St. Clair VS Cricket

If the blog title confuses you then go to Amazon, type in Stephanie Perkins, read the books and then come back and discuss. No wait! You don't have to do that to get the meaning of this post. Let me break it out first then we will discuss.

If only there was a pic of St. Clair I could show you. ;0) 

Etienne St. Clair (Anna and the French Kiss)
French boy with an English accent. Um, yum. Hotter then Hades. Confident with the ladies. Smooth talker and just all around Alpha male. Although contradictory to other alpha males, he is not RUDE or a BAD BOY. He's hot and he knows it but he's not a dickwad. And he is SOOO swoon worthy!!!


Cricket Bell (Lola and the Boy Next Door)
The title kinda gives Cricket's personality away. He really is the boy next door literally and figuratively. But he's so much more. But the main thing you have to remember about Cricket is that he is 100% head over heels in love with Lola and will do ANYTHING for her. He's not confident. He's not a smooth talker although he spins an amazing story. And his character is unique. If you put him up against all the other book boys out there he doesn't match up with all the normal things.

The strong alpha male or the boy next door? I saw a Tweet by agent Sara LaPolla about not reading Anne of Avonlea when she grew up and how someone said if she had read them she wouldn't go for angsty book boys. I LOVED this series and I tend to shy away from the more dickwaddy (yes, that is a word) characters. When I look at all the fictional characters I fall in love with the ones that tend to not be mysterious. They are not chalked full of problems and angst. They don't have a dark past. They are real boys who fall for the girl.

So if I hadn't read dear old Anne would I like angsty book boys? Or maybe angsty boys in real life too. (Don't tell my hubby because he's a musician and probably would like the bad boy image but he's the boy next door.)

And guess what, I tend to write what I like, nice guys! So I wonder if teen readers will swoon over my guys. or think they're boring because they aren't twisted enough. What if I could start a real life revolution and get girls to go for the boys that always help them out. The nice guys.

Okay, I know this is a bunch of rambly nonsense. LOL. But I've creating a new boy character and I've been thinking about this a lot. Plus, I just finished Lola and the Boy Next Door and had some fun Twitter convos about this subject. Funny thing is, I think this new guy has an internally dark past and he is really NOT the boy next door.

So, who tugs your cord? Toots your horn? Makes you swoon? Have you read Anna and Lola?