We've asked author Elisabeth Barrett to join us today to talk about why she thinks the smartest guys are also the sexiest. Elisabeth's new release, Blaze of Winter, features a tall, smart, and handsome novelist nicknamed “The Professor,” a masterminding whiz who plots his own happy ever after with a sweet stranger. Thanks for visiting, Elisabeth!
(See the end of the post to find out how to enter for a chance for behind-the-scenes limited access of a Net Galley review copy of Blaze of Winter!)
“Brainy's the new sexy.” —Irene Adler, Sherlock: A Scandal in Belgravia (Ep. 2.1)
I was going to call this post “Hot for Teacher” until I realized that all the hot professors I know probably wouldn’t appreciate being called out in a public blog post for attributes other than their intelligence. So I settled on “intellectuals” – it gave me a broader range with which to work – as a platform to discuss why intelligence is so sexy.
So why is intelligence so sexy? Being with someone intelligent requires you to think. Hard. To stretch your mind to its limits and push yourself for greater comprehension of the world around you. To flex your brain to exhaustion, elevating you to another level. Personally, I love being with someone who can think a few steps ahead of me. I love the challenge of keeping up with a fast-thinker, but of course, I want someone who respects my brain, too.
To that end, here’s a carefully curated list containing some of the hottest (fictional) intellectuals out there:
• Harrison Ford as Dr. Henry Walton “Indiana” Jones, Jr. in all of the Indiana Jones movies. Who would dare say that a history professor who wears a felt fedora and carries a whip isn’t hot? No one. Not when he fights Nazis and deciphers secret codes and deduces which grail Jesus drank from by the size, shape and material of the cup. Brilliance and a lopsided smile make Indiana Jones is first on my list.
• Benedict Cumberbatch as Sherlock Holmes in Masterpiece Mystery’s Sherlock. Okay, so in this series, Sherlock is portrayed as an Asperger’s-suffering mostly-psychopathic brainiac, but he is the hottest thing going since, well, ever. Brainy is indeed the new sexy as Sherlock uncovers terrorist plots, solves murder after murder and generally flips mundane police-work on its head. Plus the cheekbones and the clothes? Done and done.
• Rachel Weisz as Evelyn “Evie” Carnahan in The Mummy. Cairo librarian and aspiring Egyptologist, Evie can read ancient Egyptian from dusty, old tomes that just might happen to release thousand-year old mummies. She’s not simply intelligent, but also cool under fire. In the face of death and danger, she calls out bad guys for their faulty translations, “‘For all eternity.’ Idiot.” In addition, she is obscenely beautiful and generally shows more spunk than everyone else around her, combined.
• Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier (“Professor X”) in X-Men. Arguably the most intelligent of these intellectuals, Xavier is a high-level telepath, who is also a scientific genius and an expert on genetics, mutation and psychic powers. A mutant himself, Xavier holds degrees from Harvard and Oxford, and was also tapped to be a professor at Columbia. To help other mutants, he founds Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. His voice alone is enough to make you want to sit up and pay attention in class.
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Limited-Time Sneak Peek Opportunity! To enter for a chance for behind-the-scenes limited access of a Net Galley review copy of Elisabeth Barrett’s Blaze of Winter, make sure you’re a registered member of the site, and then simply leave a comment below.* Winner must have a NetGalley account to access prize.
*NO PURCHASE NECESSARY TO ENTER OR WIN. A purchase does not improve your chances of winning. To enter, fill out entry at http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/blogs/2012/09/intellectuals-are-hot-author-elisabeth-barrett-on-tall-smart-and-handsome-heroes beginning at 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time (ET) September 10, 2012. Event ends at 12:29 a.m. ET on September 17, 2012 (the “Promotion Period”). Void outside of the 50 US and DC and where prohibited by law. Please see full details and official rules at http://www.heroesandheartbreakers.com/page/official-rules-blaze-of-winter-review-access. Sponsor: Macmillan, 175 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10010
Raised in a sleepy little Connecticut town, Elisabeth draws on her upbringing to write small-town romances. Her summers spent living and working on Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard were the inspiration for the Star Harbor series, which kicked off with Deep Autumn Heat and continues with Blaze of Winter. Currently, Elisabeth lives in Northern California with her husband and three children. She knows that brainy’s the new sexy. Find her online: Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads
Read an excerpt of Blaze of Winter at Scribd
