Friday, December 16, 2011

Deja Vu Blogfest!

 How does Deja Vu blogfest work?  On December 16th all of those taking part will re-post their favorite blog offering, or one that never received the exposure it should have. For more info go to Nicole's blog HERE.

I chose one that was fairly popular but also fun. (Well, I thought it was fun) :-)

Anyway, and away we go...
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Hey, all!

As you all know I was in Florida last week where I was able to relax and do a lot of reading. It's kind of funny the things that you start to notice when you're zipping through books--and one of them is the hair color of MEN.

Believe me, there are plenty of tall, dark, and handsome heroes going on. A few blonds I've seen. And then, of course, the sandy-brown colored hair, which naturally dips down (just so) where the heroine has that desire to brush it off his forehead. :-)

All very nice hair colors for men.

But where I ask you is the REDHEADED HERO?! (--interrobang)

Is there some kind of red prejudice going on? Are there certain images that get conjured up in our minds when we think of redheaded men?




Hmm....Well, maybe.

I'd like to think that there will be a resurgence in ginger-headed heroes, but maybe there is a certain stereotype that's automatically in our brain when we think of men with red hair. I know. It's terrible. But we women can't help it!! After all, look what we've been subjected to all these years:


Cute. (Sort of.) But not a romance readers typical "fantasy"type of guy. Nothing personal to those redheaded gentlemen, but romance readers are kind of... PICKY--opting for larger than life heroes over the guy-next-door type of hero.

Most authors tend to keep this in mind when naming their heroes. Romance readers LOVE masculine names for their heroes as well as masculine looks. It's just the way it is, because a hair coloring or a name conjure up images when we're reading.

But now that this phenomenon has come to my attention, I feel the need to write a hero with red hair. Yep. Those men deserve their props. And who knows?
There might be some hero hope for them yet. :-)


How about you? Have you read (and liked) any romances that had a redheaded hero? If you're a writer, have you written a book with a redheaded hero?

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**on another note, the winner of the Sweet Sunshine Cookbook is...

Karen Walker!!

Please email me at jennifer--at--jennifershirk--dot--com and let me know where you want it sent.

37 comments:

Karen Baldwin said...

Ha! No redheaded hero that I've read or written. Good point though.

Laura Pauling said...

It's so true. They usually have the goofy side kick role. Ron Howard was sooo cute as a little boy!

Linda G. said...

Jamie Fraser in Diana Gabaldon's Outlander series. A red-headed Scot guaranteed to curl your toes. I highly recommend getting to know him. ;)

Old Kitty said...

I'm racking my brains for red-headed male romantic heroes and have so drawn a blank! Goodness! This must be rectified asap!! Yay! Take care
x

Anonymous said...

I'm with Linda G. up there - hot, hot, HOT Jamie Fraser instantly popped into my head as I started reading.

And, yes, I've got a redheaded hero slated to sweep the world, and one lucky woman, off its collective feet one day. :)

Very fun post.

Susan Flett Swiderski said...

Hmmm, not sure. Wasn't Roarke in "The Fountainhead" a redhead? Then again, that wasn't exactly a romance. Oh, and you left off the first redhead I thought of ... Howdy Doody. Good ol' Howdy ruined the notion of a romantic redhead for a lot of us. Fun post! Good choice for a re-run.

Rawknrobyn.blogspot.com said...

You make a great point. I find most red heads (except the second two pictured above) very endearing.

Happy blog hopping, Friday and weekend. Thanks for dropping by.
xoRobyn

LTM said...

oh, you're so right! Prince Harry is a very handsome redhead. (But that's not really the norm, is it? ;o)

Fun stuff! And nice to "meet" you, Jen! :o) <3

Wendy Paine Miller said...

I dated a redhead. Can't say he was a hero though. ;)

Merry.
~ Wendy

Linda Kage said...

Good one! I don't remember this the first time around, so it's a good thing you Deja Vu-ed us with it!!

Reminds me of the South Park show I saw once about Gingers (their word for redheads) and how they could only think of Ron Howard as the only famous redhead out there!

OK, now I'm having Deja Vu because this might be the same comment I made the first time you wrote this post. Oh, my head hurts now trying to remember!! LOL

Carolyn V said...

I used to love Danny Kaye when I was young. He used to dye his hair red even though it was blond. Does that count? ;)

TheBookGirl said...

This is definitely a post worthy of repeating :)

I never thought about it before, but I guess the term tall, red-headed and handsome, doesn't really fit, lol.

On the other hand, my daughter had bright red, Lucy Ricardo red hair when she was a baby/toddler, and she is definitely one of my heroes :)

Cindy R. Wilson said...

I'm guilty of never writing a red-headed hero! Man, now I feel bad. Thanks for bringing this to my attention and re-posting :) Maybe I'll my my new hero especially unique.

Liz Mays said...

