Keira runs a book review blog for readers by readers on romance novels entitled Love Romance Passion. She’s been reading romance since she was a teenager and began blogging about romance so she could share her passion for her favorite genre. She loves reading paranormal, Regency, historical America, and highlander most of all and completely adores blind and wounded heroes.
Prompt: What do you look for in a romance hero?
I like this prompt! Let’s begin—10 qualities of a perfect romance hero:
1. My perfect romance hero would have to have a physical challenge. I have a big yen for blind heroes, with scarred and headache/migraine heroes coming close behind.
2. He’d have to be brooding, paranormal, or both. Since I’ve yet to hear of a blind vampire we’ll just stick with brooding. I’m a big softy for those dark and lonely souls with wounded hearts.
3. He’d have to be handy. I want a hero who can kill spiders, fight off bad guys, and build a house from the ground up with a Q-Tip. Nothing sexier than a guy who can be useful.
4. My hero must also be fiercely possessive. I love reading knuckle dragging heroes so long as they learn eventually to be secure in the steadfastness of the heroine’s affections.
5. He should also have a tender streak a mile wide. Hugs and healing touches are very much necessary to go with that scowl and teeth-gnashing. It’s a no brainer win-win.
6. Selflessness too. If he can desire her happiness and wellbeing over his own that just makes my heart flip over in its cavity.
7. I like a hero with diverse interests. There must be time for him to just be a guy and pal around with his buddies doing those things guys do: billiards, video games, watching sports, horseback riding, whatever. It’s all good to me.
8. Financial stable heroes win the day. While marauding pirates are great every now and then a hero who can provide for his heroine is definitely sexy. Maybe that’s why so many of the heroes are wealthy in romance?
9. Broad-shouldered, big hands, and tall. It’s what I like in a man in real life so let’s just transfer that straight to my perfect hero. Dark hair and blue eyes don’t hurt either!
10. Let’s not forget that he should be a skilled lover. Rainy days and lazy afternoons are best spent with a hero who’s great in the sack. Lots of cuddle time too!
Now it’s your turn to construct the perfect hero. Would you take points from my list or start from scratch?
18 comments:
I definitely like your 8, 9, and 10, but I'll trade your 1 and 2 for a hero who isn't a skilled ladies man. I like a hero who has difficulty with the flirting, asking for the first date, kind of thing. It may be that he is simply rusty in the dating game for whatever reason, or he could become completely tongue-tied in the heroine's presence. Perhaps he has a bruised ego and doesn't automatically believe the heroine is hot for him--and perhaps she's sending mixed signals. Whatever, it gives the heroine a chance to take what she wants, rather than being swept off her feet.
Of course, our inept hero still has to be gorgeous, rich and good in bed. Hey, its a fantasy!
Hi, Keira! Except for #1 and 2, I'd have to agree with your list.
My heroes don't have to be physically challenged, but I usually give them some emotional baggage they have to work through with the heroine's help. And they also are often injured physically during the course of a story, but it's nothing they can't heal from, with the heroine's help, of course. They also don't have to be brooding to catch my interest. I like to see a guy have fun and enjoy life despite whatever challenges and dangers he and the heroine have to face.
Give me a hero with a sense of humor and a brain. He doesn't have to be comic club ready, but a bit of amusing self-deprecation or a unique POV can make him yummy. Intelligence is required, and I'm not talking Ph.D intelligence necessarily. Come in out of the rain (unless we're playing in it), see past the obvious, catch on without a lengthy explanation intelligence is required. Turning the hero into a two-year old with single syllable explanations doesn't cut it. A bit of mischievousness doesn't hurt either.
I do love a broody hero. LOVE a broody hero. I'd like my hero to have a challenge, but it doesn't necessarily have to be physicals. Everything else I'm with you 100%!
Emotional baggage! Yes! I love that too! :D
Fun post! I agree with everything except the one with headaches. I have my own hero who has had them in the past. I always worried I was the cause! Love a strong guy with a sense of humor. Werewolfs are fun too!
I'll go with 9 and 10 and put him in a kilt - perfection at its best! A Scottish accent would be the cherry on the top. ;)
Can you believe I only started reading romances with Highlanders and kilts last year? Adored "Highlander in Love" by Julia London.
Hi Isabel/Hi Keira great post!
#2 Absolutely! I'll take a brooding, preferably reclusive vampire anyday. One who lost his 1 and only love when he was human & now shuns away from love. A hero that makes you want to renew his despaired spirit & bring him a grander love than the one he experienced as a human man.
#10 Is a given (LOL)
All my heroes are tall, probably because I'm taller than average. If I can't picture myself on tip-toe kissing him or being wrapped in the power of his broad embrace, it really kills the writing mojo.
I don't know if you ever read M/M romance, but there's a Torquere Press anthology of stories all about blind vampires - Eternal Darkness
It's nearly at the end of it's publishing cycle, and already gone from the press's own site, but still listed at some re-sellers, for example here and here
I'm with Gwynlyn MacKenzie: intelligence and a sense of humour are always my weaknesses. If he can't make me laugh, it's hopeless.
A skilled lover goes without saying! It's a fantasy, right? LOL -- but I always enjoy the exploring bit, so he's not Tek Jansen ("you've obviously had hundreds of lovers...") but he's willing to develop an existing aptitude for his lover.
Musical ability is a plus, or any kind of artistic ability. I like a man who burns with a flame of creativity. Yeah.
Does it count if he's the muse? lol
I will take all of the above! And my hero has to be over 6 foot with beautiful blue eyes and a wonderful smile. And ticklish.
I don't think I've ever read a romance where a hero was ticklish Katie!
I love this post, ladies. Sorry to be so late getting here. We've been on the go so much this summer.
I love a hero who loves kids, animals, and oldsters. He can be as hard-bitten in every other day, but that kindness does it for me.
I also don't mind emotional baggage...but how does a blind hero build with a q-tip LOL?
Hugs...
~Tanya
www.tanyahanson.com
www.petticoatsandpistols.com
Not sure! lol Maybe with help from his seeing eye dog?
Some other goodies for a hero to have: compassion, strength, and loyalty.
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