We’re back with another Rec League and this one is rather specific! Katie C. has a request for romances where the conflict is primarily driven by the hero’s internal issues. Here’s her email, along with books she’s read that fit the bill:
Elyse: Beauty and the Billionaire by Jessica ClareI would like to request a Rec League for a specific type of internal conflict. Books where the hero’s main problem is that he thinks/worries he is not good enough for the heroine. I am looking for books where is the main driver (or one of very top drivers) of the conflict rather than a minor side issue. These make my mouth water.
The reason is he is worried/concerned can really be anything – physical (physical limitation, disfigurement), emotional (doesn’t think he can love, has a dark and troubled past that would “taint” the heroine), or class/economic status. In other words, she seems so pure or good to him, he is worried that by being with him he will corrupt or “dirty” her.
I am not looking for books where the hero has a big outside secret (an old run in with the law, for example), but where the hero’s focus is internal on his own attributes.
Here are some of the examples of books I love with this trope:
Make Me by Tessa Bailey (NA) – blue collar hero is secretly in love with his friend the wealthy high-powered financier heroine – swoon, this is one of my very favorites – I tore open the package as soon as I got it on release day and read it that night.
Prince Joe by Suzanne Brockmann (Contemporary): Navy SEAL with blue collar background meets worldy heroine who is friends with royalty.
Dearest Rogue by Elizabeth Hoyt (Historical) – bodyguard secretly loves his aristocratic charge.
Mad about the Earl by Christina Brooke (Historical) – Hero thinks he is a brute rather than a gentleman because of his physical characteristics and can’t believe any aristocratic lady would honestly want or love him.
Seduce Me at Sunrise by Lisa Kleypas (Historical)
A Rogue by Any Other Name by Sarah MacLean (Historical)
Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas (Historical) – a little different because the hero doesn’t care that he is not good enough, he knows it but plans to marry her anyway.
Firelight (Historical Paranormal) – there are a lot of external conflicts in this one, but the hero’s main internal conflict is knowing he is genuinely not good for the heroine but wanting her anyway.
I was hoping this issue would be the main driver for Marrying Winterborne by Lisa Kleypas and literally chased the mailman down the street on release day because I thought he forgot to deliver my book. But, alas, despite the end of Cold Hearted Rake and the excerpt of Marrying Winterborne at the end of Rake, the book went in a completely different direction. My poor husband had to listen to my long explanation of what I wanted the book to be versus what it was as did my mother.
I already read a lot of historical so let’s go with contemporary as I would like to read more of those. Now I can narrow it down even more than just contemporary – no motorcycle clubs or mafia – even though this internal conflict probably appears a lot in MC and mafia romance I have zero interest in those themes.
And I totally agree about Marrying Winterborne.
Amanda, wasn’t there a sports romance you read where the hero thought he was good for sex and not much else?
Amanda: Yes! The Game Plan by Kristen Callihan I believe ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). I loved that book and the hero is a virgin football player.
There are actually a lot of sports romances that fit there. Back in Play by Lynda Aicher ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) and Takes Two to Tackle by Jeanette Murray ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) both have heroes who are worried about substance abuse issues.
I also really loved Sustained by Emma Chase, which has a lawyer hero. He was a troubled kid growing up and feels like he can’t escape the notion that he’s inherently bad.
I think Frisk Me by Lauren Layne fits too ( A | BN | K | G | AB ). The hero is a cop who was captured on tape doing this heroic act; the video becomes a viral sensation. However, he feels like he’s a big fake and not worthy of the heroism and fame suddenly thrust upon him.
The Billionaire Bachelor by Jessica Lemmon ( A | BN | K | G | AB ) doesn’t necessarily have a hero with feelings of “unworthiness.” Rather, the hero has had a really bad break up and is pretty gun shy about commitment.
Do you know any heroes struggling with some baggage? Give us your contemporary romance recommendations with “unworthy” heroes!
Oh – the grand-daddy of them all – . THIS is renunciation done the way it should be. THIS is wit, and love, and pain and (of course) reconciliation. READ this – the first and best.
