Lords and Lairds and Kings, Oh My!

When I was 13 years old I think, well 13 or 14, My mother gave me a book.  Now there wasn’t a special occasion or anything like that it was more like, read this and get out of my hair.  This book was called “The Bride and the Bodyguard” and it was a Harlequin.  It was my first romance novel. You might think it odd ( or you might not) that my mother was giving me a romance novel to read at that age.  Let explain a little further.  I’ve been an avid reader since I can remember. When I was 7 my mother decided to take on a second part time job for the Christmas season, working Thursday and Friday nights at a local fabric store.  I was used to having my mom at home in the evenings and the idea freaked me out.  So in order to placate me she bought a box set of Babysitter Club Books and left one under my pillow a la the Tooth Fairy.  I came home that Thursday and found Kristy’s great idea  under my pillow with a note.  I found that some how this “book fairy” always knew when I had finished a book and that next thrusday I would have a new BSC book. I began to anticipate Thursday nights, (Friday’s were reserved for X-files with my step-dad) and eventually when I was finishing the books by Saturday, my mom just ended up giving me a new book whenever I told her I was finished.  By the fourth grade I was reading adult novels like Mary Higgins Clark and Tami Hoag.  I graduated into James Patterson and John Grisom  and the like by age 12. Polishing off Gone with the Wind by age 13. I’ve come a long way since then, read a lot of novels and met a lot of characters.  So back to “The Bride and the Bodyguard.” The hero of that story’s name was Jeff.  He was a smart-ass lawyer/former PI who couldn’t go to the bathroom without planning it in advance.  I remember almost every detail of that book and I still have it in my library.  But he wasn’t my first RN boyfriend. I came across an article asking about the first Romance Novel boyfriend readers had and it made me think.  Sure, I liked Jeff, but like the guy who asks you to the 6th grade dance, he wasn’t THE ONE. THE ONE was Captain Brandon Birmingham of Kathleen Woodiwiss’ The Flame and the Flower followed very closely by Laird Alec Kincaid of Julie Garwood’s The Bride. They were the first of all the romance novel men I would fall in love with.  Now granted, fictional characters etc etc. But still.  What romantic girl doesn’t love a fairy tale?  If I can’t love the hero, I find the story lacking.  Now, in the years since Brandon and Alec I have met hundreds of Lords, Lairds, Earls, Dukes, Princes, Kings, Captains, Vikings, Soldiers, explorers, professors, and even a few Actors (Thank you Lisa Kleypas for Logan Scott, Thank you!).  Some you love more than others, but you never really forget your first one.  And I tend to get a little protective of them also... In another article I read (written by a psychologist trying to prove that romance novels unbalance the female population), used an excerpt from the Flame and the Flower.  Now, it was not a pretty excerpt and read out of context its a little strong.  Had I read that excerpt with no explanation, no context and no understanding of what was happening in the story...I probably would have been concerned, not to mention turned off by the idea.  Without the context it pretty much sounds like rape.  Now, I am NOT purporting rape as a good thing in anyway shape or form, in fact I think rapists should all be neutered, chemically or physically; However in context of this story, with all the factors and after reading the entire novel, this scene does not come off to me as rape.  It comes off to me as a very naive girl in over her head in something she doesn't understand with a guy who doesn't have all the facts.  Moving on.  I was appalled that my Brandon was being misconstrued by someone who clearly did not read the novel.  Granted everyone is allowed an opinion, but really?  I couldn't get over that someone was actually presenting this as evidence in a supposed scientific study.   Maybe I'm just to unbalanced to see it. To me Brandon is a hero and always will be.  I try to keep these men in mind as I write my hero for the novel I'm working on.  After all, a good leading man just gets better as you age.  Who was your first romance novel boyfriend?  Why did you fall in love with him? Are you still in love with him?