Books? That's My Thing!: Character Traits Part III

    Okay, I swear this will the final post on character traits. So, this time, after our talk on main protagonists, villains and secondary characters, we talk about the love interests!

    First let's list some common traits (we're talking in terms of guys since most YA books have female protagonists:

1. Moody, mopey (the ones that I hate the most :/ )
2. Caring, kind-hearted
3. Over-protective (frankly, I have seen a lot of these kind of love interests
4. Sporty, jocks
5. Nerdy
6. Player
7. Funny

    And that's about all I can think of. Like I said, my least favorite trait in a love interest in the moody type. Seriously, is it so hard to hide your frown when you're around people? I know you have a scarring past, get over it! Especially when you want a girl to fall in love with you, I am pretty sure most people would choose a guy that has a good humor and smiles a lot, rather than the one who stands in the background, watching, frowning, thinking, whatever. Of course, I know these are book characters so I have to leave some room for readers to enjoy the thought of falling in love with a mopey guy, so I'll just stop my rant right now.

   I think you mostly see player and funny being mushed together to create a male character. Personally, I don't think being funny always equals a player, but it kind of fits, girls love guys who is funny, at least I do, so naturally they would attract lots of girls. Whether he hook up with them or not, in the protagonist's eyes he would seem like a player. But I actually like these kind of love interests. I can count on them to make the story more fun, and like I said, I love funny guys! So if I am ever torn between a love triangle with the mopey and the joker, I would definitely choose the joker!

    Okay, here's a confession, I like nerdy love interests. They are the pariahs, the ones being teased at all the time, but I like them. I guess mostly because I love reading so I like a guy who is book-smart, don't know if you readers share my thoughts on this one ;P Unfortunately, I haven't seen a lot of these types of love interests, the most recent one I've read is Thomas from Anna series, he and Carmel are such a good match! The queen bee and the nerd, kind of ironic, yet the contrast really brings up my interests ;)

And that concludes our character traits series post! What kind of love interests do you like to see in books? Do you absolutely love mopey characters? Or do you share my love for the more sunny type? What do think actually matters more to the story, a bunch of lovable characters, or an interesting plot? Tell me in the comments! ;)