Jun 27, 2014

The rules are…there ain't no rules

My boys are getting to the age where rules are tested, authority is thwarted and boundaries are pushed (oh, the joys of teenagers)…but after yet another incident of push-push-pushing I got to thinking about rules last night and that led me on (rather conveniently) to thinking about bad boys…

James Dean- the original bad boy
What is it about a bad boy that appeals to romance readers so much? As someone who has always followed every darned rule ever made I'm scared to even question authority to a certain extent, so I think I'm attracted to the freedom, the nonchalance and devil may care attitude of a bad boy.

Maybe it's because we want to tame them?

I don't know, but I do know I love to read them. I remember one book (medical romance) by Alison Roberts, The Legendary Playboy Surgeon, where the hero doctor rides his motorbike onto the ward to fulfill a dying boy's wish. *SIGH* - who wouldn't be melted by that? (Ignoring the noxious fumes in the presence of oxygen etc….) Then, of course, there's Mr Grey and his fifty shades- so many women appear to be attracted by someone they can 'fix'? And I've just finished reading Molly O'Keefe's RITA nominated book, Crazy Thing Called Love which was a-mazing- and had me crying and laughing, where the hero, Billy, is a very bad boy (truly, I cannot recommend this book enough).

So, now I'm intrigued and interested by bad boys I'd like your thoughts. Does anyone have any bad boy romance books they can recommend? Do you like a bad boy- or are you a rule follower? And- for one commenter- I'll send a copy of my latest release, The Shameless Maverick (Medical Romance) to someone who can tell me which movie the quote in the title of this blog (The rules are…there ain't no rules) comes from.

(Blurb for Shameless Maverick:

Junior Surgeon Kara Stephens has been assigned her first high-profile case. Great news- if she wasn't working with hot-shot Irish surgeon Declan Underwood, the man she kissed at the hospital ball!  Declan may be the best reconstructive surgeon around, but his life in London is a far cry from his poverty stricken childhood. Kara's about to discover that there's more to her maverick than meets the eye.)


15 comments:

  1. Grease. Grease is the word is the word!
    I dated a guy "from the wrong side of the tracks" many moons ago. My mom hated that about him. (She was prejudiced about a LOT of things back in the seventies.) When my husband of 33 years proposed, it was my MOM who said, "Of COURSE she will marry you!" (presumably because he was and is a nice guy, but also because he wasn't my former boyfriend, LOL).

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  2. Hi Louisa

    I too love bad boys I think because I pretty much have followed the rules and it is fun to let lose a bit :)

    Julie Ann Walker has a romantic suspense series The Black Knights and all of those heroes are bad boys


    I think that quote came from Grease

    Have Fun
    Helen

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    1. Hi Helen! Yes, maybe we like the idea of someone else breaking the rules and living vicariously? Thanks for the suggestion- I've never read any Julie Ann Walker, so I'll check that series out.

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  3. Hi Laney4! Hilarious that your mum accepted your marriage proposal- such a mother thing to do! I think bad boys are gorgeous, but maybe not for our daughters!! LOL!

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  4. Bad boys....sigh.... I DO know what you mean. Speaking as someone who's always been a "good girl" I think I can say on our behalf that we are attracted to the "idea" of bad boys but would probably run from them in reality.
    There's a certain appeal in a bit of "rough".
    Of course, in reality, too many women think they can change men like that and I think that's the appeal to them. But I don't think that ever ends well.....
    Am trying to think if I've ever written a bad boy..... I think Jake from Holding Out For A Hero is the closest.

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    1. Oooh, I have HOFAH just waiting for me and my holidays!! Can't wait to read Jake's story! And yes, you're probably right about wanting to change them. I guess they have to wait for the right woman to make them want to change

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  5. I never really understood the appeal of the bad boy, Louisa, until I discovered Cleaver Green in Rake…and fell a tiny bit in love. You see, I'm quite certain that I'd be able to save him and win his undying love and fidelity. Ha! How deluded!

    My July/August duet is called The Wild Ones (my leads are referred to as rebels). They've grown up on the wrong side of the tracks, but I think "bad" is an attitude they assume. Beneath they've hearts of gold. I think a really bad Bad Boy would have me running for the hills -- I'm innately lazy and I expect he'd be far too much hard work. ;-)

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    1. oooh, more Michelle Douglas goodness in the shape of bad boys- must reads!!!!!! I kind of hope that all bad boys are really good inside <3

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  6. Louisa, there's something about the idea of the bad boy being tamed by love that holds such appeal, isn't there? I know a couple of my heroes have behaved very badly indeed till they saw the light of love! Tsk, tsk. Anna Campbell has written some great bad boy heroes. And what about the hero in 'Flowers From the Storm' by Laura Kinsale? He's an out and out rake who's taken a fall but he's still got that bad boy streak despite it all and his redemption through love is fantastic.

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    1. Oh, Annie I'm just loving all these recommendations- I'll look up Flowers From The Storm and Anna Campbell's bad boys. thank you!

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  7. I think we'd all like to believe that our love would reform any bad boy, but we know that it would take much more than love and we wouldn't like to do the hard work involved. :)

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  8. Yeah, Claire, you're probably right- nice to have a fantasy though, eh? :-)

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  9. Why do we persist in thinking that WE are the ones who can tame a bad boy? I remember thinking once...the badder the better...lol...but if my daughter comes home with a bad boy? No way, Baby!

    She has this huge crush on Damon from The Vampire Diaries...a crush I share in! So I know she is susceptible to bad boys!

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  10. Louisa, I loved Flowers From The Storm - you must track it down! Great suggestion, Annie.

    I like a bad boy hero, but then again, the ones I like are probably just softies with a gruff exterior. :)

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  11. Louisa, I've not long finished a "bad boy" written by Sarah Mayberry - Suddenly You. (happy sigh) It was a lovely read. And Annie's suggestion about Anna Campbell and her "bad boys" is great, too! I have to say that I do like a "bad boy" between the pages on a book - in real life I suspect I'd probably want to give him a piece of my mind!

    Actually, Han Solo in Star Wars was a pretty terrific "bad boy", wasn't he!

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