I’m still working on “Everything I Know About Love, I Learned From Romance Novels,” in between cooking the stuffing and having nearly unconquerable urges to clean out closets instead (someone on Twitter called this form of distraction and procrastination “combing the yak hair” – SO apt.) Right now I’m working on what romance readers can and have learned about men from romance novels, and I wanted to ask you: who are your favorite heroes, and why? Which men from romances rock your world?
For me, my favorite heroes are a mix. Sometimes I love reading the abidingly constant lovinghornypants waiting-for-her-to-wake-up hero, or the “I don’t like you, you drive me nuts, I can’t stop thinking about your hair, DAMMIT” hero. One hero I love re-reading is Ethan from the Nora Roberts Chesapeake Bay series. Yet I would TOTALLY be wary of him in real life. Quiet but intense is fun to read about – “What’s going on under the surface? I can’t tell – a puzzle! Fun!” – but not so fun in real life – “I know there’s something going on under the surface but I can’t read it – a mystery, and possibly creepy!”
As usual, if I quote you, I can use your online pseudonym (the crazier the better, really. How much fun is it to quote “DreadPirateRachel” or “Anony Miss?” TOTALLY fun, I tell you) or a name of your choice. Or, if you don’t want me to quote you but you would like to be part of the discussion, just say, “Don’t quote me, you hose beast.”
And as usual, thank you thank you thank you for sharing your opinion with me.
I love, love, love Jamie and Rourke. However, I think Jack Devlin from Kleypas’s Suddenly You is awesome – he was a protective alpha kid, looking out for the younger boys at his school, he humbled himself to make sure he got the money he needed to start a business, he’s loyal to his friends, and he is very talented in both business and pleasure!!
Also – Robert Coally from Robin Schone’s short story A Lady’s Pleasure – tortured hero, emotional…sigh!!
Long time reader, first time poster. 🙂
My favorite hero of all time is Roarke from the J.D. Robb series… obviously Alpha without being a chest-beating nutcase or one who makes the heroine work around his Alpha issues, like “I’m treating you like crap because I can’t trust women.” (which I can. not. stand.) Roarke is sensitive without being a wimp: he puts her first, and recognizes (and loves) her flaws. He’s also funny and doesn’t take her crap. Mmmmmm.
I love alpha males and rakes. In real life, not so much. Someoone is too alpha also equates to controlling and overly dominating. And I would have to get over the rake’s past of gambling, whoring, etc. But the idea of a woman (ok, me) being able to bring out that protective streak in an alpha male or reforming a rake, who then turns all that energy and passion on me *shiver* makes me all tingly in a good way.
Cathy Yardley – Mr. Obvious fan???
I think my favourite kind of hero is probably the “I don’t like you, you drive me nuts, I can’t stop thinking about your hair, DAMMIT” hero. That frustration and exasperation and desperate wanting, which he’s not going to do anything about until it’s right, because he respects her and he’s a good guy who’s not going to take advantage of her, even if he has nightly fantasies about doing just that. I’m in edits on a book with just such a hero, and I want to bring him to life, steal him from the heroine and tie him to my bed.
Examples of this delicious specimen can be found in Victoria Dahl’s Talk Me Down; Julie Cohen’s Nina Jones and the Temple of Gloom; and pretty much anything by Jennifer Crusie.
I’m not a fan of the traditional Alpha, but the ‘caring Alpha’ mentioned here is the kind I like to read (and write) about. He leads like a wolf Alpha leads: with natural authority, with respect for his pack, constantly thinking about what’s best for them. His pack might be his family or his friends or whoever he’s protecting, but you know that with this guy looking after you, a meteor could hit and he’d keep you safe.
Joanna Bourne’s heroes are like this, particularly Sebastian from My Lord and Spymaster. I seem to recall Nicholas from Jude Deveraux’s A Knight in Shining Armor having these tendencies too. You tend to see them in historicals, but aside from Shane in Agnes & the Hitman I can’t think of a modern one.
That said, I do have a fondness for utter psychopaths too. Can’t think of any in romance fiction right now, but I’m talking about Spike from Buffy. To quote James Marsters on his character, “He’s a monster, but if he likes you, he’d be your monster, and he would protect you above all things.”
