When I try to imagine a handsome man, I come up with dark hair and green eyes every time. Like my
husband and almost every other man I’ve thought was attractive. Blue eyes will do in a pinch, but only with brunette hair. I love the combo of inky brows and light eyes. I also love a close clipped beard and mustache combo. So when I write my heroes, they all end up with the same coloring and look. I figured at some point, my editor would tell me to mix it up a bit but I made it through five books with Heartsong Presents, then five more once Harlequin bought the line.
Once they fazed HP out and continued my contract with Love Inspired, I felt like I was in the big leagues. Since I’d managed to wiggle through the back door of LI, I didn’t want to rock the boat. Three books in, I took a major step and made a variation with Chase Donovan in Winning over the Cowboy. Chase’s eyes changed from a myriad of green to blue shades, depending on what he wore. Then I carried on with my green-eyed ways. Through fifteen books plus three soon to be released, none of my six editors have mentioned it.
My heroines have had light brown, brunette, blond, auburn, and strawberry
blond tresses. They’ve had blue, green, aqua, and brown eyes. But they all fall for my ideal man. He’s had everything from seafoam, olive, aloe vera to artichoke, sage, and jade eyes. I keep a Pinterest board of character inspiration with pictures of actresses, actors, models, and anyone I find who looks interesting. You can check out my character inspiration board: http://pinterest.com/stvannatter/character-inspiration. You’ll see women with all types of coloring. But if you find a man there who doesn’t have green eyes and dark hair, trust me, if he ever makes it in a book, he’ll be a side character or the bad guy.
For each book, I have to send pictures of my characters. I get them from this board and put together a board for each book as I write it. Sometimes, the hero photo I send looks a lot like the one from the last book. This worked out since LI usually has couple shots from a distance, where you can’t really tell what color their eyes are for sure. But then I got my second cover for my soon to be released Hill Country Cowboy series. LI has recently changed their covers.
Both of my new covers have a close up of the hero. In Hill Country Redemption, I described Rance’s eyes as bottle green. On the cover, he’s wearing a cowboy hat that shadows his eyes to where you can’t really tell what color they are. With book two in the series, The Cowboy’s Missing Memory, I described Clint’s eyes as vivid green and when he wore hunter green, their color was more intense. On the cover, Clint isn’t wearing a cowboy hat. His eyes are vividly green just as I described in the book. As I was picking a picture of hero number three in the series, I realized I needed to mix it up a bit. The hero I’m writing now has longer hair with lots of natural curl. But his eyes are emerald.
Hill Country Redemption releases March 17th online. It will be in stores from mid-March until mid-April. You can check out my Pinterest board for the book and see my character models, scene inspiration, and maybe be able to tell a bit about the story: https://www.pinterest.com/stvannatter/hill-country-redemption/.
What features or coloring attracts you? Tell me about it to enter the drawing for a print copy of Hill Country Redemption? The drawing will end at midnight on February 17th.
Award winning author, Shannon Taylor Vannatter writes contemporary Christian cowboy romance and has over a dozen published titles. A romance reader since her teens, she hopes to entertain Christian women and plant seeds in the non-believer’s heart as she demonstrates that love doesn’t conquer all—Jesus does. She gleans fodder for her fiction in rural Arkansas where she spent her teenage summers working the concession stand with her rodeo announcing dad and married a Texan who morphed into a pastor. In her spare time, she loves hanging out with her husband and son, flea marketing, and doing craft projects.
Blue eyes and dark hair.
I’m going to echo Kim with blue eyes and dark hair. However, I fell in love with a brown-eyed man, so that obviously works for me too. ;-)
Here’s another vote for dark brown hair and blue eyes. A disproportionate number of my heroes fall in this category! My hubby started out a sandy blond and went through medium brown before turning gray. But those blue eyes are still rockin’ my world! ;)
Okay, I’m a little weird here. ;) Growing up, I always said that my type, my ideal man, was tall, dark, and handsome — which to me meant black or really dark brown hair and black or brown eyes. This was really just because when I read Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery, she was a redhead like me and her ideal was tall, dark, and handsome because it was romantic. ;)
But I have liked guys with all different colorings. In fact, I used to be a bit boy crazy, though I’m embarrassed to admit that now. I liked several blond boys with blue eyes as well as brunettes with blue eyes or brown eyes. I don’t think I’ve ever actually met a boy with green eyes.
My husband is sandy-blond with blue eyes. I love his eyes, but I don’t look for other heroes with blue eyes. My oldest son is sandy-blond but with greenish eyes, which I love. My youngest son is a redhead (strawberry-blond) with blue eyes, which I love also.
I just don’t have one type of coloring or one color of eyes that I like more.
My husband had brown hair and blue eyes when we married 40 years ago. Now his hair is getting grayer but his eyes are really blue. They really standout when he wears blue. I think the silver gray hair color makes them stand out more now.
When I read I don’t really care what color eyes the characters have.
My daughter , light brown hair and blue eyes, and her Latino husband with dark hair and eyes are hoping their 4th child will keep his currently bluish eyes and dark hair. Their other three kids are dark hair and eyes. Her husband remembers his grandma having dark hair with really blue eyes in Mexico.
I tend to like the lighter colored eyes with darker hair too, but I’m not opposed to brown eyes and dark hair either.
My second favorite, Kim. Robbie Benson was my heart throb as a teen. Guess that shows my age.
