Have you heard the term? I heard it first in relation to fanfic (shhh!), but it essentially means a kink you love no matter what. Secret babies stories make you bounce up and down? Tortured heroes with scars? Bulletproof kinks.
Mine is … well, not really a kink, actually. And it’s not usually a romance thing, either, although I wish it were. But the other day I realized that one of my bulletproof kinks, for lack of a better term, is ballet.
I am a complete sucker for a toe shoe. For the music and the romance, the costumes, the sweat, the whole “otherness” of that life. (Yes, I read Gelsey Kirkland’s autobiography way too young, and no, it didn’t have quite the intended effect.) If there’s ballet in a movie or a book, I’m there. I watched (with great pleasure, I might add) the incredible cheesiness of Center Stage the other night on Oxygen. (Peter Gallagher as the ballet troupe’s director and choreographer! I ask you!) And when I say with great pleasure, I mean I watched every minute, bad dialogue, lame characterization, unbearably predictable plot, and all. I’ve seen The Turning Point and The Company and Save the Last Dance, and I still own a much loved copy of a quintessential ballet novel, Ballerina, that came out in the late 1970s.
It’s a sickness, what can I say? In fact, one of my heroines in I Love You to Death is a former ballet dancer. (I’ll grant you that a male ballet dancer is not quite my idea of the perfect hero, but I’ll also say that in Center Stage, the scene with the male principal dancing to non-classical music in an exercise class was hotter than the surface of the sun, I swear.)
So, no, I don’t find much of this particular obsession interest of mine in romance, but there are plenty of romances that I will read even if I don’t know the author. Stuck in a cabin together? I’m there. Brooding historical hero with a big secret (or, even better, some kind of truly sympathetic vengeance thing going on)? I must have it. A romance where the either the heroine or the hero has to be nursed back to health by the other? Ohmigod, am I ever there.
What about you? What’s the thing (or things!) you can’t resist when it comes to romance?
When it comes to heroes, I love stories with Tortured/wounded/brooding heroes, bad boys and strong alphas.
Oooh, definitely a wounded badass hero . . .
I too, love the wounded, badass heroes, especially if they are gifted with a paranormal ability.
Yep, wounded heroes are a particular kink…uh, I mean, love of mine.
Why do we love men so when they’re hurting? Maybe because it makes them vulnerable?
I love tough guys. I will read any book with a sports hero and I love it when the hero has to in some way take care of his woman. I am not crazy about the weepy guy, but a guy who is willing to hold back a woman’s hair is amazing. I love romance and anything that makes my heart beat faster, or sigh in contentment
I love the hero who is bad and wounded but still has the companssion to get involved and protect someone who he feels is vulnerable. I really love romance books that give me a contented feeling when I have finished reading them, or when you close the book you think Yes!!
For me, it’s heroes who come from the Special Forces world, no matter the military branch. Same goes for FBI/CIA heroes. I’ve picked up books after simply seeing FBI in the back blurb.
a hero taht can spill his feelings and has a heart. great chemisty between the hero an d herione is great and some great sex also lol.
I love the neighbor next door, a successful, businessman, a man handy with his hands (construction, etc.), the man or woman with a tortured soul, a hero who is an athlete, a cowboy.
Alpha heroes. The kind the love of a good woman can bring to their knees. The more alpha the better.
In my (much) younger days, I dated both a former Navy SEAL and a former Green Beret who would go back to Nam on covert search and rescue missions. This was long before Suz Brockmann catapulted SEALS into romance. They were both NUTS. Crazy. Frightening.
My husband is not this way at all.
But in a book? Give me alpha.
Oh, Cynthia, yes! I love CIA guys.
And Pat, I completely forgot about the guy next door. I adore that kind of story.
Firefighters & Military heroes!
Cowboys and blue-collar guys!
Military heroes.
Military heroes are good, too. Who can resist a man in uniform?
Cowboys aren’t so much my thing, but I love blue-collar guys. Like Luke on Gilmore Girls. Whether he’s officially “blue-collar” or not, he comes across that way with his true “guyness” and his flannel shirts and stubble. Love. Him.
Any heroines anyone can’t resist?
I llove the guy next door heroes.
Firefighters, cops, military heroes.
This was long before Suz Brockmann catapulted SEALS into romance. They were both NUTS. Crazy. Frightening.
I think they probably have to be. But yeah, in a book? Totally sexy.
Actually, my brother will be joining a SEAL team next year, not as an actual SEAL but as a consultant (Naval, though — he’s still serving) for languages and intel. Very cool, but a little scary.
I love a good story with a “reformed” rake.
Wow I’ve never heard that term, but I like it LOL.
I love friends to lovers, or unrequited love stories. Gets me everytime. Tortured heroes. Sigh. I love the alpha heroes, usually the bluecollar guys cuz those are the type that attract me in real life.