Such a fun topic to discuss! My favorite has to be the hot, angst-ridden type who is very intense & possesses plenty of random skills. I also love the historical type that is gallant & always putting himself on the line for his girl or loved ones.
JamiSings:
I cannot agree more!
To add, I also love Lucas Hunter from Nalini Singh’s Psy/Changeling series. Smart, funny, strong and gentle, a little pushy but not overbearing, possesive but not dominating . Always treasures the heroine. Doesn’t hurt that both are easy on the eyes, if not eye candy.
I’ll be honest, I don’t think that I’ve ever read a romance where the hero’s been f-ugly. If not handsome/rugged in face, then at least extremely fit.
What have I learned from men in real life and does any of that show up in my favorite guys in fiction? Well, take my brothers, for example, who can be as interesting and as impossible as family members from Nora Roberts, and her ability to make them talk like real guys talk is, like, right on, sistah! I appreciate my brothers more due to Nora.
Then there are boyfriends. Huh. I married my childhood sweetheart, and, because I BELIEVED in HEA, I stayed and stayed with my uncommunicative, unaffectionate, unappretiative, undemonstrative but very reliable guy for 27 years, until the last chick was fledged and about to leave the nest. All along, I was diving into romances, trying to find the way to that HEA with the guy I was already married to. Seriously. I needed a big sister to show me how to MAKE IT WORK, so I looked between the covers of books written by women.
But, back then, 1970s romance had way too many rapey heroes; I never liked the rigid lawmen even if they were protective; the sci-fi guys in books were NOT sexy at all. Later, Jayne Ann Krentz gave me some uncommunicative guys to appreciate. Now, after almost as many years single as I spent married, I love the hero guys with a sense of humor who can TALK AND THINK, and I dislike the ones who can’t think of anything else except the magic hoo hoo, even when bombs are detonating and bullets are flying and Evil Darkness is closing an icy fist on the desperate lovers.
So, favorite hero? Rothgar. And Jo Beverly was masterful in developing his character over the Malloren series. Also, every guy Loretta Chase wrote, even the truly bumbling idiots.
Coloring outside the lines, I’d pick Lannes Hannelore, a living !gargoyle! in The Wild Road, and Marjorie Liu’s ability to make me LOVE a !gargoyle! is incredible.
Ultimately, I read romance for the heroines, and what they can teach me about how people do relationships. Authors with the talent to make those printed pages seem real are not just providing us escape—they are opening us up to others ways of relating that FaceTwitSpace will never achieve.
quote me, sure.
I have a problem here: I don’t know what category the heroes I like fall into… For example, I love Devil from Devil’s Bride (Stephanie Laurens) and Sebastian from Promise in a Kiss (S.L. again) but then after those two I get really bored with that whole alpha-angry-totally-against-marriage thing. Coz lets be honest here, that is what Stephanie Laurens books are ALL about. Does my frickin’ head in.
I really really reeeeeeeeeeeeeally love Eloisa James’ heroes, for the most part. I absolutely lost my heart to the prince Gabriel in a Kiss at Midnight. Oh wow. He is just… so… I don’t know… delicious. I think it’s his honorability that makes me love him, and the fact that he is all wild and sexy and noble and kind and just a teenst tiny bit bold and cheeky as hell to boot. Also love the Duke of Villiers in the Desperate Duchesses series, coz he was just brilliant the whole way through. And intelligent. I’m a sucker for an intelligent man. And he’s an asshole. But in the end he’s just LOVELY. I’m all about the man with the hidden emotional depths while on the outside he’s an asshole.
Finally, Sebastian St. Vincent from Lisa Kleypas’ The Devil in Winter… Well, I did say that I love my asshole hero with the hidden emotional depths, didn’t I? I mean, he marries Evie and and she’s so innocent, and he’s so… not innocent, and he is SUCH a hero is every sense of the word. Lovely.
Finally… hang on… I mean it this time… I love Sebastian Grey (must be something to do with the name Sebastian) from 10 Things I Love About You by Julia Quinn. He’s so charming and light and funny, and yet he’s got a heart of gold underneath, even though it takes him Aaaaaaaaaagessssssssssss to figure out he loves Annabel. Also, the grandmother deserves a shout out too for being so hilariously funny. I laughed my way through that book thanks to her.
