IN PRAISE OF BETA HEROES

My Tuesday Talk Guest: Kerryn Reid

Last fall, when I found out Learning to Waltz had been chosen best Regency romance for 2014 by Chanticleer Book Reviews, Helen invited me to her blog to share my excitement. (See that post here.) 

She’s been kind enough to ask me back, because at long last I have received my prize: A free Chanticleer review. Five stars! I’d say it was worth the wait.

“Reid’s focus is on her richly developed characters… She has filled her well-conceived saga with a complex and compelling cast.” 

Yes, I’ll take that, because a novel without memorable characters isn’t worth reading. And beyond memorable, there has to be at least one I really like and can root for, however flawed he or she might be.

(Read the complete review here.) 

I do wonder if the reviewer loved Evan as much as I do. There may be many readers who would feel the same way. Certainly, it’s hard to find a romance editor whose “wish list” doesn’t specify feisty, independent heroines and alpha heroes. They insist that’s what readers want, despite the fact that independent women were few and far between during the Regency.

There have always been alpha men, however – alpha dukes, even! – and let me say up front, thank God for that. My life would be poorer without the Marquis of Vidal (Georgette Heyer’s Devil’s Cub), the heroes of Anne Stuart’s Ice series, and others too numerous to name. They’re dark, they’re difficult, they’re hot. No argument. A marine, a cop, a pirate like Helen’s fabulous Jesemiah Acorne… Yes, ma’am! I have a short story coming out this summer featuring an alpha cop, so I’ll even create one on occasion.

But to reach my heart, he has to be smart, not just a smart-ass. Alpha heroes tend to be controlling, manipulative, and sometimes downright mean. Those are not traits I admire in a man. Yes, I know it’s fantasy – that doesn’t mean I have to throw off all my smarts and values, like a teenage girl who’s only interested in the “bad boys.” That’s not my fantasy.

There are plenty of dark, difficult, hot beta heroes, and they too need the love of a good woman: preferably ME! Everyone who reads historicals – including those aforementioned editors – professes to adore Jane Austen. But Jane did not do alpha heroes. Wickham, Willoughby, Frank Churchill – these are Jane’s alpha men, and they are not heroes. Her heroes are not always wise, not always right, but they are civilized, reasonable, thinking men.

Of course, even a beta hero must have a steel core. Two of my favorite Mary Stewart heroes come to mind. These are eminently civilized men, who ordinarily would not dream of doing the ugly things they end up doing. But in circumstances far from ordinary, they find the strength they need to protect – or avenge – their loved ones.

My own Evan Haverfield, hero of Learning to Waltz, does not need to defeat Nazi thugs (like Richard Byron in Madam, Will You Talk?) or kill a Greek bandito in bare-handed combat (Simon Lester in My Brother Michael). I believe he could, if I demanded it of him, but my stories take place on a small stage. Evan’s adversaries are his mother, and the woman he loves; his weapons are words and persistence. After being twice rejected by his would-be bride, he confronts her one last time:

“Just one more thing. I don’t know if I’ve said… do you know how much I love you? I cannot imagine life without you. And I won’t give you up easily. You’ll have to go a lot farther than Whately if you want to get away from me. Japan might do, perhaps, if they’ll let you in—I believe they’re very restrictive. But I don’t think Julian would much like it there. And the voyage would be very hard on your mother.
If he’d hoped to lighten the mood, he failed dismally. He could have spoken the words lightly—had meant to do so!—except that he was so damnably frustrated. Strange to think that six months ago he had been appalled at the thought of marriage. Now the only thing he could think about was getting the knot tied, binding her safe to his side."

The hero of my next novel is beta, too. More so, in fact, because at 22, he’s still digging out from his youth as a despised younger son and brother. He has not yet attained Evan’s self-confidence. The events of the book, of course, bring him to an understanding of his own worth.

I can dig alpha men. Heck, I’ve been married to one for forty years. He’s the love of my life, but I do sometimes wonder if I’d have been better suited to someone more like Evan. We would read to each other in the evenings, amble along the country lanes – and nothing would ever get done around here!

Learning to Waltz -- from Hartwood Publishing

Deborah Moore has learned her lessons well–feel nothing, reveal less, and trust no one. Now widowed with a child of her own, she leads a lonely, cloistered existence, counting her farthings and thinking she is safe. When five-year-old Julian is lost one bitter December day, she discovers how tenuous that safety is.

Evan Haverfield has lived thirty carefree years, hunting, laughing, and dancing among London’s high society. His biggest problem has been finding excuses not to marry. But his life changes when he finds Julian Moore half-frozen under a hedge and carries him home to his mother. The young widow hides behind a mask, hard and reserved, but Evan sees glimpses of another woman, wistful, intelligent, and passionate. She’s vulnerable, desirable—and completely unsuitable for the heir to Northridge.

Alone in the earliest hours of a new year, Evan teaches Deborah to waltz. Can he teach her joy and laughter? Will love sweep away the shadows of her past and reveal the luminous woman she could be?"

Do you know of a beta hero Kerryn or Helen would love?

Post a comment or send them an email!

Website: www.kerrynreid.com

Email: kerryn@kerrynreid.com   Helen author@helenhollick.net

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kerrynreid.fiction

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kerryn_reid  @Kerryn_Reid