Lucky Doucet—Lucky’s Lady

Sebastian—Devil in Winter

All time favourite bad boy, Charles in Evelyn Anthony’s The French Bride.

Kell Sabin from Diamond Bay by Linda Howard
Derek Craven from Dreaming Of You by Lisa Kleypas

And from the paranormal romances a character whose story I’m most looking forward to is the very bad, very sexy, Jonas Wyatt from Lora Leigh’s Breed Books.

I have to agree with you about Don Draper when it comes to TV. But when I’m thinking reading and bad boys, Zsadist from Ward’s Lover Awakened easily ranks as number one.

Sebastian from Devil in Winter.

I was trying to pick one of Anne Stuart’s dark heroes like Christian from Devil’s Waltz or James Killoran from to Love a Dark Lord.

James Durham, Viscount Sanbourne from Bound by Your Touch by Meredith Duran. Delicious and funny as hell!

Lord Bramwell Lowry Johns from Always a Scoundrel by Suzanne Enoch.

Oh, another vote for Derek Craven! Also, Bentley Rutledge from Liz Carlyle’s The Devil You Know. And definitely, Hardy Cates from Lisa Kleypas’ Blue Eyed Devil. Wow, need a fan to cool off from just thinking of these bad boys.

Ash Farrell, from The Second Coming Of Lucy Hatch by Marsha Moyer, and Johnny Harris from One Summer by Karen Robards. Gotta love the bad boy.
And Sandy, I agree with you on Eric. Bad boy vampire who is deliciously cute too.

Johnny Harris for me too – in fact I just recommended this book on one of the message boards.
Gabriel St. Croix from Broken Wing – Judith James
Derek Craven from Dreaming of You – Lisa Kleypas
Julien Langlois from Absolute Trouble – Michele Albert (Jerrot)
Brandon Carlyle from Darkling I Listen – Katherine Sutcliffe

Those are just a few. And of course television wise – Sawyer from Lost.

Hm. I think of Don Draper as a Bad Man, not a Bad Boy. Maybe I’m being biased by the title of the show 🙂 but I think there’s a difference. With Bad Boys, I expect some degree of recklessness and indifference to consequences (Vidal is a good example), whereas Draper is so clearly Establishment. He just seems too… well, too mature to be a Bad Boy. By contrast, Ward’s vampires, however old they are, act like teenagers and therefore always strike me as Bad Boys.

Kristie…LOL…We must be on the same wave length this morning. You and I must have posted about Johnny and One Summer at the exact same time. You know what they say about great minds…… 🙂

Nana, Don’s willingness to bail on his family and leave everything behind at the end of season one was definitely boy-ish by your definition. And, yes, he is a man. As is Eric. (As we just saw in True Blood, don’t ever call him baby!)

And love the list. Keep ’em coming. I so agree on Derek Craven and Lucky Doucet, two of my absolute favs.

Dain from Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels
and Kleypas’s Craven (Dreaming of You) and St. Vincent (Devil in Winter)
Vidal (Heyer, Devil’s Cub)
Zsadist (Ward, Lover Awakened)
Sean O’Banyon (Jessica Bird’s Billionaire Next Door)
Spike (Bird’s Man in a Million)
Wrath (Dark Lover), Rhage (Lover Eternal; what can I say, Ward’s writing works for me…)
Philip (the Falcon) from Chase’s The Sandalwood Princess

(I know I’m not thinking of some obvious ones….)

(Maybe another time do a poll of favorite bad boys in movies?)

Spike, of course.
And what about Rhett Butler, AND Han Solo?

Literary bad boys…John Smythe for me (from the Vicky Bliss books) and also Roarke.

Don Draper, definitely. Yum.

(If you haven’t seen “”Don Draper’s Guide to Picking Up Women”” that aired when Hamm hosted SNL, google it immediately! Hilarious. The key to picking up women is basically to look like Don Draper, apparently.)

As far as romance novels go . . . maybe Sebastian from TO HAVE AND TO HOLD by Patricia Gaffney. A bad, bad man.

But Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent is a “”bad boy”” who isn’t really as bad as he thinks he is, and is a lot more fun.

Oh…If I keep thinking on this subject, I will get nothing done today. So…one more try..
Dain from Lord Of Scoundrels
And while I am not a fan of the Lymond Chronicles…not yet anyway, I would have to suggest, Francis Crawford Lymond qualifies as a Bad Boy.
Christian from Lady Gallant and Cash from Slow Heat In Heaven, although he skitters along the fine line of Bad Boy to sort of a jerk.

