But, occasionally, I like historicals with alpha anti-heros--obnoxious men who not only need redeeming, they need serious soul searching, behavior modifications, attitude adjustments... And, they, of course, need the perfect woman to save them from themselves.
The other day Wendy blogged that Thea Devine was a guilty pleasure. Well, books with anti-heros are my guilty pleasure. Here are a few more memorable anti-heros:
- Gralaem--Firesong by Catherine Coulter
- Lucien (Lucky)--Dark Wager by Mary Spencer
- Cato--The Accidental Bride by Jane Feather
- Rees--Your Wicked Ways by Eloisa James
- Rolfe--The Conqueror by Brenda Joyce
- Rogan--The Taming by Jude Deveraux
- Spencer--The Marriage Bed by Stepanie Mittman
- Hugo--Vixen by Jane Feather
- John--The Marriage Bed by Laura Lee Guhrke (newest to the list)
- I'm sure there are other, they're not coming to mind now.
Drunks, adulterers, clueless idiots, self-involved morons, villians in their own right, but everyone had an epiphany of love, that made their book worth reading.
Are all the books keepers? Nope.
Do I even believe an epiphany of love can truly change someone? Nope, but for some reason in each of these books, I believed it possible.
Would I personally want any of them? Nope.
Would I want to see one of them a hero in a contemporary? Absolutely not.
Contemporaries can and do have anti-heros (Anne Stuart writes the best), but they're somehow different and most women today would kick these historical type anti-heros to the curb without a second thought .
2 comments:
I'm so with you, Tara! Historical anti heroes, what a great term. For some reason they're more acceptable to me if it's a historical rather than a contemp.
As for buying more books- I too fell off the 'no more books' wagon, bought 4 at the UBS & 1 new. Plus 1 wedged under the passenger seat in my car; which I didn't even remember losing!
Interesting post! I love a good alpha hero, and even the anti-heroes, and agree Stuart write the absolute best!
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