Book Perfume

My regularly scheduled episodes of Jeopardy! have been bumped to the middle of the night and every time I turn on the TV I hear the tell-tale sound of sneakers squeaking on a basketball court, which can only mean one thing:

It’s March Madness!

I’ve refrained from any kind of bracket-mania ever since I won my pool a few years ago (#HUMBLEBRAG), but this year I thought I’d get back in the spirit and brew up a competition of my own. Since I know that many of you appreciate a fictional dreamboat as much as I do, I hereby present you with our very first Literary Hunk of the Month March Hunkness.  You don’t have to know anything about college basketball at all to get into these fine matchups—and I do mean fiiiiine.

From now through the end of the month, we’ll be pitting heartthrob against heartthrob in a battle of pretty faces, fierce honor, and devilish charm. In the end, only one will be named Champion of Hunks. Will he be a modern-day hero? A classic literary white knight? Will he be a bad boy with a heart of tarnished gold or will a nice guy finish first? It’s all up to you. Every vote counts.

Allow me to rephrase. Every vote for a literary hunk counts.

We’ll tip things off with round one: The Terrific 27. Here we have every Literary Hunk of the Month honored by Book Perfume, paired off into one-on-one matchups. (Or, in one case, one-on-one-on-one.  We had an odd number!) Voting for round one runs from today through Wednesday, March 22—then the winners of each battle will face off in round two!

Get your voting fingers ready and VOTE.

Matchup #1: Louisa’s Not-So-Little Men

Oh to be Jo March…

Professor Bhaer (Little Women, Louisa May Alcott)
vs.
Laurie Lawrence (Little Women, Louisa May Alcott)

Matchup #2: Austen’s Hunky Heroes

That Jane knew how to make a lady swoon.

Captain Wentworth (Persuasion, Jane Austen)
vs.
Fitzwilliam Darcy (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen)

Matchup #3: Jane’s Jerky (or Misunderstood?) Rogues

Because even the bad boys need love.

Willoughby of Allenham (Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen)
vs.
George Wickham (Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen)

Matchup #4: The Undefeatable Warriors

You want one of these guys in your corner. Always.

Jamie Fraser (Outlander series, Diana Gabaldon)
vs.
Gale Hawthorne (Hunger Games trilogy, Suzanne Collins)

Matchup #5: Seriously Hot Series Hunks

We could read about these hunks forever.

Luke Brandon (Shopaholic series, Sophie Kinsella)
vs.
Cooper Cartwright (Heather Wells Mysteries, Meg Cabot)

Matchup #6: Those Bronte Babes

What happens on the moors stays on the moors.

Edward Fairfax Rochester (Jane Eyre, Charlotte Bronte)
vs.
Hareton Earnshaw (Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte)

Matchup #7: The Men of Masterpiece

Sunday nights have never looked better.

Ross Poldark (Poldark series, Winston Graham)
vs.
Lord Melbourne (Victoria, Daisy Goodwin)

Matchup #8: Surly But Sexy

A sour attitude can be overlooked.

Mark Darcy (Bridget Jones series, Helen Fielding)
vs.
Will Traynor (Me Before You, Jojo Moyes)

Matchup #9: Marvelous Medical Men

They know just the prescription for looking good.

Dr. Alex Brandt (Stay, Allie Larkin)
vs.
Modern-Day Dr. Darcy (Eligible, Curtis Sittenfeld)

Matchup #10: Mac Attack

To satisfy any appetite…

Roger “Mac” Wakefield (Outlander series, Diana Gabaldon)
vs.
Jack Mac (Big Stone Gap series, Adriana Trigiani)

Matchup #11: (Nearly) Silent Sweethearts

They don’t say a lot, but when they do, it’s from the heart.

Stephen Colley (I Capture the Castle, Dodie Smith)
vs.
George Emerson (A Room with a View, E.M. Forster)

Matchup #12: Legends of the Page (and Screen)

They don’t call them icons for nothing.

Rhett Butler (Gone with the Wind, Margaret Mitchell)
vs.
Ralph de Bricassart (The Thorn Birds, Colleen McCullough)
vs.
Yuri Zhivago (Doctor Zhivago, Boris Pasternak)

Matchup #13: The “Who Are You Really?” Guys

What’s in a (real) name?

Noel Airman (Marjorie Morningstar, Herman Wouk)
vs.
Jay Gatsby (The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald)

Who will make it to the Thrilling Thirteen? I can’t wait to find out! Happy voting, beautiful readers!