I was shocked – SHOCKED – when Reader Jessica left a comment about virgin hero recommendations and my deep dive through the SBTB archives turned up nothing.
Of course, there are some obvious choices and probably a handful of lists on Goodreads, but personal recommendations of books you’ve loved and why go much further, don’t you think?
Redheadedgirl: There’s a virgin hero in one of the stories in the Rogue Desire anthology ( A | BN | K | G ).
Amanda: Also…the anthology is currently 99c. Just thought you all wanted to know.
Elyse: When the Duke Returns by Eloisa James ( A | BN | K | G | AB )
Amanda: I don’t think I know of any virgin heroes, but I’ve read a few sexually inexperience heroes that I really loved. The Game Plan by Kristen Callihan ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) has a man-bunned, NFL hero who has never had penetrative vaginal sex. His first sexual experience was traumatic for him, so trigger warning for that.
There’s also Ripped by Edie Harris ( A | K | G | AB ). The hero (if I recall) has only had sex once. He’s a grumpy lawyer and the heroine is a British assassin.
I know you have virgin hero recommendations! Let us have ’em!
Winter Makepeace in “Thief of Shadows” by Elizabeth Hoyt (#4 in the Maiden Lane series)! The strong, stoic kind with repressed passion is a favourite of mine – and I love the witty, self-composed female lead too.
Verence, the former Fool of Lancre. (Ditto his partner, Magrat Garlick the hippie witch.) Mentioned in most detail in “Carpe Jugulum” and defunct thereafter, but kinda visible in the earlier witches of Lancre books in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
((NB Fantasy, not romance genre. And more major character than hero.))
Maybe some of the wizards as well. Don’t recall whether they were supposed to be virgins or celibate. Something along those lines.
Offbase by Annabeth Albert (M/M military), Keepsake by Sarina Bowen (hero is a sheltered former cult member[?]), All I Am by Nicole Helm (All I remember is the farmer’s market),
I can’t recall 100% that these are virgin heroes, but definitely inexperienced: Archer’s Voice by Mia Sheridan (hero is mute for reasons), Beautiful Wreck by Larissa Brown (futuristic present, 9th[?] Century Icelandic timetravel with Vikings)
Love this trope!
Courtney Milan’s The Duchess War, although it isn’t a huge part of the story.
Some books of Nalini Singh in “Psy&Changelings” serie, like Heart of Obsidian, Shield of Winter, Shards of Hope.
Admiral Branden Kel-Paten, a cyborg from Linnea Sinclair’s sci-fi romance ‘Games of Command’. Not supposed to feel emotions such as love, but does so anyway for a mercenary-turned-captain.
Initiating Christian by Emma Wildes. I really liked it back in the day. It is not available for purchase now.
Jo Beverley’s Forbidden (one of the Rogues series) has a virgin hero, although ‘ware trigger warnings for the heroine’s abusive first marriage.
To charm a naughty countess by Theresa Romain, Hex Bound and Heart of Iron by Bec McMaster, simple Jess by Pamela Morsi, Untouched by Anna Campell, Transcendense by Shay Savage, Virtuous scoundrel by Maggie Fenton, The Duchess war by Courtney Milan. Can you tell that I like this trope? 😉
I was so sure I recently read a comments thread on this topic here on SBTB, but of course now I can’t find it.
Anyway, To Charm a Naughty Countess by Theresa Romain has a virgin hero, as does Courtney Milan’s The Duchess War, as mentioned above. Both are excellent books! To Charm a Naughty Countess also features a hero who may or may not be on the autism spectrum and has anxiety disorder.
Lord Ferdinand Dudley in Mary Balogh’s – but it was a one-star read for me. Courtney Milan’s has – bizarrely – a similar plot, but is Fantastic.
The virgin hero that set the bar for me was Brother Gregory/Gilbert de Vilers of Judith Merkle Riley’s A Vision of Light and In Pursuit of the Green Lion, set in the 14th century. Despite being older than the heroine – Margaret – he’s a virgin because he’s been searching for God. I loved the scene where they finally consummate their marriage, because it’s both hilarious and weird and involves the heroine burning the hero’s hair shirt and scourge because she’s fucking tired of seeing him hurting himself.
Let’s try again – (I can never get tags right on SBTB)
Lord Ferdinand Dudley in Mary Balogh’s – but it was a one-star read for me. Courtney Milan’s has – bizarrely – a similar plot, but is Fantastic.
Always to Remember by Lorraine Heath
Bound to the Warrior King by Maisey Yates
Well, Outlander’s Jamie Fraser springs to mind. If I ever actually get some sleep (doubtful) and my brain starts to function a little better, others might occur to me.
Along with The Duchess War, there’s Courtney Milan’s Unclaimed, where the hero’s virginity is a major plot element.
Giving up…
Argh * sequencing memory fail *. Substitute “Lords and Ladies” (Terry Pratchett).
