Everything I Know About Love I Learned From Romance Novels by Sarah Wendell Page A

narrowed suspiciously at her, but she merely laughed. “It’s called—say it with me—a-fec-shun.”
    He’d just assumed she flirted because that was her nature. Yet could she…could she truly be interested in him? Even attracted to him—with his red eyes and scars?…
    “Why would you show me affection?”
    She answered, “Because I…feel it?”
    “Why?”
    With a laugh, she asked, “Why, why, why? Must you question everything good?”
    — DARK NEEDS AT NIGHT’S EDGE
BY KRESLEY COLE, 2008
    Author Rachel Gibson says that reality is the major draw for readers and writers, because her characters have to seem possible: “For me personally, the hero and heroine must seem like real people. Real people with real problems who handle them realistically.
    “In order for a hero and heroine to earn their happy-ever-after, they have to learn and grow as people. They have to start at one place and grow as human beings. The growth can be as simple as forgiveness or as complicated as overcoming death or betrayal. I believe that fiction has to be even more realistic than real life.”
    Grace Draven agrees, and says her own ideal hero and heroine wish list helped her create the hero and heroine of her book
Master of Crows.
She combined a terribly grumpy and flawed hero with an inner core of honor and integrity, and a shy, plain heroine with a tremendous personal strength. Martise of Asher bargains with her masters for her freedom: she will spy on a feared sorcerer, Silhara of Neith, and find enough evidence of wrongdoing that her masters can get rid of him. But when she falls in love with him, she learns that he is corrupted—literally. An evil god has invaded Silhara’s consciousness, tempting him with limitless power if Silhara will help this god rule over the world. According to Draven, the best romance heroes and heroines display “the commonality of HUMANITY in all its dirty glory, with a spit-shine of heroism to make it respectable.”
    Honesty and the ability to deal with real human emotions is a major element that author Caridad Ferrer uses to develop her heroes, who, because Ferrer writes young adult romance, are younger than the usual romance hero: “The thing about love is that it’s scary and we see it over and over in the books we love, how it prompts people to behave in crazy ways that are driven by the fear that sort of intense emotion tends to provoke. So it’s not just about being honest with each other—characters need to be HONEST WITH THEMSELVES and have that pep talk and go, hey, you know, this love stuff? It’s terrifying.”
    Reader Darlynne encompasses all true heroic traits when she says that “in real life and fiction, and after thirty-four years of marriage, the most enduring, endearing, and important characteristics of a hero for me are these: Is he someone to be trusted with all the things that matter? Does this person have the respect of his peers? Is he someone others count on?
    “The fictional hero-type that fits this bill for me is Cosmo Richter from Suzanne Brockmann’s
Hot Target.
He is equal to all situations except the emotional ones. He has a plan, a course of action; he is prepared and ready. People count on him and know their lives are safe in his hands.
    “In one word: CAPABLE . And CONSTANT . Okay, that’s two words. Make it three: HONORABLE .
    “My husband is all this. And you can quote me on that.”
    Dee says, “I think that the main traits that I adore in my heroes are that they don’t necessarily see the flaws but the great things the female protagonist offers. He sees her as the epitome of beauty no matter what society’s variation of beauty is at that moment. It’s not that he loves her because she’s flawless, but he loves her because those ‘flaws’ make her who she is.”
    Orangehands echoes that the focus on the attraction and not the standard of beauty is affirming to her as well: “Physical attraction is usually important, but physical beauty is not. I