m far brighter now than I was in first grade. One is a throwback to on my to be read list, and the other goes back to my favorite comfort read. Sadly, neither of these books have a single mention of pickles, the pity.
Over the last six months, I’ve been filtering in a regular diet of Nora Roberts books. Alternating between older books written as Nora Roberts and her JD Robb In Death series, I’ve been a busy Nora reader. Next on my Nora-list is her book from 2012, The Witness. It’s a big book, over 700 pages and I can’t wait to get started on it. Elizabeth is the daughter of a very controlling mother. One reckless night she ventures out to a nightclub and ends up in the company of a seductive man with a Russian accent. Things go sideways, and Elizabeth’s life is changed forever. We catch up with her twelve years later, and now she lives the life of a hermit in the outskirts of the Ozarks and goes by the name Abigail. Abigail triggers police chief Brooks Gleason’s protective instincts and maybe something more. I think Nora Roberts does a fabulous job writing romantic suspense that leans heavily towards the thriller category. As of today, I have one book ahead of this one on my TBR list, and I’m giddy with excitement at how close I am to finally laying my eyeballs on it! Have you read it? Do you have an author with a huge backlist of books you slowly work your way through? Just me? I believe this is Robert’s 200th book, so I’ll have plenty more to keep me company once I finish The Witness.
Brock Lucas is the King of the Get a Different Name Day Universe. It should also be noted that Brock Lucas is my favorite Kristen Ashley hero and stars in my favorite comfort re-read, Wild Man. Brock’s full name is Skull Jake Brock Slim Lucas; it’s a lot, I know, but stick with me. We get our first very limited glimpse of Brock in Mystery Man, book one of the Dream Man series. Brock is deep undercover for the DEA and goes by the name Skull. Skull sees and does dark, terrible things because he has to keep all of us safe. Brock’s book Wild Man kicks off with Jake getting busy with sweet Tess. Her orgasm concludes with her saying his name and sadness flutters across Jake’s eyes. In the next chapter, we learn “Jake” is Brock, and Brock is yet again, working undercover for the DEA, and Tess was the woman he was sent to investigate. The truth comes out, feeling are hurt, wounds are licked, and three months later, Skull/Jake/Brock is back at sweet Tess’s kitchen pouring his heart out, as well as his pertinent details, like his real name and job description…and an “apology” that only the likes of Brock could possibly pull off. During this heart to heart, we learn Brock’s family calls him Slim. Slim was not a small baby, and Slim is not a small guy, so Slim originated in jest, and it just stuck. His nieces and nephews call him Uncle Slim. Thus concludes your history lesson on the evolution of the King of Get a Different Name Day, Skull Jake Brock Slim Lucas. He’s a man of many names, gorgeous quicksilver eyes, thick unruly hair, a lover of snickerdoodle cookies, and sexy silk nighties on his woman sweet Tess. He’s also a starring figure in many a late-night fantasy in my head, but that’s probably too x-rated for this article. Also note, Wild Man came out a long time ago, and both Skull Jake Brock Slim Lucas and sweet Tess are well over the age of 40, and they get at it like rabbits, which is, newsflash, precisely as you do once you pass 40.
