Miscellaneous Monday: What Makes a Hero?

Welcome to the first Misc. Monday of 2012! Last week I asked everyone what they thought the most important trait for a hero is. The most common response was, surprisingly, "Intelligence". We like our men smart!

So, lacking any TV or movies or other junk to talk about, I'm dedicating today's post to all of the great book heroes that I've discovered (so far). I read female centered books, so I think I tend to focus on the female characters in my reviews. This post is the guys' time to shine. So, without further ado, my Top Seven Heroes (in no particular order).

Ethan Quinn from Rising Tides by Nora Roberts. If I'm going to talk about awesome heroes, I obviously have to include the Quinn men (see my snippet reviews for more information). I chose Ethan in particular, though, because he's such a quiet, gentle soul. One would be tempted to call him a Beta male, but I don't think the term quite fits. He's dependable, loving, and great daddy material. He's got a dark, tear-jerker of a past. For those of you who love nice guys in contemporaries, Ethan is for you.

Curran from the Kate Daniel's books by Ilona Andrews. Curran makes it onto the list for being a genuinely scary dude who I would not want to piss off...who is still genuinely likeable. If you like alpha males, he's it. This is as alpha-like as they get. He's a tough, smart, loyal bad-ass who's carried Kate out of more than one burning building--and who wouldn't want a guy to do that for her? He's the leader of the Pack--basically all of the shape-shifters--which equals a ton of power. What really won me over to him, though, was when he tells Kate that he would ditch the Pack and let them all go hang if she asked him to. What a prince!

Vishous from the Black Dagger Brotherhood books by J.R. Ward. Smart guys really are super sexy. Combine that with his tragic past and present day issues and you get a hero who's a little messed up, a little scary, but still incredibly likeable. I liked seeing his emotional journey, in which he struggles to reconcile what he feels in his heart with what his brain tells him is "best".

Mark Turner from Courtney Milan's Turner series. He makes it onto the list for having an impeccable moral code and being such a decent man. That makes him sound terribly boring, but in fact he's one of the more well developed characters I've seen in historical romance. Once I learned that his stance on male chastity was brought on my finding a starving baby in an alley, I was won over to his side 100%.

Jamie Fraiser from the Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon. He earns his spot on my list for being a survivor (of, like, every terrible thing that can happen to a person), in addition to more heroic traits than I can reasonably expect to name. He's a big, tough, handsome Scott with more layers than an onion. Clair carries this series for me, but it wouldn't be half as memorable without Jamie by her side.

Jericho Barrons from the Fever series by Karen Marie Moning. The thing I like most about Barrons is that he's incredibly mysterious. He's something of an antihero. I was never sure, even right up to the end of the series, whether I could really classify him as a "good guy". Yet, I was always sure that he loved Mac, at least in some distant corner of his heart.

Bones from the Night Huntress series by Jeaniene Frost. While Mark made it onto the list for being moral and good, Bones earns his spot by being pretty naughty. He's a bounty hunter and former prostitute, who now uses his talents to help and...please his wife. All of that aside, he gets points for putting up with Cat who, let's be honest, puts him through the emotional wringer a time or two.

So, those are my most memorable heroes. Who makes your list? What makes him fantastic?

This week, as so many of us are starting our 2012 reading challenges, I'm asking how many books you usually read in a year. Don't forget to vote, on the right side of your screen. Happy reading!