Welcome to my stop on the Dark Waltz Blog Tour courtesy of CBB Book Promotions. Author A.M. Hargrove has stopped by today to talk to us about the infamous tortured hero in romance novels and why we’re so drawn to them. Dark Waltz is her latest sci-fi/paranormal romance release and has not one, but two tortured main characters and lots of sexiness that will satisfy any romance junkie (you can check out the link to my review in this post). There’s a tour wide giveaway as well so be sure to follow the tour!
You see it all the time…in almost every romance novel you read. So what is it about that tortured hero? Why the allure? What’s the attraction? Is there is hidden reason or is it just the Bad Boy thing?
For the broken male character, maybe it’s because women are nurturers. That’s our natural instinct. We want to take care of things. We are born with the ability to be mothers. Some of us are already mothers. It’s what we do. When we see someone who is hurt or wounded, physically or emotionally, we want to help them. This extends to the characters we read about. This is how we develop a connection to them. So the tortured hero makes that connection grow even deeper…stronger.
Sometimes, the more broken or tortured the character, the stronger the connection. We want to see them overcome this flaw…this tragedy…whatever it was that got them to this place. We want to nurture them ourselves…we want them rise above their issues and develop into a hero we can have faith in. So we put our hope in this tortured soul and this connection grows until we become a part of this person. His pain becomes our own and then when his healing, his mending begins to take place, we feel as if it’s happening to us, or as if we had a part in his recovery.
The same can be felt for the broken female character. We can identify with her…maybe not on the same level, but from the gender standpoint. If she’s reeling from heartbreak, we want to help her get through it, because haven’t we all been through something similar? Again, it goes back to the nurturing aspects of our personalities. We can identify with her hurt, we want to help her heal and that deepens our connection with her. We can feel her anguish and we find our hearts reaching out to her. She touches our emotions and again, we want to help her. It’s what we do as women. We’re there for each other.
So the next time you’re reading a book and you see a tortured hero, ask yourself what attracted you to him. Maybe you’ll come up with a completely different reason. Maybe it’s just the Bad Boy thing after all. But I think there’s probably something deeper behind it all. Happy Reading!
Dark Waltz–A sizzling legend of loss, lust and love.
It’s the year 2030 and the human population has been annihilated by a virulent form of small pox. Liasare Davidson is desperately searching for her brother, who has been missing for three months. It’s been eighteen years since she was evacuated from Earth and she is horrified to see it’s become a cesspool of unimaginable things.
In her quest to find her brother, she meets Jurek, a powerful and enigmatic being that frightens her, yet she is unable to resist. When things begin to unfold between them, they both discover a paralyzing truth that puts Liasare at grave risk. She must make a choice to join Jurek and find her brother or fulfill a role she believes she is ill equipped to undertake.
Category: ADULT Romance…NOT appropriate for young readers.(Caution: Major STEAM ahead)
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One day on her way home from work as a sales manager, A. M. Hargrove realized her life was on fast forward and if she didn’t do something soon, it would quickly be too late to write that work of fiction she had been dreaming of her whole life. So, she rolled down the passenger window of her fabulous (not) company car and tossed out her leather briefcase. Luckily, the pedestrian in the direct line of fire was a dodgeball pro and had über quick reflexes enabling him to avoid getting bashed in the head. Feeling a tad guilty about the near miss, A. M. made a speedy turn down a deserted side street before tossing her crummy, outdated piece-of-you-know-what laptop out the window. She breathed a liberating sigh of relief, picked up her cell phone and hit #4 on her speed dial.
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Sounds fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
Do you need to read the guardians series before reading dark waltz?
I read Dark Waltz without reading the Guardians of Vesturon series and didn’t have a problem following the story. I believe that series is YA, while this is an adult novel. It’s up to you to decide. 🙂
No, I think you are probably right about the nuturing thing. We are that way. Bless our tender hearts!
I liked the first version of events, but anyway so pleased you did it. Now get writing!!