As part of the launch tour for my new book, LINCOLN, Radioactive Book Reviews has asked me to share a blog. For a while, I’ve wanted to list my fav qualities in a swoon-worthy hero, as well as classic examples of each. So without further ado, behold my top 5!
Number Five: Passion
When it comes to true romance, a namby-pamby love simply won’t do. A great example here is Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. Let’s take a peek at our intense hero in action, shall we?
“If he loved with all the powers of his puny being, he couldn’t love as much in eighty years as I could in a day.”
Boom. That’s passion.
Number Four: Honesty
Being swoon-worthy is more than passion, though. I like my hero to tell the truth as well. Who has a better moral compass than Mr. Darcy from Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice? No one, I tell you.
“In vain have I struggled. It will not do. My feelings will not be repressed. You must allow me to tell you how ardently I admire and love you.”
Number Three: Respect
By this, I mean that the hero values his lady as a true partner in more than the bedroom. Not sure what I mean? Check out this quote from Mr. Rochester from Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte.
“I have for the first time found what I can truly love—I have found you. You are my sympathy—my better self—my good angel. I am bound to you with a strong attachment. I think you good, gifted, lovely: a fervent, a solemn passion is conceived in my heart; it leans to you, draws you to my center and spring of life, wraps my existence about you, and, kindling in pure, powerful flame, fuses you and me in one.”
That’s what a great love does: changes each person and makes them better.
Number Two: Sass
I like a hero who spends his time doing other things than being noble, honest or passionate. Give me a guy who can mouth off with the best of them! Here’s another great example from Jane Austen. This time, I’ll quote from Emma:
[Emma] “To be sure – our discordancies must always arise from my being in the wrong.”
[Mr. Knightley] “Yes,” said he, smiling, “and reason good. I was sixteen years old when you were born.”
“A material difference, then,” she replied; “and no doubt you were much my superior in judgment at that period of our lives; but does not the lapse of one-and-twenty years bring our understandings a good deal nearer?”
“Yes, a good deal nearer.”
Bah-DUM-bum. There’s a clever double entendre with the ‘nearer’ line, but Emma doesn’t catch on until later. Like I said, sass.
Number One: More Passion
This belongs on the list two times because PASSION! In this case, I’ll use a line from my new book Lincoln because he’s one intense and swoon-worthy dude:
Myla turns to face me and I could cheer for joy. Up close, she’s even lovelier than I imagined. Life and light glitters in her brown eyes. My arms ache to envelop her. Her scent—cinnamon and sunshine—envelops me.
“I’m fine,” she says simply. “I dropped something, that’s all.”
We pause. Lines of energy and interest flow between us, connecting our hearts.
No, no, no. This isn’t supposed to happen.
And it means I should definitely leave.
And I want to.
Yet I can’t.
So there you have it, my top five swoon-worthy qualities. Thanks SO MUCH for asking me to stop by—I had a blast making this list. I look forward to returning on a future tour!
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