Tag: Best Heroes

Best of 2017: The Heroes

Posted January 2, 2018 by Rowena in Features | 8 Comments

Casee

Drew Lawless from Revenge (Lawless series #3) by Lexi Blake. Drew Lawless was closed off to everyone, even his family to an extent. He has had one goal since a fire ripped apart his world when he was a teenager. All he wants is to find the person(s) responsible for killing his parents. The lengths he will go to are a bit extreme, but that’s just Drew for you.

Ian Taggart from Love and Let Die (Masters and Mercenaries #5) by Lexi Blake Oh, Ian Taggart, how I love you. Ian is my favorite hero of 2017. I came into the Masters and Mercenaries series late. I actually read Love and Let Die first, which is a huge no-no for me. It didn’t matter after I started reading Ian’s book. He is fiercely protective of his family and Charlotte. He is crass, arrogant, and wonderful. I can’t imagine I’m the only one that feels this way about Ian.

Theo Taggart from Submission is Not Enough (Masters and Mercenaries #12) by Lexi Blake Are we sensing a theme here? Theo Taggart is brother to Ian, but they came into each other’s lives late thanks to their father. When you first meet Theo, he is the sweetest person imaginable. Then something terrible happens and he comes back home as someone that his family doesn’t recognize. Reading about Theo’s journey from where he began to where he ended up was a powerful thing.

Raphael from Raphael (Vampires in America #1) by D.B. Reynolds I’ve never quite seen a hero like Raphael. He is a vampire that can bring lesser vampires to their knees. It sounds quite funny, but it’s true. When he loves, he loves intensely. When you’re his enemy, well, don’t be his enemy. Seeing him brought to his knees by who he first thinks of as a mere human is hilarious. Well, not exactly hilarious as funny that a human can bring Raphael to his knees.

Valentin from Silver Silence (Psy/Changeling Trinity #1) by Nalini Singh I don’t think a year goes by where I don’t have a Nalini hero on my list. Valentin is the alpha of the StoneWater Bears. He’s intrigued by Silver from the moment he meets her. He knows that she is completely Silent, but that doesn’t stop him from going after who his bear considers its mate. Valenin was exactly what you would expect an alpha to be. Ferociously protective of his pack and those that he cares about. He was the perfect bear for Silver.

Holly

Blake Riley from Good Boy by Sarina Bowen and Elle Kennedy: Blake was such a stand-up guy. He seems a little manic and even a bit annoying in the other books, but he was an amazing friend, kind, compassionate, caring… Blake Riley makes me smiley.

Valentin Nikolaev, alpha of the StoneWater Bears from Silver Silence by Nalini Singh: Playful, arrogant, adorable..not to mention totally kickass. I just wanted to eat him up.

King Midas from The Kingpin of Camelot by Cassandra Gannon: King Midas was so adorable. Normally I wouldn’t say that about an underworld Kingpin, but he was! I adored him.

Jake Becker from Sustained by Emma Chase: Oh, Jake. I couldn’t help but fall in love with him, just the way he couldn’t help but fall in love with the entire McQuaid clan.

Morgan le Fae from Spellbinder by Thea Harrison: I didn’t think I’d like Morgan, based on his actions in other books. But he was fully redeemed in his. He was such a good guy, for someone who was forced to do bad things for centuries.

Honorable Mentions: Mike Beacon from Pipe Dreams by Sarina Bowen: Mike was such a good dad and a great guy all around. Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent from Devil in Spring by Lisa Kleypas: I think the best part of Gabriel was how he came to accept Pandora for who she was. In the beginning he wanted a respectable, predicable Duke’s wife. But as the novel wore on and he came to care for Pandora, he realized he wanted her just as she was.

