Today’s post is a long one so bear with me! It’s Best Book Boyfriends of 2013 (MUST be from a book released in 2013 and from a book you've READ in 2013)
And make sure to stop by my co-hosts sites Fiktshun and Magical Urban Fantasy Reads for their lists! Oh and make sure to sign up with the linky to share your lists! And don’t forget to enter the giveaway! Details at the bottom of this post.
This is by far one of the hardest categories for me! There’s so many swoon-worthy guys so there are honorable mentions but they deserved to get as much attention as the others! I’m not doing covers for this post I’m sharing quotes and scenes from the books!
“Or something,” he said with a flinching shrug. One foot crunched against the gravel.
“Don’t come any closer!” Scarlet yelled. The chicken clucked and dawdled away.
“I will shoot, you know.”
“I know.” A flicker of kindness passed over him and he pointed at his temple.
“You’ll want to aim for the head. That usually makes for a fatal shot. Or, if you’re feeling shaky, the torso. It’s a larger target.”
“Your head looks pretty big from here.”
He laughed—the expression changing everything about him. His stance relaxed, his face warmed.
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1. Hector de Ventierra from The Bitter
Kingdom by Rae Carson. He will always be in my heart and he will
always be on my top 10 list. Anyone who says this deserves it!
He lifts
his head and considers me thoughtfully. Then he tips up my chin with his thumb
and kisses me again—a sweeter, gentler kiss that feels like sun breaking
through the clouds.
The pit of
my stomach buzzes as I press my forehead into his chest, saying, “I told you
that you would kiss me again.”
He laughs.
“It’s the ‘and more’ part I remember most vividly.” He gently pushes me away,
putting a safe cushion of distance between us. He grabs my hands and lifts them
to his lips. “When we reach Bassajuan, maybe I can get you to myself for a
while.”
The earth
tilts a little.
“In the
meantime,” he adds. “I really should teach you how to care for tack. I find
myself in need of a distraction.”
I grin.
“Good idea.”
2. Jeb from A.G Howard’s Splintered. He is
one of the most romantic dudes on my list at least in my mind. I swoon whenever
I think of him. One of my favorite scenes with him in it check this!
Without warning, Jeb snags one of the rings in my
belt and spins me around. In one smooth motion, he lifts me onto the narrow,
crescent-shaped table. My skin trembles beneath his touch as he scoots me all
the way against the wall, his hips wedged between my thighs. We’re
level—face-to-face--. The fluttery feeling fills my head—and in the shadow of
my darker side, a rush of satisfaction wells up, a perverse thrill that I can
stoke his emotions to this gut-deep reaction.
I brace my hands against his shoulders to maintain
space between us, but it’s only for show. My bluff fades to weak-kneed
enthusiasm the instant he snags my wrists and pulls them down, leaning in do
our noses touch.
“Reality check right back at ya,” he says, his
breath a hot rush in the chilly room. “I know you’re not a kid anymore. You
think I’m blind?” His fingers lace through mine, pinning my arms against the
cold, smooth mirrors so our heartbeats pound against each other. “You’re the
one who’s oblivious. Because there’s nothing brotherly about the way you make
me feel.”
3. Adrian Ivaskov from Richelle Mead’s The Fiery
Heart. Yep I’ve
been in love with this dude since Frostbite
what more can I say?!?!? And he’s so *sighs*
“I made you cry,” I said.
That memory would always be a wound in my heart.
“I cried because I loved you, and I didn’t know how
to fix you.” She reached up and brushed my lips with her fingertips. The world
swayed around me. “And that was my mistake. You fixed yourself. You didn’t need
me.”
“No, Sydney.” My voice was ragged. “I do need you.
You have no idea how much I need you.”
I brought my lips down to hers, and it was like
everything that had ever happened to me had simply been a warm-up for this
moment, that this was where my life truly began. I pulled her to me, and if
she’d ever had any doubts about whether I wanted to taste her blood, I knew
they vanished then and there. It was the taste of her mouth, the taste of her
skin…those were what I craved, the things that drove me wild. Her hands caught
the edge of my shirt, and we broke the kiss briefly so that she could pull it
over my head. She splayed he fingers on my chest, and this time she was the one
who shook. I looked into her eyes, and although they burned with passion and
longing and that primal need that had fueled both our races since the beginning
of time, I could see the nervousness in them too.
4. Jack from Kresley Cole’s Endless Knight. Sex on a
stick that’s what this dude is! He’s a hawt Cajun with an accent that makes me
swoon!
He was right; I was gone for him. Stupid to fight
it. I gazed up at him, whispering, “Just, just don’t hurt me
again. If I kiss you, and then you
get disgusted . . .”
He gave a low laugh, moving his hips against mine.
“Does it feel like I’m disgusted?”
I gasped. “Jackson!”
“You smell like honeysuckle. You likin’ ole Jack
now?”
“I never stopped liking you. Even when you were
warding me away with the power of Catholicism.”
