What is a romance without a great hero?
Chick lit. (Just kidding, but there's a grain of truth. Can you think of a great hero who has materialized from a chick lit novel?)
I'm just going to list some of the fabulous romantic heros I've loved, from very talented authors. (Yes, they are all alpha heroes. What can I say? I like what I like.)
Captain Alex Randall, Shadow of the Moon by M. M. Kaye. Perseveres in a losing cause at an historic moment in real history.
Matthew Farrell, Paradise by Judith McNaught. Tortured hero, but he's steadfast and true.
Archer Donovan, Pearl Cove by Elizabeth Lowell. A principled hero who is a true family man.
Dane Hollister, Dream Man by Linda Howard. Because he's funny and hot. What more do you want?
Morelli and Ranger, Janet Evanovich. Who could make a list and leave them out? Because they are just too delicious, and what a fabulous fictional device she engineered, to have both of them pursuing the heroine, apparently forevermore. (Okay, I'm a Morelli girl all the way.)
Last, but not least, my favorite of all time - Aragorn. Oddly enough, his story is not a "romance" as we know it, but it's a romance in the old-fashioned sense of a larger-than-life adventure. Here's a man who just keeps working towards a hugely difficult goal. He doesn't whine or complain or leave the job to someone else. He gets on with it. Despite the fact there's scarcely a women in the entire saga, look at what happens at the end. Aragorn says, "A day draws near that I have looked for in all the years of my manhood."
Ha! He did it all for love!
He may have saved the world and won a kingdom, but the day he waited for was the day his woman was coming to wed him. This is why we love romance heroes. At the end of it all, even in a great epic novel like Lord of the Rings (written by a man), it's a woman he did it all for. We can all appreciate that!
Now, please, tell me who I've missed. Summer is here and I hope to do some reading.
5 comments:
Awesome post! There are probably toooo many great romance heroes to name. Some I cannot forget, from my keeper shelf: Nick in Truly Madly Yours by Rachel Gibson. He's such a bad boy but he has a ton of hidden emotion for the heroine. Sigh. Julian from The Duke of Shadows by Meredith Duran. He's so exotic. Classics: Christian from Flowers From the Storm by Laura Kinsale. And Samuel from The Shadow and the Star by Laura Kinsale. Both heroes are so damaged, so imperfect and in need of healing and love, I can't help but fall in love with them.
And of course we can't forget Jamie from Outlander by Diana Gabaldon. :)
Nicole,
Great! Some suggestions. The only one I've tried is Outlander, and I just could not read that book. My loss. I know the world loves it. I've read a couple Rachel Gibson, but I'll have to try that on.
Thanks, Carly
Carly, I've blogged before about the movie, Apocalypto. It's an extremely bloody, violent, gory movie and action-packed from the word go! But the same thing applies - Jaguar Paw does it all for the love of his wife and child. Fantastic movie!
Ohh, my favorite hero is Grimm Roderick from To Tame A Highland Warrior by Karen Marie Moning. He's so overly alpha and loves so deeply, but the burden he carries and what he will do to keep the heroine safe from himself is what really grabbed me. I love him.
Esme
Esmerelda,
I'm going to read my suggestions and I'll report back.
Carol,
But I don't think I can watch that movie. I don't do violence. Didn't even watch LOTR which is why I quoted from the book.
Carly
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