Rowena

Mike Beacon from Pipe Dreams (Brooklyn Bruisers #3) by Sarina Bowen: Beacon was a surprise winner for me. I wasn’t prepared to really care for his book at all because I didn’t like his heroine in the other books in this series but boy did Beacon win me over big time. The choices he had to make, the people he hurt to do what he thought was right, it really gutted me and seeing him work hard to get the one woman he loved back…man. I just love him so. He was a great father to his kids and a fantastic man for Lauren. So, so good.

Malcolm Bevelstoke, Duke of Haven from The Day of the Duchess (Scandal & Scoundrel #3) by Sarah MacLean: That Malcolm is on my list of best heroes of the year is saying much about how awesome Sarah MacLean’s writing is because I hated him when I first met him in The Rogue Not Taken. That opening scene did not paint Malcolm in the brightest of lights but holy cow is Sarah MacLean’s redeem game strong. By the end of this book, I loved Malcolm despite our rocky start. This guy is something else and his wife? She’d get my vote for Woman of the Year.

Ty Masters from Played (Gridiron #4) by Jen Frederick: I love athletes and I really love Jen Frederick’s athlete heroes. She writes some of my favorites and Ty’s brother was an honorable mention back in 2015 and oh man, Ty was just as freaking awesome as Knox was. I adored the hell out of him. From the way that he loved his best friend to his charming personality and just…everything. Everything about him appealed to me and that’s why he’s on my list.

Mark Blakely from An Ex for Christmas (Love Unexpectedly #5) by Lauren Layne: I really love grumpy heroes and Mark Blakely was definitely a grumpy hero. The fierceness of his devotion to his best friend and the obvious love he kept under wraps while he growled at her and took care of her, gah…I ate it all right up. He was so swoonworthy and I loved the hell out of him.

Blake Riley from Good Boy (WAGs #1) by Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy: I love funny and flirty heroes just as much as I love grumpy ones and getting to know Blake Riley in Good Boy was an absolute blast. He made me laugh so much but he also made swoon a bit at how great in the sack he was. We should all be lucky enough to have a Blake Riley in our lives. Sarina Bowen & Elle Kennedy wrote him up real good because I love him. Love him, love him, love him.

There were a lot of great heroes of 2017 and we’ve listed our favorites. What heroes wormed their way into your hearts and made you fall head over heels in love with?

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Best of 2014: The Heroes

Posted January 6, 2015 by Rowena in Features | 13 Comments

best of 2014_heroes

Rowena: This is always my favorite category of the year. I mean, how can it not be with all of the hot guys we read about every year? It was pretty easy for me to choose my favorite heroes of the year which surprised me.

  1. Bo Randolph from Unspoken by Jen Frederick. There aren’t enough words in the dictionary to describe how much I love this guy. He was everything that I hoped he would be, maybe more. I loved the fierceness of his love for Ann Marie and his protectiveness toward her made me swoon all over the place where he was involved. He was such a huge sweetheart that was hella good in the sack and really, you can’t go wrong with that guy. I just loved everything about Bo. Love, love, love him!

  2. Drew Baylor from The Hook Up by Kristen Callihan. Drew Baylor won me over the minute we got into his head and he said, “I’m not going to say that it was love at first sight. No, it was more like, oh, hell-yes-please, I’ll have that. With a helping of right-the-fuck-now on the side.” He said things like this and getting to know him was such a freaking treat that I ate up every single scene with him in the book. The way he felt about Anna and the fumbling he did in the beginning where she was concerned made me fall more and more in love with him. He was one of my favorite heroes of 2014 because I couldn’t get enough of him.

  3. Adam Hartley from The Year We Fell Down by Sarina Bowen. Sarina Bowen is probably my favorite new to me author of 2014 and my love for her writing started with the introduction of Adam Hartley. He was one of those characters that came to life in the story and my love for him was real. He was so real to me. He drove me crazy when Stacia returned from abroad but I got over my annoyance with him because I loved him as a person. He wasn’t perfect but I loved that about it. I loved that he was hobbling around and humbling himself at the same time and I absolutely adored the way that he loved Corey. Loved him!