OK – It’s official, I cannot do links on SBTB! –
Go and read Venetia by Georgette Heyer. Here is the boring link. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32102.Venetia?ac=1&from_search=true
Georgie, that’s exactly right. And it’s funny, as well as romantic. Also two other Heyer’s: These Old Shades and Devil’s Cub (unworthy because of checkered past).
Oops, and The Black Moth (hero is aristocrat tarred by scandal).
And the Talisman Ring (hero accused of crime) and The Masqueraders (Jacobite hero). I’ll stop now, really.
It’s a contemporary romance instead of a historical, but I would recommend Sleepless in Manhattan by Sarah Morgan. The hero keeps denying his feelings for the heroine because of his own issues and the fact that she is his best friend’s sister.
Oh, darn. I had already started mentally listing all the historicals I could think of when you narrowed it to contemporaries. Now I got nothing. LOL. Hope the rest of the Bitchery can do better.
A Lady by Midnight / Tessa Dare
Spindle Cove #3
The hero is the faithful guardian who knows secrets of heroine’s past but knows she’s not for him due to his background.
Sidney Bristol’s Beauty and the Geek, Carolyn Crane’s Into the Shadows, and I’ll second Elyse’s rec of Jessica Clare’s Beauty and the Billionaire.
Not contemporary, but fits the theme: Nalini Singh’s PNR novella “Flirtation of Fate” (from the Wild Embrace antho), Bec McMaster’s Steampunk/PNR novella “Tarnished Knight”
I would add Bad Neighbor by M. O’Keefe.
First, books that totally fit this bill:
Make Me by Tessa Bailey
Lord Carew’s Bride by Mary Balogh
Secondly, books that I think may fit this even though there is technically a reason in the hero’s past for him to feel this way (I include these because he imagines in the external reason is valid, in reality it is all in his head):
A Scot in the Dark by Sarah Maclean
A Lady by Midnight by Tessa Dare
And finally, it is not the main trope or conflict, but Her Ladyship’s Companion by Evangeline Collins does have a lot of the hero dealing with feelings of unworthiness.
“Captive of Sin” by Anna Campbell (historical) – also includes the (literally) tortured hero trope. Hero returned from brutal captivity in India to rescue heroine from her evil step-brothers. Heroine falls in love, but he keeps pushing her away because he feels he is too broken to give her the love she deserves.
“Ryan’s Place” by Sherryl Woods (contemporary) – this was the first book in her “The Devaneys” series. Hero is the owner of an Irish pub in Boston who was abandoned with two of his brothers as a child. As a result, he grew up feeling unlovable/unworthy. Heroine spends the book breaking down his walls. I loved Ryan, did not like Maggie (the heroine) as much.
I would say Sylvia Day’s Crossfire series KINDA fits? A big part of the conflict is that, while the hero is a serious alpha male, a lot of it ties into his insecurities over some horrible things that happened when he was a child (trigger warnings everywhere for this book), and his belief that these things have so skewed his perception of healthy relationships and sex that it’s just easier for him to keep things purely physical. (This is NOT a “hero has been ruined by other women” or “hero has a tragic brooding past” book.)
It gets all the points for him deciding he loves the heroine enough to LITERALLY GO TO THERAPY WITH HER AND BY HIMSELF to finally starting to acknowledge his past and feelings and become a better person both for her AND himself, but ultimately gets really frustrating because the author bogs all this down with some truly stupid and unnecessary extraneous drama whenever things start to settle down.
(And I promise you the heroine’s multiple unreasonable freakouts, even given her own trauma when compared to her unwillingness to work through them when compared to the way she expects him to do so for her with his own, will annoy you to hell and back.)
The Man who could never love – Kate Hewitt (HP, interesting heroine)
Empire – Rachel van Dyken (I didn’t read any of the others in the series, it’s corny at times and overall writing’s a bit choppy, but has some good moments)
Ooppsss.. scratch my Empire rec.. That’s a mafia one 😛
Contemporary:
“Enbattled Minds” by JM Madden Hero is a vet w/disfigurement and speech aphasia in love with the manager of the sports bar where he and his buddies hang out.
“Holiday Sparks” by Shannon Stacey. In high school hero was an awkward nerd with a huge crush on it girl out of his league. Today he’s an electrician in the same small town and she is back in town house sitting for her parents.
