Romance readers are voracious – they’ll gobble up stories with men in kilts, men in breeches, men in suits, men in uniforms (both sports and first responders), men in suits, men in jeans…you get the idea. He can be a werewolf, a vampire, funny, sexy, smart, dumb-but-hot, movie star, king, soldier, construction worker… wow, its easy to get side tracked thinking of the vast variety of hotness in Romancelandia! (Don’t even get me started on bearded vs non-bearded—it is an ugly battle that nobody wins or loses.)
But there’s one unifier in all sub-genres, eras, heights and hair colors. Women always go for the bad boy.
Or do they?
Please pause for a moment and imagine the meaningful, one-eyebrow-raised look I give as I ask that question…
Bad boys are not a new phenomenon by any means. Pirates. (mic drop. I don’t even need to continue, right? Fluffy white sleeves, chest hair peeking out, rakishly good-looking and talented with their *cough* swords.) Cowboy outlaws who ride hard, shoot fast, and always tip their hats and drawl pardon, little lady after a big barroom brawl.
More to the point, our appreciation of bad boys is not new. There’s a famous quote by Lady Caroline Lamb in 1812 about the historical hottie Lord Byron – ultimate bad boy, irresistible man-whore, talented poet —was that he was “mad, bad and dangerous to know.”
Yum. Rawr (insert a deep, throaty purring noise here).