  4. Bridger McCaulley from The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen. Bridger’s story broke my heart. Right from the very beginning I adored Bridger. I loved the relationship he had with his little sister Lucy. I loved the love he came to feel for Scarlett and I absolutely adored him for the lengths in which he went to protect those near to him. His wasn’t an easy life and it would have been understandable for him to be bitter and mad at the world but Bridger didn’t have time for that. He was much too busy keeping secrets, raising his younger sister and trying to keep his grades up in school. Bridger’s story made me cry buckets and he stayed with me long after his story ended because dammit, I loved the hell out of him.

  5. Daniel Quinn from Before You Break by Christina Lee. When we first met Quinn in All of Me, I had no idea that I would come to love him as much as I did by the time I read his book. I was completely unprepared for how much I’d love his book and how much I’d love him. I loved seeing him grow over the course of his book and I loved seeing the man that he grew up to be. I loved the chemistry he had with Ella and their phone conversations. My heart completely went out to him and by the time his book ended, I was sad because I wasn’t ready to let him go. LOVED HIM!

Honorable Mentions: Tanner Riggs from One in a Million by Jill Shalvis, Max Cooper from The Shape of My Heart by Ann Aguirre and Zachary Fox from Rock Addiction by Nalini Singh. All three of these guys made me all swoony in one way or another. They made my 2014 just a little bit better. 🙂 I just noticed that my top 5 heroes of the year are all from NA books, does that make me a Cougar? Haha.

Holly: I didn’t have trouble picking my favorite heroes of the year, but I sure did  have trouble narrowing them down to five.

  1. Drew Baylor from The Hookup by Kristen Callihan. Drew was refreshing in that he wasn’t adverse to finding true love. He wasn’t necessarily looking for it when it happened, but he didn’t back away from it once it did. I loved how devoted to Anna be was, and how he fumbled with her. I also loved seeing his vulnerable side. He wasn’t perfect, and that just made him more attractive.

  2. Max from Falling for Max by Shannon Stacey. Max is another unconventional hero. He’s shy, sweet, mildly OCD and unlike any hero I’ve read before him. He was nerdy and adorable, and I just wanted to wrap him up and put him in my pocket.

  3. Bridger McCaully from The Year We Hid Away by Sarina Bowen. Bridger. Oh, Bridger. I don’t even know where to start with this guy. He was strong, loyal, funny and unafraid to stand up for what he believed was right, or to take care of the people he loved. His desire to care for his baby sister and his willingness to do whatever he needed to give her the best life possible really touched me. I adored him.

  4. Zachary Fox from Rock Addiction by Nalini Singh. Fox was bold, passionate, a little bit wild and sexy as hell. He’s possessive and jealous, but also tender and caring. If you’re looking for an alpha hero, he’s the one.

  5. Max from The Shape of My Heart by Ann Aguirre. Max really surprised me. He started out as such a bad boy – leather jacket and motorcycle included – but he turned out to be so much more than a boy from the wrong side of the tracks. He pulled himself up and out of a poor, rough beginning and was working hard to make something of himself. He wasn’t afraid to go after what he wanted, or to make himself vulnerable. I loved how quick he was to admit his feelings and how eager to work on his relationship. I admired how he stuck to his convictions and didn’t let anyone walk all over him, the heroine included.

Honorable Mentions go to: Sam Brody from It’s in His Kiss by Jill Shalvis, David from Rock Courtship by Nalini Singh, Xavier del Torro from Night’s Honor by Thea Harrison

Who were your favorite heroes from 2014? Can you narrow them down to five?

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Best of 2013: The Heroes.

Posted January 1, 2014 by Rowena in Features | 1 Comment

Best of 2013

Rowena: Heroes have always been my thing. I almost always love the heroes in the books that I read. Whether I love the book or not, the hero is usually an instant love for me.

