Heroes.
*insert big girlie sigh*
Ya gotta love them. Or, at least we'd better love them if we're going to make the comittment to follow a story to happily ever after.
Romance just wouldn't be romance without those luscious, larger than life heroes a heroine can't help but fall for. The trend toward romantic heroes is alpha, the alpha-er the better.
But where does alpha end and royal arse-hole-ism begin? When does intense become downright overbearing?
Recently I read a romance where the hero was uber alpha.
He was also a jerk.
Granted, he had a tortured past and a world of emotional baggage when it came to healthy relationships, but you know what? He was still a jerk. And not in a good way. That the heroine let him treat her the way he did, and still slept with him time and time again shoved her firmly into the realm of too stupid to live.
I didn't finish that book. But that story did get me to wondering about deal breakers as far as heroes are concerned. When is alpha too alpha? Does being a man's man infer that a he must also be rude, overbearing, sarcastic, and a woman hater?
Jerks are deal breakers for me.
What are your deal breakers for heroes? Do you have a line where tortured angst ends and arse-hole-ism begins?
Inquiring wild women want to know!
Since I wrote about heroes, I figured you wouldn't mind if I resorted a bit 'o beefcake to kick off your weekend. :) This guy was my inspiration for my muse, Dante, in Muse Struck, my serial novel/free read available at Textnovel.
Couldn't you just drown in his eyes? ::le purr::
2 comments:
Liane, I like my heroes very alpha. I know I've crossed other people's lines because I've gotten a few reviews where the reviewer did not like my hero's games. BUT I figure even the hero starts out a bit of a jerk, as long as the heroine can redeem in by the end of the story he's still hero material in my book.
I LOVE alphas but I'm like you. I hate jerks! Just b/c a man is uber alpha has nothing to do with whether he's an asshole. I know it's a bit of a generalization but it's the reason I avoid the Harlequin Presents line. I friggin hate their heroes. A man doesn't have to be cruel and mean to the heroine in order for him to be alpha. That just makes him an asshole with control issues, lol.
You're probably tired of me singing Lisa Marie Rice's praises but she can write an alpha male like no ones business! Her men are tough, opinionated, usually wealthy, but they're always respectful and protective of their women to the point they'd die for them. That's alpha and that's what this reader wants ;)
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