Another vote for Dain in Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels! Also in the Historicals, Billy Blade in Gaelen Foley’s ‘Lady of Desire’ and Sid Malone in Jennifer Donnelly’s ‘The Winter Rose’ (both gangsters, so tortured…lol).

But above all I must agree with you about Vidal- I love his relationship with Mary in Devil’s Cub!

I agree with Nana’s point about Don being a more a Bad Man than a Bad Boy (though as Sandy says, he definitely has impulsive, boyish moments). Which may be why, while I loved Vidal as a teenager, he annoys me more as a I get older. I still like the book, and I even like him, and I believe in the happy ending. But I’m more inclined, on rereads, to say “”oh, for heaven’s sake, grow up.”” Don, by contrast, is a grown up, flaws and all. And though some of his behavior is arguably worse than Vidal’s, he’s more likely to intrigue me than to annoy me.

I think my favorite literary Bad Boy is Damerel in Heyer’s “”Venetia.”” Like Don, he’s really more a Bad Man. Like Don, Damerel has a great deal of self-awareness about his own flaws.

Off the top of my head: Roarke (of course), and Luc from Rachel Gibson’s See Jane Score. I’m sure there are some I’m forgetting.

As for TV, I’m with KristieJ in voting for Sawyer. Mmm, mmm, mmm.

Magnolia88: As far as romance novels go . . . maybe Sebastian from TO HAVE AND TO HOLD by Patricia Gaffney. A bad, bad man. But Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent is a “bad boy” who isn’t really as bad as he thinks he is, and is a lot more fun.

Actually, one of the reasons I liked Gaffney’s “”To Have and To Hold”” so much is that Sebastian is truly a bad man at the start of the story and we get to watch his transformation. I definitely count him as one of my favorites.

Another is Nardi from Judy Cuevas/Ivory’s “”Bliss””. Anyone who is introduced while vomiting into a piano due to an overdose of alcohol and ether is definitely a Bad Boy. He certainly retains aspects of that in his character, but he charmed me totally by the end.

Lord Edmond Waite from Mary Balogh’s “”The Notorious Rake”” began as a selfish cad but is quickly flummoxed by his love for a woman who makes him see beyond himself for the first time in years.

Johnny Cain from Penelope Williamson’s “”The Outsider””. Abandoned and abused as a child, he grew into exactly what you’d expect someone with that life story to grow into: a cold-blooded gun for hire with no ties to anyone or anything. This is such a beautiful book, because it creates fully realized characters who are such opposites yet so perfect for each other, and Williamson makes you believe in them and their HEA.

I don’t actually see Derek Craven as a Bad Boy but simply as a working class guy in a genre filled with aristocrats. He ran a gaming hell, but that alone doesn’t make someone bad unless the management engaged in cheating, pandering, drug pushing, and other nefarious deeds, and I don’t remember that. Perhaps I’m forgetting the details, however, as I read the book a long time ago.

Man, boy, whatever, send Don Draper over to be a bad influence on me anytime! And yes, great call KristieJ, Sawyer is the epitome of bad boy!
The mention of Michelle Albert got me to thinking of another favorite bad boy:

Bobby Halloran-Off Limits by Michelle Albert
St. Vincent-Kleypas (God I loved watching him fall!)

A recent addition to my bad boy list: Jerricho Barrons- the Fever Series by Karen Marie Moning. I can’t quite tell what his deal is…

Dain – Lord of Scoundrels – Loretta Chase
Tucker Longstreet – Carnal Innocence – Nora Roberts
Rafe MacKade – Nora Roberts
Roarke – JD Robb
Nathaniel Finn – The Ring on Her Finger – Elizabeth Bevarly
Nick Gentry – Worth Any Price – Lisa Kleypas

In the movies/on tv: Richard Armitage as Sir Guy in Robin Hood, Sean Bean as Sharpe

p.s.

I just saw a wonderful production of “”The Music Man”” at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland with my friend Penny Williamson (who wrote “”The Outsider”” and would be thrilled by Susan’s words). Penny and I agreed it was a very romantic production. Harold Hill’s transition from Bad Boy to man who stands up and faces the consequences was beautifully done. The changing emotions flitting across the face of the actor (Michael Ellich) in the last part of the play as he realizes the heroine really does love him, knowing full well the sort of man he is, were wonderful.

I just finished reading Eloisa James’s A Duke of Her Own. I think
Leopold Dautry, the Duke of Villiers, fits the definition of bad boy.

Vere Mallory from Loretta Chase’s The Last Hellion.

And less well-known, but a great bad-boy, Tamnais Nathrach, the sexy former dark mage goblin in Lisa Shearin’s Raine Benares books.