  1. Cade Morgan from Love, Irresistibly by Julie James
  2. Shy Cage from Own the Wind by Kristen Ashley
  3. Micha Scott from The Secret of Ella and Micha by Jessica Sorensen
  4. Jack Harper from Always on My Mind by Jill Shalvis
  5. Bo Randolph from Unspoken by Jen Frederick

Honorable Mentions: Cade Winston from Faking It by Cora Carmack, Brad from The Reece Malcolm List by Amy Spalding (yeah, he wasn’t the hero or the love interest but still, I absolutely adored him) and Braeden Carmichael from On Dublin Street by Samantha Young.

Holly: Heroines tend to make-or-break books for me, but that doesn’t mean I don’t fall in love with the occasional hero.

  1. Parker “Shy” Cage from Own the Wind by Kristen Ashley
  2. Jonah Warner from Drawn Together by Lauren Dane
  3. Bennett Reynolds from All of You by Christina Lee
  4. Landon/Lucas from Easy by Tammara Webber
  5. Bo Randolph from Unspoken by Jen Frederick

Which heroes made your Best of List this year?

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Best of 2012: The Heroes.

Posted December 18, 2012 by Rowena in Features | 5 Comments

The heroes.

Rowena: This is probably the hardest category for me to list each year because I’m such a hoochie that I like all of the heroes.  But because Holly will probably yell at me if I don’t finish this, here’s my list of most hunkalicious heroes of 2012.

  • Lucas Hunter from Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh.  This guy was so alpha and so damn hot that I wanted to sing My Body by LSG to him and do every single thing that they talked about doing in the song. (Listen to song here) And then I wanted to do it all again. So freaking hot.
  • Daniel Smythe-Smith from A Night Like This by Julia Quinn.  I love a super serious, hot hero any day but I really love a hero that is all those things and can make me laugh.  Daniel surprised me with how much I liked him.  I wasn’t expecting to like him as much as I did because he just didn’t come off as a hero that would be as memorable as he was in the previous book in this series.  He ran away from London and left his family unprotected for goodness sakes but you gotta hand it to Julia Quinn, she can redeem just about anyone.  I loved Daniel.
  • Colin Sandhurst from A Week to be Wicked by Tessa Dare.  Just like Daniel from A Night Like This, Colin Sandhurst kept me bent over at the waist laughing my ass off.  Add to the fact that he was so good looking and such a caring person, I couldn’t help myself but love the hell out of him.  Tessa Dare did a great job of redeeming Colin’s character and showing us why he was such a lovable character to boot.  I completely and fiercely loved Colin Sandhurst.  For real.
  • Adam Connelly from Rescue My Heart by Jill Shalvis. As much as I loved Josh from the Lucky Harbor series, it was Adam Connelly that captured my heart so completely from Jill Shalvis.  I loved Adam in the previous books and I loved him so much more in his book.  His book wasn’t my favorite Shalvis title that I read this year but Adam was my favorite Shalvis hero.  He’s so strong, so utterly not perfect that he was perfect for him.  He’s my favorite hero in the Animal Magnetism series and if you read his book, you definitely know why.  I want my own Adam. =)
  • Kyle Rhodes from About that Night by Julie James.  How can I not put the Twitter Terrorist on my Best of list?  This guy shut Twitter down all by himself and got arrested for it.  That is so awesome, I can’t even stand it.  Kyle was a hero that was so sexy and so funny that yeah, he made the list.
Holly: I’ve decided I can’t list my favorite heroes of 2012. I’m taking a pass.

Ok, Ok, I’ll make an effort since I’ll never hear the end of it from Rowena if I don’t. But I’d like it noted for the record I’m doing so under extreme duress! (R: You know me so well, H.)

