Kelly Hunter on the Appeal of Bad Boys

I’ve had my head down a lot lately, trying to get some serious writing done and while I do try to be good and not get distracted, sometimes a girl just can’t help it.  Especially if she’s got great author friends who insist on writing fabulously yummy stories about delicious Bad Boys.

If you’ve been keeping up with the Bad Boy books from Tule’s Holiday imprint, you’ll understand exactly what I mean.  It’s hard to ignore them.  They look so sinfully irresistible, standing there on the cover, whispering ‘come closer’.  And Kelly Hunter‘s bad boy, Caleb Jackson from Sympathy for the Devil fits the bill so perfectly!

It got me thinking about all bad boys and why so many of us find them appealing.  I pulled Kelly Hunter in for a quick chat about bad boys and here’s what she had to say:

Kelly on the appeal of the bad boy… I’m a big fan of a hero who lives by his own rules and doesn’t necessarily conform to social mores. He’s a game-changer. All that fire and passion, all his fierce loyalty and protectiveness – he’s exciting and unpredictable and I like that in a fictional hero. In real life I’d run!

When I write these guys, I’m aiming to get that super sexy, supremely confident guy to lay all his power (every last drop) at the feet of his heroine and say, ‘This is me, all of me. And I’m yours.’ The bigger the challenge the sweeter the victory.

Should you still need more convincing when it comes to the appeal of the very bad boy, I give you my favorite two bad boys of all time (superheroes included). I’d love to know yours so feel free to comment!

1. Sebastian Ballister, the Marquess of Dain, from Loretta Chase’s Lord Of Scoundrels

He’s big, he’s bad, he’s a total cad with an illegitimate son. He sleeps with whores. He needs a firm and loving hand, and, my, doesn’t he purr when he gets one? He’s fiercely passionate and a law unto himself. Occasionally he needs to be shot. A woman could indulge her inner disciplinarian with a man like this All. Day. Long.

2. Iron Man (Tony Stark)

At some point in one of the Avengers movies, Captain America says to Iron Man, “Big man in a suit of armor. Take that off and what are you?” And Iron Man replies, “Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.”

You’ve no idea how much I love this exchange!

Our boy Tony is a reckless risk-taker who flirts with anything sentient, drinks to excess and he doesn’t like sharing his toys. He’s the poster boy for how not to manage fame, and that’s before you factor in the armored suit and all Iron Man’s wins and disasters. He’s the bad boy who so desperately wants to do good. He has a broken heart – literally – and he can’t fix it. No one can. Happily, he’s wrong, because I’m sure I can fix it. No, really. I can. At least let me try.

Kelly Hunter’s Sympathy For The Devil is out now.

Caleb Jackson has a secret – as a reckless teen he seduced his big brother’s girl. The girl moved away, his brother moved on and Caleb tried and tried to forget it ever happened. Ten years later, Bree Tucker is back, more tempting than ever, and his big brother seems hell-bent on reeling her back into their lives.

Bree Tucker doesn’t want to take the Jackson photography job, even if every last one of them is as photogenic as sin. Caleb, in particular, is the kind of man a woman would happily lie, cheat and check her self-respect at the door for – she should know. But Caleb had only ever been responding to the lure of the forbidden. He’d never been seriously interested in her.

Had he?

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And that is just part of the reason I love Kelly’s bad boy, Caleb!  What’s your take on the appeal of bad boys?  Leave a comment and you’ll be entered to win a fabulous prize pack from Kelly!  We’ll announce a winner on Saturday.