Why Book Boyfriends Aren't Just for Romance

Romance readers have a term I think the rest of us should steal: book boyfriend.

Traditionally, it refers to the fictional man readers fall in love with. Sometimes he's charming. Sometimes he's protective. Sometimes he's emotionally available and capable of communicating like a functioning adult, which may be the most unrealistic fantasy element of all.

But lately I've been wondering why we limit the term to romance. Readers fall in love with fictional characters in every genre.

Sometimes it's the dependable friend who always shows up when he's needed. Sometimes it's the rogue with a heart of gold. Sometimes it's the morally gray disaster who would absolutely burn down a city to protect the people he loves. Sometimes it's the villain we're all pretending not to have a crush on.

The details vary. The attachment doesn't.

Fantasy readers have been collecting book boyfriends for decades. Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings is noble, capable, and dependable, along with broody, dirty, and physically fit <rawr>. While not something I’ve read, Rhysand from A Court of Thorns and Roses is probably responsible for at least a few thousand discussions on the internet all by himself. I feel like I could list so many, but so many books I read are indie that you probably wouldn’t know any of them (but, you know, practically every C.N. Crawford hero!).

Science fiction readers have their own examples. While they may have started on screen rather than books … there’s the loveable rouge, Han Solo from Star Wars: charming, sarcastic, and just heroic enough to be dangerous, and relationship goals Commander Benjamin Sisko: emotionally available single dad who adroitly handles balancing a high stress career and a family.

Even horror gets in on the action. Sometimes the most beloved character in a horror novel isn't the protagonist. It's the person trying desperately to survive the nightmare while remaining fundamentally human.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized that "book boyfriend" isn't really a romance term, it's a reader term. It's shorthand for a character who earns permanent residence in your imagination.

I've been doing what I hope are my last edits on After His Funeral (the closing novella in my upcoming anthology), and somewhere along the way I realized that Ezra has strong book-boyfriend energy.

The funny thing is that AHF is lots of horror and a little bit romance, yet I can already imagine readers adopting him. Not because he's the romantic lead, but because he's the kind of character readers want to spend time with. Maybe that's the real definition of a book boyfriend. Not a romantic hero, but a character who earns emotional real estate in the reader's head.

Which raises an important question: Who is your favorite non-romance book boyfriend?

And perhaps more importantly: What made him one?

Signed from the margins where fictional men continue collecting admirers regardless of genre,

S.G., Keeper of the Wondrous LedgerHa