The bad boy hero is a popular and polarising trope in the romance genre. I’ve learned that Christian romance readers tend to either love or hate the bad boy heroes. Why is the bad boy hero appealing to many romance readers?
I confess to having a soft spot for the bad boys in Christian romantic fiction. They’re far from perfect and have made their fair share of mistakes. A bit rough around the edges, they’re not afraid to take on the challenges of life and they exhibit many heroic traits. Being an Aussie, it’s a national sport to back the underdog. In a romance the underdog is often the bad boy hero, fighting seemingly insurmountable obstacles to achieve his goals and win the girl.
In a Christian romance, it is God’s redeeming love that saves the bad boy hero and enables him to form a lasting and loving relationship with the heroine. Of course, the heroine will usually play a role in helping the hero in his spiritual journey, but it’s his faith that gives him the strength to become a better person.
The Christian romance genre, and Christian fiction in general, has been criticised over the years for having characters who are too perfect. I’ve dug into our blog archives at our previous Blogger site and found a 2013 blog post from Iola Goulton titled On Christian Romance. In the blog post, Iola wrote an excellent response to an article that had claimed Christian romances feature Mr Perfect. You can read Iola’s thoughts here.
We don’t need to read very far into the Bible to discover that many of our Biblical heroes were far from perfect. King David is a good example, and one of my favourite heroes from the Bible. David was a mighty warrior and a man after God’s own heart. He was also human, like the rest of us, and made his share of mistakes including an adulterous affair with Bathsheba that had deadly consequences.
I’m gradually rereleasing my out of print backlist that was originally published by Harlequin’s Love Inspired Heartsong Presents line. My new rerelease in June, Winning Julia’s Heart, was originally titled Winning Over the Heiress.
Winning Julia’s Heart features a former bad boy hero. Sean has made plenty of mistakes in his life, and you can see his bad boy past in full flight in Her Tycoon Hero, the first book in my Sydney Sweethearts series. Julia, my heroine, is the good Christian girl who has mostly done everything right. Sparks fly when she ends up becoming Sean’s boss in the church office. Sean’s very aware of his need for God’s grace, and he challenges Julia’s thoughts and ideas on many levels.
Here’s the Book Description for Winning Julia’s Heart:
Can a former bad boy be redeemed?
Sean Mitchell has left his past behind, but his new boss, Julia Radcliffe, isn’t so sure. A year ago, Sean walked out on his brother’s wedding and her. Now the bad boy with the surfer good looks is back and determined to make a new life with Julia. She wonders whether she can truly trust that he’s a changed man.
It took time and faith, but Sean is finally on the right path. And his feelings for Julia have only grown stronger. But when Sean’s past threatens to jeopardize their future, can he convince Julia they both want the same thing; a love that can overcome every mistake?
Gift Card Giveaway
I’m giving away a $15 Aussie gift card (Amazon Australia or Koorong) or a $10 US Amazon gift card (Amazon USA) to a reader who comments on this post and/or the Monday New Releases post on June 13 (maximum of 2 entries in the drawing by commenting on both posts). The drawing will close on Friday, June 17, 2023 (Thursday, in US time zones) and the winner will be announced in a comment on this post and the July Recent Releases post.
I’ve written a number of ‘bad boy redeemed’ books, and was a tad surprised to get all the positive feedback on Big Apple Atonement, for a character I thought would be hardest to like. But I think so many of these things are about whether readers can find enough to sympathise with a character, and also their own life experience. I think the older we get the more we start to understand how life can bruise people in different ways, which can affect how they behave. Thank God that He is in the business of redeeming and restoring broken people.
Hi Carolyn, I agree, and I think redemption stories, in general, are important in Christian romance, and Christian fiction in general, because that’s the heart of the gospel message.
In a Christian romance series, not leading out book 1 with the bad boy redemption hero is a good plan. Readers will have time via the earlier books in the series to get to know the character and see the consequences of their life choices in the earlier books. The reader is already invested in the redemption story arc before reading page 1, and they want to see how the character’s faith journey plays out in the story.