Tonya Burrows’ Wilde at Heart
Dara Joy’s cracktastic futuristic Regency tale Ritual of Proof reverses historical gender roles to the extent that every male of the aristocracy is a sheltered, submissive creature whose first sexual encounter is a painful ordeal. The hero is a virgin, but it would be scandalous if he wasn’t.
An old classic: Beginner’s Luck by Dixie Browning
https://www.fictiondb.com/author/dixie-browning~beginners-luck~6222~b.htm
The mention of “Unclaimed” by Courtney Milan reminded me of a novel with a similar plot by Julie Anne Long: “A Notorious Countess Confesses”. I’m not positive that the hero is a virgin, but he is a vicar and big on chastity (and not just the superficial kind). Maybe someone else can weigh in on whether he is actually a virgin?
The Duke and the Domina by Jenn LeBlanc. It’s a time-travel romance with a dominant heroine and a hero who’s a virgin.
Possible spoilers for older books?
Not a big part of the stories (they’re more sweet than sexy), but “Libby’s London Merchant” by Carla Kelly and also “Miss Chartley’s Guided Tour.” I wasn’t really crazy about that one though, as there is some trauma in hero’s past that was pretty awful.
I haven’t read it, but I believe “Snowdrops and Scandalbroth” by Barbara Metzger also has a virgin hero.
Not a virgin but Mary Jo Putney’s couple in Veils of Silk have both suffered tragic pasts that make them think all desire is gone so they contract a marriage of convinence. The story is of there awakening passion. The Silk Trilogy is very good.
Sacked by Jen Frederick.
Rogue Spy by Joanna Bourne
Love Hacked by Penny Reid.
I really liked the aforementioned GAME PLAN and KEEPSAKE. And, coincidentally, I just finished Sherilee Gray’s BREAKING HIM, which features a virgin hero (who comes from an abusive background) who works with horses on the heroine’s ranch. The story is rather sad (many people in the community knew the hero was being abused as a child but no one stepped in to stop it), but the sex is hot, hot, hot (including–be prepared!–anal) with a bdsm element.
I know I’ve read more but I’m kind of blanking now. The only two that jump immediately to mind are Keir by Pippa Jay (a sci fi/fantasy type romance) and Gone Too Deep by Katie Ruggle (rom suspense). I loved both of these heroes so much!
Yes, Snowdrops and Scandalbroth has a virgin hero. The ending is pretty damn funny, too; the hero has the BEST line. This book resides in my keeper bookshelf. I cannot recommend Barbara Metzger highly enough.
Just read two! “Tempted” by Jess Michaels, probably explicit enough to be called erotica, the heroine isn’t a virgin. Also “Conall” by Samantha Kane, this is a novella erotica menage, heroine also not a virgin. Both are historicals.
Also “Lover Enshrined” by JR Ward, part of the Black Dagger Brotherhood, #6 (maybe just abstinent for a long time??)
Back when I first started reading romance, I would buy pretty much anything, there is one I remember and pretty sure I still own, there’s “The Last Male Virgin” a contemporary by Katherine Deauxville. I don’t remember much, but my teenage brain wasn’t really wired to notice issues, so I think it was cute, but I do know I’ve never read it again.
There’s an AU book by Wen Spencer, “A Brother’s Price” – a world in which women outnumber men by a large ratio, so it’s polygamy turned on its head – the women go out and do things, the men stay at home, sheltered, and raise the children. They only go out swathed in robes and veils.
King Nakoa KauPo in Pages of the Mind by Jeffe Kennedy (reviewed this for RRC 17)
Sir Mark Turner in Unclaimed by Courtney Milan (seconding: hero’s virginity is major plot point here)
Branden Kel Paten in Games of Command by Linnea Sinclair (seconding: partial cyborg who had a prostitute refuse to sleep with him in his youth)
Jerin Whistler in A Brother’s Price by Wen Spencer (another culture with reversed sex roles)
The following are all keepers for me:
Sarina Bowen: “Goodbye Paradise” (m/m); “The Shameless Hour” (f/m with a very experienced and non slut shamed/ing f)
Annabeth Albert: “Treble Maker” (m/m)
Ishaan Faujdaar in Anuja Chauhan’s Baaz. Also recommend Anuja Chauhan in general (apart from The House That BJ Built) for Indian romances. She uses a lot of Hinglish, but that shouldn’t be much of a problem.
A lot of the heros in Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series are virgins, especially the vampires. She loves the trope so it’s built into their anatomy that they can’t get aroused until they find their mate.
“The Danger of Desire” by Elizabeth Essex, though it’s not a major plot point. I second the Hoyt “Thief of Shadows” rec. and Eva Leigh’s “Temptation of a Wallflower,” where the hero is at least inexperienced if not a virgin, I can’t remember.
I just finished and enjoyed The Peculiar Folly of Long-Legged Meg by Jayne Fresina.
I second Thief of Shadows.
Outlander! I know Diana Gabaldon doesn’t like her books to categorized as romances, but I think Jamie and Claire have the most perfect romance I’ve ever read. There is some sexual abuse in the series, but that’s not why Jamie is a virgin.