Sandy Oakes wrote a coupla weeks ago over on Romancing the Blog about The Alpha Male’s Heroine and I got to thinking, “Who doesn’t love an alpha hero?” I think she made a good point when she said they’re hard to write in modern romance. The hero can be angst-ridden and dark, very he-man alpha, but how does the heroine match him? Especially if she’s new to his dark, dangerous, action-filled world? She shouldn’t be dumb and go rushing into danger expecting the alpha-dude to come running, shouting “I’ll save you!” However, you don’t want her to be a wimp quivering and crying in the corner (like I would be). The balance is hard to reach in contemporary books.

Take my two favorite suspense authors, Suzanne Brockmann and Linda Howard. Suzanne, now she can rock a tough-guy/inexperienced girl story. Her guys are also not afraid to cry, which is cool. Linda Howard on the other hand, her men are uber-alpha. Sometimes she goes over the top with the heroes and her heroines really don’t measure up. Or the guy will be so alpha you wonder what the heroine sees in him because you just want to kick him in his fat head throughout the entire book. But, man, when Linda is on her game, those are some of the best stories ever. See? And you guys thought I only read paranormal stuff. Ha!