Crush Confessions with Read Now Sleep Later

It's February, the month of love (or at least the month with a sappy love holiday in it) and we are celebrating with Crush Confessions. I've asked some awesome bloggers and writers to come up with a list of the boys (and girls) that make them swoon. From vampires to werewolves, jocks to Brits - we have something for everyone! So sit back, relax, and get ready to swoon.

Today's Crush Confessions comes from Alethea at Read Now Sleep Later. Alethea has introduced me to many a swoon-worthy Brit, so it's no surprise that she chose to feature a British invasion for her Crush Confessions. Take it away, Alethea!

Happy almost-Valentine's Day! Thanks to Thuy for asking me to contribute my crush confessions.

Even my husband knows he can't get between me and my British Boyfriends. Luckily he likes most of the stuff they star in, too. I really love that many of their roles stem from books adapted for film and tv.

Seriously, I'm hard pressed to name any non-British actors I find half as appealing as these

First off, we have Benedict Cumberbatch. Yes, I am totally a Cumberbitch. He's probably most famous right now for two book-related film and tv roles: Smaug from The Hobbit movies, and Sherlock Holmes from BBC's Sherlock. (How adorable is it that his real life parents play his parents on the show? But I digress.) His book-to-film roles include Major Jamie Stewart in War Horse and Peter Guillam in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and the list goes on: Atonement, Starter for Ten, The Other Boleyn Girl, and Murder Is Easy (a Marple mystery). He was also in a National Theatre Live play, Danny Boyle's Frankenstein, where he swapped the role of Victor Frankenstein and The Creature with another Sherlock actor, Jonny Lee Miller (who gets an honorable mention on my British Boyfriends list. I'm not crazy about him, but he'll do!).

Look, he's a bit geeky looking, but have you seen my husband? I definitely have a type. Aside from the cheekbones, the baby blue eyes, and the voice that can pretty much set you on fire (I mean, there's a reason he's been cast as a freaking dragon), best of all, he's a ginger.

Next up, Aidan Turner. He plays Kili in The Hobbit movies, aka The Hot Dwarf that Isn't Richard Armitage. Others may be more familiar with him from The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, where he plays the ex-Shadowhunter and now werewolf, Luke. I first saw him on Being Human, where he plays the vampire roommate, Mitchel. I wish people would give him more mainstream roles so he could be a bit more of a household name (well, in households that are not my own, anyway), but I have to agree there is something in his face that suits him to all of these supernatural creature roles.

Speaking of The Hobbit--who isn't in this film franchise?--this brings us to Richard Armitage, who plays Thorin Oakenshield (let's all say it together: "son of Thráin, son of Thrór, King under the Mountain"). He makes a pretty swoonworthy dwarf, but if you catch him as John Thornton in North & South, you're going to need a fan, some smelling salts, and a couch to faint upon, because damn, he looks good in a cravat and top hat. He also played Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, a show which sadly got worse as time went on, but I'm happy to watch the first two seasons over and over again to get my fix.

I know a lot of people don't love Jane Eyre, but that's probably because they haven't seen Toby Stephens play Rochester in the 2006 Masterpiece Theatre mini-series (alongside Ruth Wilson, on whom I also have a huge girl-crush). I hope his name will become more recognizable to the general public with the upcoming Black Sails, a tv show prequel to Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

Oh, and he's Dame Maggie Smith's son. Bend the knee, already! He's acting royalty whether you know him or not.

Speaking of my girl-crush Ruth Wilson, she stars in Luther with my next BBF, Idris Elba. They are pretty smokin' hot together, and I can't wait til the next series shows up on InstantWatch. His projects are a lot less literary (apart from an episode of The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency, a few Ruth Rendell Mysteries, and an Inspector Lynley--actually, most of the above have also been in a Lynley episode), but my current favorite role is Stacker Pentecost from Pacific Rim. That voice! I get so emotional just listening to him speak. I haven't seen him as Mandela yet, but only because I have to watch it in the privacy of my own home so that my weeping does not disturb other viewers.

You may have noticed most of my BBFs are tall and dark, but really, I think it's the voice that gets me hot and bothered. Laurence Fox plays a rather morose chap called Det. Sgt. Hathaway on Inspector Lewis. I just live for the moments when his character recites poetry from memory. IRL he's Mr. Billie Piper (with whom he has 2 kids and a dog).

And now my current favorite BBF (and probably yours too!):

Yes, I've got the Hiddles. It's a condition I'm happy to be in. There is an internet rumor that seeing or hearing Tom Hiddleston can make you instantly pregnant and I totally wish that were true. However, I can attest that I have spent enough time watching him as Loki in Thor and The Avengers, as Magnus on Kenneth Branagh's Wallander, and countless hours scouring the Interwebs for clips of him reading poetry, to prove that this rumor is completely false. SIGH. He reads a very-hard-to-find-now audiobook version of Sally Gardner's The Red Necklace.

I am very much looking forward to his next, sure to be big hit: Muppets Most Wanted.

Honorable mentions:

Henry Cavill from Man of Steel
Shaun Evans from Endeavour
Jamie Dornan from The Fall (where he plays a seriously gross and disturbing role, apparently in prep for his turn as Christian Grey in the upcoming Fifty Shades trilogy).

Some of my geekier BBFs:
Dylan Moran from Black Books
Richard Ayoade and Chris O'Dowd from The IT Crowd
Martin Clunes from Doc Martin and Reggie Perrin
Rupert Penry-Jones from Whitechapel

Alethea blogs about all things YA at Read Now Sleep Later. She is a former bookseller and loves everything from picture books to YA. She remains active in the industry particularly among YA readers and authors, through various book clubs, online communities, and author signings in and around Los Angeles. She also designs websites with her husband Jason at Ninjacouplet. Tweet her @frootjoos.

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