That’s funny, Sherri. Whenever my husband thinks someone is pretty, they usually have dark hair and brown eyes with olive skin. Nothing like me with my pale skin and eyes that can’t decide if they’re green or blue. The other day, he said an actress on TV was pretty. She had my coloring. I threatened to mark it on my calendar.
Hey Valerie. My husband is bald on top now and shaves the rest. But his eyes still rock my world. I tell him if you look good with hair, you look good without it.
I guess I’m an eye person, Lila. That’s the thing I notice about people. The few blond men I’ve thought were attractive, have green eyes. I bet you’ll have to beat the girls off your son with a stick.
Hi Diana. I wanted our son to have dark skin and hair with green eyes like my husband. He’s one quarter Cherokee Indian. So I thought I’d have a little papoose. But our son has my pale skin, light brown hair, and his eyes are blue. Unless he wears green, then they are blue. But even with the curse of my coloring, he’s a cutie.
I’m not opposed to brown eyes either, Megan. But whenever I see an actor or nice looking man with brown eyes, I think, he’d be so much better if he had green eyes. When I’m reading, it doesn’t matter that much to me as long as the author makes the hero’s character attractive.
look first at their smile then look at eyes. love dark hair with blue or brown eyes.
Hey Shelia, the smile is the second thing I notice.
I’m not picky about eye color. The dark hair, olive skin tone, and height are what attract me.
I’m with you on all that, Linda.
I like dark hair and brown or green eyes.
I like a combination of sandy blond and sky blue eyes. With dark hair, I like green eyes best.
Hey Lori, I’ve noticed no one has said blond yet. I’m feeling sorry for blond guys :)
1 for the blond guys, Candace. I read somewhere that green is the most rare eye color. And I was thinking about it. My dad has dark hair and green eyes. Hmmm.
I love truly blue or truly green eyes, and darker brown hair or black. Or a dark blonde, like Josh Holloway, and his eyes!! Oh, my!!! And Tony Becker, his eyes!!
I like dark brown eyes! Blue eyes need to be very bright!
When I was single, my idea was a tall dark handsome man. I married a light brown he was very good looking. My original idea did not matter anymore..
I must live under a rock, Trudy. I don’t know who either of those men are. But I’m not good at keeping up with actors’ or models’ names. I see them in movies or tv shows, but I don’t know who they are.
Hey Joan, it’s funny how everyone likes different features. I thought my son would end up marrying a blond or red head with freckles. When he was young, he had an allergist he had a crush on with strawberry blond hair. He thought she was so pretty because she had freckles on his arms. In all his growing up years, that’s the kind of girls or women who caught his eye. But in his teens, he started liking girls with dark hair and brown eyes.
So true Rose. If my green-eyed, dark-haired husband hadn’t been a Christian and had great character, I wouldn’t have married him. Looks are superficial. It’s what’s underneath that counts.
I like blue eyes always have. I also tend to notice eyes first. Not always the colour but piercing eyes (but kind). It tends to be those eyes that are hard to not notice cos they have a smile in them and are often piercing. I use to like blue eyed blond hair but it really doesn’t matter as much now. I just hate when an author keeps reiterating the hero has cobalt blue eyes every time they mention the hero. (And yes this happened. I remember that part but nothing of the story). I also tend to like dark blue or a strong blue rather than a really light blue. (Dad’s eyes were blue but in his war record its recorded as slate, I think it can also depend on what they are wearing as I remember his being as blue as mine but at times mine change too depending on colours).
Its nice to have a Green eyed person or even other unusual colours.
I love to read about black hair and blue eyes in men….very appealing, but so are chocolate brown eyes!
I’m with you on piercing but kind and having a smile in them, Ausjenny. On the repetitive thing, I once took a writing class where I learned to use a unique descriptive word or verb sparingly. Once, the reader thinks, cool. Twice, still cool. Three times, enough already. I try to follow that rule.
Hi Paula Marie, I read a Deb Kasner book a long time ago. The hero was blond with short spiked hair and I don’t even remember the eye color. He was always late. I was turned off. But as I kept reading, I learned why his hair was short and why he was always late and I fell for him. So with a well written hero, it doesn’t matter what he looks like in the end. But I still can’t seem to write a blond hero.
Josh Holloway played on Lost, and Tony Becker was on The Waltons and The Unit. I usually don’t know new actors and definitely not movie actors! Old TV shows, those I know!
Blue eyes with brown hair–just like my husband!
Probably should have made that husband’s I honestly don’t know what his favorite is.
I love blue eyes myself and blonde hair
Haha, Lisa. I bet his favorite is you.
I looked them up. I watched Lost. So weird, but intriguing. I haven’t seen the unit but I remember The Waltons.
I don’t think I ever cared much about eye color but I do find my husband’s’ blue eyes to add to the attractiveness. I do like dark hair and glasses. I was always attracted by guys in glasses. Not the extremely geek type of glasses but just that hint of smart and attractive.
Another vote for the blonds Suzannah. Lots of blue eye votes.
It’s funny how tastes change, Priscilla. I never thought I’d go for bald men. But since my husband got thin on top and started shaving his head, I see other men with no hair that I think are attractive. Of course, they usually have green eyes and you can tell when they had hair, it was dark.
I like deep blue eyes & brown hair. If the hair is thinning, then shaved can be handsome, as well.
Dark hair and brown eyes or brown hair and hazel eyes!
Poor blond men didn’t get many votes here, Sarah.
My husband had hazel eyes. I loved the way the color changed with what he wore.
I have followed you since you first book for Heartsong, and never been disappointed.