Oh – yes, yes, yes!!! “”Johnny Cain from Penelope Williamson’s “The Outsider”. *head desk* How could I have missed him. I love that book – – And to see him portrayed by Tim Daley in the movie – oh my heart be still!

McCady Trelawny from Penelope Williamson’s Once in a Blue Moon.
I agree with Vere Mallory from The Last Hellion and Dain from Lord of Scoundrels.
Gray Rouillard in Linda Howard’s After the Night
Niall in Howard’s Son of the Morning
Lestat in Anne Rice’s Vampire books

Umm…stepping outside typical romance boundaries for a minute. Wolverine from the X-Men movies. Sorry, but as an Aussie, I have to do the Down-Under salute to Hugh Jackman. That’s one bad boy hero that could drive a dozen romance novels!

Tracy Cooper-Posey: Umm…stepping outside typical romance boundaries for a minute.Wolverine from the X-Men movies.Sorry, but as an Aussie, I have to do the Down-Under salute to Hugh Jackman.That’s one bad boy hero that could drive a dozen romance novels!

Oh yeah, definitely. He’s the main (perhaps only) reason I watch the X-Men movies.

The mention of Michele Albert’s Bobby Halloran made me smile. I love him! I’ll add SEP’s Bobby Tom Denton and Rachel Gibson’s Nick Allegrezza, McKenna’s Seth Mackey, Stuart’s Bastien.

As for historicals, I second Carlyle’s Bentley Rutledge, Chase’s Dain, Kleypas’ Craven, Duran’s Sanburne and would add Gaelen Foley’s Lucien Knight, Carolyn Jewel’s Gwilym (Banalt) and Alden (Gracechurch) from Julia Ross’ THE SEDUCTION.

Katie Mack:
Oh yeah, definitely. He’s the main (perhaps only) reason I watch the X-Men movies.

Wouldn’t it be great to write or read Wolverine’s ultimate romance? Just think…who would be the woman for him? She’d really have to be something.

Thanks, everyone–I’m jotting down all the ones I don’t know already! 🙂

Oh, I forgot one – Stuart Aysgarth, Viscount Mount Villiars from Judith Ivory’s UNTIE MY HEART.

Not Derek Craven, he seems to me more of an alpha type.

Gabriel, from Robin Schone’s “”Gabriel’s Woman”” and the hero of “”The Lady’s Tutor”” – bad and lost.

Jervaulx from Laura Kinsale’s “”Flowers From the Storm.”” and oh, Allegreto from “”Shadowheart””!

John in Dickens’ “”Our Mutual Friend.””

Captain Blood

Dr. Syn.

And as a writer, the bad boy can be the trickiest and the most rewarding to write.

Sigh. I love me some Don Draper too. Did you happen to see the new pics from Vanity Fair Sandy? http://www.vanityfair.com/culture/features/2009/09/mad-men200909 That man does not take a bad pic.

I have to agree with the ladies who suggested Dain and Craven. And I adore Allegreto from Shadowheart too Lynne!

This is fun. I want to vote for Christian in the Devil’s Waltz and the hero in Mary Jo Putney’s The Rake. I just can’t remember his name.

Reginald Davenport aka Reggie is the hero from THE RAKE by MJP.

He’s another wonderful Bad Boy. I thought he was a great hero, with a good guy hiding underneath all that drinking and carousing.

I’m with Susan/DC that I don’t see Derek Craven as a “”bad boy”” at all. He did a lot of horrible things in his younger days but he had to do them to survive on the streets, not because he chose to be “”bad”” out of some desire to “”raise hell”” or just boredom or anything. He was certainly hardened and cynical from his experiences but I thought he felt truly ashamed and bad about himself because of the things he’d done in his past, and that’s why he felt unworthy of love blahblah.

Nodding my head in agreement with all of these memorable Bad Boys. From Linda Howard, Diaz of Cry No More, Simon of Death Angel, and John Medina of All the Queen’s Men. Oh and Kel Sabin of Diamond Bay. Anne Stuart’s Ice heroes especially Sebastian, Takashi and Reno.

TV/Movies – Wolverine – Hugh Jackman anytime;

Julian Kane – The Vampire Who Loved Me;

Wulfric Bedwyn – Slightly Dangerous

Sebastian Ballister-Lord of Scoundrels (Loretta Chase)
Christian- Flowers from the storm (Laura Kinsale)

while I love Wulfric, I think he’s the opposite of a Bad Boy. He’s so bound up with his responsibilities, takes them so seriously, that he’s in danger of missing personal happiness.
Another type, and one of my favorites, the man who puts others above himself, so ingrained that love nearly passes him by.

