I like to think of myself as the perfect shopper, and while I’m always looking for the best price, it’s the quality that I’m really after. I know I’m not alone. In most instances many of us walk by a bruised tomato in the market and go for the plumper, firmer, juicier fruit. We wouldn’t think of purchasing a sweater with a snag unless it was deeply discounted and we had the means to easily mend it. And buying shoes that had a scratch wouldn’t be our first choice unless they were Manolo Blahniks at 95% off the original price and the scratch was on the sole. Most women in their right minds wouldn’t knowingly buy damaged goods, so why are we so quick to fall in love with flawed, tortured, scared romance heroes? The list of flawed and imperfect heroes is endless, but at the same time, the love for them is legendary. No matter how bleak the character, when authors somehow manage to hit the right emotional chord it makes us forget that we don’t typically buy or buy into “messed up” anything – unless of course they are on the pages of a romance novel.
You can’t get more broken than Zsadist in J.R. Ward’s Lover Awakened . This brother should have crawled into a hole and died. No one should have been able to withstand the torture and degradation he endured. What he went through was almost unbearable and unreadable. Yet, we read on, wanting him to find love with Bella because we knew she would heal him. And after such a horrendous life he deserved to find happiness.
John Powell in Christina Dodd’s Chains of Ice is another example of a tormented hero. From his vicious youth to the death of all of his friends, John suffers in ways most could never imagine. As his back story is revealed we just wonder why he thought it was necessary to keep living , that’s how horrible his life was, until he meets wild life explorer Genny. As they come together, move apart and come together again, we are riveted to each agonizing page as he becomes whole again and finds peace.
In Dreams of a Dark Warrior, the upcoming release in Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series, Aiden the Fierce has got plenty of troubles. Before he was able to marry his beloved Regin the Radiant he was murdered. In most cases that would be the end of it, however Aiden is reborn, again and again; and each time it’s with a new identity and no knowledge of his past. Once he remembers his past, he’s doomed to die. That my friends is torture. But for the thousands of fans of this series it’s a much awaited read that promises to continue the tradition of what has become a must read series. Which only goes to show, it doesn’t matter if the hero in our books is ‘damaged goods’ we love them anyway.
I’ve given you a few of my favorites – tell me some of yours.
Maria Lokken is an avid romance reader and an award winning television producer
i love zsadist too
I read the first couple books, but planned on skipping the third-Z's story- because the way he was depicted just did not work for me. but i gave the book a chance and absolutely fell in love with him and his story. I read nonstop till the weeh ours of the morning...its one of my favorite books...
