This is coming a little late and I apologize but this was very hard to do because I haven’t gotten my Magic Study back from my friends yet and so I had to do everything from memory. We’ve gotten our first request for the Hero of the Month post and so I thought it’d be cool to spotlight, a hero that’s new to me but hella dear as well.

Two books deep and Valek from Maria V. Snyder’s Poison and Magic Study books sure knows how to hook a sister and reel her in.

In Poison Study, he drove me batty with all of his tests and the constant need to keep Yelena (and my damn self) on our toes was enough to make me want to karate chop him in the neck but even while he was exasperating me with all of his undercover tests and just all around bullheadedness, there was no denying this man was friggin’ sexy.

There was an air of power surrounding him that drew my attention (and I’m sure yours) to him. All the while he was being a jerk to Yelena, you wanted to get to know this enigmatic man and I can promise you that even after the second book, the questions you had about Valek still apply and still make you want to dig deeper to find out all of his secrets.

Why is he immune to magic and nobody else is? Why can only Yelena reach him through magic? Why? Why? Why?

So many questions go unanswered and the longer we have to wait for those answers, the more anxious we get to find out just what secrets Valek holds.

There’s so much to like about him too, I mean when we first meet him, he’s teaching Yelena all about poisons and his study is littered with books and seriously, like Ames told me in an email recently, “Who doesn’t love a smart guy?” His brain was a total turn on for me because he was highly intelligent and though you don’t know much about him, you don’t get the sense that he’s evil or bad, underneath all of the lies and secret business he’s got going for him, he’s still innately …good. I liked that a lot about him.

I loved how when he falls in love with Yelena, he didn’t try to keep her hidden and protect her from everything, he let her go but he was always there to help her. He didn’t try to fight her battles for her and he just loved her enough to trust that she’d do the right thing and his unwavering trust in Yelena once he did fall in love with her, the way he understood her like no other person ever could was just oh so romantic and loving and just outright great! He’s one of those heroes that is cloaked in mystery and just so hot that the more we don’t know about him, the more we love him.

And you’ve gotta love a man who can hold himself against ANYONE and is the person they’re talking about in the next quote:

“It’s become a sort of graduation from basic training for the soldiers to fight Valek at least once, although you can try as many times as you like. The Captains watch the matches and recruit the more promising soldiers. And if you manage to impress Valek with your skills, he may offer you a post in his elite intelligence corps.”

For a man to be the person soldiers have to beat in order to get a good place in the soldiers rank, yeah he’s gotta be fit and strong and all muscly and just yummy enough to lick, swoon That’s Valek for you.

You’ve also gotta love a man who can fill out a uniform and make you all gooey inside, like Valek does:

He came downstairs decked out in full dress uniform. Red braids draped his shoulders; medals were lined up six deep over his left breast. He oozed dignity, a man of stature….The uniform enhanced his athletic body, and my thoughts drifted to how magnificent he would look with his uniform puddled around his feet.

A man of stature and dignity…yeah I’m already standing in a puddle of drool, goodness but that man is sexy and what I loved most about him is this scene:

“…And there’s been no one in this world that I care for more. Until now.”

I held my breath. It had been a simple, innocent question. I hadn’t expected such an intimate response.

“Yelena, you’ve driven me crazy. You’ve caused me considerable trouble and I’ve contemplated ending your life twice since I’ve known you.” Valek’s warm breath in my ear sent a shiver down my spine.

“But you’ve slipped under my skin, invaded my blood and seized my heart.”

“That sounds more like a poison than a person,” was all I could say. His confession had both shocked and thrilled me.

“Exactly,” Valek replied. “You have poisoned me.” HE rolled me over to face him. Before I could make another sound, he kissed me.

And then when they have this conversation:

“Is there anything else you haven’t told me?”

My head spun. So much had happened and we still needed to stop a powerful magician. Death was a real possibility. I wanted Valek to know how I felt.

“I love you.”

Valek wrapped me in his arms. “My love has been yours since the fire festival. IF those goons had killed you, I knew then that I would never be the same. I didn’t want or expect this. But I couldn’t resist you.”

Awww. I love it and that is only a small fraction for why Valek is this month’s Hero of the Month, if you want to find out all the ways Valek is the bomb, you’ll have to read his book! Seriously…