#oh and shadowheart is everything to us. obviously she's so wife

[warmsol]

looking like a mess after one day in the underdark ✓

[mermaidsirennikita]

Okay but I need you to give me historical romance with the hero being Derek Craven's level of intensity!!

Then you're in luck because that's my favorite kind lmao

If you haven't read Seduce Me at Sunrise yet, obviously I've been talking about it a lot lately lol but Kev really does have traces of Derek. He's self-loathing, "coarse", he doesn't think he deserves the heroine, he is super threatening... His big spiel to Win about how much he loves her reminds me a little of Derek's "sometimes I want to punish you a little" line which... CHILLS.

Generally, Elizabeth Hoyt is a good way to go--I would recommend Thief of Shadows (Winter Makepeace, the ultimately Intense Devoted Lover Guy), Duke of Midnight (Maximus Batten, controversial king but INTENSE AS HELL), The Raven Prince (scarred self-loathing duke who wants his secretary so bad), and Sweetest Scoundrel (personally, I think Asa is in a very "Derek Craven: The Early Years" place in this book which is super interesting).

Sarah MacLean is on the record as a major Craven stan lol. I would say... Bourne from A Rogue by Any other Name gives me a similar degree of intensity, and he of course has the gambling club deal--which really means you may want to read the other Rules of Scoundrels books (One Good Earl Deserves a Lover is especially good).

Joanna Shupe has THIS. I would say The Prince of Broadway especially has this with Clay Madden, who also is self-made, tortured, and owns a gambling hell. If you haven't read The Duke Gets Even (best historical romance release of 2023 easily imo) Lockwood is not as like... self-loathing by any means, but the degree to which he LOVES Nellie is so intense.

Lol most Lorraine Heath heroes, but Ainsley from Waking Up with The Duke and Griffith from Scoundrel of My Heart come to mind in a big way, plus King from The Duchess Hunt. I don't see Scoundrel discussed enough--it's such an achingly angsty, superb book. The heroes of She Tempts the Duke and Lord of Wicked Intentions are RIDIC intense lol.

Jennifer Ashley heroes tend to be intense, but Ian Mackenzie from The Madness of Lord Ian Mackenzie is literally like glued to Beth and Hart from The Duke's Perfect Wife is SO SO SO intense about Eleanor (and everything else tbh). Like, they get engaged when they're young and dumb, break up because he's super dumb, and like... YEARS later, around or over a decade later, he sees her again and has a tiny interaction with her and is like "... I'm marrying her". Because it was never over for him!!!

Alexander from What I Did for a Duke by Julie Anne Long is real intense. Like, it's a funny book but he's a lot lol.

Umm Allegreto from Shadowheart by Laura Kinsale is one of the most intense heroes I've read ever in my life. Literally telling the heroine that she needs to go to confession because even though he's not going to Heaven she MUST!!!! (Customary Shadowheart CW for a noncon first encounter.)

Cull from Pippa and The Prince of Secrets by Grace Callaway is.... real intense.

Oh, Monica McCarty has a lot of real intense heroes--try The Chief, The Viper, The Recruit, and The Saint especially.

My Darling Duke by Stacy Reid has an incredibly intense, tortured hero. He uses a wheelchair following a bad accident and is convinced that he's impotent (he isn't).

Diana Biller's Hotel of Secrets has an amazing virgin spy hero who's super intense about the heroine while also being confounded by how she makes him have Feelings--he throws himself in front of her bodily to protect her like 3-5 times.