Top Ten Book Boyfriends of 2011

Welcome to Wednesday of Top 10 week, hosted by Fiktshun, Confessions of a Bookaholic, A Life Bound by Books, and Two Chicks on Books! Today's topic: book boyfriends.

I object to the use of the term "boyfriend" in this post. None of the men on my list are anything at all like boys. In fact, I'm finding it rather difficult to write anything interesting here, because I'm far more interested in them...

Jericho Z. Barrons
Fever by Karen Marie Moning

Mmmmmm.

What? Oh yeah, I'm supposed to be writing. Um...Barrons is hot. That is all.

I know part of what turns me on so hard, makes me violent with lust, is that he's dangerous. I fell for the bad guy. I'm crazy about the one who's trouble. The alpha that doesn't play well with others and doesn't take orders from anyone.
-Shadowfever

"Last night you said you wanted to know what to expect so you could better select your attire. I told you we were going to visit a vampire in a Goth-den tonight. Why, then, Ms. Lane, do you look like a perky rainbow?"
-Darkfever 

Curran Lennart (Yes, that's really his surname. See?)
Kate Daniels by Ilona Andrews

I ripped my left arm out of his hand and slammed my elbow into his solar plexus. He exhaled in a gasp. I lunged for the dagger and sat on top of him, my knees pinning his arms, my dagger on his throat.

He lay still. "I give up," he said and smiled. "Your move."

Er. I was sitting atop the Beast Lord in my underwear, holding a knife to his throat. What the hell was my next move?
-Magic Strikes

Curran and Kate are my favorite couple. Their conversations are absolutely hilarious and Ilona Andrews did a great job building their relationship.

"If I fought for them and was crippled, they would all say nice things, and then they would replace me and forget that I was ever there. You would stay with me. You would take care of me because you love me. I love you too, Kate. If you ever became hurt, I would not leave you.

"I'll be there. Wherever you want 'there' to be."
-Magic Slays

John Pritkin
Cassie Palmer by Karen Chance

After reading Touch the Dark, I never would have thought Pritkin would be so awesome. But he is. I really, really want him and Cassie to get together, especially after Hunt the Moon!

"I'm fine," I told him tersely.

"Of course you are. You're one of the strongest people I know."

It took me a second to process that, because he'd said it so casually. Like he was talking about the weather or what time it was. Only Pritkin didn't say things like that. His idea of a compliment was a nod and to tell me to do whatever it was I'd done over again. Like that was usually possible.

But that had sounded suspiciously like a compliment to me.
-Hunt the Moon

Dorian
Dark Swan by Richelle Mead

Dorian is fascinating. He's arrogant and ambitious and he doesn't take anything seriously. But if Eugenie ends up with Kiyo at the end of Shadow Heir, I'm going to scream, because I love Dorian.

"Since I'm presuming you don't mean you finally bought him a leash, let me say simply that there is a big difference between letting an animal ravage you and allowing yourself to be ravaged. One is common. The other is art. It is planned. Crafted, even. Only capable of being done by a master."
-Thorn Queen

Adam Hauptman
Mercy Thompson by Patricia Briggs

Adam is a good man. He's also a werewolf alpha, and the combination is rarer than you might think. Watching his and Mercy's relationship develop has been a joy.

"I like having you wear my ring. I like that people can just look at you and know that you are taken, that you are mine." He closed his eyes and laughed. "And yes, I know that sentiment is at the top of the Women's Liberation Movement's list of things not to say to a modern woman."
-River Marked

Harry Dresden
The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

Is it weird to love someone who is the main character rather than the love interest of the main character? Whatever, I love Dresden. He's witty and he's a hero, all at the same time. And there's nothing he won't do for the people he loves.

A bolt of warmth, fierce with joy and pride and gratitude, flashed through me like sudden lightning. I don't care about whose DNA has recombined with whose. When everything has gone to hell, the people who stand by you without flinching - they are your family. And they were my heroes.
-Proven Guilty

Atticus O'Sullivan
Iron Druid by Kevin Hearne

Atticus is another one of the main character men I love. He's a lot like Dresden, but more relaxed. It's probably because he's 21 centuries old.

Brighid's eyes flashed with a blue flame, and I wondered if she had learned to do that just so she could compete with the Morrighan's red flashes. Maybe I should try to figure out how to make my eyes flash green so I could freak out the baristas at Starbucks. "No, you foolish mortal," I'd say as my eyes glowed, "I ordered a nonfat latte."
-Hexed

Westley
The Princess Bride by William Goldman


Why yes, I did read The Princess Bride this year. This addition seemed appropriate because I have been in love with Westley since I was twelve.

"I've been saying it so long to you, you just wouldn't listen. Every time you said 'Farm boy do this' you thought I was answering 'As you wish' but that's only because you were hearing wrong. 'I love you' is what I was saying, but you never heard."

Raphael
Guild Hunter by Nalini Singh

Raphael is gorgeous and powerful, and he loves Elena like nothing else. And he has wings. What more could you ask?

"You are mine, Elena. If you choose to sleep in another bed, I will simply pick you up and bring you home."
-Archangel's Consort

Cam Caballero
Unbound by Rachel Vincent

I love Cam's defiance of destiny and his willingness to do whatever it takes to be with Liv.

"I love you, Olivia," he whispered, and my heart ached as if it would break in half. "You think we'll die if we stay together, but I've been dying for the last six years. I'm taking my life back, Liv. Our life together. And this time, I'm not going to let you go."
-Blood Bound

Stop by tomorrow for the top ten characters of 2011!