What do you think about blonde heroes? If you're reading a book and the hero is blonde, are you less interested in him than if he'd been dark-haired?
There's a rumour in romancelandia that readers prefer the tall, dark and handsome type. In fact there are stories of blonde heroes turning up dark-haired on their covers so as not to scare the readers away.
I've been thinking about this rumour lately because my October Desire, Countering His Claim, has my first ever blonde hero, Luke Marlow. The image in my head for Luke was Rupert Penry-Jones (from Persuasion, Spooks, etc). This is him in his Persuasion costume with co-star, Sally Hawkins:
However, had I wanted another actor as inspiration, I wouldn't have had to look far. In fact, there are so many blonde potential-heroes that it makes me wonder if we have different expectations for heroes in books to heroes in movies, or whether the rumour is simply not true. In the spirit of healthy debate, I've gathered photos of some of those blonde potential-heroes for your consideration...
Chris Hemsworth
There's a rumour in romancelandia that readers prefer the tall, dark and handsome type. In fact there are stories of blonde heroes turning up dark-haired on their covers so as not to scare the readers away.
I've been thinking about this rumour lately because my October Desire, Countering His Claim, has my first ever blonde hero, Luke Marlow. The image in my head for Luke was Rupert Penry-Jones (from Persuasion, Spooks, etc). This is him in his Persuasion costume with co-star, Sally Hawkins:
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| Image: BBC website |
However, had I wanted another actor as inspiration, I wouldn't have had to look far. In fact, there are so many blonde potential-heroes that it makes me wonder if we have different expectations for heroes in books to heroes in movies, or whether the rumour is simply not true. In the spirit of healthy debate, I've gathered photos of some of those blonde potential-heroes for your consideration...
Chris Hemsworth
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| Image: Wikipedia |
Owen Wilson
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| Image: Georges Biard |
Alexander Skarsgard
Simon Baker
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| Image: Gage Skidmore |
Simon Baker
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| Image: Angela George |
Spike from Buffy The Vampire Slayer, aka, James Marsters
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| Image: Wikipedia |
Captain America, aka, Chris Evans
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| Image: Marvel Website |
Ryan Gosling
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| Image: Wikipedia |
Ryan Reynolds
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| Image: Wikipedia |
And this is how the Desire art department portrayed Luke Marlow on the cover of Countering His Claim.
There were many more examples I could have given, from Jensen Ackles to Paul Newman, from Dan Stephens (Matthew in Downton Abbey) to Jude Law. What do you think? Do you have a soft spot for blonde heroes, or do you prefer tall, dark and handsome?
