Who Doesn't Love a Bad Boy?

Not me - that's for sure! I love them. As with many other romance readers I'm sure, the 'bad boy' is one of my favourites. My latest read had a bad boy hero and while thinking about what to do for my day at the island, this topic came to me very quickly.

So here are some of my favourite bad boys

Mick Brody in Toni Blake's One Reckless Summer

It's tough to play it cool on a sultry summer night . . .
The perfect daughter. The perfect prom queen. The perfect wife. Jenny Tolliver's been the good girl all her life, and it's gotten her nowhere. Now that her marriage has been busted up by her cheating ex, she's decided it's time to regroup and rediscover herself. This summer she's headed back to her hometown of Destiny, Ohio, to the very lakeshore cottage where she grew up, to figure out what life holds in store for her next.
She never dreamed the answer would be Mick Brody, Destiny's #1 hellraiser. He comes from the wrong side of the tracks (or in his case, the lake), and he's landed in hot water more times than he can count. He's exactly the kind of guy Jenny's always kept her distance from . . . but soon the good girl and the bad boy are caught in a raw heat that's out of control. Too bad Mick's got a secret that threatens to tear them apart and ruin Jenny's perfectly, passionately reckless summer . . .

Johnny Harris in Karen Robards' One Summer

He was pure unadulterated trouble

Johnny Harris is home again, his too-tight jeans and damn-your-eyes belligerence honed to perfection by a ten-year stretch in federal prison for murder. Now he's out on parole and ready for the job Rachel Grant has promised to help him begin a new life. Unlike the rest of the town, Rachel has always believed in her former student's innocence. But one thing has changed...

The sullenly handsome boy she remembered is still sullen, still handsome ...but no longer a boy. And now the small Kentucky town is alive with gossip and whispers of scandal, as friendsh

ip turns to passion and Rachel abandons a lifetime of propriety in the ex-con's arms. Then the killer strikes again. All evidence points to Johnny Harris, but Rachel knows he is innocent. And she knows she is next ...as a shattering truth is uncovered and dark passions explode in the relentless summer heat.

Alec Tyron in Karen Robard's Tiger's Eye

The man with the golden eyes

He was the tawny, golden-eyed king of London's underworld. She was an aristocratic heiress, born to the satin sheets of an ancient family. Their two proud hearts struck a flame that would consume them both in the blaze of a love that no society could allow--and a passion that neither could deny.

Lady Isabella St. Just is shocked to learn the identity of the daring champion who comes to her aid -- for the man who rescues her from desperate felons is none other than Alec Tyron, the notorious king of London's underworld. Now she is beholden to an outlaw who is respected and feared throughout the city and stunned by her own intense desire for this dark man of mystery. Fate has united these strangers from opposite lives -- the beautiful aristocrat and the brazen criminal outlaw. And now that the flame has been lit, no power on Earth will quench the fire of their passion...or destroy a love that society cannot allow.

Billy Blade in Gaelen Foley' s Lady of Desire

A handsome scoundrel running from a secret past, Billy Blade has never met a woman like Jacinda -- her fiery innocence and blossoming sensuality set his rebel's heart ablaze. Having turned his back on the privilege of his tyrannical father's house years before, he vows to return to reclaim his title, Earl of Rackford -- to win the love of the ravishing beauty who has stolen his heart.

Impetuous Lady Jacinda Knight is the daughter of a scandalous woman. Though society predicts she'll follow in her mother's footsteps, the spirited beauty stands unashamed of her passionate nature. Then one night, in flight from an arranged and loeless marriage, Jacinda finds herself alone on a dangerous street face-to-face with Billy Blade, the notorious leader of a band of thieves. His stolen kisses awaken in her a longing for a man she can never possess.

Luke Turner in Lisa Gregory's The Rainbow Season

Luke Turner, an outcast, they called him "bad blood" from his boyhood in a tarpaper shack to his nights in a prison cell.

Sarah McGowan, her roots were deep in the Texas soil. But her secret shameful love for her sister's husband kept her from happiness.
Pride and their love of the Texas land threw them together in an unlikely marriage. Then, as unexpectedly as a spring flood, long pent-up passion exploded in a storm that was to consume them both...

Luke McGuire in Justine Davis' The Return of Luke McGuire

You always want

Luke didn't need the town's nasty stares to know that Amelia was off-limits. But then, reformed or not, he'd never been one to abide by the rules. He only hoped that the quiet beauty would fall for the man he had become instead of the one he used to be.

What you can't have
Luke McGuire was everything shy Amelia Blair had been fascinated by as a girl but too terrified to go near. And now here she was, the only person in the whole town decent enough to give him the time of day, caring enough to stand up for him...brave enough to get close.

Lobo from Patricia Potter's Lawless

His name was Lobo .... The notorious, Apache-raised gunslinger was hired to scare a lady rancher off her land using his dangerous reputation and his cold eyes-and worse, if it was necessary. He thought it would be the easiest bounty he'd ever earned, until he came face-to- face with Willow Taylor. No woman had ever touched his heart before, and now
Lobo faced the toughest challenge of all. Did he dare to reveal his true self to this spirited, giving woman?

Within her heart there lived a love of the open frontier - and a passion for a lawless gunman
Her name was Willow .... Strong and determined, she survived in a tough land taking on the challenges of the wild West as she worked her ranch with the small band of outcasts she'd claimed as her family. There was nothing she couldn't handle on her own-until a silent and mysterious gunman came to town and haunted her with his piercing gaze and his fiery touch ....

So what is it about the bad boy that we find so appealing? There are many things but one of the big ones for me is they never really feel like they fit it. In most cases they come from the 'wrong' side and overcompensate their sense of isolation by being bad. But what they really want is to belong but because of their backgrounds, they aren't sure.

So it's up to the heroine in many cases to make them feel really wanted and she is the one who fills that empty spot. That is so appealing for me.

Another appeal - bad boys are basically loners and it's just enjoyable to see a loner open his heart to love. They seem to have lived their lives almost waiting for the right heroine with the right key to open their hearts.

And of course it goes without saying that the bad boys of romance are always hawt!!

I did a recent list of my top 16 favourite romance books and it's no surprise that some of the bad boy heroes here are in my top 16 books

So now you know a few of my favourite bad boys and a few of my reasons why I love them. How about anyone else. Who are your favourite bad boys and if you love them like I do, why is it you love them so much? Inquiring minds want to know.

And I will leave you with a treat, though not a hero in a book, here is one of my Very Favourite Bad Boys