JOEL “JJ” HUNTER: WARRIOR

You Only Love Twice by Lori Wilde (Warner Books, 2006)

Comic illustrator Marlie Montague is short, curvy, and shy, but she’s happy living vicariously through her alter-ego, comic-book heroine Angelina Avenger.  But when a UPS man threatens her with a gun, she runs straight to her hunky new neighbor, Navy secret agent Joel Hunter.  Unbeknownst to Marlie, Joel has not only been assigned to watch Marlie, but he’s also the 10-year-old-boy, all grown up, who Marlie used to have a crush on. 

“He was one hundred percent mesomorph.  Lots of lean muscle tissue, hard, sculpted.  She was little Miss Endomorph.  Round and soft and small-boned.  But mentally they were more alike than they’d first assumed.” 

STATS:

Son of the man who killed Marlie’s father, a proclaimed traitor. 

Married and divorced a woman (another secret agent) who was as touch and driven as Joel.  But once he meets Marlie, he’s a “convert to love.  One of the faithful now.  A skeptic no more.”

THE LOOK:

Five o’clock shadow.  Angular jaw.  “[H]is hooded eyes were an intriguing shade of blue-gray-green, like the Gulf of Mexico in turbulent weather.  And like a storm-swept sea, he looked both demanding and resilient.” 

LEADING LADY: 

Marlie is an intriguing combination of shyness and insecurity, but she’s also got a kick-butt, brave, adventurous side, and isn’t afraid to make Joel question his values and beliefs.  She’s able to make Joel realize that his need to be strong is an illusion and gives him a sense of purpose. 

Blending Tender with Torrid

Like Marlie herself, so many of Lori Wilde’s scenes show that Joel is a man with many layers.  He’s the man scarred from his father’s failure to fight for him, leaving him in the custody of his mother and some abusive stepfathers.  He’s a man who doesn’t back down from conflict and who’s turned on by verbal sparring and adventure.  He’s hot and sexual, but tender and insecure as well when something matters to him, like when he nudges Marlie away from her black and white clothes and into a feminine dress of green and pink. 

“She didn’t know what to say.  No man had ever bought her a dress before.

‘Do you like it?’ He sounded anxious, eager for her approval.  His nervousness was as touching as the gift.  “If you don’t like it, I’ll take it back, get you another.”

‘Joel.’ She breathed.

Dazzled, she raised her head.  She couldn’t have been more moved if he’d given her diamonds or rubies.

‘You needed something clean to wear.  Is it too fancy?  It’s too fancy.”  He answered his own question.  ‘I knew I should have gotten you jeans and a T-shirt.”

“No, no.”  She blinked against the mist of happy tears pushing against her eyelids.  ‘It’s perfect.’

He was at his most alluring: dark eyes filled with anticipation, his mouth quirked up at one corner, warm, inviting, sexy.

And she was at her most suggestible.  In a flash of sudden knowledge that almost knocked the breath out of her body. She recognized she was in love with him.

Deeply and irrevocably in love.” 

BOTTOM LINE:

I generally go for the tortured hero who strikes out and has to lose control before he reveals his vulnerability to the heroine.  Although he’s bold and brash, bossy when he needs to be, tough as nails, and has issues he has to overcome, Joel is more at ease with himself and is unable to lash out at Marlie even to protect himself.  He calls Marlie “Ladybug,” confesses that Marlie is “undoing” him, and stays in control enough to protect her.  He’s been burned by love once, but isn’t afraid to welcome it again.

Lori Wilde has a wonderful way with combining humor, suspense, burning hot sex scenes and deep emotion.  I especially like that her books are so layered, both in theme and symbolism.  I’m fortunate to have taken an online critique class with Lori, and she also teaches a class called Romance Writing Secrets.  She’s an amazing teacher and you can find out more info at www.loriwilde.com.

  QUESTION OF THE DAY:

 What do you think of tortured heroes who sometimes treat the heroine cruelly in order to protect themselves?  Does it create a good set up for redemption, or does it turn you off?