**Resource: Heroes/Male Love Interests**

This is a list of the different types of heroes/male love interests that can be found in romance, as well as a couple tropes that apply to them. I used TV Tropes to find a lot of these but added some myself.

This list is not the be-all, end-all of hero types, if I have missed any please comment and let me know!

Anti-Hero: The types vary, but romance novel leads can tend towards bad boys (ready to be reformed) instead of a clean cut, straitlaced fellow. Can be stoic, sarcastic, or withdrawn, but will eventually come around for the heroine.

Arab Oil Sheikh: The Arab oil sheikh is a rich Arab man with big investments in oil. He is typically seen in Arab dress, complete with keffiyeh, sometimes wearing dark aviator sunglasses when traveling abroad, or in a fine western suit and the keffiyeh and sunglasses. Can be dark, brooding, passionate and rule everything they survey in their desert kingdom with the same tenacity they show towards the heroine. Sheikh romance actually gave us the term "bodice ripper" due to the common kidnap-rape-love plots where the Arab can get away with being beyond normal constraints in how he treats the heroine due to his exoticness.

But Not Too Foreign: Despite the sheikh novels mentioned above, less "genre" romances often have heroes who are just one exotic (from a US perspective) quarter: Native American, Japanese, Arab or the like, but very rarely are full members of non-European ethnicities in ancestry and upbringing.

Billionaires: He's got money, influence, mansions and summer homes and private jets, and yet something's missing from his life. This hero typically brings the less well-off heroine into his upper-class world of wealth and luxury, showering her in gifts and exotic vacations.

Does Not Like Women: A story in which the male hero only hates women because of the actions of a bad woman, and will be cured in the end by the good heroine.

Ladykiller in Love: (May also be referred to as a Reformed Rake) The "rake" or chronically womanizing man is a popular hero character. He is almost universally guaranteed to no longer be interested in anyone but the heroine (a possible exception is, of all things, the ur-example of the character, Lord Damerel in Georgette Heyer's Venetia.) There is often a scene where a willing woman offers herself and he's quite surprised to not want to take her up on it.

Loveable Rogue: A person who breaks the law, for their own personal profit, but is nice enough and charming enough to allow the audience to root for them, especially if they don't kill or otherwise seriously harm anyone.

Magical Native American: Native Americans (or a race meant to be an expy of them if in a fantasy story) who possess powers because of their ethnicity. Often this involves stating that their power comes from innate spirituality or closeness to nature that "civilized" races don't have. May be close to/able to control animals, the weather, and other aspects of nature. May have the ability to heal or practice Spirit Healing. Native Americans (magical or not) can be popular in historical romances. The trope of the Magical Native American can come off as racist to some.

Man in a Kilt: A popular male lead in historical settings is the rugged Highlander. A typical answer to "what are you wearing under it" if the man in question is feeling a little mischievous is, "Good girls don't ask, bad girls find out for themselves"

A Man Is Not a Virgin: Usually played very straight, but occasionally averted. In many cases the heroine is a virgin or has only been with one man, while the hero is a bit more experienced.

Spy: He's charming, he's handsome, he's fit, and he's leading a double life. Spies tend to be sexy and exciting, having a dangerous job that could end up impacting the heroine if the bad guys find out about her. Usually the spy is dressed and armed well, and his job may be a source of tension to the plot if he hasn't told the heroine what he does for a living.