I’m not very well read when it comes to romances (shocking, I know), but recently I’ve seen a romantic comedy and read an historical romance, both of which had two heroes…sort of.   Hero #1 is the hero the heroine is in love with, but he’s the wrong man for her.  Hero #2 is the heroine’s perfect match.  The story revolves around the woman’s misguided internal commitment to the wrong man. 

I’m really curious to know what other people think of this as a plot device.

In 27 Dresses, the two ‘heroes’ are George and Kevin.  The heroine, Jane, is madly, hopelessly in love with George, hero #1.  George is oblivious to Jane’s devotion.  He’s clearly not the one Jane should end up with, but he’s the one she’s obsessed with and, here’s the kicker, he’s completely likable.  He’s Earth conscious, a “big brother”, a stellar boss whom everybody loves, and he’s generally pleasant.  Putting aside the fact that he’s painfully slow to realize the truth about the woman he plans to marry (actually, he only realizes it once a very colorful picture is painted for him), he’s a good guy. 

Enter Kevin “Malcolm” Doyle, hero #2.  He’s everything that George is not.  Kevin’s cynical, frustrated with his life, down on love, misleading about his true identity, and connects with Jane only because she’s a bizarre curiosity to him (seriously, a bridesmaid 27 times?).  But he brings out the best in her, even when she doesn’t see it.  And just like hero #1, Kevin is a good guy. 

The plot in this particular movie is a little too contrived to me, and it wraps up a little too neatly.  When Tess, Jane’s sister, does an about-face, it doesn’t ring true.  And then Jane blurts out that she’s loved George for so long.  He kisses her-to no fanfare-and she suddenly realizes that Kevin is her true love.  To me, this gives Kevin the major short end of the stick.  He’s unable to prove to Jane that he loves her and is worthy of her, just because of who they both are, because she’s too hung up on George.  Don’t get me wrong; 27 Dresses is funny  and definitely enjoyable, but I would have preferred it if Jane had come to love Kevin on her own, without it having to be proved to her by his flat kiss and him admitting she’s his ‘yes’ girl.

The book I read recently that had a similar device is Lisa Kleypas’s Sugar Daddy.  Now I loved this book.  A lot.  A lot, a lot.  Through the first half (maybe up to two thirds), Hardy, #1,  is the hero.  Hardy is the man Liberty is madly in love with.  He is the soul mate that she thinks she might never get over.  He is the man she compares every other man to.  And he is a good guy.  But he has to overcome his circumstances and we, the readers, understand why he must leave Liberty and the small town he grew up in.  His fate, if he stays, is made clear and we get it. 

But I kept thinking that Hardy was going to turn up again and be the hero Liberty had always imagined him to be.  I was invested in him.

Enter Gage, hero #2.  The set up neatly pits Liberty and Gage against each other, but again, Gage is a good guy with no major flaws and we root for the love that he and Liberty eventually build.  But Hardy is still there in the background.  He’s not so much a thorn in Gage’s and Liberty’s  rose garden as he is a red rose amidst a bouquet of Texas yellow roses.

In my opinion, Lisa Kleypas uses the love triangle device more effectively than the movie 27 Dresses.  She does a fantastic job of developing Liberty.  Getting over Hardy is truly Liberty’s issue and is something she must overcome.  Her conflict is real because she and Hardy had something before he left, and she and Gage have something real, as well.  Maybe that’s why, in 27 Dresses, Jane’s love for George doesn’t work as well for me-because it’s one-sided and that makes it love only in the heroine’s mind.  

Question of the Day:

Enchanted, the half animated, half live action movie, is another movie that has two heroes.  I know there are more.  Can you name any?  Is the two hero scenario more common than I know?  And finally, what do you think of the two hero scenario?