It is kinda funny how gingers never come to mind when thinking of a hot hero! Poor gingers...

Nancy said...

I am so prejudiced in the opposite direction. I have a red-haired son and a red-haired daughter. I think they are both very attractive. I think Prince Harry is handsome, too.
One of my all time favorite heroes is Tom Shaw from Louisa May Alcott's An Old Fashioned Girl. He starts out being such a bad boy, but by the end of the book, he wins your heart,absolutely. I think red-headed men, when they are handsome, are just the best. They have that little something extra.

I did write a book with a little red-headed girl and it's all about how red heads get slighted in things. I guess the shoe fits.

Lydia Kang said...

Where there's Harry, there's hope for hunky redhead heroes.

Thanks so much for joining the Blogfest!

DL Hammons said...

Heh heh...it is funny what we notice sometimes! I must say that I have a red-headed character in my book...although he's not the MC. The reason why his hair is that color is because he's based on a real-life person I once knew.

Great choice for a re-post! Thank you for taking part in the blogfest and helping to make the day so special! :)

Liza said...

I never thought of this! How funny. I seem to thing that maybe, when I was a teen and reading Trixie Belden, her beau may have had "ginger" hair!

Dianne K. Salerni said...

I think the appeal of the ginger-haired hero is returning.

Of course, I prefer the darker version. Give me some auburn ... yum!

Brinda said...

I'm so glad that your commenters thought of Jamie Fraser because it would have haunted me all night. You are right. The lack of redheads is down right disrespectful. BTW, the pic of Prince Harry is SO cute!

Jules said...

Yeah, what is up with that? So have you finished by now writing in that redheaded hero? :)
Jules @ Trying To Get Over The Rainbow

Heather Day Gilbert said...

Okay, this post is AWESOME! I actually ranted about this on my blog, too:

http://bookinamonthmom.blogspot.com/2010/11/brainstorming.html

I can't help it that red-haired or blonde-haired men are FAR more attractive to my over-active imagination than brunettes. In fact, in all three of my novels (one is a work-in-progress), there will be a prominently-placed red-haired character, if not MC! So I'm right with you there.

Also, my husband is a red-head, and thus endlessly fascinating to my brunette self.

Following, and nice to meet you via Deja Vu!

A.L. Sonnichsen said...

Jennifer, this post made me LOL! My mother-in-law is a redhead and she has wanted a redheaded grandchild SO badly. Even after four birth children, I can't seem to give her one ... but I remember thinking that if I did have a redhead I'd want it to be a girl, not a boy. But thanks for reminding me about Prince Harry. He definitely breaks the mold! (But I'm done having children anyway ... so sorry, dear mother-in-law! I tried my best!!) :)

Juliann Wetz said...

Ah, Harry. Nice way to end, because up until I saw his picture, I couldn't think of a redhead that I'd consider romantically.

Sarah said...

Jamie Fraser, anyone? I'm with Linda G--highly recommended! My most recent ms had a red-haired hero, actually, but you're right--they're rare! Nice to meet you, Jennifer!

Unknown said...

I remember this post and I love it as much now as I did then. Great pick! (And I'm laughing at my word verification, which is recappin)

julie fedderson said...

Jamie Fraser for sure!!! But other than him, you are absolutely right. Poor, maligned gingers.

Nancy Thompson said...

Well I don't read romances, but I don't remember any redheaded men in all the books I've read. Lots of redheaded women though. Even my own female protagonist is redheaded, but that's probably because I am, too. Redheads rock!

LynNerdKelley said...

Nope, I haven't read any with redheaded heros, but there seem to be plenty of redheaded heroines in books!

Margo Kelly said...

I am red-headed, and my current M.C. is red-headed ... yay!

I'm a new follower from the DejaVu Blogfest - nice to meet you!

Jennie Bailey said...

I haven't read a red headed hero in YA that I can recall. But my latest heroine has red hair! And I do so love Patrick Rothfuss' books - his hero Kvothe has red hair!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Years ago I read a fantasy book called The Forgotten Beasts of Eld and the hero had flame-red hair.

As I am a redhead, I'm all for more!

BECKY said...

I don't remember ever seeing a really good looking man with red hair.....except maybe Young Prince there in that photo. :)

They're usually so cute as little boys, but then....what happens? Their hair needs to learn how to turn a dark auburn...or something..

Anonymous said...

You make a great point. Redheads are underrated and underrepresented. I've never written a redheaded hero, but there are two redhead minor characters in my current wip.

Kathy Garolsky said...

Good post

Sarah Tokeley said...

Nope I can't think of a single red-headed male romantic hero :-(

Theresa Milstein said...

Thanks for bringing to light that a redheaded guy can be cute. Underrepresented.

My dad is a redhead. Well, it's grayer now. But he used to be.

I have a love interest now who's a redheaded guy. Let's see if I can sell it.

And don't forget all those Weasleys.