I swear, I’m done now.
Oh and you can quote me if you like to 🙂
While I definitely have a thing for the caring-alpha types (Kleypas’ Jack Travis had me swooning), and I think I will always put Roarke and Jamie Fraser on a romance pedestal, my very favorite hero is Brigan, from Kristin Cashore’s YA fantasy FIRE. I like him because he feels real, like someone who could exist outside the pages of a book, and because the relationship he develops with the title character feels remarkably authentic. Brigan’s not an entirely good person, but he’s doing the best that he can, and it shows. He’s the sort of person I would actually like to meet in real life – a true dream man!
Cat Marsters said:
Aah, Spike. Good call, Cat. Any man (or vamp) who can say, “I may be love’s bitch, but at least I’m man enough to admit it” has my vote.
Plus? Utterly, ridiculously hot.
I love to read all types of heroes – angsty, alpha-y, brooding, damaged, borderline-psychotic, sarcastic, roguish, manwhorish, superficial – bring’ em all on. But yeah, real life? I can do without the drama, displays of jealousy chap my ass, and I got my own bags to handle, thank you. But I’d say my favorite hero that I not only loved to read but I would totally have gone for in real life is Ford from NR’s Tribute. Cute, funny, geeky, smart, creative, successful but not a Billionaire Tycoon, not intimidated by a strong woman and not scared off by her issues, supportive without dominating. Hey, Ford, can I talk you into a quick trip to Vegas, we can drive by this wedding chapel I know…..
Sure, quote me if ya wanna.
I love, love, LOVE the Stoic Alpha! (See Alec Kincaid from Garwood’s The Bride). This is the flavor of Alpha who is so much a leader and confident that he doesn’t have to push people around, especially the women he claims to love, to show what a man he is. He can get to be too much to take at times, but he’s the sort who actually enjoys being taken down a peg or two by his woman and is confident enough in his manhood that he can apologize (or grovel) when he royally fucks up. And, most importantly, when he meets the heroine, he realizes that what he has been missing in his life is a woman who is his equal, which is why he’s had a lot of bed partners in the past but no real lasting relationships. This kind of man loves you with everything he has and will die to protect you or before he lets you go, and for this reason, the heroine never has to do any handwringing about their relationship, even if the Gorgeous (And Possibly Evil) Ex shows up. She also knows that if Shit Goes Down, he will back her up without question. There is absolutely no doubt in her mind that she is loved, and so the relationship can go to a deeper level fairly quickly. I adore these sorts of men and the heroines who win their hearts.
I also agree that the types of dominant men/heroes who make me tingle deliciously in my no-no place in romance novels would make me run screaming in real life, or possibly dial 911 upon meeting them. The good new is that I did finally find my Stoic Alpha in real life, and I knew he was my dream guy when, three months into our relationship, I asked how he felt about me, and he looked me dead in the eye and said (without any hesitation or stammering), “I love you, of course!!” Mrowr.
(Feel free to quote me as Joanna S….not so imaginative, but whaddyagonnado, eh?!)
I’m a big fan of the “leave her alone and she’ll come to you – shit, I can’t help myself *GLOMP*” type. They’re not the alpha-who-can’t-stop-thinking-about-her-why-am-I-feeling-possessive type. They know they love the heroine, they just have to wait for her to come to her senses. Only, of course, something happens that makes it impossible for them to wait. Victoria Dahl writes these very well – Jude Bertrand from A Little Bit Wild and Quinn Jennings from Start Me Up come to the forefront of my mind.
What I love about these men is that they can recognize what is happening to them. And perhaps it is also because the genre is so stuffed full of alphas who don’t know what’s happening, and it’s nice to see the roles reversed. The heroine’s love for such a man sneaks up on her until she is too deep in love to scratch out, try as she might. These heroes tend to be (not always) more honest with the heroines, which makes for less romangst, but makes for an HEA that I can really get behind. I’m not worried she’s going to flirt with a guy and he’s going to go apeshit and beat him up (as much as I love Alyssa Day, when her Atlantians get in each others’ faces for SMILING at their beloved, I get squicked out).
