Smart Bitches, Trashy Books

I could have sworn the tag said, “The man she had to shave…”

*snerk*

Much too early to be reading anything, apparently.

Even got hair going down the treasure trail…

I am so glad someone else has noticed the rampant crispiness out there in love-scene-land.  Not only is hair crisp upon the chest, it is occasionally crisp upon the legs.  Nothing like that smell of burnt toast to heighten the sensuality, yum.

BTW, Kalen is a fabulous writer and I bet Lord Scandal will be one heck of a good read (with or without the crispy crunchies).

Belly fur, too! I like it!

WTF?  I kept looking at the “special price” sticker over his left nipple and getting increasingly annoyed.

But his boobah is so much bigger (and hairier) than mine….

I was so fascinated by the crispy chest-haired cover of My Fair Captain that I bought the book.  (The warning on the back cover including the words “hot nekkid man-love” helped, too.)

To cover designers: More chest hair, please!

I could have sworn the tag said, “The man she had to shave…”

ME TOO.

*laughs alone in her office*

spaminator: finally14. Er. No. A bit older.

FINALLY, a MAN on the cover! whooot!  I am so sick of looking at waxed chests.  My hubby is a furry and it’s fun to see a guy that looks like what I’m used to. ;o)

Now, I realize that not all men have hairy chests~my mom’s whole side of the family is devoid of chest hair~but there is a definite different look to a guy that just doesn’t have chest hair and a guy that waxes off what he has.

I can’t stop clicking on the cover link LOLOL

I hope this signals a trend back towards a more natural look for men when it comes to body hair.  I’ve missed it.

Me like muchly. Muchly!

Wow, see now I want to check out the book. You listening out there, covers designers?

Of course this is coming from someone who worships Gerard Butler - and his chest hair.

A long, long time ago, when I was a young, new feminist, I was raging to anyone who would listen about how media was scewing men’s conception of what women looked like by publishing air-brushed pictures of entirely-waxed female bodies. Real women don’t look like that, women damage themselves trying to live up to impossible expectations, ingrown hairs ain’t pretty, blah blah blah.  It never once occurred to me that they were doing the same to images of male bodies until one of my brother’s friends did a big stretch one day in our living room and showed off his belly hair.  EEEWWW!

Anyway.  Natural hair.  Bring it on.  Not to the extent of Robin Williams, but a little ain’t a bad thing.

Have you looked at the hairy specimen on Meljean Brook’s Demon Night?
http://www.meljeanbrook.com/

Now that is a man!

Very sexy cover and historically accurate to boot.  I want this book. I’m a Georgian girl away but WOW I want him, now!

Finally some marketing person got it right.

Spam: body38, yes on a scale of 1-10 body 38

Yes, please! My freshman year algebra teacher talked about the glories of hairy men, a thought I found strangely repulsive at 14, but I now fully understand her appreciation. Thank you clever cover designer! Thank you.

spam: they14 (year-olds have so much to look forward to?)

I could have sworn the tag said, “The man she had to shave…”

Ha!  That is too funny.  I also enjoy seeing a man with a bit of chest hair, facial hair, armpit hair, whatever, but this particular cover isn’t doing anything for me.  Maybe because that hair looks sort of fluffy and random, like it was blowing on the wind for awhile before it magically landed on his torso.  I prefer the My Fair Captain cover.  That hair looks STUCK.

Crispy?  Er.  Also not sure about hair described as “cloud of” or “nest.”  I always wonder what’s roosting down there.  But bring on the real men, by all means!  Waxing is weird, oil is wrong, and six pack abs kind of squick me out.

HOORAAH FOR HAIR!!!

Ok, so the bear on Barbarella gave me a disgust of body hair on males at a very young age. I was in my twenties before I started to appreciate a little hair on a man. It wasn’t until my husband actually. Now I like to rub my face right in his chest.

Now I’m all for the chest hair ... don’t even get me started on that little trail that heads south.

Hallelujah! A non-waxed chest on a romance cover! *puts Lord Scandal on To-Buy list*

Now, I realize that not all men have hairy chests~my mom’s whole side of the family is devoid of chest hair~but there is a definite different look to a guy that just doesn’t have chest hair and a guy that waxes off what he has.

Not to comment twice but this whole post has helped me figure out what it is that bothers me about the cover for The Lily Brand. I’ve never been able to put my finger on it before, but the guy’s too smooth.

My eyes, they are opened!

“Too smooth” has always been a problem for me.  My partner isn’t a really hairy guy, but even he has SOME chest hair.  Completely smooth (like waxed) chests are squicky for me.  Having that on the cover puts me off buying a book, unless I have a reason to overlook it (like I already like the author, or I read a well-written positive review someplace I trust—but I digress). 

I like the look of Lord Scandal.  I had already noticed from the ad here that My Fair Captain looked hawt, but I hadn’t connected it to the chest hair until I read this post.  And the cover of Demon Night is just plain yummy—thanks for linking to that, Beth!

When I got my latest Blaze cover, I wanted to jump for joy because the hero had chest hair. It didn’t even matter that the heroine looks nothing like she’s supposed to.

Well, it’s about time, that’s all I can say.
For years I’ve been extolling (boring strangers) with lyrical descriptions of mantitty cleavage with a teasing little hint of hair—with historically correct shirts, of course.
Clearly 88, yes ma’am

You call THAT chest hair? Naaaaaaaaah!!!!! Wait ‘til he finishes puberty!
My hubby’s a Sasquatch compared to that li’l bit of man-titty peach fuzz.
Me want big sweaty fur-covered Neanderthal man come to drag me back to his cave…for a delightful contemporary evening of attentive-to-my-needs nookie!