Thx, Magnolia, for Reginald Davenport’s name. Seeing all of these names makes me feel like I need to go dig all of these books out and revisit the moment. I also agree about the Linda Howard heroes like John Medina, Simon and Diaz. They, too, fit the bill. However, in their cases some of the bad boy attributes are a function of their job.

My list and Susan/Dc’s are identical, with one exception. The ultimate bad boy in my book is Sean Culhane from Stormfire. He is really a monster in the beginning – he kidnaps and rapes the heroine in the first few chapters as payback for her father. She is a virgin, and he wipes up the aftermath with her petticoat and sends it to her father. The rape is not sugar-coated either. There is no rape/seduction debate possible here. He is definitely using rape to degrade the heroine, (much like is being done in Darfur today, I think) and we really feel it. The heroine hates him and tries to run from him for the first half of this very long book. But somehow. . . and I don’t like it, but Sean’s character is so well-written that his eventual redemption from bad boy to besotted husband is believable. And strange as it sounds, when he’s not being a bastard, he is so charming and teasing and funny with the heroine. But it takes a long time and it’s a big fat book and alas, they don’t seem to make those anymore.

Lynne Connolly – Hello,

Wulfric is a bad boy in the very sense you stated.

There are many types of bad boys, men with wealth and power who enjoy that power, men who are rogues with women by reputation or gossip, men who take their responsiblities so seriously that to satisfy their physical needs have a mistress and in the meantime look down their noses at everyone else. Men who refused to show any emotions, never say they are sorry. Vidal from Devil’s cub was a brat, spoiled and loved by his parents, brought to heel by love. Men that appear to have bad attitudes and are liked by their male friends.

You mentioned Captain Blood, a man who did what was necessary to survive injustice and yet a good guy who loved one woman and one of my favorite heroes.

Can anyone think of a bad boy who hasn’t had any redeeming qualities?

On second thought, I’m adding a few others to my list besides Zsadist (he seems to be bad in another sort of way).
Bad boys are one of my favorite types of heroes and my top is probably Simon of Death Angel followed by Christian of The Devil’s Waltz and Dain of Lord of Scoundrels.

Sebastian from Devil in Winter
Zsadist from Lover Awakened

from books:
Sebastian from Devil in Winter by Lisa Kleypas
both Vere Mallory and Dain from The Last Hellion and Lord of Scoundrels by Loretta Chase
Michael Stirling from When He Was Wicked by Julia Quinn
Zsadist from Lover Awakened by JR Ward

from TV:
definitely Eric from True Blood
I’d also say that McSteamy from Grey’s Anatomy totally qualifies as a reformed bad boy.
I’m also going to add Seeley Booth from Bones in there, not because he really IS bad, but more because his entire life is dedicated to atoning for his past life as an Army Ranger and sniper.

from movies:
Han Solo DEFINITELY
Rhett Butler
Wolverine

It’s interesting how we define terms differently. I think they way I define “”Bad Boy”” there’s a certain amount of self-centeredly doing what they want/what will benefit them. So I’d call Vidal a Bad Boy (spoiled and indulged) and also Han Solo, who isn’t so spoiled and indulged but has learned to put himself first to survive. I’d put Harold Hill from “”The Music Man”” in that category and also Rick in “”Casablanca.”” But I don’t think I’d call Peter Blood or Lymond or Wulfric Bad Boys because because all have a sense of goals/responsibilities beyond themselves.

Tracy Cooper-Posey:
Wouldn’t it be great to write or read Wolverine’s ultimate romance?Just think…who would be the woman for him?She’d really have to be something.

Definitely. She’d have to be extraordinary. No average heroine for him.

Okay, I don’t read historicals. But for me, gotta just swoon for Nick Sinclair in Judith McNaught’s Double Standards. That book is soooo early 80’s, but I still LOVE it!

Well, if we can stray from books, I vote for Spike, the vampire from Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

In order of preference and redemption:

Francis Crawford of Lymond (Lymond Chronicles)
Vidal (Devil’s Cub)
Sebastian St Vincent (Devil in Winter)

Sigh.

Roughly in order of preference:

Leopold Dautry, Duke of Villiers, in Eloisa James’s “”Desperate Duchesses”” series — a wonderfully “”non-pretty”” hero who still dresses to the nines, snarky as all get out, and completely sexy. He is without question the best thing in the series. Makes me wish I’d been an 18th century duchess myself.

Edward de Raaaf in Elizabeth Hoyt’s “”The Raven Prince,”” — big, bluff fellow with a scarred face and a horrible temper, but he’s a marshmallow underneath.

