Hi Everyone! So I’ve been all blaaaah (and I know – I really want to reply to all the comments you’ve been awesome enough to leave and I can’t thank you enough!) – so I was like “uh, anyone wanna guest?” And Sara was all “sure I’ll do it!” And I was all “ZOMG YAY!” So, please welcome Sara and her awesome post about books and crushes on characters! Whee!
World Book Day is the United Kingdom’s “largest celebration of books and reading.” As part of this 2011 public initiative, organizers have launched a campaign to find out favorite book crushes. While I’m not from the UK, I like the book crush idea, having had some of my own over the years. I figured hey, why not come clean and own up to the characters over whom I’ve enjoyed fangirl squee-fits over the years?
1. Pippin from The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Ahh, Pippin. You were one of my first book crushes. There was just something so adorable and endearing in your clumsy, ingenuous nature. Billy Boyd captured that pretty darn well in the film versions, enough so that I have to admit, until Orlando Bloom came on the scene and spoiled things for you, I felt a momentary resurgence of my Pippin-inspired bliss.
2. Matt Hooper from Jaws. You inspired a three-month obsession with becoming an ichthyologist in my pre-teen years. By the time I saw Richard Dreyfuss portray you in the movie version, though, my love for you, as well as the study of fish, had waned.
3. Sir Gawaine. Sometimes spelled Gawain. When I crushed on you, I wasn’t picky. King Arthur’s nephew, you were described as the “Greatest Knight.” What prepubescent girl enamored with tales of chivalry and courtly love could resist that? Alas, in my youth, I didn’t find Sean Connery as attractive as I do now, a grown adult, and realizing he was portraying you in a film version Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight pretty much killed my book crush.
4. Menolly from Anne McCaffrey’s Harper Hall triology. My first bi-book crush. I thought you were awesome, Menolly. I wanted to be like you. Hell, I wanted to be you! The way you stood your ground against those mean girls who wanted to make fun of you and belittle you, treat you weren’t good enough. You were like a female Harry Potter at Hogwarts before either were a gleam in J.K. Rowling’s eyes.
5. Dennis Guilder from Christine by Stephen King. Dear God, I wanted to do you, Dennis Guilder. You were freaking hot. You were so well crafted on the page, that I could see you, hear you, smell your cologne. Not only do you remain, for me, one of the most realistically portrayed teen-aged boys ever in contemporary fiction, but King’s expert characterization of you—captured perfectly in the first person viewpoint—arguably became the inspiration and model by which I base many of my own male characters.
6. Holden Caulfield from J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. As a teenager with a potty mouth, I identified with you, Holden. You cussed like a champion. I continue to model my own penchant for the crude vernacular off your artistic sensibilities.
7. Will McLean from Pat Conroy’s The Lords of Discipline. Like with Dennis Guilder from Christine, I had a serious jones for you. You were noble, honest, decent, strong-willed and brave. Everything a cadet at West Point should be—and everything a girl looks for in a book crush.
8. Richie Tozier from It by Stephen King. I have no idea why I had a book crush on you, Richie. But you charmed me, man. I thought you were annoying but cute.
9. Gambit from The X-Men. Okay, you’re technically not a literary character, but comic books count as reading, right? And why the hell do you think I wrote a character in The Brethren Series named Rene Morin, who sports a Cajun accent? It’s because of you, Remy LeBeau, aka Gambit. With your long hair, five o’clock shadow, French-interspersed dialogue and go-to-hell attitude, you were X-tremely hot. Not to mention you could blow shit up just by touching it.
10. Morgan Saint-Evanston in The Keeper of Eternity by Devyn Quinn. Yeah, she’s re-released the book under a new title, Echo of Angels, but you remain as brooding, dark, sinister, morose, surly, alcoholic, foul-tempered and sexy as ever. The quintessential “bad boy” book crush, you’re as hot as Johnny Depp in Sweeny Todd, only with a tamer hair do and less of a body count.
So that’s my top 10.
