When a week goes by without Daryl Dixon making an appearance on AMC’s The Walking Dead, there is a Twitter outcry. It isn’t just that viewers connect with his transformation from quiet loner into subtle leader. There is this undercurrent of fandom for Daryl. Yes, we’d like the redneck to be there when the zombies come, but the discussion of Daryl’s winning qualities never fails to shift to how he is “Gas Station Hot” (you can thank author Dakota Cassidy for that term).

That’s right. We swoon for Daryl. In this post-apocalyptic drama Daryl isn’t just the hero, he’s a romance hero. He just hasn’t met his heroine yet.

Don’t believe me? There are five defining traits that make Daryl Dixon a must-lust-after romance hero.

1. He’s lethal.

We like a hero who can get protective. Just think about every member of J.R. Ward’s Black Dagger Brotherhood. They kill to protect what’s theirs. In the BDB case, it’s lessers. Daryl would stop zombies from trying to eat your brain or maniacal wannabe politicians from taking over your house, er, prison.

Daryl can keep you safe. Not only can he shoot a walker with an arrow via crossbow (and reuses it) or bust out a blade when necessary, he’s incredibly resourceful. He’ll stop whatever’s trying to attack you with extreme force.

[Yeah he will!...]

While St. Patrick's Day was originally intended as a religious holiday to celebrate the day St. Patrick came to Ireland (and his subsequent holy acts), much of the celebration these days center around alcohol and rowdy revelry. In romance, we see a lot of heroes drinking—everything from brandy and port in Historicals, to beer and hard liquor in Contemporaries.

What would be your hero's drink of choice? Would he go for a perfectly-aged whiskey, a martini—shaken, not stirred, or is he not much of a drinker?

Let us know in the comments and add in your favorite drink you've seen from a romance!

Cocktail image courtesy of MoneyBlogNewz via Flickr.

“You so crazy / I think I wanna have your baby”

—Salt-n-Pepa, “Whatta Man”

Salt-n-Pepa said it first, but I don’t think that they necessarily meant they wanted to procreate literally with men with some mental issues. But crazy guys need love too, don’t they?

Tony Shaloub as Monk surely needed someone to care for all those things he feared. Jack Nicholson in As Good As It Gets was so OCD he was compelled to make a certain waitress fall for him—and all his quirks. Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory has issues with touching. I think he’s a little OCD with ADHD with a little narcissist sprinkled in. Even Dexter needs someone to tame his Dark Passenger. I mean he really needs to find someone who can stick with him long enough to live through it. Dustin Hoffman in Rain Man has severe autism, but still had time to flirt with his brother’s girlfriend. Even Bill Murray in What About Bob? has his own diagnosis for all the issues he claimed to have.

But the above list of men, while intriguing and worthy of affection, wouldn’t exactly make it onto the cover of a romance novel, would they? Imagine any of them shirtless with a sexy leading lady next to them and it’s just plain awkward. And that’s not based on their outward appearance; they’re extremely over the top characters, or really caricatures we can’t take seriously, shirtless or not. There are everyday Joes who struggle with their own neuroses. Some romance novels have been brave enough to showcase them.

[Which ones?...]

Today marks the time on the calendar for all of us to spring back an hour. Sure we lose an hour, but it marks the beginning of spring and a chance to brave the great outdoors once again with our favorites real-life and fantasy heroes. Before we can get to images of frolicking in the fields, we want to know: Out of all of the romance heroes you read or have read, which one would you be willing to give up an hour for? We have a few of our personal favorites and some favorites from the genre, but who would you choose?

Time image courtesy of nicolasnova via Flickr.

When I started writing romances, I was told avoid the do-gooder hero. Military men and billionaires? Thumbs up. The billionaires can always be philanthropic and send their bucks to an orphan asylum. Naturally the military guys will protect the orphans by blasting the bad guys who threaten them. But to go into the asylum and take care of the kids every day, full-time? Not going to fly with romance readers.

I figured the romance world had changed. Not every hero has to be an alpha or dangerous, and they don’t have to all make big bucks. Doctors are okay, of course. But a really quick look on the internet showed that the docs tend to be heads of hospitals or surgeons who might do some charity reconstruction work on the side…but as a life calling? Not so much.

