Whenever I read a romantic novel, I love being swept away by the sexy hero. Most of these fictional bedfellows are endowed with six-pack abs and strong jaws, musky scents and sure hands. Oh, and have you noticed that these objects of desire are never, ever less than six feet tall?
But is that really what sets our hearts on fire? Do we lust only after hunky lovers who won't take no for an answer and are either 1) so rich that they don't have to worry about filling up at the cheapest gas station, 2) vampires who never need sleep like the rest of us, or 3) such reckless mountain men that they can make a fire by rubbing two sticks together and dress in rawhide?
Um, not so much. Sure, these guys would make thrilling weekend dates, but after a couple of weeks, I'm betting most of us would toss them out on their handsome ears. Think about it for a minute. How did that hero get so ripped and toned? Unless our character happens to be a construction worker or ropes cattle for a living, he must be spending hours at the gym instead of doing something useful, like folding the laundry.
And do we really want men whose waistlines are slimmer than ours? Heck no. Bad enough that I only allow myself a pitiful four almonds at snack time to stay under my Weight Watchers' points.
Plus, if I did have one of those take-charge romantic heroes in my life, I know we would spend the better part of every day arguing. “How come you didn't just ask for directions?” I'd fume as he sped off in some bullheaded wrong direction out of town, fleeing from the bad guys with me as his willing hostage.
Oh, and a werewolf like Jacob? Don't get me started. Think of the dog hair on the sofa! The last thing I need is to spend my post-lovemaking hours vacuuming.
I hadn't really given much thought to romantic heroes until I started writing my novel Sleeping Tigers. In this novel, I wanted to create a love interest worthy of my gutsy heroine, who is so determined to bring her wayward brother home that she travels to Nepal. When the book opens, she has just dumped a take-charge kind of boyfriend who made plenty of money. Now I thought she deserved better. But could I really have her hook up with a nice guy? Or would that be too boring?
After many trials and, yep, lots of “epic fails,” as my teen son would call them, I finally decided her love interest should be a curly-haired pediatrician who adores kids and plays incredible blues piano. A geek, in other words, who is kind and gentle rather than overbearing. A guy who the heroine has to kiss first, because he's too shy. I did this because I think all of us deserve to have fun with the bad boys in our lives—but we should ultimately end up with passionate guys who wear their hearts on their sleeves.
What about you? Who's your perfect romantic hero?
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