Another thing I love in a hero is an excellent sense of playfulness and humor. Again, I will use Jude Bertrand as my example. He lets Marissa take the lead, but he plays with her. While on the inside he may be burning for her to touch him, he has witty quips on the outside. Sometimes that humor hides a sensitive, easily-wounded inside, and it’s nice to see that revealed over the course of the story. And it’s nice to see the heroine take up that challenge – especially if the heroine is one of the “I can take care of myself and only myself” types. Then she learns that she needs to be a partner in this – that it can’t be all him.
These men also always seem to know when it’s appropriate to take a little bit of control. In some very uncanny ways. They’re smart guys, and good people-readers, for the most part. Though, like all human beings, they can make mistakes, particularly where the heroine is involved.
And I will also throw a vote in for Col. Brandon. He’s one of my favorite Austin heroes. 🙂
I like the Partner In Crime prototype: the guy who is hawt, smart, and capable and acknowledges that the heroine is as well. He may occasionally save her ass, but he relies on her abilities and opinions and sometimes her ass-saving skills.
Case in point…..my bestie and I were discussing last night how if “Lord Connall Maccon” from the Soulless series were real, neither one of us could have held on to virtue for even a third of a book.
He’s a government operative who happens to be the Alpha werewolf of the Westminster Pack. He grumbles about Alexia’s interference with bureau business but he’s always in a hurry to get her take on a situation even if it means trusting her with classified details.
He’s strong and protective, in absolute awe of her cleverness and strength of will, and quite the savory alpha male as well.
Mswyrr, I’m an Antryg Windrose fan too!
The heroes I like in romance novels are exactly the kind of men I’m attracted to in real life. My favorite hero is the geeky type, either super smart or super passionate about something (or both). I like intense, confident men who are also gentle and kind. They can be shy or vulnerable or even a bit lacking in social graces as long as they have a good heart underneath. Protectiveness is a must. I figure if a guy isn’t protective, he either doesn’t love me much or he’s a coward, and neither of those are appealing traits.
Antryg Windrose from Hambly’s fantasy series is a perfect example of the kind of hero I love.
So is Miles Vorkosigan from Bujold’s SF series.
Some other examples:
Kel-Paten from Linnea Sinclair’s
Games of Command
.
Lisle from Loretta Chase’s
Last Night’s Scandal
.
Edward from Elizabeth Hoyt’s
The Raven Prince
.
Heroes I can’t stand:
Rakes (all I can think of is how many STDs they must have)
Asshats
Passive men lacking in ambition or passion
Misogynists (men who hate all women until they meet the heroine)
Thinking back on this question, I want to amend my earlier answer. I talked about realistic heroes, and now I want to say that there’s a “fantasy” I enjoy as well, where one person is almost rewarded by getting to be with the other…the sort of situation that makes for unequal power in a relationship in real life, and doesn’t always end happily. In my fantasies and in books, they do. The wallflower who is noticed by the handsome rake that every woman wants is being rewarded. That’s why I like Darcy, Elizabeth is certainly deserving of him and they make a great pair personality-wise, but what hit me emotionally the first time I read it, is that wonderful feeling of “Me? He wants me? Am I worth it? Am I that special? YAY” if you know what I mean.
The same when the hero is a geek and the heroine a pretty girl. He’s a great guy and a nice guy and usually earns the heroine. The real life situations like this usually have the geek/nice guy actually end up being a dick who thinks he “deserves” you just for being a decent human being for five minutes, but in fiction, he treats the heroine like a queen.
In real life, I like an equal footing and equal power and equal love on both sides etc, but in fiction I love the anguish of the downtrodden Betty Neals heroines who get treated like shit by everyone except her rich foreign doctor who only admits his love in the last paragraph.
Personally, when the hero starts getting grabby and possessive I can’t help but think “GIRL, GET YOUR RAPE WHISTLE HANDY!”. I don’t understand the whole “Wow you are portable sized Heroine I will take you over my shoulder when you get too chatty and force you to do things you don’t want to dammit and you’re going to like it!” Also, heroes with too much muscular definition make me weary, I can’t stop thinking about all the protein shake containers lining his cupboard and the heavy weights he keeps lying around his apartment that the heroine hates because every night she stubs her toe on them while making her way to the bathroom.