Yo, how about some male nurses?

Hadn’t I just read a book about an epidemiologist that traveled the world, seeking sources of diseases? Whoops, in this case it is the heroine in About the Baby by Tracy Wolff. Kara is so devoted to tracking down the sources of horrible diseases, she’s almost killing herself at her job, literally. Lucas, the hero in the story, is a doctor at a low-cost inner city clinic so he certainly qualifies for the title of Do-Gooder Guy.

[Are there more do-gooder hero stories out there?...]

I blame Shakespeare.

Oh, the idea certainly predated him—Ancient Mythology, for example, is thoroughly populated with gods who disguise themselves as everything from some woman’s husband to a shower of golden rain in order to win their heart’s desire, or at least get some. And in absolute terms, Shakespeare’s women in disguise far outnumber his men—Portia in The Merchant of Venice; Rosalind and Celia in As You Like It; Viola in Twelfth Night; Hero in Much Ado About Nothing; the list goes on—but it is heroes in disguise with which we treat herein, and, as is the case with pretty much every romantic plot and subplot we see used today, this one has its roots in Elizabethan drama.

Because sometimes—pretty often, in fact—when it comes to Romance, it’s the liar who gets the girl.

In my list of Top 10 New York-Based Romantic Comedies, published in these pages lo, these many years ago, I made mention of how, at the end of You’ve Got Mail, the fact that Kathleen Kelly (Meg Ryan) is able to so easily forgive frenemy Joe Fox (Tom Hanks) for knowingly being her secret pen pal crush is kind of hard to take, but “… you just let it go, let them have their moment, and try not to allow thoughts of their next fifty years of arguments culminating in ‘You closed down my mother’s store!’ enter your head.” It’s like that with so many of these tales; the fact that the hero has been lying to his heroine all this time can only be considered appalling, but on the other hand he really loves her now, and so allowances must be made.

[Love conquers all (objections)...]

Vicars appear regularly in romance fiction as secondary characters. Who can forget Jane Austen’s clergymen—the obsequious Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice, the vain and greedy Philip Elton in Emma, the admirable Edmund Bertram in Mansfield Park? Less memorable is the worthy vicar in Georgette Heyer’s Arabella whose character is best revealed in the values he has imparted to his daughter. Heyer set the precedent here as in so many ways; vicars in popular romance are most commonly fathers or, somewhat less often, deceased husbands of the heroines. A quick count of just my personal catalog yielded more than seventy historical romances that feature a vicar’s daughter or a vicar’s widow.

In many of these books, the vicar is not a character in the true sense; his presence is restricted to references and memories. In others, he plays a definite role. Authors may choose to make the vicar a man with a true vocation beloved by his family and parish (Anthony Drew whose character is revealed through the memories of his wife and daughters in Mrs. Drew Plays Her Hand by Carla Kelly), flawed in a way that marks him as clearly unsuited for his office (the heroine’s father in Father Christmas by Barbara Metzger), or steeped in villainy (the morally corrupt Dorian Thorne in Dame Durden’s Daughter by Joan Smith or the Reverend Jack Gardeyne in Skylark by Jo Beverley).

Rare indeed is the vicar as hero. In fact, after much searching, I found only nine historical romances featuring vicars as heroes that I can recommend: seven I recommend with a warning that they range from the sweet to the spicy, from the simple to the complex, and from the light-hearted to the angst-ridden. The last two I place in a separate category: one because it is already widely considered a classic of historical romance, and the other (one of the most popular titles of 2012) because I predict it will someday be so labeled.

[Bring on the vicar heroes...]

It seems readers (including me) have gone head over heels for the rich, sexy, sex-gods with tormented souls. Heroes such as Gideon Cross, Christian Grey, Ethan Blackstone and Gabriel Emerson want to change, to become better men, all because of the women who steal their hearts from the moment they meet. Who are these lucky ladies? Can they handle our intensely passionate heroes?

