Everybody has that one dude (or maybe more) in a book that causes them to go:
And I mean they make us swoon and legitimately flail our arms around uncontrollably to the point we’re —
- trying to suppress our squeals/screams that threaten to emerge from our throats
- calling them assholes for making us have tons of ~feels
- declaring that we would do anything for them to exist in our lives right now.
They have to make us react extremely strongly to them.
I am no exception.
Confession #1: I thought having book boyfriends was incredibly dumb.
I thought I was soooo cool for not having one. (I was secretly a hipster. ;D)
Three years ago, I would’ve scoffed in your face and flipped my hair over my shoulder if you asked me about my book boyfriends. To pre-2012 Cee, “book boyfriend” was a silly term and a childish way to describe my crushes. Like out of all the terms you could call them, book boyfriends? Really? I would’ve gone with “love of my life” (because I am an absurd and a dramatic person most of the time). ;D
I was wrong. It’s not silly. You know what is? Me acting like I was above it. “Book boyfriend” is just a way to describe crushes. It’s no big deal.
Confession #2: I don’t consider male characters I crush on in classic literature or literary fiction to be “book boyfriends.”
I don’t have a lot of crushes on male characters in those genres. I admit that it’s extremely rare. I like them, but not enough that I’m sighing every time they enter the scene. I wouldn’t wish for Fitzwilliam Darcy to suddenly walk into my room (but if it was Colin Firth, *sigh* yes please) because I don’t feel very strongly about him.
When I do crush on one, I don’t really call him a “book boyfriend.” With certain genres, I call them different things —
- Classic Literature/literary fiction = crushes
- Young Adult = book boyfriend or crushes
- Romance = ????
I find it weird to call them book boyfriends. I almost feel like I’m being rude if I call Darcy that. (I’m pretty sure he’d be unimpressed. I don’t want to offend these dudes from this genre with terms they have never heard of. They’re stuck on “courting” nonsense. I don’t want to break their brains. ;D)
But that’s just me. I’m not telling you it’s wrong to call them that. You can call them whatever you like. :)
Confession #3: I don’t have tons of book boyfriends. Before this year, I only had one.
At times, I felt like a special sunflower because everybody seemed to have ten or more book boyfriends, and I was just sitting there with one. Sure, there are some male characters that make me squeal and make me wish they existed in the real world (like Archer Cross and Jonah Griggs), but I don’t have extremely strong feelings for them. Not enough that make me want to declare them my book boyfriend.
If I don’t —
- feel absolute devotion toward the male character
- have to take a break (like a minute or two) from reading to squeal and flail when the male character enters the scene
- hear weird noises emerging from my mouth
- shake my head every time they do something as simple as smiling or standing still
- find myself frantic and desperate for more
- find myself declaring them assholes (when they actually aren’t but I like to be dramatic)
- tell every one that they should looooovvveeeeee this dude
Then, I can’t really call them book boyfriends. My heart won’t let it happen!
The only book boyfriend that elicits all those criteria is Adrian Ivashkov from the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead.
That dude is *sigh*. What can I say about him? Every time he appears on the page, I do everything in the criteria above. He is laid-back and smart and sneaky and charming and snarky and funny and sarcastic. Everything I love. He has such a complicated history and family, but despite that, that dude knows how to love. He does it with his entire soul and I love that.
Just thinking about him makes me want to flail my arms and release a small squeal (which really sounds like a bird mating call).
Confession #4: As of January 16, I have my second ever book boyfriend!
I officially inducted Wesley Ayers (from The Archived and The Unbound books) into my “book boyfriend” club!
CONGRATS, DUDE. WELCOME TO THE EXCLUSIVE CLUB!
He earned in! He is an awesome guy! Great friend and partner. Funny and adorable. Supportive. And after this asshole (note: no, he isn’t actually one and yes, it’s for dramatic emphasis) appeared in The Unbound the way he did, I remember dropping my e-reader onto my bed with my arms raised above my head and yelled, “I’m out” because it was official. I love him. Wesley in The Archived was reaching “I really love this dude” status, but he reached “oh fuck I love you so fucking much.Can you be in my life please and smile at me because I need you in my life” status in The Unbound. He is worthy to be my book boyfriend.
Now here we are!
Who would’ve thought this Goth kid would earn a special place in my heart? Not I!
Confession #5: I feel bad that I haven’t inducted a few male characters into my book boyfriend club (even though I absolutely adore them).
Male characters that should’ve been inducted into my book boyfriend club:
- Archer Cross (Hex Hall)
- Jonah Griggs (Jellicoe Road)
- Cricket Bell (Lola and the Boy Next Door)
They totally deserve to be in the club. They elicit most of the reactions in my criteria, but there’s something keeping me from inducting them. I don’t know what’s wrong!
At this point, I think I’m being stubborn. :\
There’s nothing wrong if you have one or a hundred book boyfriends. Yay to those of you who can open your heart to all of them! I adore lots of male characters, but my heart and head refuses to induct them into the exclusive book boyfriend club. I am fully devoted to only two and I’m okay with that. (Maybe. ;D)
Do you have any confessions you want to tell me about your book boyfriends? How many book boyfriends do you have? Who are they? What type of guys do you usually go for? (I wonder what my book boyfriends and other male characters I adore say about me.) Do you have any criteria that your book boyfriends have to fulfill?
