Pippa Marbury, youngest daughter of the Marquess of Needham & Dolby, sister-in-law to the Marquess of Bourne, and heroine of my book One Good Earl Deserves a Lover…is blind as a bat. Seriously. Her spectacles, which are one of the first things her hero–oh, who am I kidding?–anyone notices about her, are thick-lensed disasters that make her eyes seem preternaturally large.
Girls who wear glasses don’t get passes.
She has to stop and clean them at inopportune times. They fall off her face when she leans over high balcony edges. And, by God, they are in no way sexy. I mean. That’s in the handbook, isn’t it? It’s why we (as nearsighted Nellies) are conditioned to take our glasses off when we take pictures, to wear contact lenses when we go out in public, and to generally do whatever we can to hide the frames on our faces.
But here’s the thing…Cross, Pippa’s tall, ginger-haired, genius of a hero…hasn’t gotten the memo. He likes the lenses. He finds the spectacles undeniably sexy. And there is one moment…well…I’ll let you see for yourself:
Spectacles. There was nothing tempting about spectacles. She reached up to remove them.
“No.”
She stilled, her hand halfway to her face. “But–”
“Leave them.”
“They’re not–” She began. They’re not smoldering. They’re not seductive.
“They’re perfect.”
I can tell you, the saying is wrong. Girls who wear glasses most definitely get passes. They most definitely have character and charm. And they most definitely win love in the end.
Sure, sometimes it takes us ladies in lenses a little longer to find ourselves, to believe in ourselves, to honor ourselves. But if that’s true, it’s only because we’re so clearly focused on the great wide world around us.
Please join me all month long for a celebration of “Girls Who Wear Glasses,” from Tina Fey to Diane Keaton, from Wonder Woman to Gloria Steinem, from Hillary Clinton to Marilyn Monroe, I’ve got four weeks of lens love lined up, and hope you’ll join in the love!
Tell me…who is your favorite Lady in Lenses?
Share in comments for a chance to win a signed copy of One Good Earl Deserves a Lover (US only, sorry!). Winner to be chosen on Friday!
January 30th, 2013 at 6:30 am
It’s gotta be Tina Fey, though I love that picture of Marilyn in glasses reading Ulysses. :O)
January 30th, 2013 at 7:12 am
Tina Fey (of course!), Hilary Clinton, Emma Stone and romance writer Victoria Dahl! ;)
January 30th, 2013 at 7:26 am
Well I’ve worn glasses since I was eleven. I feel naked without them and I can’t see a thing without them either!
Lucy Liu – she looks lovely in glasses. I wish I did.
January 30th, 2013 at 8:22 am
My mom!!
January 30th, 2013 at 9:54 am
Fictional favorite? Pippa! No contest.
Real life favorites? Tina Fey and Sophia Loren; two ladies who know how to rock the glasses!
January 30th, 2013 at 9:56 am
My grandmother. Love and miss her. She was petite and sassy and my hero.
January 30th, 2013 at 9:58 am
I love the fact that we’re getting the chance to celebrate girls with glasses! I’ve worn glasses since I was about seven or eight. It’s never really bothered me, because I actually like them! I think my favorite person who wears glasses is Tina Fey BUT Velma in Scooby-Doo does wear them well ;)
January 30th, 2013 at 10:43 am
I’ve worn them since I was 10. Probably the most hurtful thing I remember was being called four-eyes. But we move past it all and now when I see people wearing glasses with plain glass just to look cool I smile.
I vote for my favorite actress, Meryl Streep
January 30th, 2013 at 10:56 am
I think that Scarlett Johansson looks lovely wearing glasses. I also think that Sophia Loren looks gorgeous wearing glasses too. Mind you, she looks gorgeous anyway.
I’m fortunate that I only have to wear glasses whilst reading.
Thank you for this chance to win your book, “One good Earl Deserves a Lover”.
January 30th, 2013 at 11:09 am
I’m nearsighted my whole life and I wish I looked like Sophia Loren or Diane Keaton in glasses. They make everything look great. :) Thanks for the wonderful opportunity.
Carol L.
January 30th, 2013 at 11:13 am
Love the pic of Marilyn Monroe with glasses.
My favorite person with glasses apart of me of course, would be my piano teacher. She has taught me everything and i looove her dearly.
January 30th, 2013 at 11:39 am
me of course :)
January 30th, 2013 at 12:40 pm
I love myself with glasses. I do get aggravated at the smudges that seem to appear for no reason but my glasses go on first thing in the morning and come off last thing at night.
January 30th, 2013 at 3:39 pm
Diane Keaton
January 30th, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Can we name a character? I always love Olive Hoover (the little girl from Little Miss Sunshine) with her big Coke bottle glasses that make her all the more charming and adorable. She rocks them and isn’t ashamed of them. :-)
January 30th, 2013 at 4:55 pm
Right now it’s Hillary Clinton, but I love Tina Fey, too.
January 30th, 2013 at 5:02 pm
Sophia LOren. Thanks for the giveaway.
lauratroxelatyahoodotcom
January 30th, 2013 at 6:05 pm
Juliet Hughes from Her Secondhand Groom by Rose Gordon. She had these old, clunky glasses that were just terrible and I thought it was so cute and sweet when Patrick (the hero, Viscount Drakely) took her to finally get a modern pair of glasses. The scene was just endearing.