In Sylvia Day’s Crossfire Trilogy, the heroine is a spitfire. Eva Tramell is in a whirlwind of drama due to her tormented past and difficult relationships with family and friends. Her family is very overprotective and constantly worried about her safety. She moves to the Big City in search of her independence, but finds herself addicted to Gideon Cross. Both seem to find the other irresistible and their passion is quite explosive in a co-dependent kind of way.  Both of them harbor issues of abusive pasts, and even though Eva strives for control of her life and from the dependency that consumes her with Gideon, she repeatedly reverts to her destructive ways. She is too impulsive for her own good and her first instinct is to run whenever she feels insecure. All in all, Eva is a fighter, and definitely keeps Gideon wanting more.

[Right where she wants him...]

Guys have such an intriguing way of interacting with their buddies, giving each other advice and expressing emotions in ways that sometime seem utterly foreign to women. From dealing with high-pressure situations to frustration at not getting laid to the number and quality of female orgasms, a good wingman is essential for any hero worth his bro. These are some of my recent favorites with heroes demonstrating how they deal with a variety of manly situations:

The Edge of Trust by KT Bryan: Men have an oblique way of showing they've got each other's back. Here, two soldiers are on a difficult mission, with one of them sneaking into a drug dealer's house while the other is giving him assistance remotely via headset. They keep each other grounded during the tense moments by talking about non-mission-related things:

He unhooked his Ka-Bar from his belt, and in one continuous motion, cut the seal around the base of the skylight. After lifting it aside he unhooked the rope. He really needed to hurry. “Jake, time hack.”

“Thirty-two minutes.”

The theme song from Mission Impossible, whistled pitch perfect, came over Dillon’s headset. “Ha, ha. If you’re comparing me to Ethan Hunt, fine. Great, in fact. But if you have Tom Cruise in mind, I’m going to have to kill you.” With a quick loop and a knot, Dillon fastened the rope around the base of the chimney.

“Well, you are all in black. Minus the ever present, very chill, always explosive sunglasses, of course.”

“Don’t forget the oh-so-realistic flying motorcycles.”

“Good point. Much cooler.”

[Just don't call him Tom Cruise...]

You may recall a post here about the physical attributes of romance heroes: Authors Elle Kennedy and Vivian Arend on Hot Bods in Romance. Two passages in particular stood out to me:

The moment he’s back in action, he’s toned and muscly again—and let’s be honest, that’s the way we like it. Because, come on, we read to escape.  To fantasize. ...

When I’m reading a romance, I don’t want my hero being described as chubby or overweight. I don’t want to read about potbellies, love handles, back fat, or double chins.  I don’t want him getting out of breath after carrying the heroine five feet to the bed.

I read those parts with keen interest. Why? Because in all honesty, I'm a reader who enjoys reading about heroes with non-traditional bodies and in particular, heavyset/chunky heroes. While I understand the appeal of sculpted flesh, I feel strongly about challenging the broad assumption that “...and let’s be honest, that’s the way we like it.”

Can we really paint all romance readers with such a broad brush? Seems to me the definition of “hot” varies across readers. Some of us love heroes with beards or mustaches. Others don’t. Some like tall heroes while others prefer heroes of average height. Then there’s differences of opinion about hair color, skin color, facial features, etc. I find it difficult to believe one-size hero fits all.

In fact, some of us gravitate to the Seth Rogens and Jonah Hills of romance heroes. Heavyset heroes are perfectly valid characters, even though the publishing marketing machines would have us believe otherwise.

[Big guys need love too...]

I've been thinking about this article for a very long time. Whether or not my fan-boyish squeeing would fall upon ears that just don't understand. Then something wonderful happened. In my Bromance post, user Clarketta brought up Dom and Marcus, one of modern gaming's more legendary bromances. And I knew it would be worth a shot.

Now, some of you might already be gamers, and if that's the case please feel free to share so in the comments. However, this article is directed to the romance fan out there that maybe has a significant other or child that plays games and they might be curious about it but have yet to take the plunge. I start with this, you should. Not only because it's incredibly fun, but gaming has come a long way since Mario saved the Princess, there are publishers out there that have focused entirely upon story-based gaming, and the best at this is the company known as Bioware, with one of their more popular titles being Mass Effect.