“Can’t help the way I was raised—anything
supernatural is supposed to be either a miracle or satanic.”
I rolled my eyes. “And you’re still trying to
figure out which I am?”
“Non. I’m trying to figure out if I’m still
Catholic.” He grinned that heart-stopping grin.
Gorgeous lips. I wanted them on mine.
Just before he kissed me, he said, “You might be
different from what I thought, but I’m goan to protect you anyway.
I’m goan to try to accept all
this. But you got to accept me.”
“Accept you? What are you talking about?”
“I’m a nineteen-year-old bayou boy. I got a
fondness for liquor. I’m goan to say stupid shit. Doan you go getting
your feelings hurt at the drop
of a hat.”
I laid my palm against his face. “You’re going to
get more than your feelings hurt if you stay with us. And it
will be my fault because I don’t want
to separate from you. You wanted me to let you go.”
“That was before I realized something this week. I
wasn’t goan to live a long life even before the apocalypse.
Before there were Baggers, cannibals,
and plague. Now I figure I’ll spend my limited time left doing what I want.”
“And what do you want?”
His grin deepened. “You’re what I want, and I’d
like to be doing you.” He leaned down, pressing his lips to
mine.
At that contact, the rain began to pour down at
last, pelting the cabin’s tin roof. I hadn’t heard that sound since
the night I’d gone to Jack’s home
in the bayou.
He drew back. “Christ, your lips are sweet. Douces
comme du miel.” Sweet like honey. He yanked off his shirt,
revealing his damp chest, the rosary
around his neck. I’d missed seeing him like this.
My fingers skimmed over the raised scar on his arm.
How I loved that mark. If he hadn’t been getting that
wound tended to the night of the
Flash, he would’ve died like most everyone else.
His hands landed on my ass, giving it a possessive
squeeze. “T ’es pour moi, Evie. You’re mine. Every part of
you.” He leaned down, took my
lips once more. Between kisses, he said, “I told you once and I’ll tell you again: there is nothing that can
happen to you that we can’t get past.
Just give me a chance to get to you. Promise me.”
“Jack . . .”
“Promise me. You doan leave me again.”
“I promise.” Staring at his lips, I said, “Would
you always come for me?”
He drunkenly murmured, “Chase you like a junkyard
dog.”
5. Kaidan Rowe from Wendy Higgin’s Sweet
Peril. Son of
the demon of lust that has a heart of gold and is sexy as hell? Yes please! Ooh
he’s a drummer too!
He pushed forward until I was against the stacked
washer and dryer, and his knee slipped between my legs.
“To you,” he whispered, his breath hot against my
mouth. “I swear it.”
The kiss became fast and frenzied, pulling each
other closer with greedy hands until Kaidan broke away and breathed against my
ear, “Let me see you again.”
6. Nolan from Page Morgan’s The
Beautiful and The Cursed. Possibly the sexiest hunter of demons ever!
And he has a smooth Scottish accent! I heart him!
Nolan hooked his arm around her waist and brought
her closer against him. It felt entirely different from when Thomas had gripped
her. Nolan held her as if a riptide were trying to steal her away from him. A
low, hungry groan rose up his throat—and Gabby gave in. Her fingers fanned out
across his chest and she returned the kiss, her lips turning soft against his.
7. Stephen from Cat Winter’s In the
Shadow of Blackbirds. The only
ghost to make my list. He’s as sexy as he is sweet and I fell for him hard!
I slid my fingers up the frame until I
touched his hand. “Please stay safe. It’s not everyone who has the patience to
photograph a butterfly.”
He gave me a smile that seemed bith grateful and
sad.
I swallowed, and he continued to search my eyes
with his own, as if her were trying to say something he couldn’t articulate
with words. The space between us shrank. Our breathing accelerated until it
became the only sound in the house. My heart pounded like I was about to leap
off a cliff a hundred feet high.
Before I could say anything awkward to break the
spell, he pulled my face toward his and kissed me. I lost my balance at first,
but then I closed my eyes and held his smooth neck and enjoyed the warmth and
hunger of his mouth. His hand moved to the small of my back and brought me
closer. Our stomachs touched. Our chests pinned the photograph between us. He
wrapped his arms around me and held me tight against him, as though he were
kissing me goodbye.
8. Edward from Megan Shepherd’s The Madman’s Daughter. A sexy
beast mmmmmm oooh and all I have to say is WATERFALL SCENE!
In the morning Edward was gone. The coals were cold
in the light filtering through the screen of water. The cave looked different
in daytime, without shadows clinging to the dark corners. It was only a damp
outcropping, bare except for clumping moss near the puddles and more spiders
than I cared to notice.
The knife, which Edward had left by the fire while
we slept, was gone too.
I peered through the gap in the falls. A young
man’s naked form bathed in the shallows of the pool. I jerked back with a gasp,
embarrassed to see Edward undressed. I’d never seen a man naked before. The
memory of his body against mine all night and the brief, unreturned kiss made
me feel suddenly very warm.
