Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group discussion
Food for Thought
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Has your taste in dangerous heroes changed over time?
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I still love edgy, dangerous heroes with a touch of ruthlessness to them. Ice cold, but hot when it comes to their women.
I don't care for the BDSM, but I do like when the hero is sexually demanding in bed (although nothing kinky or painful), if that makes sense. I love a hero who is crazy for his heroine. Very possessive and jealous is my thing. A hero who wants to share his heroine sexually doesn't work for me at all.
I still like the honorable hero with a dangerous side just as much.
So I think I'm still about the same when it comes to dangerous heroes.
In a way I suppose my tastes have changed, I've found that though I still love my tortured dangerous heroes, nowadays I love heroes as Danielle said who are ice cold. Who are more emotionally absent than not but get possessive and protective with their heroines. Also who doesn't love a hero that completely (though not stupidly) in love with his heroine especially when the hero is dangerous. I think my type now is heroes who are extremely intelligent with no clues how to behave in a normal world and heroes are badboys/dangerous. I still hate heroes who push their heroines around like they are somehow inferior than them especially when they emotional manipulating/abusing them and heroes who think it's okay to cheat or share for that matter since that goes completely against the whole your mine and alpha thing in my mind.
I'll update this if I remember anything else I love or hate but for now that's it.
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Yeah, it doesn't make sense that a possessive hero would be okay with sharing at all.
Danielle The Book Huntress (Angels Weep For Goodreads) wrote: "We are totally on the same page, Faiza. I don't like when the hero is condescending to the heroine at all.Yeah, it doesn't make sense that a possessive hero would be okay with sharing at all."
Exactly, it makes no sense at all to me. :)
Definitely, my taste has changed with the times. I started reading bodice rippers at a time when rape and abuse were an expected part of the plot. I think we readers put up with that part of the fantasy decades ago because the element of force meant that the sex wasn't the heroine's "fault," and our fault by association. I don't need or want that excuse anymore. I''m drawn to heroes who are sufficiently confident in their sexual allure that they let the chemistry work its inevitable magic. Dark and dangerous, yes, but woman-hating child-men who use rape as a weapon to "break" a woman, no thanks.
nothing has changed really except I think I do like the lost-cause hero a little more than I did when I was 21 years old and reading only historical romance. Maybe it is living life that has taught me that people don't essentially change as much as our books would like to tell us....but when there is a hero who changes....it is a diamond in the sand and so worth reading the story.
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Yes, I love to see a hero changed/healed by love.
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I agree! I can deal with a lot more if I see a change or redemption in the hero.
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I agree with you almost 100%. I think the reason why I still love Kylemore is because he was so damaged, I don't think he was doing it just because but out of a heart sickness.
For me, if the "hero" is abusive in any way, it is kind of contradictory to the idea of what a hero is. I expect my dangerous hero to be rough and ruthless, but I don't consider them a hero if that extends to their women or their commrads.My personal taste that I like in my heroes has not really changed at all, but my list of favorites meeting that type has definitely grown. I am a sucker for a smartass who is cocky and doesn't bother to hide it, add a little bit of a tortured past and I am done for. One of my favorites is Wraith from the Demonic a series.
My favorite hero type has changed so much from when I first got into romances. When I began my romance addiction historical bodice rippers were my drug of choice. I loved desolate rakes, and hard bitten Scottish warriors in particular. Then I discovered PNR, found I loved coldhearted vamps, and crazy shifters with animalistic possessive tendencies. Now I'm into various criminal types, and ruthless business men with shady pasts. Bonus points if it's BDSM themed. I feel as the years have gone by, my tolerence and for alpha-hole behavior has ratched up levels. Now I they can be psychopathic and it makes me only want more. Stockholm Syndrome is not a bad word, in my readingverse.
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Danielle The Book Huntress (Angels Weep For Goodreads) wrote: "@Paganalexandria, LOL. I do like my heroes stalkerific!"Danielle isn't it weird stuff we would run screaming from in real life, makes the best book heroes?
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I have enjoyed all the comments on this thread! I guess what has changed over time for me is not the dangerous hero aspect, I have always loved them especially Mitch Rapp (Vince Flynn's DH), Oliver Stone (David Baldacci's DH) and Scot Harvath (Brad Thor's DH), but the added enjoyment of a romance in the story.
I used to love heroes who were totally oblivious to the heroine's existence until it's too late. Now, I like to read about heroes who are in love with the heroines from the beginning!
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I love Will Robie from Baldacci. Have you read his books yet?
Another favorite is Joe Pike from Robert Crais.
SecondWorld has a great action hero as well.
Danielle The Book Huntress (Angels Weep For Goodreads) wrote: "@Kate, I love the straight thriller/action heroes too. I haven't started Brad Thor or Vince Flynn yet, but they are on my list.I love Will Robie from Baldacci. Have you read his books yet?
Anot..."