Although the polls are still open for World Book Day UK’s top book crushes, on their website, they share the results of which book characters teens today would want to go out on a date with—which is pretty much the same thing. Here’s what UK teens reported:
1. Hermione Granger, from the Harry Potter series
2. Jacob Black, from the Twilight series
3. Edward Cullen, from the Twilight series
4. Mary-Jane Parker, from the Spider-Man graphic novels
5. Mr Darcy, from Pride and Prejudice
6. Arwen, from The Lord of the Rings
7. Robbie the Sex God, from the Georgia Nicolson series
8. Tracy Beaker, from the Tracy Beaker series
9. Prince Caspian, from the Chronicles of Narnia series
10. Sophie Neveu, from The Da Vinci Code
I don’t know who “Robbie the Sex God” is, but I’m intrigued enough now to Amazon search it, LOL.
Also, I have to wonder—Arwen was a very minor character in the actual Lord of the Rings books. In fact, her biggest appearance in print doesn’t occur in the books at all, but rather in one of Tolkien’s many appendices to the trilogy. So are teens reporting they’d like to go out with Arwen, or with Liv Tyler portraying Arwen, like in the movies?
Ditto for Prince Caspian, because he was a kid in the book. Seriously. A kid. Not Ben Barnes from the movie. Who admittedly is hot as hell. (He’s my inspiration for the character of Brandon Noble in The Brethren Series.)
Mary-Jane Parker I’m still scratching my head over, but whatever. I had a book crush on Richie Tozier. It doesn’t get much weirder than that.
So how about you? Who are your top book crushes of all time? Post ’em here or join in the fun by tweeting them to @sarareinke, @limecello and @WorldBookDayUK #bookcrush.
“Definitely an author to watch.” That’s how Romantic Times Book Reviews magazine describes Sara Reinke. New York Times best-selling author Karen Robards calls Reinke “a new paranormal star” and Love Romances and More hails her as “a fresh new voice to a genre that has grown stale.” Find out more about her and her available titles at www.sarareinke.com.
So? Book crushes? Come on, I know there are favorite romance heroes out there – let’s get this conversation going! I wanna see factions and teams! 😉 Oh – and I know the images don’t necessarily line up with the characters/where they’re listed – that’s because I like a good text to image ratio 😛
Mmmm…Gambit. I never read the comic, but I was in love with the cartoon. Gambit was always my favorite. I was so disappointed to see Taylor Kitsch in the Gambit role in the movie. I’d always imagined somebody more like a young Harry Connick Jr.
In fact, when I picture Gambit now, I still imagine a young HCJ. 😉
… I don’t know what a young HCJ looks like :X
… feel free to provide a pic 😉
I like Gambit too. But I always liked the girl super heroes best – go Rogue! 😀 Though, yeah, no, didn’t have a crush on her. More so Batman. Although I kinda just thought they were so old! Like Wolverine was hot, but old! And not just cuz he’s like 200 😛
LOL factions n teams huh? Ur a regular rabble rouser!
I’ve had tons of book crushes but Remy LeBeau is definitely one. I loved him in the comics and cartoons both. Ditto for Batman. And don’t judge me but I always was into Abe Sapien (from Hellboy series) too, lol. Smart is hawt…his amphibian-ness didn’t change that for me 😛
As a kid, one of my first book crushes was Dickon from The Secret Garden (book-never saw the movies) b/c of how smart, sincere, caring, and most of all eco-friendly he is:D Idk why but I’ve been into environmental protection since almost birth lol. Weird, I know. Twilight was the first vampire book I ever read outside of Dracula (which I hated in h.s. and havent touched since) so it was a shock of a whole new world to me and I hopelessly fell for Edward. It was hard not to when it’s basically written in first person with my name,lol. Cheesy but true.
Recent book boys I’ve loved are Richelle Mead’s Adrian and Dimitri…but more Adrian. And the fairy King Dorian is also another hottie of her adult series I adore. Nalini Singh also has an angel in her Guild Hunter series named Illium that makes me laugh and love him.
I was disappointed with Taylor K’s casting, too, JenB. I think he was too young for the role. — Josh Holloway (Sawyer from Lost) would have been my pick. 😉
Oh, there are so many, but none so potent as Jamie Fraser from the Outlander series. The fact that he’s rumored to be in posession of a verra large sausage doesn’t hurt, either.