I splashed water on my face from a puddle. Went to
check on my dress. Washed the cuts on my arms. No matter how I tried to busy
myself, I couldn’t stop throwing glances at the waterfall.
“Oh, dash it.” I tiptoed back to the gap. My heart
thumped in my ears.
He had his back to me. He waded up to his chest and
ducked underwater, whooping as he came up, holding his hurt rib lightly. I’d
never seen him so carefree. And I’d certainly never seen him so…exposed. He
didn’t have Montgomery’s impressive physique, but there was something
undeniably strong in his wiry arms. Arms that held me last night.
I fanned a little air onto my face.
“It wasn’t me,’ He said, his tone unwavering.
“There are other tattoos like mine. It was someone else.”
“Oh, really? Like you’re part of some cult or
something?” The feathered body of one of the chickens pressed against her leg
and she started, barely managing to keep the gun level.
“Or something,” he said with a flinching shrug. One foot crunched against the gravel.
“Don’t come any closer!” Scarlet yelled. The chicken clucked and dawdled away.
“I will shoot, you know.”
“I know.” A flicker of kindness passed over him and he pointed at his temple.
“You’ll want to aim for the head. That usually makes for a fatal shot. Or, if you’re feeling shaky, the torso. It’s a larger target.”
“Your head looks pretty big from here.”
He laughed—the expression changing everything about him. His stance relaxed, his face warmed.
10. Warner from Tahereh Mafi’s Unravel Me. I love
this dude soooo much it’s not even funny! I know he’s bad but I’ve seen a soft
side to him that makes me melt!
“Do you know,” he says, closing the cover of the
journal only to lay his hand on top of it. Protecting it. Staring at it. “I
couldn’t sleep for days after I read that entry. I kept wanting to know which
people were chasing you down the street, who it was you were running from. I
wanted to find them,” he says, so softly “and I wanted to rip their limbs off,
one by one. I wanted to murder them in ways that would horrify you to hear.”
I’m shaking now, whispering, “Please give that back
to me.”
He touches the tips of his fingers to his lips.
Tilts his head back, just a little. Smiles a strange unhappy smile. Says, “You
must know how sorry I am. That I”---he swallows---“That I kissed you like that.
I confess I had no idea you would shoot me for it.”
Honorable Mentions
Liam from Mary Lindsey’s Ashes on
the Waves. I loved
that this was told in his POV it made me fall for him super hard. He was so
sweet and loving!
She ran her fingers up my stomach and slid them
between the buttons of my shirt, her fingertips skimming my chest, leaving
tingles in their wake. Her simple touch had more effect on my tortured soul
than a thousand words. I sighed and relaxed, the terror of prior moments
receding like the tide, my breathing once again taking the slow rhythm of the
bells sounding in the distance.
And one
more little snippet.
As if under a spell, I could only stare in wonder
at this beautiful creature. The light from the window reflected off her sleek
ebony hair and flitted across her alabaster skin. The only sound was my uneven
breath as I fought to control my desire.
“This is the part where you kiss me,” she said.
Without hesitation I obliged.
“Cate,” he murmurs, and his voice is hoarse with
wanting.
“I know,” I stroke his stubbled jaw with one
finger, then curl my hands around his waist. I rest my head against his shoulder,
inhaling the scent of tea and ink, of Finn.
Happiness chokes me.
I didn’t know if I would ever be able to do this
again.
His hands are tangled in my hair, roaming over my
back, tracing the lines of my hips, as if he’s reassuring himself it’s really me
and I’m really here, in his arms, safe and sound. His lips work their way from
my temple to my cheekbone. I tilt my face up, eager for his kiss.
It does not disappoint.
Titus from Sherry Thomas’s The
Burning Sky. A prince with many secrets but he wears his heart
on his sleeve especially where Iolanthe is concerned. Even if she can’t see it.
He even shows her when she’s in the form of a bird! *Swoons*!
“Remember it will be unpleasant and you will not be
able to move immediately afterward. I will wait in the repository.”
She chirped after a few seconds, perhaps trying to
make sure he had vacated the premises.
“I am still here, shuffling along.” He answered.
She chirped again. She was most likely telling him
to hurry, but he chose to have a little fun with her—there was a severe
scarcity of fun in his life. “You are anxious? Imagine how I feel, darling.”
She chirped twice in a row. He wished he did not
feel so wretched—carrying on an imaginary conversation with her would otherwise
have been a highly rewarding use of his time.
“How can you help? If you will only…” He stopped.
He had been trying, with no apparent success, to
bridge the chasm between them. But that was not all he wanted, was it? No, he
was far more ambitious than even he had realized. He wanted her to…
“Fall in love with me.” He heard, loud and clear,
the words the truth serum compelled from him. “If you loved me, everything
would be so much easier.”
Did any of my favorites make your list and what did you think of those swoon-worthy scenes? Fill out the linky and let me know! And good luck with the giveaway!
