Guest & Contest: Shannon from Cocktails & Books

Please help me welcome Shannon from Cocktails and Books as our special guest today. Shannon is one of RtB’s reviewers and gladly stepped in today with a fun guest post.

My Book Boyfriend Criteria

When I saw this card a few months ago, I laughed hysterically and promptly posted it on my Facebook page because it’s true. There are certain people you can share your inner most thoughts about fictional characters with without them nodding and smiling while escorting you to a padded room. Since I’m guest blogging here at Romancing the Book today, I figured I would be amongst those that fell into the understanding category and I could share my book boyfriend criteria.

There are criteria to selecting a book boyfriend? The short answer is, yes. Those in the running for Book Boyfriend do need to meet 3 of the four criteria I have. Searching for the perfect book boyfriend takes determination. My husband would say it’s not so much determination but an excuse to ogle half naked men and claim that I’m reading a “novel”. He’s partially right. I do ogling those book cover as a way of weeding down my possible book boyfriends. I may buy a book based on the hotness of said cover and read the story to investigate whether the hotness of the cover matches the hotness of the fictional character. I never claim to be reading a novel. And I don’t think my husband fully appreciates the level of research I’m willing to do before I place a character on my book boyfriend list. Let’s see if you agree with me.

Here are my criteria for picking my book boyfriend:

• Alpha factor: My book boyfriend has to be Alpha. The more alpha he is, the more I’m drawn to him. Don’t ask me what it is about being an over-bearing, dominating man that gets me all hot and bothered. If this man were real, I’d run in the opposite direction. Slap him in the pages of a book and I’m all over him. Go figure.
• Damaged factor: My book boyfriend has to have a big flaw. The bigger the flaw (I’m talking almost broken), the more I love them. Prime example: Zsadist from Lover Awakened by JR Ward. Can’t get much more broken than that brother, but he is my favorite brother and book boyfriend #1.
• Accent, anyone? I have a thing for a British accent (and probably one of the biggest reasons I love to read historical novels). So the accent factor is always there lurking to be found. My book boyfriend # 2 (who really is book husband #1) is Bones from the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. I’m pretty sure that if Bones were to stand in front of me, all he’d need to do was speak to me and I’d fall to his feet. Sure he meets my other two criteria, but it’s that British accent that gets me every time.
• Art Versus Character: I need the model on the cover of the book to resemble the male lead in the story. Don’t give me a Fabio knock off on the cover when the guy in the story is 5’10”, dark haired, and slightly overweight. I can generally come up with a good image of the guy in my head, but if the cover art manages to capture the essence of the character, it makes all my dreams come true.

This weekend’s the Super Bowl so I thought I would pull out my football book boyfriend, Mick Riley from Jaci Burton’s The Perfect Play. Mick is the star quarterback for the fictional San Francisco Sabers and he finds himself chasing after event planner Tara Lincoln. Here’s why he’s on my boyfriend list:

Alpha Factor – He’s an alpha male at his prime and he knows it. He’s sexy as hell (with a voracious sexual appetite), pushy and used to getting what he wants.
Damage Factor – He’s a recovering alcoholic
Accent Factor – OK, he has no accent, but I overlook that for the next bullet
Art Versus Character – The Art Department at Berkley Heat deserves some kind of award for finding a cover model who is so perfectly Mick. This is the cover here on the left. **Fans self** Enough said.

What do you look for in a book boyfriend? Do any of these factors come into play for you or do you look for something different?

Contest details:

• The prize is a $10 gift card to the online bookstore of your choice.
• The contest is open to everyone over the age of 16.
• You must answer one or both of Shannon’s questions.
• A valid email address needs to be included in your comment.  If you’re worried about spam, please modify your address, such as admin.bookblog AT gmail.com.  You can also send a message to this email after your comment has been posted.
• While following the blog isn’t required, it is appreciated.
• The contest ends on Wednesday, February 8.