  • Tatum Jackson from Sweet Dreams by Kristen Ashley: I have a serious love/hate relationship with Ashley’s characters. Some of them are over-the-top assholes, but all of them are just the right shade of caring to make it impossible to hate them. Tate is my favorite of them all. He’s strong, a little rough around the edges, and 100% man. He’s also kind, caring and super lovable. I want to lick him.
  • Kahlil from Oracle’s Moon by Thea Harrison: “He had never bothered to count time before, but he started to now, and it began with counting each breath she took.” LOVE.
  • Elliot McBride from The Seduction of Elliot McBride by Jennifer Ashley: I love a hero who knows what he wants and isn’t afraid to go after it. Especially if he’s a little bit damaged and knows only the heroine can save him. 
  • Alexander Moncrieff, Duke of Falconridge from What I Did For a Duke by Julie Anne Long: I read this book for the first time in 2011, but I’m including Alex anyway because 1) I re-read this several times in 2012 and 2) he’s amazing. It isn’t often we get mature heroes in romance novels. Especially not ones who aren’t afraid to admit they want love and marriage. There’s a good chance Alex is my favorite hero of all time, not just 2012. He’s that good.

I was going to do some Honorable Mentions, but I couldn’t narrow the list down so I’m going to skip them for this round. I will say I agree with Rowena and the guest reviewers on many of their choices. There are some great heroes out there.

Here’s our the gentlemen that made it onto our guest reviewers BEST HEROES list:

Between Ames and Tracy, we’re all hookers of the highest sort on Book Binge, haha.  There are also some repeats as well….I must meet this Ewan McCabe. =)  Thanks for sharing ladies!

 Who are your favorite heroes that you met this year?

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End of the Year Book Survey: 2011.

Posted December 30, 2011 by Rowena in Features | 3 Comments

Instead of doing one of those Best of lists that everyone does at this time of year, I thought I’d participate in this end of the year Book Survey from The Perpetual Page-Turner. I thought that it’d be a lot easier since I just had to answer questions but man, this is a lot harder than I thought. I’ve been racking my brain for the last half hour trying to remember everything I read and how much I loved them and what not. It’s a good thing I kept a book log of all the books I read this year.

Anyway, let’s get on with the survey, shall we?

1. Best Book You Read In 2011?

I read 150 books this year (barely made that too, whew!) and of those 150 books, I gave 14 books an A grade. Of those A grade books, I have a top 5 favorites list and they are:

Where She Went by Gayle Forman|Amy and Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson|Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins|Past Perfect by Leila Sales|Geek Girl by Cindy C. Bennett


I loved all of these books, I can’t pick a favorite from them because I loved them all for different reasons. So I’m cheating and keeping them all on here. Deal with it, haha. =) As you can see, I’m a HUGE fan of Contemporary YA. I love getting into the heads of teens from the here and now because I can totally relate to what they’re going through because I so remember being in their shoes when I was their age.

2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?


My most disappointing read of the year has to go to Tris & Izzie by Mette Ivie Harrison.

I absolutely adored the cover of this book. I thought it was too cute for words and I just knew that I was going to love the book, only I didn’t. The female lead got on my hot damn nerves and I was intrigued by the male lead, but not in a good way. It was more of how stranger could this guy get? Needless to say, it was a total miss for me and I was pretty bummed about that.

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?


My most surprising (in a good way!) read of 2011 has to go to The Day Before by Lisa Schroeder. I’m not much of a free verse type of reader. I’m not sure why, I get scared that I might not enjoy the book because I’m not much into poetry? I’m not sure but for whatever reason, I don’t read a lot of books written in verse. When I requested this book from NetGalley, I didn’t even realize it was written in verse but I went ahead and read it anyway and was glad that I did because I ended up really liking it.

It got an A grade from me. Woot!

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?


All of the books in my answer for #1. I recommend those books to anyone that will listen. I loved all of those books, that much. Oh wait, I also recommended The Truth about Forever by Sarah Dessen a lot too. That’s my #1 pimp book and I pimped it out a lot this year. My nieces all thanked me for it too, haha.

5. Best series you discovered in 2011?

There have been a few series that I began in 2011 that I absolutely adored. Like, the Jessica Darling series by Megan McCafferty, The She’s So Dead to Us Trilogy by Kieran Scott and the Angelfire series by Courtney Allison Moulton. All of these series were fabulous series that I’m anxious for more from, so yeah those are my choices.