“All I Am” by Nicole Helm. Hero is a vet w/anxiety disorder (predating his tour) –and virgin– who hires the heroine who sees herself as a perpetual screw up.
‘Never Sweeter’ by Charlotte Stein (heroine was bullied as teen and almost killed. Hero was part of the bully pack –but secretly liked her – who blames himself for not protecting her)
‘Too Close To Resist’. By Nicole Helm. Heroine was severely beaten by an ex boyfriend years earlier. Her ex is now out of jail and blaming her. Hero grew up in an abusive household with a child abusing father that has caused him many hang ups. He loves the heroine but thinks he’s the last thing that she needs.
Historical:
Simply Love. By Mary Balogh
To Beguile A Beast by Elizabeth Hoyt fits nicely, I think. Excpet- I just noticed you want contemporary! *blushes*
But I still do love this book.
More than Love Letters by Rosy Thornton. The hero thinks that he is too old for the heroine. I just love this book.
I think Liberating Lacey by Anne Calhoun fits into this club. The hero is a cop and the heroine is a real estate broker who makes a lot of money and has a lot of influence. The hero feels that he is not good enough for her because he can’t offer her financial security. It is such a good book, one of my favorites. 🙂
How about Artistic License by Elle Pierson (aka Lucy Parker)? It’s a contemporary where one of the main conflicts is that the hero thinks he’s too ugly for the heroine. There’s also a bit of a mystery plot.
Carla Kelly – I think The Lady’s Companion featured a gently bred woman who falls in love with a bailiff.
I don’t read contemporaries, so that’s all I got. ):
I feel like a solid 80% of contemporaries have this trope? (I hate it, especially when it’s of the ‘I am incapable of love or commitment due to sad backstory*’ variety, so maybe I am overestimating.)
Lauren Layne – For Better or Worse (actually most of the Lauren Layne NYPD stories)
Tamsen Parker – School Ties
Dahlia Adler’s Radleigh University series (these are excellent NA, not words I often put together) – a variety of reasons, some external, some internal.
* Extra double ick points if the sad backstory is a fridged woman
I don’t think anyone mentioned Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase?
I can’t believe no one has mentioned ‘Rising Tides’ by Nora Roberts. Ethan Quinn is exactly that hero who believes he is too ‘tainted’ by what happened to him as a child to be worthy of the heroine. The other three books in the series aren’t too shabby either, but don’t fit the request.
Whoops, sorry, missed that you just want contemporary!
I know you specifically called out old run-ins with the law, but Hard Time, by Cara McKenna, fits this really well, and the hero’s legal troubles are not “a big outside secret;” the whole setup is that he is an inmate doing hard time for a violent crime, and the heroine is a librarian whose job entails working occasionally at his prison. His sense of unworthiness doesn’t stem so much from the crime he committed (IIRC, he outright states that he doesn’t regret it and would do it again). Rather, he’s from a very, VERY blue-collar background and feels like he wouldn’t have been worthy of her even without his criminal history.
Here’s a classic (and hey, it was contemporary when it was published!) North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell.
Is it allowed to flog my own book? 🙂 “The Exiles” has an I’m-not-worthy hero. French Revolution-set historical.
Basically anything by Laura Kinsale? Off the top of the head, the heroes in The Shadow and the Star, For My Lady’s Heart, Seize the Fire, The Dream Hunter, and My Sweet Folly all struggle with feeling unworthy of the heroine because of their dark past/nature or class.
Stacey Kade’s recent YA/NA (I’ve seen it marketed as both) novel “738 Days” has a bit of this on both sides. The heroine was held hostage in her kidnapper’s basement for the titular 738 days, and one of her coping strategies was based around the poster of a popular teen heartthrob that was on the basement wall (thinking of him as a friend/guardian angel). The story proper begins some time after her rescue, and alternates between the heroine and the heartthrob’s viewpoints when they finally meet. Heroine is still struggling with panic and PTSD, while the heartthrob almost ruined his life (and definitely ruined a couple other people’s) with drugs and wild living, and doesn’t feel he can live up to the perception of him as some kind of hero/role model. Neither of them are even sure they can handle a friendship, let alone a relationship.
For those who find the plot concept triggery, only the first few pages take place during the heroine’s captivity–everything else happens afterward.