No, I have not read Will Robbie yet, but I have the first 2 books in the series and one novella on my Kindle TBR. I will look into Joe Pike and Second World. Thanks! Can't have too many bad boys on my Kindle!
Danielle The Book Huntress (Angels Weep For Goodreads) wrote: "@Kate, I love the straight thriller/action heroes too. I haven't started Brad Thor or Vince Flynn yet, but they are on my list.I love Will Robie from Baldacci. Have you read his books yet?
Anot..."
I just too a look at my Kindle and I do also have the first 3 Joe Pike books to read. I need to get busy reading what I have instead of buying more books!
I hadn't really thought about this question until seeing this topic post and it got me thinking...and yes my tastes in dangerous heroes have changed some! I am tolerant of quite a lot in a dangerous hero and can go quite dark, as long as there's a good reason for it.
Looking back, even before finding many of the books and authors I love (and are loved so much in this book group), and even in my early to mid teens before I read all that much, I loved the dark and dangerous hero in films and in TV shows. This then transferred into my reading. They are so intriguing, so complex, so compelling. I loved me a tortured hero! Still do, I just I realised not as much as I used to. Go figure!
I now tend to like a strong and confident dangerous hero, cocky even. A capable man, one whose past doesn't consume him or make him too needy. I mean they usually all have demons to overcome but I find I have a little less patience with the needy, insecure tortured hero as I used to. He used to be my favourite type. Not that it can't work well in the right book, but I now prefer to see a strong growth of character occurring quickly and throughout the book.
If I read a series such as ones by authors like Gena Showalter, Sherrilyn Kenyon for example, there are a spread of hero's and their stories and personalities. I find I would have been drawn to different Hero's stories years ago - the more wounded, tortured ones - as series favourites, to what I am drawn to now - the more confident hero's who've had it rough but don't hate life, or themselves.
This is a great discussion and I too have loved reading everyone's answers!
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Danielle The Book Huntress , Loves 'Em Lethal
(last edited Oct 14, 2014 06:38PM)
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Speaking of, is anyone watching Blacklist? I find myself quite fascinated with Raymond Reddington. Definitely a dangerous hero. He's not the buff, sexgod type, but I really appreciate that he has many of the qualities of dangerous heroes. although at time, he can be quite on the edge of being evil. That dichotomy is what makes the show interesting, to be honest.
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I l..."
Joe Pike is awesome. Enjoy!
My taste in dangerous heroes hasn't changed much, I've just moved on from paranormal romance to other genres. My first dangerous hero was Wrath so I ran out to find anything I could with dangerous vampire heroes. Now as long as the hero is dangerous but protective of the heroine I'm happy.
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Tammy wrote: "My taste in dangerous heroes hasn't changed much, I've just moved on from paranormal romance to other genres."I think that's pretty common. PNR was such a big fad that even people who love it couldn't stay THAT obsessed with it.
My reading tastes have actually changed A LOT.I have much less tolerance for sexism in my books these days, and - unfortunately - a lot of "dangerous hero" books have very misogynistic characters and themes.
I'm not fond of the idea that to be a "real man" you have to be a male chauvinist.
Romantic suspense is just about my favourite subgenre, but I prefer the authors who can have big, though men who also respect women and give them the space they need to be strong on their own. For example, Kaylea Cross writes heroes and heroines who are equal in their work and achievements without the woman losing her femininity...
I also still love paranormal heroes in the style of Patricia Briggs' Charles and Adam...
Agreed! Men who fear powerful women are weaklings at their core. Learning that in real life changed the way I view heroes in romantic fiction. Not that I don't find it sexy when the heroine has to rely on the hero or is in his power (primitive, sure, but still); I just want it to be a situation that causes the unequal status, and not his misogyny/her insecurity. That's why I'm drawn to romantic suspense, or historical romance, where the hero and heroine are thrown together in circumstances that may be unequal but can be resolved.
I can't say I've actually moved on from loving and reading about paranormal dangerous heroes myself. I still enjoy them as much as ever! I think the genre has expanded out though since I first began reading them and there are more crossover books than there used to be which I really like. Loving the paranormal-romance and historical dangerous hero though has definately lead me into reading other types of dangerous hero. However those DH qualities I like still remain the same, whatever the genre.
Growing up, reading bodice rippers, I'm just a little more prone to a dangerous, demanding and aloof hero.Like some have said, I don't think my taste has changed much, except that I've moved into other genres.
My first taste of what I liked in a hero was Clayton from Whitney, my love. He watched her, loved her and basically took her as his regardless of what she believed. She, unknowingly sometimes, twisted him in knots because he loved her and couldn't cope with anything less from her.
In the Warlord, Kenric, the hero, is just as ruthless. He has one of the best scenes ever. Well, he locks her up for a reason in the tower, but then goes to her every single night to watch her sleep. He locks her up because he knows no other way, he is a warlord, but he makes sure she is sleeping before he comes in at night and watches over her.