Set in a sci-fi setting, the Mass Effect trilogy is a role-playing game where the player takes on the role of elite marine, galactic super-spy/commando, and all-around bad-ass Commander Shepherd. As a player you have complete control of Shepherd. Want the good Commander to be a man with blond hair and a square jaw, done. Want a female commander sporting a pixie cut and blue eyes? Double done. You choose all of his/hers choices as she goes about saving all life in the universe from the technological horror known as The Reapers, helping a people doomed to wander the stars for their sins, befriending a barbarian race of aliens that knows little more than killing and destruction, and most importantly, who to develop a lasting, meaningful relationship with.

[Isn't that why we are all here, after all?...]

In my First Look on Susan Carroll's The Lady of Secrets ,  I talked about the fact that, in the beginning of the book, it was not possible to tell which of the two men introduced in the first chapter was the hero, although it was obvious that one of them was. [SPOILER ALERT!]

It is not unusual to find two men vying for the heroine's attention but it is less likely that you won't be able to pick out the hero pretty early on. In The Lady of Secrets I really thought that Sir Patrick Graham with the sad eyes would end up with Meg, our Lady of Secrets. It turns out I was wrong. Meg's preference for the less-refined Armagil Blackwood, foster son of an executioner, becomes apparent after several chapters. And, truth be told, I had the same preference. Sir Patrick turned out to be a more problematic character. You'll have to read the book to get the whole story.

There is closure at the end and both Sir Patrick and Armagil find a measure of peace. And Meg? Here is what Armagil Blackwood has to say as they sail away from England.

“I do love you, Margaret. I thought I should tell you that in case you are still having trouble reading my eyes.”

She placed her hand along his cheek, smiling mistily up at him. “I fear you will always be a difficult man to read. So I am very pleased to hear you say you love me. You should mention it more often.”

“Every day, milady. You may depend upon it.”

[Everything worked out for the best, then...]

This post will contain SPOILERS for the past three seasons of Boardwalk Empire.

I am addicted to HBO’s Boardwalk Empire. I love the 1920s Prohibition and New Jersey boardwalk setting. I love the storylines, the clothes, the historical detail and the characters, all of whom have dubious morals. But my absolute favorite character is Richard Harrow, a World War I veteran who returns home with serous facial scars that lead him to wearing a prosthetic over the left side of his face. It struck me recently that Richard is a textbook example of the romantic wounded hero, and he reinforces everything that readers love about the trope.

Richard was introduced in the first season, when he meets fellow veteran Jimmy Darmody. Given that Richard was a sharpshooter during the war, he quickly becomes indispensable in Jimmy’s various illegal business dealings. It is also during this period where his character evolves from hired gun to wounded, vulnerable hero still grappling with the cards life dealt him.

[How has his story played out so far?...]

In light of its recent sale to Disney, and the fact that I watched a six-movie marathon over the Thanksgiving holiday, I feel like now is a good time to visit a franchise almost as dear to my heart as The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. I am talking, of course, about Star Wars.

Now, just like Tolkien was doing PNR and sneaking romance in on us pre-teen boys long before we wanted to read kissing stories, Star Wars was prepping us for an appreciation of Romance even before our collective young minds where shattered by the revelation that *spoiler* Darth Vader was Luke and Leia's dad. Now, a lot of you out there were probably on to this before me because, well I'm slow, but I'd like to raise a glass to the romances of Star Wars: The Good, The Bad, and the Star-Crossed.

I will warn all of you that I am a bit of a purist when it comes to the Original Trilogy; my Han shot first and my aliens aren't computer generated. If you are a fan of episodes 1-3, I'm sorry. Not for the possible offense I might cause, but for the death of taste and child-like wonder you are bringing about in the world. Ha! I kid. Kind of... Now, onto the loving!

[Queue rolling yellow text wall…]

Julianne MacLean writes romances with many different types of heroes—cowboys to Highlanders to princes. Her most recent release is Princess in Love, the second in Julianne's Royal Trilogy. Earlier this year Julianne shared her list of Top 10 Historical Movie Heroes, and today she's back to list her Top 10 Contemporary Movie Heroes. Thanks, Julianne!

Greetings, readers!  I had so much fun with my recent Top 10 List of Historical Movie Heroes that I wanted to do it again, this time focusing on hotties in contemporary films.  As I began to think about it, however, it became difficult to narrow it down, so I had to set some boundaries.

