It has come to my attention that some folks have been wondering where I have been and if something is wrong.
In fact, something is terribly, terribly wrong, and I had to revive this thread to reveal the sickness and tragedy at work here.
I cannot stop inhaling books about male virgins. BLOND ones. WTF. I have not been interested in blonds since I found out they had to dig a trench for Brooke Shields to walk in so Christopher Atkins wouldn't be half a foot shorter than she was in The Blue Lagoon. I have never had any interest in IRL male virgins since these days it strikes one that there is perhaps an issue since it's only entertaining if they're at least 25 (if they're younger they should go have bad first times with other virgins like nature intended), but in historicals, well, you know, Victorians. Repression turns one guy into a 30 year old virgin, and another into the author of My Secret Life.
So, here are some recommendations:
1. The Countess Takes a Lover, Bonnie Dee. I ain't even tryin' to act like this is not porn. It would be categorized as ero rom. You will be shocked (shocked!) at the amount of character development that can take place in the inner monologue of a young man going down on a woman for the first time. Truly charming. He's a Professor subtype.
2. Untouched, Anna Campbell. Not a blond but should've been, so I edited the text of mine accordingly. He clearly should be played by a young Kevin McKidd. Anyway, this is romance but they do say cock a lot. He's sort of a mixture of Paladin/Professor/Psychologically Damaged, more the first, though.
3. I will mention Wild at Heart by Pat Gaffney since it seems to be everyone's favorite male virgin, and I'd read it years ago and didn't care for it much, but am pleased to report that as fetish fuel it's quite satisfactory. Dark hair, though. Seems more appropriate for a wolf boy virgin, though, so it's ok. He'd be more like...Pure. I think I can keep this P thing going.
4. Broken Wing, Judith James. Now, this is where I have to argue about what a virgin is. If you were sold to a brothel as a child and have never had sex with anyone voluntarily it doesn't matter if you're like 23 now and a guy, you're a virgin. Since heroes who were sold to brothels as children are total Woobies and excellent candidates for Healing By Vagina, in fiction only, of course, I find myself drawn to this setup quite often as long as Robin Schone isn't writing it. And he's blond. Clearly Psychologically Damaged, yet strangely Pure.
5. Private Arrangements, Sherry Thomas. This is crossover fetish fuel since I also really like the whole "they're married but have been separated for like a decade because somebody got really pissed, and for a really good reason" thing. Also blond. Paladin.
6. The Shadow and the Star, Kinsale. Should rank higher but I read it so many times in the early 90s that I couldn't re-read it. But blond, and if reading it anew it probably would've been #1 or 2. Hits the brothel thing too of course. Psych.
7. Duchess in Love, Eloisa James. This bitch forces you to read four damn books because her whole schtick is she dangles out the endgame as the B-hero early in a series and then just plays with you for fucking ever, forcing you to read the other four. Anyway, blond. ZOMG PALADIN.
8. When the Duke Returns, Eloisa James. I include this because while the hero is blond and a virgin by choice for perfectly non-weird reasons, the heroine is also a virgin, and this helps me further narrow down this whole thing to the fact that the heroine maybe needs to not be one, too. At least not if the tension of the whole book hangs on when are they gonna do it. In Private Arrangements she's a virgin, but the whole book isn't about when they're gonna do it, but when are they gonna do it *again*. Paladin.
9. Lessons in French, Kinsale. His inclusion here is probably a spoiler, but not a huge one. What's more surprising is that this represents yet *another* deviation for me, which is that he's French, which I normally fucking despise. Yet she wrote very convincing dialogue for him that could *only* be syntactically correct in French accented English and I absolutely adored him and was like, maybe I was wrong about the whole French thing. Not blond but he shouldn't have been so it's ok. I don't think I have a P for this one. It's more an odd sort of unconscious faithfulness.
This is just off the top of my head. I can provide many more upon request.
Now on the non-virgin but still a Woobie front, you know, this Judith James person is very talented. Read Libertine's Kiss. Blessedly set during/after the English Civil War so neither Almack's nor White's even exist and nobody drinks ratafia. You know what I'm talking about. Anyway, he tells her he's going to fuck her with his tongue, and then does so. Doing so is great, of course, but *telling you* and then doing it is *outstanding*.
Also an older book that I *delighted* in, My Dearest Enemy, Connie Brockway. He's blond and *almost* a virgin, and is also unconsciously faithful.
If anyone knows of any other virgins, blond or editable, please sacrifice them to me. Unless they're virgins for some religious reason. General purity sorts of reasons are fine, but not religion. Thanks!
[This message edited by ladyvorkosigan at 8:44 AM, May 18th (Wednesday)]