I like it when the hero is smart and assertive but when it comes to the heroine he shows vulnerability and sensitivity. Regencies really hit the sweet spot for me because the hero and heroine are usually playing some sort of social game with each other where they have to consider their situations from many different angles, it’s like playing a game of chess except sexy. So, it’s like strip-chess, if it exists.
In general, when the hero matches the heroine in strength, intelligence and personality, it’s usually awesome.
Sorry forgot to mention the quote was from CupK8!
Roarke Roarke Roarke Roarke Roarke! What’s NOT to love about Roarke? He’s utterly devoted to Eve but he’s PURE alpha male. Rich, gorgeous, smart, sexy. Good at almost everything (the grill being an exception to be sure). Protective, trusting, loving, supportive, helpful, generous, giving, charming . . . I could do this ALL DAY. He’s a total dreamboat. I want a Roarke. BAD.
Gideon, from Amanda Quick’s Ravished. He’s tormented, but not emo. He’s trusting, but not a pushover. He’s ridiculously enormous and scarred, but sexy. And he’s so damn grateful that Harriet loves and trusts and wants him, but he’s never a pussy about it. I
<3 him!
Grey, from
The Spymaster’s Lady. Strong, honorable, sexy, decent, smart. (And spies are automatically hot!)
I love Nora’s heroes a lot when I’m reading, but I’m having a hard time right now separating one from the pack. She writes too many damned books!
for52: I could name a Nora hero or two that I particularly loved, if it weren’t for the fact that she writes 52 books a year!
I left out Darcy. WTF is wrong with me?
He needs no explanation or justification, of course. He’s DARCY.
Acheron.
The end.
Mind you in real life I would kill him, because in real life Alpha guys are pretty much all complete pricks. I’m more of a fan of the beta guy in real life, but in books the beta type guy does’t grab me at all.
Along with many others here I love Miles Vorkosigan, but in real life Miles too would make me run screaming – and no, not because of his physical issues but, seriously? A hyperactive, super-intelligent, reckless lunatic?
You’d run screaming too.
Oh, and to the person looking for the psychopath /Spike type hero in written fiction? Zarek.
And, in fact, quite a lot of Sherrilyn Kenyon’s other heroes. She writes psycho nutter alpha hero quite well. So does Christine Feehan – I’m not going to recommend any of her books specifically but pick up any of them with a title starting Dark… and you’ll get a hero who is by definition going mad.
spamword between 32 – I’m sure there have been at least 32 of those Dark… books.
mswyrr, I love Antryg Windrose as well. Also Ingold in Hambly’s Darwath books. Both are honorable, kind, tortured, and brilliant. All appealing qualities in a literary hero. They have a great deal of integrity and can outthink most of the people around them but are often misunderstood. And they treat the heroines with a great will of respect.
Other favorite heroes include Darcy, Peter Wimsey, Damerel, Charles Audley, Fox Mulder, James from “Freedom & Necessity”, Lord Vaughn from the “Seduction of the Crimson Rose”, Sherlock Holmes (to be honest, probably more the Laurie King version than than the Arthur Conan Doyle one; it’s pretty easy to see them as the same character, but King’s has matured).
I second the person who said Fox O’Dell from the Sign of Seven series.
While Jamie Fraser is fine and dandy, he’s not the reason I continue to read the Outlander series. That honor goes to the extremely sexy and amazing Roger Wakefield/Mackenzie. He’s an intellectual with the soul of a poet, a man who knows what he wants and takes it, a man who is so in love that he risked his life to follow his woman into the past. THE PAST, PEOPLE. He gave up everything he knew to follow his heart and love of his life. You cannot tell me that isn’t 150% awesome.
I’m also VERY fond of Leo Hathaway in Lisa Kleypas’ Hathaway novels. In real life, I’m not sure I’d like to spend time with a snarky, sarcastic insufferable know-it-all bastard but I sure do love to read about him. I like him despite all of the flaws I just mentioned because…
1) he’s unconventional. He doesn’t care about what everyone else does, he’s gonna do his own thing, the ton be dammed.
2) he’s brilliant, hilarious, yet earthy and approachable.
3) he’s absolutely devoted to his family, even when he pretends not to be.