Sebastian, Marquess of Dain, in Loretta Chase’s “”Lord of Scoundrels.”” Possibly the ultimate bad boy with a tortured soul.

Valentine Wharton in Elisabeth Fairchild’s “”Captain Cupid Calls the Shots”” (where he’s more antagonist than hero) and “”Valentine’s Change of Heart.”” A man coping with his own post-war trauma and drinking problem while also learning to be a father. For best impact, read these books together.

Alasdair MacLachlan in Liz Carlyle’s “”One Little Sin”” — a classic rakehell — blonde, witty, and adorably immoral — but with a virtue or two hiding in there somewhere.

Reggie Davenport in Mary Jo Putney’s “”The Rake”” — ex-wastrel trying to turn his life around, sure to steal the reader’s heart.

What I’m finding interesting in the comments – is that authors are disagreeing with readers opinions of who constitutes a bad boy. When a bad boy is based on personal opinion – or a person who flouts convention.

Yes – just what constitutes a bad boy? I vote for my very favorite – Sebastian, Lord St. Vincent from Devil in Winter. However, I noted others offering Derek Craven from Dreaming of You as a bad boy – I would also vote for him. However others noted that he wasn’t really a bad boy – just a very alpha male. Some of the others I had in mind might also be considered more alpha males than true bad boys – Nick Gentry from Worth Any Price, Zachary Bronson from Where Dreams Begin and Bramwell Lowry Johns from Always A Scoundrel – are my other favorites.

Nick Allegrezza from Truly Madly Yours by Rachel Gibson.

so many
spike
lori foster books

What about…

Roland from The Dedicated Villain by Patricia Veryan?
Alan from Sunsine and Shadows?
Definitely Vidal!

Another vote for Vidal, though I have to note that his father is much, much wickeder, though I personally don’t find him as attractive. In fact, I’m terrified of Avon. I love Damerel, too.

Ooh ooh ooh! Damerel! Forgot him! Another vote for that bad, bad boy.

Oooh, I adore the Duke of Avon. And I agree with all the folks who have suggested St. Vincent from “”Devil in Winter”” as well.

I think any and all Linda Howard heroes would qualify for bad boy status. There’s Diaz from “”Cry No More,”” the Death Angel hero, Kell Sabin from “”Diamond Bay”” and I would add Cord Blackstone from “”Tears of the Renegade. Oh and the hero from “”After the Night.”” Is he a bad boy or what?

I have always liked Archer Donovan from Elizabeth Lowell’s “”Pearl Cove”” with his take no prisoners approach to life so he’s a bad boy for me.

Loretta Chase’s hero James from “”Your Scandalous Ways”” was bad and delicious.

Sebastian St. Vincent
Roarke
Derek Craven
Hardy Cates, from Blue Eyed Devil

Well, Nick Gautier from Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Darkhunter series was not really a bad boy in the early books but I think he could be considered one now.

As for TV bad boys, I have to nominate Sawyer from Lost and Tim Riggans from Friday Night Lights. Tortured hero types are always nice…

i’ve seen a lot and have liked a lot of bad boys in romances, but I don’t think they would have done anything really dastardly…except maybe St.Vincent from It Happened One Autumn (he was sort of tame during his own book, Devil in Winter) and Vidal from Devil’s Cub (he did attempt to drug the heroine at one point and intended to rape her until she shot him). Other not-really-that-bad-boy faves are Nick Gentry (from Worth any price), Villiers (from the Desperate Duchesses series), and Jack Seward (from Connie Brockway’s All Through the Night…though he was more of a good guy with a dangerous air about him)

Sebastian St. Vincent from Devil in Winter
Lucien Knight from Lord of Ice
Damian Knight from Lord of Ice
Chandos from A Heart so Wild

I really love Chandos. He’s one of my favorite really bad boy heroes.

Cade August-Marley’s Choice

Tv bad boy Eric- True Blood

Another vote for Vidal but I’m surprised no one mentioned Rhett Butler from Gone with the Wind- he’s a privateer aka pirate, and he took a girl on an unchaperoned buggy ride and then refused to marry her- tame by today’s standards but in 1939 definitely hot.

from everything else i’ve read so far, sebastian st vincent from ‘devil in winter’ is definitely the ultimate badboy. he’s smooth, slick, hedonistic and unapologetic about his bad behaviour. thats a true badboy. its usually rare to find a true badboy in romance novels (historical or otherwise), usually they’re just alpha males. so dont get confused.

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Dallas Winston from The Outsiders. The fact that Matt Dillon portrayed him in the 1983 movie helps a bit *drools*

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