As an erotic romance author, my biggest goal is to have my work appeal to readers who enjoy their romance on the steamier side. Well, I’m a reader as well as a writer, and I love noticing how other writers bring out the best qualities of a sexy hero and heroine. After all, if those main characters don’t make our hearts go pitter patter, it’s likely the book as a whole won’t either. So this week, my question to you is, what makes a hero—the male lead—someone you can root for and love?
Years ago, a reviewer said of Cooper in The Cinderella Curse that “Dee sure knows her men.” That comment made me happy because I love men and I love making them come alive in my books. Cooper, the photographer who makes over Charlotte, Cinderella style, is more of a beta hero. He is strong and confident and right there on hand to help Charlotte recognize the beauty he saw in her even when she was a “plain Jane.” He helps, but he doesn’t rush in and impose his will on her.
The space jockeys in The Bride of the Pryde, however, are all alpha men: domineering, quick to make demands and even quicker to expect them to be carried out. Good thing the heroine, Susan, is just as alpha. Still, as a woman, she responds to their total maleness when she comes up against them (pun intended).
I’ve written all kinds of heroes in my erotic romances, but I’m interested in what you think make a hero wonderful. Is it his strength, his humor, his decisiveness, or tenderness? Do you like a man to stand strong but silent beside his heroine when they’re with others but take charge between the sheets or do you like him to express his will with the heroine in all ways?
We all have men in our lives, fictional or real, who make us sit up and take notice. Let me know your favorite hero and what appeals to you about him. Thanks!