I noticed that other people were putting in non-book ‘hero’ types that they like and so I’ll also take this opportunity to say that Dr. Sweets from “Bones”, Bodie from “The Professionals” and the one and only world’s sexiest man Illya Kuryakin from “The Man from UNCLE” are like my perfect fictional heartthrobs. OH. MY. GOD.
Okay, I’m plagiarizing myself because I wrote this years ago, but it’s still my working model for creating a hero.
A hero doesn’t need to be perfect—I’d rather have a man with human frailties ad self-doubts. But despite his imperfections, he must have a nobility pf spirit that gives him the ability to recognize his own flaws, to see the good in others, and ultimately, to do the right thing, regardless of the cost to himself.
And I don’t know what happened to that quote because it looked just fine when I dropped it in there, so . . . many appo-logies (if anyone remembers Hugh Laurie in a really old episode of Blackadder.
A hero doesn’t need to be perfect—I’d rather have a man with human frailties and self-doubts. But despite his imperfections, he must have a nobility of spirit that gives him the ability to recognize his own flaws, to see the good in others, and ultimately, to do the right thing, regardless of the cost to himself.
There!
I like all the heros from the Chicago Stars series by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I like the one I am reading about at the moment the best, then I move onto the next story and I like him the best.
Whilst I love PNR alpha males, the heroes in this series are just real Men but with that little bit more. More angsty, stronger, emotionally crippled, emotionally superior, lusty, amazing lovers, can take a joke about himself,loves his woman to death- etc etc. You know just like real life!
And Roarke (of course) we still know so little about him yet he is mesmerizing.
I can’t believe no one has mentioned Lymond from Dorothy Dunnett’s Lymond Chronicles. Six sizzling books of angsty, humorous, cruel, witty, charming, gorgeous hero culminating in serious big love. OMG!!! That’s what I call a hero.
My very first book crush was Rochester – I was about 10-11 when I read Jane Eyre, and I thought Rochester was just amazing, and I was really cross with Bronte for punishing him with the maiming at the end of the book. Grrr.
Although I loved GWTW enormously, I was actually totally into Scarlett, not the guys. Around the same time though, I got into Georgette Heyer, and I loved Alverstoke and Damerel and Sir Waldo in particular, with a nod to Oliver in The Black Sheep.
I just did the which Harry Potter boy quiz on facebook and it came up with Draco Malfoy – I was hoping for the Weasley twins, so that one backfired on me. But I think what I love best is the funny bad boy. Humour and wit and intelligence are the things that win me every time.
Ibbotson and Crusie heroes also do it for me. Phinn from Welcome to Temptation is my favourite Crusie hero, because he’s witty and observant and resistant and hot hot hot.
The heroes I love best are observant and powerful. And they have to have integrity. They can make mistakes and cock it up, but deep down, they have to be true to themselves. I blogged about this recently, because I read a book I quite liked, but the hero was underpowered and that meant that a potentially A book got only a b(-) from me. http://www.thatreadingwritingthing.com/home/2010/10/8/my-last-duchess-and-the-quandary-of-the-romantic-hero.html
I love the strong serious protective types, like Aidan Bedwyn (Slightly Married) Zane Mackenzie(Mackenzie’s Pleasure) and my latest crush is on William Doyle from Bourne’s The Forbidden Rose. otoh, I also love heroes with a sense of humor, like Cyn Malloren from My Lady Notorious and Gideon from The Perfect Rake. Sometimes I even love troublesome or tortured heros like Robert from England’s Perfect Hero, Dominic Alastair, Sebastian St. Vincent or Hardy Cates. But what they all have in common is they are protective, and very much into the heroine from the get go, and latch on to her in one way or another, whether they realize they are in love or think they are in lust.
Lisa Kleypas writes some of the best heroes around.
Brussel Sprout, you said it perfectly there on your blog about what makes a romantic hero ” I think that a big part of this is that whether the heroine knows it or not, the reader does know that these men are absolutely batty about their women.”
Right off the top of my head I can say I’ve learned from romance novels that I wouldn’t like an alpha male. I’ve never really had any experience with one in real life, but if they’re anything like in novels, I’d probably punch him in the face.
