My Book Boyfriend: John After

MBB is hosted over at the Unread Reader--- check out her intro post here

This week, I find myself rather unable to forget about John After from Jennifer Echol's Going Too Far-- but not really like in an "oh-my-gosh-I-am-so-in-love-with-this-book-boy" but more like, "man-he-is-such-a-unique-character-that-I-just-cannot-get-him-out-of-my-head kind of way....

Anyways...
John is described as

• having blond hair
• incredibly deep brown eyes
• being "built like Matt Damon" despite the fact that he's only 19 years old

"John made a choice to stay. To enforce the rules. To serve and protect. He has nothing but contempt for what he  sees as childish rebellion, and he wants to teach Meg a lesson she won't soon forget. But Meg pushes him to the limit by questioning everything he learned at the police academy. And when he pushes back, demanding to know why she won't be tied down, they will drive each other to the edge--and over..."  (from the back cover)

"He burst from the bathroom. At least, you would think he had, the way I jumped back from the drawing. 
While he stepped into clean boots, I crossed to the dresser like nothing had happened, uncapped a bottle of cologne, and sniffed. That wasn't it. I picked up another. That wasn't it, either. If his scent of cologne was really laundry detergent or deodorant or even aftershave, I would be disappointed. 
He reached past me for the last bottle and handed it to me. "It's this one."
I unscrewed the top and wet my finger with cologne. I half thought he would kick me out of his apartment, never to return, not even at 6:01 A.M. Thursday, for what I did next. I did it anyway. I reached up to touch his neck. Sliding my hand past his dark collar, I rubbed my finger across his collarbone.
He looked down at me and put his big, warm hand over my hand."

"He laughed into the phone. "No, the lady would not happen to have blue hair. Her hair is indigo. Cyan."
"Violet," I mouthed.
He reached behind my head and ran his fingers down the purple strands in the back. He stroked absently while he finished talking on the phone, as if setting my blood on fire were the most natural thing in the world." 

My Book Boyfriend: Hunter Allen

My Book Boyfriend is hosted by Missie at the Unread Reader. Read all about it here.

This week I find myself swooning (again) for Hunter Allen from Jennifer Echols's Love Story. 
Sigh. YOU GUYS, I cannot say enough how much I absolutely adore the concept of this book:


For Erin Blackwell, majoring in creative writing at the New York City college of her dreams is more than a chance to fulfill her ambitions--it's her ticket away from the tragic memories that shadow her family's racehorse farm in Kentucky. But when she refuses to major in business and take over the farm herself someday, her grandmother gives Erin's college tuition and promised inheritance to their maddeningly handsome stable boy, Hunter Allen. Now Erin has to win an internship and work late nights at a coffee shop to make her own dreams a reality. She should despise Hunter . . . so why does he sneak into her thoughts as the hero of her latest writing assignment?

Then, on the day she's sharing that assignment with her class, Hunter walks in. He's joining her class. And after he reads about himself in her story, her private fantasies about him must be painfully clear. She only hopes to persuade him not to reveal her secret to everyone else. But Hunter devises his own creative revenge, writing sexy stories that drive the whole class wild with curiosity and fill Erin's heart with longing. Now she's not just imagining what might have been. She's writing a whole new ending for her romance with Hunter . . . except this story could come true.

Oh, my goodness, I don't know how she does it but Jennifer Echols just does such a fantastic job at creating these complex and thoroughly addicting-to-read-about relationships!

But enough about the book---let me tell you about Hunter!

He is...

• originally from New York but only has a faint accent when saying words like coffee
• worked as a stableboy at Erin's grandmother's horse farm
• blonde-haired and intensely blue-eyed---"My God--Hunter's body. Are those muscles from being a stable boy?"
• really smart--"like a fox"--likes to test people and be in control
• good at hiding his emotions
• really protective of Erin

argh! You ever feel like no matter what you say, you're not really doing somebody/something justice? That's exactly how I feel describing Hunter! Hopefully, these quotes will convince you just how amazing he is :)

“Hit him."
"Don't make her do that," Hunter told Tommy. "She'll break her hand.”


"I don't want to hear it," Hunter interrupted him. "Mrs. Blackwell wanted to see her and I didn't know how else to get her on the airplane. Around here I could have slung her over my shoulder, but they frown on that in New York."

"We were already in school by then. Your friends had made fun of me. I was twelve. My higher brain functions weren't fully developed. I was so in love with you."

“I love you.”
I stared stupidly at him. Was he joking again, reciting another line from my story? I didn’t remember writing this.
He leaned in and kissed me. I didn’t respond for a few seconds. My mind lagged behind what my body was feeling.
“Say it,” he whispered against my lips. “I know this is hard for you. Tell me.”
“I love you.” Hearing my own words, I gasped at the rush of emotion.
He put his hands on either side of my jaw and took my mouth with his. 

My Book Boyfriend: Adam Vader

For those who don't know about My Book Boyfriend, I highly recommend you go to the introduction post here---props to the Unread Reader for coming up with such a fun meme!

Surprisingly, I had a hard time this week deciding who to post about! (extremely surprising given the amount of romance/chicklit that I read...) Finally, I decided on Adam from my recent Jennifer Echols read, The Boys Next Door--the book itself only earned about a 3.5, maybe a 4 (don't get me wrong, I loved the plot and everything, but I couldn't help but fee like the book itself could have been written better). Adam on the other hand was a total 5! :) 
And now, without further adieu, I give you Adam Vader from The Boys Next Door

Adam...

•  is the youngest Vader brother
• has ADD
• takes just about any crazy dare his brothers give him
• has been in love with Lori forever! (But she's pretty clueless about that...)
• and let's just say that he is ahem in very good shape--"He put both his hands into his hair. This showed me how strong and well-formed the biceps were on this tanned, beautiful boy"

 Adam: "That's my plot. You were right, I had a plot, and that's my whole plot. I'm in love with you. The last nine months with McGillicuddy away at college have been freaking torture for me, because I didn't have an excuse to come to your house." 

 
"One day on the boat when we were kids, did you tell me you wanted me to be your girlfriend when we were old enough?"
He slid his hand down a lock of my hair and twisted it around his fingers. "I don't remember saying that, but I wouldn't be surprised. I wasn't lying that day in the truck. I really have loved you forever. Why else would I wear a skull-amd-crossbones necklace you bought me from a bubblegum machine? It turned my skin green."
"It didn't." To make sure, I moved the pendant aside and peered at his chest, which looked the normal scrumptious tan to me. "It didn't," I repeated with more confidence.
"It did when you first gave it to me. Any metal coating that might have been clinging to it wore off on my chest years ago."

Come to think of it, the pendant was a funny color not found in nature. I'd probably given him lead poisoning
 -Lori and Adam 

Lori: "You know, you could have told me you loved me a long time ago, before things got so crazy."
Adam: "No, I couldn't. I like to take chances. I'd blow a chance on anything but you. You didn't love me."