Since I can remember, I've fallen in love with boys in books. On rediscovering the Famous Five at the weekend, I've been thinking about my fictional crushes of childhood, and some I love even now. In more or less chronological order, apart from Sherlock Holmes, who is last because I still love him, not because I found him last.

♥ Julian from the Famous Five (Enid Blyton)
He was brave, he could fix any situation, he was protective of his little sister - what's not to like? I always had a bit of a thing for him.

♥ William from The Naughtiest Girl in the School (also Enid Blyton)
The Head Boy of the school in question was super cool and sensitive.

♥ Kit from the Young Wizards series (Diane Duane)
Less brave, more smart. I wanted to be Nita so hard, and I think (I haven't read the books for a few years) that I probably imagined most of the romance between them. Geeks are sexy, especially when they're your best friend and also a wizard.

♥ Mendanbar from the Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Patricia C Wrede)
Another case of heroine-transference here. I really wanted to be Cimorene, and Mendanbar was such a cool king - he hated pomp and circumstance, and wore the smallest of crowns possible. He was my first book-crush on an adult man, although I still think he was only about 20.
(In other news, I still dream of getting married with little orange flowers in my hair, as Cimorene does when she marries Mendanbar.)

♥ Howl from Howl's Moving Castle (Diana Wynne Jones)

Oh, Howl. (Why are most of these guys wizards?) He was so awesome. A total bad boy who comes good. The copy I had (above) made Howl look really sexy, and he's SO sweet to Sophie at the end.

♥Chrestomanci from the series of the same name (Also Diana Wynne Jones)
A tall, aloof sorcerer with a penchant for silk dressing gowns and sarcasm.

♥Prince Jonathan from the Song of the Lioness Quartet (Tamora Pierce)
Mm... hot prince. Totally devoted to the main character, although she doesn't end up with him. I had so much love for this guy that I wrote an extra chapter in which they stayed together, and developed a crush on a boy called Jonathan in my class at school. I was so upset when Alanna married George instead, George was waaay too old. And less cute.
cute.

♥ Draco Malfoy from Harry Potter.
I don't know why- I don't usually go for blonds (although I did ignore his hair colour enough to be shocked in the first film when he didn't have black hair) and really, he's a bit of a bastard. Hmm... This crush has only gotten worse with fanfic.

♥ Numair from the Immortals Quartet (Tamora Pierce again)
This one didn't really kick in until I was about 14, because Pierce has a habit of pairing up her teenage protagonists with men in their twenties which I never really got (she's 16, apparently he's 27 but it's not explicitly mentioned), but also because until about 14, I much preferred the Alanna and Kel stories to the Daine books. But once I'd gotten into it, WOW. Numair is gorgeous and intelligent and hurrrr droool. And he sometimes turns into an owl. And keeps a portrait of Daine in a locket. And I cried for two hours when I thought he'd died.

♥Neal from the Protector of the Small Quarter (still Tamora Pierce, what can I say, she writes a good love interest)
I always always wanted Kel to get together with Neal. He wrote poetry and he was slim with green eyes. Still requirements in my love interests.

♥Dean from Guitar Girl (Sarra Manning)
My first crush as a teenager on a book teenager. Dean is the epitome of bad boy - guitar-playing, sexy, goes through girls like socks. The relationship is perfectly described from the beginnings to the getting serious to the catastrophic and so so painful break up.

♥Sherlock Holmes
I will always love Sherlock Holmes, even if he doesn't like women very much. The sarcasm! The fearsome intelligence! He was the original skinny smart guy (the archetype of my non-fictional crushes) and he's even better for being portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch.


So clearly, I'm after a sensitive, skinny, poetry-writing best friend, but also slightly rebellious alpha male. Preferably versed in some form of magic.