Trashionista: Who's your Number One Perfect Chick Lit Hero?

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February 19, 2008 9:00 AM

Who's your Number One Perfect Chick Lit Hero?

Members of the Romantic Novelists' Association have voted Johnny Depp as the Number One Perfect Romantic Hero in a poll to mark Valentine's Day. (Yes, I know it was last week - but there's been so much to tell you!)

According to these authors, a romantic hero should be gorgeous, deliciously sexy, intensely masculine and have a commanding presence. Well. Yeah.

Carry on over the cut for the full Top 10.

The top ten male celebrities voted the Perfect Romantic Hero were:

1. Johnny Depp
2. Daniel Craig
3. Sean Bean
4. Richard Armitage
5. Hugh Jackman
6. Colin Firth
7. Alan Rickman
8. Pierce Brosnan
9. George Clooney
10. David Tennant

Interestingly, for me this highlights a difference between romantic fiction and chick lit, since I think only half of the men on the list would work as chick lit heroes.

I can see Hugh Jackman, Colin Firth, George Clooney and David Tennant (with Daniel Craig at a stretch) as the hero of a chick lit book. The other five? Not so much. No, not even Johnny Depp. Too grungy. (Although, you know, I still would...)

Of course, you may disagree! Who is your Number One Perfect Chick Lit hero?

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Posted by Keris on February 19, 2008 in Book related | Permalink

Comments

I just don't think that Johnny Depp could ever be described as "intensely masculine"....

Posted by: Stella | February 19, 2008 11:09 AM

That's true. I hadn't thought about that. Neither's David Tennant, to be fair.

Posted by: Keris | February 19, 2008 1:37 PM

No, Johnny Depp isn't "intensely masculine," but he is ever so yummy!! He is my number one pick for romantic hero no matter what genre we're talking about.

Posted by: Lucie Simone | February 19, 2008 3:59 PM

He is yummy, Lucie, but I've never pictured him as the hero when reading a chick lit book. Clooney, yes. Colin Firth, all the time. But, Depp? Nope.

Posted by: Keris | February 19, 2008 4:12 PM

I may be the one woman in the world who doesn't find Johnny Depp sexy. He's just a little too odd for me. The one time I've found him attractive was in Chocolat.

David Tennant is totally a chick lit hero. He's that wacky, slightly geeky best friend buddy the heroine doesn't notice throughout the book while she's dating "manly" jerks who treat her badly, until finally she realizes while crying on his shoulder about the latest heartbreak that he's actually rather cute and treats her well.

Posted by: Shanna Swendson | February 19, 2008 5:31 PM

And I'll add that often the guys that are the perfect heroes for a romance novel are more likely to be the villains of a chick lit novel. They're the guys who dump or cheat on the heroine. So while I could see someone like Pierce Brosnan as a romance novel hero, in chick lit, he'd be more likely to be the heroine's boss who seduces her into an affair and then turns out to also be seeing someone more on his "level" that he's more serious about.

Daniel Craig is the really hot guy she can't believe she managed to snag, but then she gets all insecure about the relationship while he manages to never totally let her forget that he's way too good for her, so that when he ends up inevitably dumping her, her self-esteem is left in tatters (and that's when she'd end up with the David Tennant type).

Johnny Depp is the bad-boy starving artist type she thinks is really sexy but who is basically just sponging off of her while pursuing his "art" (that really amounts to a lot of drinking).

Posted by: Shanna Swendson | February 19, 2008 7:12 PM

LOL, Shanna. You're so right.

So is David Tennant your perfect chick lit hero or have you someone else in mind?

Posted by: Keris | February 19, 2008 7:41 PM

I don't know that I have a "perfect" chick lit hero. I just seem to be able to decide who various people could play in a chick lit type story. David Tennant is pretty much my type, but not a type I tend to write, oddly enough. Maybe I should set myself the challenge and see if I can come up with a story that fits that type. Unfortunately, it's next to impossible to sell a chick lit novel in the US right now, so it may have to be a fantasy novel with some chick lit elements.

Posted by: Shanna Swendson | February 19, 2008 9:47 PM