(I don’t ask for much…...)

i live with a set of smooth manboobs.  he shaves because he’s a bodybuilder - so now, i’ve become the opposite of most here and furry manboobies bother me…...

Wow a real man, well almost enough hair to qualify. Males (notice I’m not calling them MEN) that shave their chests squick me out! To be so vain makes me think they’re either gay, or a Nancy-Boy metrosexual.

The guy on the cover of the newest Julia Quinn has chest hair, too.  I was surprised to see it!

word verification: looked21.  Ha.  Yes, if a man has chest hair he probably looks over 21.

I could have sworn the tag said, “The man she had to shave…”

That’s exactly how I read it too.

Verification:  only48.  No, I’m only 19.

Hmm, well, not quite enough for me, but certainly a step forward! Adrian Paul and James Purefoy have, IMNSHO, just the right amount of chest hair to satisfy this girl :)

YAY!! I’ve just written a big, hairy-chested, muttonchop sideburn greaser, so this is awesome!

And he’s covered in tattoos.

Woohoo, December wrote Wolverine!  :D *wriggles impatiently*

verification word:  act84 Why?  I don’t even act 33 yet!

I’m with Eliza.  I just picked up Julia Quinn’s The Lost Duke of Wyndham today and was thinking about how refreshing it was that the hero on that cover looked “real”.  There’s not much man-titty showing, but what is definitely is not waxed!

Maybe this is a trend!  If so, I’m happy to see it.  The older I get, the more I appreciate a little man-fur.

Have to say I don’t really care whether a man has chest hair or not in Real Life, but I think that in pictures (and yes, “My Fair Captain”, I’m talking about you) it just looks like his chest is dirty. OTOH, the Meljean Brook cover is quite nice.  I think what I’m saying is that it’s just harder to do a furry chest right in a picture, no matter what our tastes are if we were to wake up next to the guy.

P.S.  Don’t know who did Ms. Hughes cover, which I think is lovely, but it does make me wonder if there’s a new trend in romance cover art.  Laurie Brown’s “Hundreds of Years to Reform a Rake” has a similar gorgeous guy-looking-into-the-distance, monochromatic, shot from slightly above cover.

Waxing is weird, oil is wrong, and six pack abs kind of squick me out.

LOL Jill, I may have to use this quote!  I love it!!

Me want big sweaty fur-covered Neanderthal man come to drag me back to his cave…for a delightful contemporary evening of attentive-to-my-needs nookie!

Barbarella flashbacks ... coming back ... somebody ... save me!

*blinks* Am I the only one running around singing,

“She asks me why
I’m just a hairy guy
I’m hairy noon and night
Hair that’s a fright
I’m hairy high and low
Don’t ask me why
Hmmhumhumming

Gimme head with hair
Long beautiful hair
Shining, gleaming,
Streaming, flaxen, waxen humminghummhmmmmsomemore

Hummingthetunenotsingingthewordsbutcan’tresistthisverse..

I want it long, straight, curly, fuzzy
Snaggy, shaggy, ratty, matty
Oily, greasy, fleecy
Shining, gleaming, streaming
Flaxen, waxen
Knotted, polka-dotted
Twisted, beaded, braided
Powdered, flowered, and confettied
Bangled, tangled, spangled, and spaghettied!...”

**Words from the song “Hair” recorded by thousands. Lyrics by James Rado & Gerome Ragni, music by Galt MacDermot and if anybody asks about permission to use partial words, tell me.

Nope, Silver James.

...but I generally have that echoing in my head at some point during the day, since it’s on my John Barrowman playlist, and what’s a day without listening to John Barrowman? Rraow!

Hee, Fae! I didn’t actually think that when I wrote it, but later realized yeah, there’s some definite similarities. Except for that whole adamantium-skeleton-and-claws thing, and being-like-a-hundred-years-old, and stuff like that.

Have you seen THIS though??:

http://decemberquinn.blogspot.com/2008/02/fans-self.html

If I could figure out how to just post the picture here I would, but seriously, take a look. OMGSOHOT.

mmmmmm that’d have me. I love a good furry man. The waxed look is too creepy looking, though sometimes it’s nice I suppose. I guess it may be that I’m so used to an incredibly hairy guy around me that a furry guy doesn’t bother me in the least, but then I also swear I have a cave woman living inside the back of my brain.

guy: :: good looking, wanders past::
me: ......... :: grunt:: man. good. make strong babies. :: grunt::

>.>

Wow, all this about the mantitty on my cover and I was AWOL in Bangladesh! LOL! I LOVE LOVE LOVE this cover!!! It’s pretty and provocative in all the right ways, IMO. I’m so glad to be home and back in the bosom (pun intended) of my Bitches.

That’s hot. I think I’ve gotten so used to the “man-wax”, that a bit of the road to babylon looks pretty good.

Oh, I LOVE treasure trails!  Time to get out the crumbs and go a-hikin’.  Hell, I wouldn’t even mind forgoing the crumbs and getting lost.

Crispy or silky, just keep it off the other side, though.  Hairy backs and asses?  UGH.

(Great. Now that damned “Happy Wanderer” song is stuck in my head.)

Honestly, men waxing their chests convinces me that the testerone is declining in the younger generation of men. 

Hughes is great. I am looking forward to this novel.

Thanks, flip. Hope you like it. *fingers crossed* I can’t believe it’s out next week. Wheeeeeeeeeeeeee!