My Contemporary Book Boyfriend Rankings: Apparently Rebecca Yarros Has a Type… and So Do I

I didn’t intend to create a contemporary book boyfriend list.

It just sort of happened.

I’ve always had my fantasy favorites. Give me morally gray fae, complicated villains, powerful men with questionable decision-making skills, and apparently I’m very easy to please.

But then I started reading more contemporary romance this year.

More specifically, I started reading Rebecca Yarros.

And now we have a problem.

Because apparently Rebecca Yarros knows exactly how to write the kind of fictional man who gets permanently stuck in my head.

So, after a LOT of rearranging, here are my current contemporary book boyfriend rankings.

#6 — Beckett

The Last Letter

Oh, Beckett.

The Last Letter was one of my favorite—and most emotionally devastating—reads this year. I absolutely ugly cried at the end.

Beckett is loyal, protective, and willing to step into a life that comes with an incredible amount of emotional baggage. There is so much heart in his story.

He absolutely deserves a place on this list.

Unfortunately for him, Rebecca Yarros kept introducing me to more men.

#5 — Paxton Wilder

Wilder

Paxton was my introduction to the Renegades series, and I loved him.

He’s confident, reckless, frustrating, and underneath all of that, there’s so much more going on.

I finished Wilder thinking, Yep. He’s definitely making the list.

Then I kept reading the series.

Sorry, Paxton.

#4 — Jackson Montgomery

The Reality of Everything

Jackson surprised me.

By the time I reached The Reality of Everything, I was completely invested in the Flight & Glory characters. That final book gave the entire series the closure I didn’t even know I needed.

And Jackson?

He earned his place.

There is something about a character who can be strong without pretending emotions don’t exist that gets me every time.

#3 — Landon Rhodes

Nova

Landon isn’t perfect.

That’s exactly why I love him.

He’s messy. He makes mistakes. Sometimes you want to shake him.

But he feels real.

That was the word I kept coming back to after finishing Nova. Landon doesn’t feel like some impossible ideal created solely to make readers swoon. He feels like an actual person trying to figure himself out while occasionally screwing things up along the way.

Apparently that works for me.

A lot.

#2 — Josh Walker

Full Measures

For a while, I thought Josh was untouchable.

I started Full Measures around 10 p.m. and finally forced myself to put it down at 3 a.m.

That should tell you everything.

The book was a tearjerker almost immediately, and Josh completely captured me. He became the standard against which I started comparing every other contemporary book boyfriend.

Jackson couldn’t knock him down.

Paxton couldn’t.

Landon came close, but Josh survived.

I genuinely thought he was going to finish the year at #1.

And then I read Rebel.

#1 — Cruz Delgado

Rebel

Cruz.

Delgado.

I wasn’t even finished with Rebel when I started wondering whether Cruz was about to dethrone Josh.

That had never happened before.

Then I finished the book.

Yep.

Cruz is #1.

There wasn’t even a debate anymore.

What I love about Cruz isn’t that he’s perfect. He isn’t.

It’s the opposite.

He’s complicated. He has flaws. He has responsibilities. He makes choices based on more than what he wants in the moment. And underneath everything, he feels incredibly human.

Rebecca Yarros writes characters who feel like actual people rather than perfect romance heroes, and Cruz might be my favorite example of that.

Sorry, Josh.

You had a good run.

Apparently Rebecca Yarros Owns This List

Here’s the ridiculous part.

Every. Single. Man. On. This. List.

Is from a Rebecca Yarros book.

I didn’t plan that!

I read plenty of other contemporary romance this year. I spent a good chunk of June reading Rachel Reid’s Game Changers series. I loved Heated Rivalry. I loved the focus on men’s mental health in Tough Guy.

But when I started asking myself which characters had actually earned a permanent spot on my book boyfriend list?

Rebecca Yarros swept the board.

So apparently I don’t just have a type.

Rebecca Yarros writes my type.

My current standings:

🥇 Cruz Delgado — Rebel
🥈 Josh Walker — Full Measures
🥉 Landon Rhodes — Nova
4️⃣ Jackson Montgomery — The Reality of Everything
5️⃣ Paxton Wilder — Wilder
6️⃣ Beckett — The Last Letter

Will Cruz survive at #1 through the rest of the year?

I have no idea.

Josh seemed untouchable too, and look what happened to him.

But somebody is going to have to be pretty special to knock Cruz Delgado off that throne.

Who’s your #1 contemporary book boyfriend? And if you’re a Rebecca Yarros reader, who would top your list?