Valerie Comer also did this – delayed the redemption story in her Urban Farm Fresh series – until a later book in her 12 book series. Of course, I couldn’t find the StoryChats @ Inspy Romance episode where we’ve discussed this because we haven’t recorded a specific episode on redeeming bad boy/girl main characters in CCR. It’s now on my list of podcast/YouTube topic suggestions. 😊
Mary Connealy did it really well with one of her series. the first book I would have gladly seen one character severely dealt with but by the end you got to understand a little book two hes changing and by book 3 you want him to succeed. It wasn’t a quick fix as what he had done would take a lot to redeem and forgive but she did it so well as the character still thought he was unworthy.
It really depends on the story. If for example it was like in real life a bully who tormented and made life unbearable it would take a lot to see him redeemed. In this situation I wouldn’t want to see him the romantic lead to the victim of his abuse. Even if he was reformed it would take a lot for me to see it as believable. (Unless he has personally owned up to his behavour and apologised and owned it I would struggle to believe and I know the victim would still always be wary).
But On the other hand I have seen some people who were into drugs, drinking, partying and all that goes with it change when they have become a Christian. It didn’t happen overnight but it does happen.
It really depends what the issue was and how they changed if it’s a quick change then I struggle with the book
Hi Jenny, I agree, it really does depend on the story set up and the plausibility of the character’s motivations to change and become a better person as a consequence of their faith.
This is also the difference between fiction and real life. Fiction is a safe place for Christian readers to see how a romantic relationship with characters of faith who have made unwise decisions in the past can play out. In real life, it’s wise to be wary about embarking on all relationships, and to take seriously the implications of a person’s history and background.
Francine Rivers’ Redeeming Love historical romance book is an example of a redemption story that has polarised readers. I loved the book, but I’m aware many readers have strong negative feelings regarding the story content. The best stories will often draw out strong positive and negative reactions from readers. 😊
I find books with bad boys fraught with risk. It’s either good, or I hate it. Which makes me nervous to buy a book with a bad boy. However, if an author has done it well in the past, I’m quicker to trust them again. On that note, I am looking forward to June 24th! 😀
Hi Dienece, I will admit I’m more reluctant to read a bad boy romance from a new-to-me author than from a favourite author for the reasons you mentioned. I wouldn’t hesitate to read a Christian romance from Carolyn Miller with a bad boy hero because I trust Carolyn to deliver a strong, relevant, and faith-filled redemption theme in her stories. I hope you’ll enjoy reading Julia and Sean’s story. Iola is finishing the copy editing today, and I’ll be uploading the ebook manuscript at Amazon early next week, plus working on releasing the paperback at Amazon later this month. 😊
So close now! I pre-ordered the ebook whenever it was that I watched your YouTube interview. Hope it goes well for you!
Thank you! xo
I am far from believing that any Christian is perfect and I am pretty sure most of us have skeletons in our closet, so when a book tackles these head on it can be uncomfortable and is maybe why some ‘bad boy’ heroes are hard to deal with.
Tammy L Gray’s book ‘ Love and the little white lie’ certainly made me take a fresh look at bad girl and bad boy heroes.
Hi Jeannette, Yes, I agree that many of the redemption stories can be uncomfortable reads. Love and the Little White Lie is on my TBR list and I should bump it higher up the list (which is always too long, lol). Thanks for stopping by. 😊
It all depends on how bad he is as to whether I think he can be redeemed
Not really a fan of this kind of story
Hi Joy, Yes, the story set up and the character motivations will determine the plausibility of the redemption storyline. I love the redemption stories when they’re done well and logically make sense, but I’m not always a fan and I will DNF (did not finish) books early on if I don’t like the story set up. Thanks for stopping by. 😊
Hi Joy,
Congratulations! You’re the winner of the gift card. Please email me direct or contact me via the Contact Page here to claim your gift card. 😊