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?

Stephanie Perkins, Morgan Matson, Elizabeth Eulberg, Lindsay Leavett, Courtney Allison Moulton, Meg McCafferty. I read a bunch of fabulous authors for the first time this year and look forward to reading more from them.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?


I think this would go to Forbidden by Tabitha Suzman. I’m not a fan of books that deal with incest and stuff like that. It’s heartbreaking and it’s just not something that I’m comfortable with but man, I couldn’t put this book down.

My heart went out to both Lochan and Mia. They both had a hard time of it and they fought their feelings and just everything.

This book was one of those books that you needed to know what would happen because so many different situations went through your head while you were reading it. It was one of those train wrecks that you can’t help but look, no matter how much you didn’t want to.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?

I think this would go to I think, Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins. I read this book twice before moving on to the next book. I loved it that much.

9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?


Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins. I read and absolutely adored Anna and the French Kiss and just knew that I was going to love this one as well. This book didn’t knock me on my ass nearly as much as Anna did but I did enjoy getting to know Cricket Bell. Lola took too long to come to her senses for me to be wild about her but it was still an entertaining book.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?

For some reason, my mind is drawing a blank. I have no freaking clue.

11. Most memorable character in 2011?

Jessica Darling: Jessica had me cracking up from the moment I was introduced to her character. She was funny, she was quirky and she was refreshingly honest. Her voice had me turning the pages and reading more. She had me wanting to read more, I loved her!

Adam Wilde : When we first meet Adam in If I Stay, he was great. He was that boyfriend that every girl wanted by their bedside, while they were fighting for their lives but we got to know him through Mia’s memories. In Where She Went, we got to know Adam through Adam’s memories and through his POV. Reading about his journey to where he was WSW made my love for Adam grow by heaps and bounds.

Etienne St. Clair: I fangirled all over my review about how much I loved Etienne. If you need to refresh your memory, go ahead and read my review again. Everything I can say to justify St. Clair being a memorable character for me is in that review. He was fanflippin’tastic.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011?

Other Words for Love by Lorraine Zago Rosenthal. This book was a romance for a younger audience but it’s a story that stayed with me for a while and I thought it was beautifully written.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?


Sign Language by Amy Ackley. This book took me right back to when I found out about nephew RJ’s cancer and when my Mom died. Ackley was spot on with the thought processes that go through your mind when those things happen in your life. I cried a lot when I read this book because I could totally relate to Abby’s grief even though we both handled our grief in different ways. It was one of those books that you need to read to understand.

14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?


Sloppy Firsts by Megan McCafferty. This book had me cracking up from beginning to end. I absolutely adored Jessica Darling and the way she thought, the way she acted and the way she obsessed over her best friend’s move. The month that I read it, the book was celebrating its 10 year anniversary. Seriously, why in the world did it take me ten years to read this book? Shame on me.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?

Here’s another one that I have no clue. I know that there are a lot but for the life of me, I can’t think of anything right now. I’ll have to edit this when I can think of any but for now, I’ll publish this post without answering this. I know, I’m a cheater. Sorry (not really). =)

16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?

I’m already planning re-reads of all of the books in #1. I want to read all of those books again, soon. I think I’m going to start with Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour. That book was too freaking rad.

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!


He’s So Not Worth It by Kieran Scott. The way that book ended had me gasping all over the dang place. I couldn’t believe it. I can’t wait until the next book comes out. I gotta know what happens next.

Another one is Wildefire by Karsten Knight. I closed that book on a screech. I wasn’t completely wowed by that book but I did enjoy it and that ending threw me for a loop. I had to go back and re-read something before I closed that book and screeched like a weirdo.

And there you have it…my bookish survey results. I hope you guys had a good reading year like I did. I look forward to another fabulous year of great reading so cheers to the freaking new year, I’ll drink to that (yeah, yeah).

See you next year!

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