My favorites heros are mostly rakes. I think they are vulnerable but strong, able to find a way to avoid hurt, even if it’s not the best road to happiness. The best are Sebastian from Devil in Winter (Evie sees through to his sensitive parts, and he loves her anyway) and Vidal in Devils Cub (when he actually acts his age and begs his father to tell Mary she must marry him? I just die. Plus, Mary shoots him. ‘Nuf said.)
But a rake wouldn’t do in real life – they never deal well with people seeing past their facades. And there’s only one strictly romance hero that I like that would also be good in real life: Freddy from Cotillion. He would stand by you and make you laugh. That’s way more dreamy than a muscular torso. In other bookstore sections: Mr Darcy is the end all in ideal romantic heros, followed closely by Gilbert Blythe (I’ve been dreaming of you since I was ten years old!) and Jack Force from the Young Adult Supernatural Bluebloods series. Jack used books to communicate with the heroine during their secret phase: The Plague, Pride and Prejudice, Anna Karenina – melting both Schuyler’s and my hearts.
Mentioning Gilbert made me think of an Anne quote from Anne of the Island that I’ve always identified with. Anne is lamenting how boring a friend’s fiance is to Marilla and Mrs Lynde, and one of them asks if she would want to marry a wicked man? She responds “Oh, no. I wouldn’t want to marry anybody who was wicked, but I think I’d like it if he could be wicked and wouldn’t.” As an adult this isn’t really what I’d want, but it sure is what I like to fantasize about. Maybe it’s about character complexity? Or just the allure of the dark side? Whatever the draw, it’s wicked sexy.
My favorite hero is the Incredibly Brilliant Teddy Bear, and the fuzzy beard is an extra plus. Professor Bhaer from LITTLE WOMEN, LITTLE MEN, and JO’S BOYS. Give me someone who’s very affectionate, and yet can make bad puns about particle physics.
Oh, and…Reader, I married him (plus he makes great ambrosia fruit salad for Thanksgiving dinner, too).
And for my Guilty Pleasure, I give you Severus Snape. So loyal to a girl who dumped him for not being a rich pureblood, that he (ok, fairly grumpily) died for people who despised and hated him—and apparently never knew any true love, ever. Who wouldn’t want to hug someone like that (granted, with extreme caution
).
I started reading romance in my early teens in the 70’s. All the heroes seemed like jealous bullies and, God help them, the heroines seemed grateful to be in their possessive clutches. I didn’t know much about anything then but I knew what I didn’t like. Then I read Jan Cox Speas and realized there were alternatives out there. I dug out “My Lord Monleigh” and there it was, at the end, when the heroine realized that all the time she thought he was refusing to take her with him, he was making her choose her own happiness so that she would know no regret because of him.
Now the only difficulty was finding a Monleigh in real life. Still working on it.
Can I just list heros I love? I am fairly sure that if I met any of these guys I would at least be in serious like with them.
Colin Bridgerton from Romancing Mr. Bridgerton (Julia Quinn)
Sir Harry from It Happened In London (Julia Quinn)
Davey Dempsey from Faking It (Jennifer Crusie)
C.L from Tell Me Lies (Jennifer Crusie)
Sean from Tears of the Moon (Nora Roberts)
Cameron Quinn from Sea Swept (Nora Roberts)
Rupert Carsington from Mr Impossible (Loretta Chase)
Henry Tilney from Northhanger Abbey (Jane Austen)
Roake from the In Death series (JD Robb)
Wow. I think I must be either a little flighty or a little fickle if I can list all those names and really mean it. Looking over it though I’m thinking that my favourite heros are either the reformed/reforming bad boy or the younger and overshadowed brother.
Something that I have learnt from my reading is that I never really like or trust the bad boy who starts reforming because he’s in love with the girl. He needs to have already taken steps for himself by himself. Otherwise it seems kind of false and I doubt that it will stick.
I have a few favorite kinds of heroes. I love the Bad Boy with a Soft Side. I’m in a Thanksgiving coma, so the only example that’s coming to mind right now is Alex Karev on Grey’s Anatomy. (Not a book, I know, but I’m half-asleep) He’s generally a big jerk, but the way he took care of Izzy when she had cancer…*major swoon* I would never, ever date a guy like him in real life, because there’s no way I could put up with all that douchebaggery in real life.