Nora Roberts Chesapeake Bay Series Book 2 Rising Tides and Book 4 Chesapeake Blue. Heroes in books 1 and 4 have their own issues also, but not quite along the same track you are looking for.
Like Dread Pirate Rachel, I recommend Hard Time. I usually don’t care for heroes who’ve had run-ins with the law, but this story kept me reading until late one night.
I also thought of another historical, Magnate, from the excellent The Knickerbocker Club series by Joanna Shupe which takes place in Golden Age NYC. Later than the Regency and in the US. 🙂 The hero rose from the slums to wealth and, as happens, finds a wealthy woman to love and has his doubts.
Driven Series – K Bromberg Classic “Broken Man” hero. Stuff happened in his past which means he’ll never be good at relationships beyond sex, definitely not looking for love.
The Lie – Karina Halle. Check the prologue to see if this one works for you.
The Debt – Karina Halle. Hero believes he is the reason Heroine is injured/disabled.
Destroyed – Pepper Winters: Hero can only find release through Pain. Don’t be fooled that this book isn’t going to get all twisty at some point. PW is know for messing you up.
Vixen and the Vet – Katy Regenery a modern version of Beauty and the Beast where “the Beast” is a disfigured Veteran. Small town contemporary.
Unsuitable – Samantha Towle. Set in the UK, Heroine is just released from prison after serving a sentence for a crime she didn’t commit. Get’s sent to work at the Estate of the Hero.
Souls Unfractured (Hades Hangmen #3) – Tillie Cole: Psychologically challenged Hero. This book should only be read as part of the series. A lot of the heroine’s backstory is in the previous books.
OMG, I love this trope!! A number of Laura Florand’s books feature slightly-to-very screwed up, “she’s-so-amazing-how-can-she-love-me?” heroes, and she does their angstiness so well. I’d say the ones that fit the trope best are The Chocolate Rose, The Chocolate Touch, The Chocolate Heart, Once Upon a Rose, and A Wish Upon Jasmine. But really, all her books are amazing.
Contemporaries that may fit the bill (my mind is like a sieve so I may be totally off on these)
Julianna Keyes Time Served- H/h were teenage lovers but H is now an ex con and heroine a high powered lawyer.
Tessa Bailey’s Risking It All might not be your thing because hero is in shady dealings. Don’t think it was the Mafia tho. I hate Mafia books but this hero was so incredible and he also hates himself for wanting/ loving the heroine.
Steadfast by Sarina Bowen this is one of the best I’ve read this year. Hero is an ex con recovering drug addict determined to stay away from his first love. It’s a beautiful story.
Rock Redemption by Nalini Singh- rock star book
Pamela Clare’ s Unlawful Contact
I also think a lot of Anne Stuart books also fit the bill but I can’t recall any specific ones off the top of my head.
I’m going to have to recommend one of my all time favorite Lisa Kleypas books (and all time books) “Dreaming Of You” featuring Derek Craven. The hero (for anyone who doesn’t know)was abandoned in a drain pipe and raised by prostitutes who found him. He’s the wealthy owner of a gambling club who thinks because of his rough ways and background, that he isn’t good enough for the sweet author heroine. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
It’s not a contemporary, but it’s Depression Era Georgia which is unusual, and it’s a MAJOR keeper for me. MORNING GLORY by Lavyrle Spencer – hero is an orphan who just got out of prison and answers a want ad placed by the town outcast looking for a husband. So so sweet.
Charles from Emily Foster’s duology How Not To Fall and How Not To Let Go- the character growth, especially in book 2, is phenomenal!
The Devil’s Rock series by Sophie Jordan about current/former inmates
Bedmates- Nichole Chase -hero has PTSD after serving in the military
Doesn’t Francis Crawford of Lymond fit this description? You’d need to read six books for that pay off though.
I want to say The Governess Affair by Courtney Milan but there is also the conflict that the hero’s boss raped the heroine. The hero’s main conflict though is that he has thrown his lot in with this rich asshat and tainted himself by association and wanted to be the richest coal miner’s son in all of England to exorcise some personal issues from his past so…just read it anyway. I can’t make a convincing argument that it’s all about his unworthiness but you should still read it.