Blog Tour Guest Post: Hero – Samantha Young

We have Samantha Young with us today, sharing her favorite anti-heroes.  Help me in welcoming Samantha back to Cocktails and Books.

My Favorite Anti-Heroes!

There are some guys in literature and the movies who don’t have the standard qualities of hero… and yet there’s a tiny peep of light in all their darkness that is compelling despite my reservations. Some of the anti-heroes on my list are my favorite characters of all time!

Jericho Z Barrons from Karen Marie Monings Fever Series. Barrons is convoluted, mercurial, secretive, distrusting and sometimes downright scary. He is also, however, dry-witted, powerful, courageous and passionate. Despite the way he sometimes treats our favorite heroine, Mac, as the enemy, he’s also the one person she can rely on to be there, and more often than not to save her in those times when she cannot save herself. This complicated guy is not only my favorite anti-hero ever, but one of my favorite characters of all time.

Clarence from Tony Scott’s True Romance (movie). This is one of my favorite movies, and I love Clarence’s character. Some might call him the hero of the story, but technically he’s an anti-hero. In the name of love Clarence goes from an ordinary, law-abiding comic-book geek to a murderer, a thief and a drug dealer. Not really the qualities we look for in our heroes. And yet… everything Clarence does is to free his heroine, Alabama, from the world of prostitution. He’ll do anything for her, and quite literally does. Compelling and complicated, good but more than a little bit twisted too, Clarence is a quintessential anti-hero.

Terrible from Stacia Kane’s Downside Ghosts series. This is a difficult one because a huge part of me cries out that Terrible really is a hero! Perhaps he’s more hero than anti-hero, but the fact is that Terrible is an enforcer for a drug dealer and a pimp. Not the stuff that heroes are made of. What makes Terrible so utterly intriguing, however, is his loyalty, his fierce protectiveness, his compassion and his moments of true kindness. In another world, in different circumstances, Terrible would be a hero. But in the world and life he’s been given, Terrible is loyal to a criminal who has shown loyalty to him, and does a job that he might not like all the time, but one that he’s good at it. Definitely one of my favorite anti-heroes!

Klaus from The Originals (TV show). This original vampire (first seen in The Vampire Diaries) is one of the most complicated characters to ever make it onto our televisions. A true villain—he’s selfish, violent, often disloyal—more often than not I hate him and all that he does. However, over the years I’ve come to learn more about what makes Klaus tick. He is the way he is because of the abuse he suffered at his father’s hand. He lacked love and loyalty from his parents, and despite his siblings attempt to make up for it, Klaus is riddled with insecurities. He does show moments of compassion, understanding, even kindness. And it’s those sparks of light that keep you rooting for his redemption. He’s one of my favorite characters on television, although that’s probably helped by the fact that he’s played by the very sexy Welshman, Joseph Morgan.

Professor Snape from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series. Spoiler alert!  In truth by the end of HP we realize that Snape is in fact a hero of this epic story. However… for most of the series readers were left to wonder about Snape, and considered him an anti-hero. He was constantly negative toward Harry, always a suspected villain, and yet there were times when he was Harry and the gang’s savior. He kept us guessing. I loved him, I hated him, I loved him, I hated him… see where this is going? Yes, I would definitely consider Snape one of the great anti-heroes of modern literature, and one I was happy to see redeemed in the end.

The emotional and unforgettable new romance from the New York Times bestselling author of the On Dublin Street series.

Alexa Holland’s father was her hero—until her shocking discovery that she and her mother weren’t his only family. Ever since, Alexa has worked to turn her life in a different direction and forge her own identity outside of his terrible secrets,. But when she meets a man who’s as damaged by her father’s mistakes as she is, Alexa must help him.

Caine Carraway wants nothing to do with Alexa’s efforts at redemption, but it’s not so easy to push her away. Determined to make her hate him, he brings her to the edge of her patience and waits for her to walk away. But his actions only draw them together and, despite the odds, they begin an intense and explosive affair.

Only Caine knows he can never be the white knight that Alexa has always longed for. And when they’re on the precipice of danger, he finds he’ll do anything to protect either one of them from being hurt again…

You can read our review of HERO here.

Samantha Young is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the On Dublin Street series and Hero.  She lives in Scotland.  Connect with her online at authorsamanthayoung.com, Twitter.com/SYoungSFAuthor, and Facebook.com/pages/Samantha-Young/215808575229107.

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