We’ve all heard it, that our strong heroines are “unlikeable.” Romance author Angelina M. Lopez’s novels about strong women and worthy men “thrum with desire, while still delivering knockout twists and turns” (Entertainment Weekly) and are “sexy, emotional and pitch-perfect” (NPR). Angelina will break down how to create unique alpha heroines – regardless whether she kicks ass or not -- that your readers will root for. She’ll discuss what makes an alpha heroine (it’s not what you think), tips for bumping up the “alpha” in your female characters, and how to wrestle the “unlikeable” elephant in the room. Join us for a short social time at 9 am central time, followed by a brief business meeting at 9:30 am. Our speaker starts about 10 am. DARA meetings are held the fourth Saturday of each month from January to October. We're currently meeting on Zoom -- to invite a friend, please contact our Membership Chair, Priya Ardis, at info@dallasarearomanceauthors.com. About Angelina M Lopez When my kindergarten teacher asked us what we wanted to be when we grew up, I wrote "arthur." Since then, I've been a journalist for an acclaimed city newspaper, a freelance magazine writer, and a content marketer for small businesses. And I learned how to spell the word “author” correctly. I write sexy stories about fierce women and the men lucky to fall in love with them. I’m a lifelong romance reader and fan, and a champion of the concept that good art doesn’t have to make you feel bad. Romance writers are re-writing the script about the meaningfulness of pleasure, joy, escapism, and fantasy in art, and I’m proud and honored to be part of that movement, a movement led primarily by women, for women. Unfortunately and for too long, women who looked like me writing characters of color didn’t get a seat at the table. Today’s romance authors are changing that. I like to say I write adult fairytales when I’m discussing the escapism and over-the-top bonkersness of my books. But my belief that people of color deserve to be the recipients of joy, pleasure, fantasy and happily ever afters is very, very real. The fact that my parents own a vineyard certainly seems fairytale like. I can’t promise I will always write about wine like I did in my first series. But my Instagram seems to showcase that pleasure of the moments — wine, cocktails, food, fun, family, friends, Supernatural — will always be part of what I deliver. My first book in a new high-heat, small town, Latinx series, After Hours on Milagro Street, is a book very close to my heart. It’s about my family, a large, multi-generational Mexican-American family in southeast Kansas, and I’m thrilled it’s already received two starred reviews and raves from Entertainment Weekly and Booklist! It will be available July 26. The first two books in my first series — Lush Money, named a Top 10 romance debut of 2020, and Hate Crush — also received rave reviews from Entertainment Weekly, NPR, and Booklist. To learn more about Angelina, visit her at http://www.angelinamlopez.com/