Like the heroines I wrote about in yesterday's blog Beauty Burden and the Heroine some heroes also suffer from this problem as well. 

It is the awareness of the hero and/or heroine of this problem that I find most engaging. It adds layers to the love story. 

I have gathered here my favorite romances with this theme. These books feature a hero whose very good looks are part of the story and have caused people not to really see the hero or perhaps for things to come to easy for him so he has to grow. Or, in some cases, cause women to be obsessed with him.

I would love your recommendations and if you would like to vote for the best of the best, go to the Goodreads list: Beauty Burden-Male.

Here is a fun article on dating really good looking men. 

Romance land is filled with "diamonds of the first water." Women so breathtaking that music starts or stops when they enter a room. They have jewel colored eyes of amethyst, emerald, or sapphire. Their hair is truly a crowning glory.  Edible skin of peaches or cream or mocha.  And the bodies...surely they never trod upon the ground as Shakespeare's fair mistress did. 

Why romance readers love the incomparable beauty as a bit of wish fulfillment is a topic for another blog post.  Plain Janes are actually more popular in some ways.  In this post, I want to talk about a conflict I adore in a romance. I like it very much when all that excessive beauty is a burden to the heroine. I enjoy the psychological exploration of the difficulties associated with being valued mainly for ones physical self. 

We don't like to think that the best looking people alive have issues as well as privileges that arise from being culturally considered ideal but they do. Everything has two sides or more. 

The Vermont Cynic has heated opinion piece on The Privilege of Being Beautiful worth reading. 

Here is an interesting article entitled Fourteen Reasons Beautiful Women Have Trouble Finding Mr. Right.  The main  point of all these reasons is that very attractive women are viewed more as objects or conquests than as a person.

I go nuts in a romance novel with the hero is so in love with heroine and really he just likes the way she looks. I think we often see this irony play out in the Nerd and the Hottie Girl theme. He wants to be valued for his super unique self and well she is a smokin blonde ala Revenge of the Nerds. 

Other real burdens of beauty explored in some very good romance novels beside the trophy issue are being seen as not so bright, self centered, or basically to be not really seen.  There are also the unhealthy obsession of the stalker.

Research has shown that things like sense of humor can be impacted by being too good looking and things do come easier for the very pretty. They have had a lifetime of instant positive response. These issues make for wonderful character development in romance as it gives the heroine a chance to really grow. 

Sadie Townsend is known by all as The Ice Princess and she’s worked hard to earn her reputation. Her father, a now-incarcerated Drug Lord, has kept her under his thumb her whole life and she’s learned enough from living in his world to give everyone the cold shoulder. But one inebriated night, she shows the Real Sadie to the undercover agent she knows is investigating her father, the handsome Hector Chavez, and he knows he’ll stop at nothing to have her.

Hector makes one (huge) mistake; he waits for Sadie to come to him. Tragedy strikes and Sadie’s got a choice, she can retreat behind her Ice Fortress or she can embrace the Rock Chick/Hot Bunch World. Guided by Hector, the Rock Chicks, the Hot Bunch and her new gay roommates, Buddy and Ralphie, Sadie negotiates a life out from under her father’s thumb, a life that includes poison, arson and learning how to make s’mores.

Review

This is one of my favorite Ashley books. Its lush. She just goes and goes. She gives us everything. It is an amazing romance. The story starts out brutal. It is off screen but what really makes is the impact of this horrible crime. Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone is human. Sadie blooms. Hector is off the hook.

KA author's note says it all about what the book is about which is friendship, taking a hand, and love.

Again, I wish Hector hadn't been a man whore before meeting Sadie. I guess we say dudes with this much testosterone... But I am not buying it. He has a mother and sisters. I think I have had this rant before in another KA review so I will stop but seriously, this treating women as object thing is what keeps the book from being five star for me.

This book is healing, loving, funny, and hot.  I highly recommend.