Ah, the heteronormativity of YA puts me out of it a bit. If I was going to put up my Davy Jones, it would have to be Glynis Johns.
Frigging gorgeous, and charming, totally sexy voice.
But within YA you always get the poor objectified boys, and I'm not into objectified boys. To be a heartthrob, the boy has got to be more than a sexy object.
If there's any YA boy that's been a total heartthrob for me in the past couple of years, it's got to be Rudy Steiner. He won my heart when he did his Jesse Owen run, and played with his sisters, and was proud and innocent, and totally would have joined the SS if it would have saved his father.
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| Jesse Owen |
In non-YA books you actually sometimes get guys pursuing awesome women, and a totally awesome female heartthrob has got to be Tilla, from Medicus. She is totally hardcore, a terrible cook but an excellent poisoner, unbearably stubborn and the most arrogant slave you are ever likely to meet. But that book is full of great female and male characters.
There is seriously no image on the internets that accurately represents her awesomeness, but here's something vaguely unobjectionable at least.
(If you assume the green bits on her face are bruises, we've got at least a hint at accuracy.)
Ah thanks for making it a "well-rounded discussion!" And gotta agree on all of your choices! That image of Tilla is awesomeness!
ReplyDeleteShe's a gorgeous lady for sure! And I love the hairstyles back then. Also, hardcore women just rock. There need to be more of them.
ReplyDeleteI have an awful time finding heartthrobs in YA, really. I tend to like characters who aren't typical of the role. Or maybe I don't read enough of the YA that's filled with heartthrobs.
I tagged you in a fun writing meme, by the way: http://dverted.blogspot.com/2012/03/lucky-7-meme-from-chessie.html
I wanna peek at your seven lines!
I hear you about YA heteronormativity! I'm trying to write my first YA novel at the moment, and it's surprisingly difficult to stay within a fairy tale structure while also making the main relationship really feel like it works. Historical gender roles seem to make it almost impossible to write a book that's part fairy tale, mostly historically accurate, and sexually egalitarian. Excuse me while I go tear out my hair.
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