Not to mention I think the girl is probably as blind as I am without glasses.
January 30th, 2013 at 7:01 pm
Sophia Loren and Marilyn Monroe are two lovely ladies in glasses getting my vote!
Looking forward to getting a copy of your latest book in my hands. Thanks for the giveaway too.
January 30th, 2013 at 7:33 pm
My personal favorite girl in glasses would have to be my younger niece (just turned 18 4 days ago). She has had to wear glasses/contacts since she was 5 years old.
January 30th, 2013 at 7:39 pm
Velma from Scooby Doo. Sally Jesse Rafael (?sp) also rocked her red glasses.
January 30th, 2013 at 7:54 pm
Among my favorite glasses-wearing heroines:
Minerva Highwood in Tessa Dare’s book A Week to Be Wicked (2012)
Velma Dinkley of the Scooby-Doo cartoons
Pola Debevoise (Marilyn Monroe) in the movie How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
And, of course, my mother!
January 30th, 2013 at 8:08 pm
Tina Fey! :-)
January 30th, 2013 at 8:30 pm
My favorite fictional heroine who wore glasses was Clarissa Crambray from Love is Blind by Lynsay Sands! I read it about 12 years ago and it was so much fun to read since I wear glasses myself to have a heroine who was “perfect” and even after all these years I can still remember her step-mother banning her from wearing her glasses Clarissa stumbling around London!
I loved that Adrian, who was an Earl, doesn’t care at all in fact he’d glad she doesn’t see well because he figures that way she can’t see his battle scars.
It reminded me that you don’t see true love with your eyes you see it with your heart!
January 30th, 2013 at 9:06 pm
You know, it’s funny, but most of the time I don’t even notice that someone is wearing glasses! My favorite glasses-wearing person is really three people: my husband, my daughter and my mother.
January 30th, 2013 at 9:44 pm
Gloria Steinem and Diane Keaton I feel like they really made glasses and “smart” women sexy.
January 30th, 2013 at 10:28 pm
Tina Fey is a great one! But I think my favorite has to be Lisa Loeb. She rocks the glasses (literally and figuratively!)
January 30th, 2013 at 11:25 pm
My mom!
January 30th, 2013 at 11:41 pm
I adore Tina Fey, smart, sexy, funny, whimsical at times. One of my favorites though is Elizabeth Lesser. Warm, compassionate, smart, savvy, incredible in every way. And I am honored to know her.
I have an e- copy of One Good Earl so do not need a signed copy. But I had to share my thoughts!
January 31st, 2013 at 2:26 am
Tina Fey and my mom get my vote!
January 31st, 2013 at 3:36 am
Anne Hathaway
January 31st, 2013 at 8:10 am
I always think of that iconic picture of Gloria Steinem in her big glasses or Carol Channing.
January 31st, 2013 at 9:48 am
a number of the ladies in my family (ok all of us) wear glasses or contacts & I think they are all wonderful & amazing. In books, I know there are a number of historicals where the herione were glasses but I can’t think a one at the moment (to early in the day for me yet) ;) there is one paranormal that comes to mind — what a dragon should know by ga aikens (part of the dragon kin series) where the herione wears glasses & is wonderfully brilliant & devious (in a good way) & runs things for her father in a world where men are in charge. I wouldn’t mind being like her ;)
January 31st, 2013 at 10:07 am
Lisa Loeb.
January 31st, 2013 at 10:48 am
Sophia Loren is my favorite Lady in Lenses. She is such beautiful woman.
January 31st, 2013 at 11:17 am
Diane Keaton. I really like her acting style and she looks great with glasses!
January 31st, 2013 at 1:24 pm
My favorite bespectacled icon of all time is the amazing Grace Kelly. She was elegance, beauty and charisma, and she wore glasses from the age of 12.
January 31st, 2013 at 3:48 pm
Bobbi Brown. I want a pair of glasses just like them.
January 31st, 2013 at 4:08 pm
I think Tina Fey did the most to make glasses hip. But I think Alicia Keys does the most to make glasses sexy.
January 31st, 2013 at 5:15 pm
I have to agree with Tina Fey. She’s hilarious and works her glasses ;)
January 31st, 2013 at 6:41 pm
Tina Fey is the absolute best. Also, my nana really rocks her glasses :)
January 31st, 2013 at 8:20 pm
In fiction, it has to be Sara Fielding from Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. In real life, I agree that Tina Fey looks good in glasses.
February 1st, 2013 at 9:59 am
Well, first my daughter taught me a lot of sensational looking women in glasses. It’s all about a sense of style. Regarding writing,all it took was a website post (Felt Tips) a year ago as the impetus to write a book about a journalist who comes to terms with her own sensuality. Wearing glasses with an attitude! Oh yeah baby!
February 1st, 2013 at 6:03 pm
My favorite would have to be my Nana. She is my best friend. Even though we live thousands of miles apart, we call each other several times a week and talk for hours! She is my role model and always has wonderful advice. I love to hear her stories about the “old days” (she was born in 1941). The dancing, clothes, school, growing up in Scotland, and best of all – how my grandfather swept her off her feet!
February 1st, 2013 at 6:54 pm
Although I don’t recall her wearing glasses often in the past, I think Hillary Clinton looks amazing in her new frames. I think I’m now due for a new pair of spectacles.