I also love the Damaged, but Secretly Vulnerable Hero, like Acheron from the Dark-Hunter books, or Zsadist from the BDB books. Again, I couldn’t actually be with a guy like that, but I love them in a book!
My last favorite would be the Steady, Quiet, Caretaker. This is the guy who’s always there for the heroine, even if they’re not romantically involved. Jacob from the Twilight books comes to mind. Or Lord Mercer in Liz Carlyle’s Wicked All Day, which I’m reading right now. (I LOVE it, by the way!) He’s just there in the background taking care of the heroine, even when she may not even know he’s doing it. Side note, I married that type of hero, so that’s probably my favorite. 😉
I don’t have a clever screen name, but feel free to quote me if there’s anything you can use.
Which men from romances rock my world? Mm. That’s a tough question to answer, because all of the guys that come to mind are not men that I would ever envision being with. I know enough of them to know that either I’m incompatible with them, or their actions would drive me off. But that’s one of the wonderful things about books: I’m not reading about guys for me, I’m reading about a set of characters that are so amazingly well-suited for one another, whose actions and conversations and chemistry almost LEAP off the page. So for me, a good hero is not just the sum of the man himself, but the man/woman he is pursuing.
So while I adore Howl in Howl’s Moving Castle, it’s because his interactions with Sophie are so amusing yet secretly tender, revealing the soft-spot he’s developed for this madly-cleaning, enchanted nuisance who gets a bit too snip-happy with his suits. If I were to meet a real Howl I wouldn’t be able to abide him; the vanity, the tendency to sulk, it would just drive me batty (plus, guy takes longer in the bathroom than my whole family combined. AND THERE ARE 8 OF US.)
And I love, love, love Mr. Darcy, but I’d be no match for him. It’s his pursuit of Lizzy and the slow deconstruction of their prior assessments of one another that make them both so amazing, and consequently makes me swoon and leaves me in a happy little afterglow.
And even though I want to hug Nick from The Secret Circle (okay so he’s not the main hero, and I do have a soft spot for Adam, but it’ll always be Nick for me, darn you Cassie), I’m pretty sure that, given that we both tend to be slightly aloof, nothing would ever happen between us (and the memory of my teenage heart breaks with that knowledge). It’s his awareness of Cassie, his willingness to step outside of his comfort zone, and their tender yet brief relationship that gives me a little bittersweet ache. (Plus, I really like that he is a guy surrounded by very, very powerful women, that he knows this and is not in the least threatened by it—it’s so normal for him that it never comes up as an issue, and that is awesome and makes him even more appealing.)
Sadly I don’t have an awesome internet handle, but feel free to quote if anything I’ve said is at all useful. I’m stuffed with entirely too much wonderful food so frankly it’s amazing I even made it as far as my computer.
I tend to gravitate toward towards the Bad Boy end of the hero spectrum. I love me some rakes and libertines, the more dissipated and jaded the better, who are reformed by love. Well, not totally reformed, I guess—more like they fall in love and start to understand that there’s more to life than getting drunk all the time. I just like the fantasy of the playboy rake turning respectable for the love of a good woman. I know lame and unrealistic of me, sure, but whatevs! 😉 My favorite heroes from this lot would be: Dominic (DEVIL’S CUB, Heyer); Adrian (RECKLESS, Stuart); Nardi (BLISS, Cuevas); James (BOUND BY YOUR TOUCH, Duran).
I also like the utter psychopath, a.k.a Spike from Buffy. The “he’s your monster”, gamma type of hero is soooo attractive to me, though I have yet to find a lot of good representations of this hero in romance. I’ve found that, so often, heroes written in this mold tend to be excessively horrible and abusive to the heroine, which I can’t stand. My personal, ideal rendition of the utter psychopath would be a hero who is dangerous and psycho to the world, but utterly in love with the heroine and not too much of a jerk about it. The only hero I’ve read like that would be Allegreto from Laura Kinsale’s SHADOWHEART (love him).
I’m also not a big fan of alphas, now that I think on it. So many of them, in my completely anecdotal experience, are written as HULKSMASH possessive, but the possession comes from a place of ownership. The heroine is the hero’s property, like she’s on the level with his horses or town house. I don’t know, that just squicks me right out. 🙁