It’s a fact: Readers love book boyfriends.
Actually, a lot of us collect book boyfriends. No really, it’s a thing! And I know for a fact that I’m not the only one because I’ve seen other blog posts, discussions and articles about this. Different readers look for different things in their favorite male leads, but the common trait that all of them share is this.
A great book boyfriend will make fangirl bookworms everywhere swoon and fall hard for him.
This post will focus on Ash Stryker, one of my personal favorites, first introduced in ADORKABLE and most recently featured in NINJA GIRL. 🙂
Here is what I think makes Ash book boyfriend material:
- He kisses back. If you’ve read NINJA GIRL, you know what I mean. If not, I’ll just say Ash goes with the flow and gives Snow an amazing/unforgettable first kiss (…and second…and third…).
- He knows what he wants and goes after it.
- He’s protective (but not in an overbearing a-hole kind of way). Yeah, he’s got a hero complex, but he makes it look good. Just picture a young Chris Evans/Captain America with a bit of a pottymouth, and you basically have our Ash.
- He likes smart girls who can kick his ass. He’s encouraging and loves Snow’s strength and intelligence.
- He tells it like it is and never gives up—especially when it matters.
- He listens to country and K-Pop.
- He’s multi-lingual—which means he can sweet talk you in a whole bunch of languages.
- He’s athletic, talented and yes, fit. Soccer is his passion, and he’s darn good at it. The green eyes, dirty blond hair and lean body don’t hurt either ;).
- He’s swoonworthy. In NINJA GIRL, Ash is willing to make a fool of himself for his girl (aka the singing), and he’s also thoughtful (the Bruce Lee marathon with Snow). *Sigh*
- He’s smart, confident, a little cocky and a lot comfortable-in-his-own-skin. He’s a straightforward smooth-talker with charm to spare. He can also be jealous, incorrigible and a smartass. All in all, Ash is imperfect and real—which may be what I like best about him.
For all these reasons and more, I love my main man from NINJA GIRL.
Oh my Ash! <3
Btw huge thanks to Tija for inventing the phrase “Oh my Ash;” I love it lol! Basically, as Koi says in the book, Ash Stryker is a BAMF. He’s also a great book boyfriend imo. Feel free to add him and NINJA GIRL to your shelf if you’re looking for a sweet YA romance with a kickass heroine and a swoonworthy hero. 🙂
Hope you all have a great weekend!
Happy reading,
Cookie O’Gorman
Ash is awesome! We all fell for him in Adorkable! I’m so glad he and Snow got their story!
Me too, Colleen! He kind of snuck up on me in ADORKABLE, and I agree, so glad he and Snow got their own HEA :).
The kind of guy you would like all girls to find! A hottie.
A hottie with smarts and thoughtfulness ;). Would be awesome to find for sure! I hope you are well, Karen!
I absolutely LOVED Adorkable and Ninja Girl. Something I really enjoyed about Ninja Girl was that we got to see the guys pov. Would you ever consider writing adorkable from Becks pov?
Hi Laurie, I was so glad to see this comment, so so happy you enjoyed both ADORKABLE and NINJA GIRL!! 🙂 To your question, hmmm…I loved writing the guy’s POV (love reading it, too). As of now, I have no plans to write ADORKABLE from Becks’s POV–though I’m sure it would be interesting lol. And totally swoonworthy <3. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I hope you have a great day!
Will your books be available on Kobo?
Hi there! So far, I’ve only published my books on Amazon as part of KDP Select and Createspace. It’s been a pretty good experience so far, simple and straightforward which I appreciate because this is my first time self-publishing, and I’m still nervous about…well everything lol. The only drawback is not having the books on Kobo, iBooks etc. I may try that in the future but no plans to at the moment. Thank you so much for your question!
Hey I know I’m a little late on reading this book, but Ash has got blushing very hard, and I love the connection between him and Snow, she at first doesn’t admit that she likes him but then finally admits it. I love this book so much! I didn’t realize that Agent Smith was really a bad guy but then he had to ruin it!
Hi Catherine! Oh yay! I’m so glad to hear you loved Ash & Snow! I still really love NINJA GIRL <3. Thank you so much for reading! I hope you're doing well!