Then later I realized I liked Chandos from A Heart So Wild. Chandos, while possessive about the heroine, is on another level of ruthless. Due to his past he doesn't mind killing or torturing people and he will take out anyone who dares to breathe on her the wrong way.
So if anything, I've opened myself up more to what I will accept in a hero. I really enjoy when my hero is who he is, but shows the heroine in subtle ways his love or at least we read about it even if she doesn't necessarily know. I don't mind if it takes him a while to do this either, as long as I read the break down process. This can't be a mad dash to make the reader believe the hero loves the heroine in the last couple chapters. The hero must love the heroine without question, must show it even if he doesn't realize he is showing it and must accept it for himself even if he isn't willing to voice it. If his dark and dangerous is a 8 he must love the heroine as a 8 or more.
What I refuse to read is cheating. I refuse to read about sharing too. I can handle a lot of things, even "forced seduction" from a hero. Maybe even if the hero rapes the heroine, but I refuse to read about a hero that rapes another women. Catherine Coulter has a book out where the rapist in one book is the hero in another. I just can't....call me whatever you want, but I just can't get past a hero doing that. Like I said before, the hero also needs to own his love for the heroine. Even if he doesn't understand love, he should know and accept that he wants her and that she is somehow a part of him.
Fantastic letter!!! Who are the authors of the books you mention?
Tamar wrote: "Fantastic letter!!! Who are the authors of the books you mention?"The ones that I wrote? If it is then here they are
by Judith McNaught
by Elizabeth Elliott
by Johanna Lindsey
I remember a Catherine Coulter medieval where the "hero" casually rapes the heroine's lady's maid, to force the heroine to give in to some demand of his. It was absolutely vile, handled in this clinical way that basically indicated that since our hero wasnt "enjoying" the rape, he was still a good guy at heart. Later, after hero and heroine are in wuv, she chastises him (gently) for failing to acknowledge the baby daughter that resulted from his rape of her maid. Hero solved the problem by arranging a marriage between his raped baby momma and one of his knights. I still can't believe I kept reading past that hideous scene.
Susan wrote: "I remember a Catherine Coulter medieval where the "hero" casually rapes the heroine's lady's maid, to force the heroine to give in to some demand of his. It was absolutely vile, handled in this cli..."Yes, that is the same one! There are some authors I refuse to read because they either create a hero that allows the heroine to be raped or they do some act that is beyond repair in my eyes. A hero raping a woman then getting his love story is not romantic, luckily for Catherine Coulter not all of her heroes are not that awful.
A lot of people found the hero of
and his antics unforgivable. I almost didn't read it because of the reviews. It was so good though! He is one of the few heroes that was just callous in the beginning and slowly he did the sweetest things for the heroine...just because.
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Like some have said, I don't think my taste has changed much, except that I've moved into..."
I find myself agreeing with a lot of your tastes, Ren. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Oh, Chandos is one of my old favorites. Sigh!
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Catherine Coulter seemed to have some rape happy heroes, didn't she? I had to stop reading her after a while.
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Coulter did enjoy the rape-a-thons. I read them, so I can't really judge her for writing them.
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Oh definitely not trying to be judgmental. I just got heartburn over it and moved onto other authors.
For me it was always how extreme the author went with the hero and my tolerance for what he does and what he allows to happen. Some people could never read "forced seduction" between the hero and the heroine because for them that just read like rape. That was never a problem for me but I could never read about a hero that rapes another woman or allows the heroine to be raped(has power to stop it). I think I have read just about everything but those two scenarios.I'll still read Catherine Coulter though because I've been reading her books forever. I just make sure I get spoilers before I start reading. lol
Danielle, I'm adding Claiming the Courtesan to my lists of books to read.I don't think my taste in heroes have changed, but my tolerance for what heroines go through have. Years ago I could never read about a heroine selling her body. Once I read that on the back cover I would just move on, but I've read a few books, even one from Coulter, where the heroine is pulled out of it.
I've been surprised at how many emotions novels like that can evoke sometimes.
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Danielle, btw, I didn't mean you were being judgemental about Coulter's rape scenes - or that you wouldn"t have a right to be! I was just admitting that I'm guilty of having helped her get rich off of a product that now makes me angry.
wat i wnt to knoe is y no new heroes along da ilk f barrons or ilya parkinson-smthin hav been introduced
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Oh I didn't take it that way. I know what you mean. But you know things change. Back then, rape was obligatory in HR, but I'm glad that's not now.
Dangerous Hero Addict Support Group
Books mentioned in this topic
Claiming the Courtesan (other topics)Claiming the Courtesan (other topics)
To Have and To Hold (other topics)
Whitney, My Love (other topics)
The Warlord (other topics)
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Do you still like your dangerous heroes the same flavor or have you changed in your tastes lately?
Love to hear your thoughts on this.