I decided to leave out superheroes—as hot as they may be—because it just wouldn’t be a fair contest in the alpha male category when Mr. Superhero can rescue a girl out of flying plane, while a mere mortal hottie may fall short in comparison when the plane is going down in flames.  So no Superheroes this time.

I’m also leaving out the action heroes for the same reason, because with today’s digital special effects, they’re pretty much superhuman anyway.  Though I might tackle those categories in a separate blog.

For now, let’s stick with romance and drama. Here are my top ten picks according to my rating system below. All of them made the cut because they have stood the test of time; these are films I have watched over and over. Being a writer, I have to give plenty of credit to the screenwriters who created these magnificent characters for some of my favorite actors.

I hope you’ll share your favorites in the comment section!  I would love to hear from you because I am always certain I’m going to forget a wonderful hero who deserves to be on this list.

Julianne’s Rating System

On a scale of 1-10, how does Mr. Hero score in the following categories?

A.  Devotion to the Girl

B.  Leadership Abilities (i.e. how strong of an alpha male is he?).  Also consider his integrity, intelligence, and soulfulness.

C.  Hotness Factor (utterly subjective on all fronts; includes physical attributes+charisma).

[Where do your favorites rank?...]

Dr. Wright's Breedfreak is a short book by a vet about the characteristics of various dog breeds. To say Dr. Wright has some strong opinions is like saying the ocean has some water.

Maybe that’s why I had brief dream about writing a HEE-larious article comparing my book characters to various dog breeds. Today I’m thinking, hey, it might not be as funny as the dream, but why not portray a few romantic heroes and heroines as dogs? It’s what Disney would do.

Heathcliff is obviously a pit-bull/Rottweiler mix, strong, loyal, and potentially dangerous and uninterested in socializing with strangers.  And, as JoAnn Ross pointed out on Twitter, definitely a stray.  My guess is he’d have some sort of terrier in his mix. So would Cathy. I have to say, I can’t think of what she’d be. Something neurotic and skittish but that barks bravely.

Scarlett O’Hara is a Yorkshire terrier, pampered, opinionated but at heart a working dog (they were ratters in the mills of Yorkshire). She’s someone who can make it through tough times.

[Who's next, who's next?!...]

Picture a shirtless Fabio type standing on a heather-covered hill. His long hair streams out behind him, while his heavily muscled legs, visible under a short, plaid kilt, are mostly bare to the chilly northern wind. His name is reminiscent of a Highland laird or Edinburgh merchant-prince: He goes by a tartan-ed title like Ewen Abercrombie or Fergus MacDuff.

Romance novels featuring brooding Scottish male leads continue to be popular with readers. Donna Grant’s Dark Sword series features sexy Highland lords and sinister Druids. Michelle Marcos’s Secrets to Seducing a Scot kicks off her “Highland Knaves” series, which stars “an infamous clan of outcast Scots who live for justice [and] lust for freedom…”

What makes such lads so popular with wistful heroines and readers alike?

Ten years ago, a Cincinnati Enquirer article analyzed the appeal of Scottish heroes in romance novels. Charis Calhoon of the Romance Writers of America opined that Scottish lords, hailing from a turbulent political environment, are the ideal stoic male figures that courageous heroines can redeem with their love.

[Makes sense. Tell me more!...]

Today we welcome not one, but TWO authors here to Heroes and Heartbreakers. Elle Kennedy and Vivian Arend both have releases on November 20; Elle's is Rocky Mountain Angel, and Vivian's title is Getting Hotter. They're with us today to talk about some hot bodies in romance. Thanks, Elle and Vivian!

Elle: I have never read a romance novel where the hero has anything less than a chiseled, rippled, delectable body. Not unless he lets himself go for a while after a devastating loss or trauma, but that period of extra-pound mourning doesn’t usually last long. The moment he’s back in action, he’s toned and muscly again—and let’s be honest, that’s the way we like it. Because, come on, we read to escape.  To fantasize.

[And why not? It's fun!...]

Yesterday, we kicked off our 13 Days of Halloween and since we're getting in the ghoulish spirit at work, we want to know: What's Your Favorite Type of Paranormal Hero?