I wish I could say that I only have two book boyfriends, but I have too many to count. Maybe I fall in book boyfriend love too easy? I love Adrian! He’s so funny and charming that it’s hard to not have him in the club. I don’t think I’ve heard anyone say that they didn’t like him. Great post!
You know, I absolutely love the whole term of ‘book boyfriend’ haha. I recently wrote a post about this as well, where I showed all the things I look for in a book boyfriend. Congrats with finding your second one, haha.
Can I just say I LOVE this post! Particularly, I found Confession #2 very amusing. I could just picture Mr. Darcy being all unimpressed by being titled a book boyfriend.
Anyways, this really isn’t a topic I’ve thought much about. I’m sure there are many characters that I’ve read about that I’d love to add to my book boyfriend category. But I don’t think I’ve ever officially thought about who made the cut and fulfilled all requirements. I may have to think about this for a bit…
Nice post by the way just incase I wasn’t clear earlier. :D
Me too! At first I was like “book boyfriends, really?” and then I started to crush on Four in Divergent and now i understood haha. I also have only 2 book boyfriends: Four from Divergent and Ignifex from Cruel Beauty. I’m very picky on guys, even in real life, so yeah, that’s why I only have 2 :D.
I love this post! How fun, I never thought of the guys I swooned over as book boyfriends, but I will now :)
Book boyfriends are awesome. I have some in my book boyfriend club but I also have a couple of honourary boyfriends meaning they have boyfriend status but I reserve them for someone else. Here is my list of book boyfriends/honourary boyfriends. You can judge me haha
Ron Weasley-Harry Potter
Roar- Under the Never Sky
Ezra-The Beginning of Everything
Ronan- The Raven Boys (oddly Ronan is gay but I love him too much to care)
Kenji-Unravel Me (seriously, he’s amazing ok)
Honorary Book Boyfriends:
Kai-Cinder
Levi-Fangirl
Park- Eleanor & Park
I think I used to have tons of book boyfriends but now that I think of it, I can’t recall a single one. I think that the more I read, the more picky I become which characters I like and become devoted to. When I look back I start to have issues with the male characters that I used to be head over heels. The only book boyfriend that I still stand next to with my head held high is Finnick Odair, as he was the first and I still adore him. Other than that, I really can’t think of a male character that I absolutely love and would use the term “book boyfriend” to describe them. (Actually, I just remembered Adrian Ivashkov and I decided that I still love the guy)(I just have to forget the Bloodlines books and I can call him my book boyfriend.)(So, there’s two.)(I’m a pro.)
(Also, Cee the Hipstah)
Your secretly being a hipster has never been secret, Cee, sorry to break it to you but let’s be real here. ;)
Uh, confession #1? I was totally that person. Well, not so much that I thought it was stupid – different strokes &c. – but more that I didn’t really…get it. I didn’t understand the whole concept of it; I didn’t understand why people wanted to declare what seemed like every male character in the world at that point their book boyfriend; I didn’t understand why people even claimed fictional characters to be book boyfriends. And then I read One Tiny Lie by KA Tucker, and Trent appeared, and I was kind of like, okay, I’m beginning to get it.
To this day, I don’t really have book boyfriends myself, still, but I’m less quizzical about other people when they’re screaming over Twitter how so-and-so is their perfect bf 4eva~~~
I don’t have a book boyfriend. I don’t think I’ve had a book boyfriend, since Hannibal Lecter and that was a very complicated relationship.
But, I’m told that there’s a book boyfriend out there for me. I just have to keep reading.
Maybe I’m a closet hipster, because I just don’t get the book boyfriend thing! I totally get swooning over boys in books, but other than some general feelings of fondness once I finish the book, I generally don’t get too caught up in my fictional love interests.
Maybe I just haven’t found that one guy. Is he out there?
Although, if I had to name one, because someone had a gun to my head or something, I’d probably go with Tucker Avery. He’s perfection.
I’m incredibly amused that you wrote about book boyfriends! While I do flail/swoon/crush on many book men, I only have very few I would consider book boyfriends — and that’s Chaol (from the Throne of Glass series, which is a GIVEN), Daniel (Something Strange and Deadly series, Wolf (Lunar Chronicles), Sam (Newsoul series), Percy AND Jason (Percy Jackson/The Heroes of Olympus), and Warden (The Bone Season).
I actually don’t include my romance heroes (that’s what I call them) on that list, because they get a different title. I have quite a few of those too, by the way :)
Dude! You are my book boyfriend twin. I’m not even joking. First off: I’ve never liked the term “book boyfriend”. I mean, honestly. It sounds so unsophisticated and kinda creepy D: I learned this the hard way when I tried fangirling with my friend over guys form books *shudders* As for classic figures, my favs are Rochester and Darcy. More Darcy. Jeez, he was a jerk, but I could tell he was amazing underneath it all. (I loved being right!) But as much as I love him, I am not calling him my book boyfriend. Eesh.
Third: Adrian has had my heart since his appearance in Frostbite. And I’ve only loved him more since then. The Fiery Heart? With his POV? That was heaven. HE IS FREAKIN AMAZING. A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.
And yes, there are a few others that are up there, but no one can compare to how I feel for Adrian. All those qualifications you have? He does that for me, too.
And he’s about the only one. The others can’t compare. I don’t know what it is either. It’s just Adrian *sa-woon*