6 Romance Books Featuring Characters With Scars I Can’t Stop Thinking About

Do you have a thing for characters with scars like I do? There’s just something about a hero or heroine with a scar that seems to ramp up their appeal to me and I’m talking about all of my favorites in my latest episode on the She Reads Romance Books Podcast. Listen in to see which characters with scars I cannot stop thinking about!

Episode #3: Romance Books Featuring Characters With Scars I Can’t Stop Thinking About.

*Disclosure: This post may include affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Books Featured In this Episode:

Check out my book review of Fourth Wing.

Check out my book review of Romancing the Duke.

Check out my book review of From Blood and Ash.

Check out my book review of Beard With Me.

Book Lists Mentioned in this Episode:

• Best Romance Novels of All Time (My Favorites)
• Fourth Wing Series Guide
• From Blood and Ash Series Guide

Show Notes:

Hey readers, I recently read a romance book and instantly fell in love with the hero, but then, further into the book, I learned that he had scars on his back and his appeal to me instantly skyrocketed.

I’m not really sure what it is about scars and why I find them extremely hot, but I’ve gathered up all of my favorite romance book characters with scars to share them with you on today’s episode.

Do you think scars are hot? If you’re with me, keep listening and I’ll share my top six book characters with scars that I can’t get enough of.

Now I should probably warn about potential spoilers that may come up on this list. Maybe even just mentioning that a character and the fact that he or she has scars might give some spoilers to a book if you haven’t read it yet. Just a heads up.

I’m going to try and keep these book recommendations as spoiler-free as I can, but just wanted to put that caveat out there. 

The first book that I’m talking about is Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros. If you haven’t heard of it yet, I’m surprised because it has been at the top of the best-seller list for quite a few weeks, and rightly so, because it is a fantastic book.

I can’t believe she hasn’t even written fantasy romance before this book, because she really blew this one out of the water.

I knew she was such a capable and talented writer, but the world-building she created in this book and already setting the stage for what’s going to be probably an incredible romance series I’m just in awe.

But it is a fantasy romance, kind of an enemies to lovers romance, and it first follows Violet, who is a 20-year-old who pretty much realized that she was destined to become a scribe in her world and, when it was time, go to the Scribe Quadrant to learn all the ways to be the best scribe she could for her world.

But her mother, who is the commander of their world, changes things up for Violet and says nope, you’re not going to the Scribe Quadrant, you are going to the Riders Quadrant, which is a lot more dangerous, and basically you have to fight for survival, to compete in all of these contests, to then eventually hope to be selected and paired with a dragon.

But once she actually just makes it into the Riders Quadrant, she comes face to face with Xaden, who is a third-year, pretty ruthless wing leader already in the Riders quadrant, and he has a very good reason to not like Violet.

But they soon become more than just the enemies that they originally were, and I loved Xaden because he’s this quiet leader.

He holds his feelings close to the vest but he just oozes this appeal without even trying in everything that he does.

As I had said earlier into the book I learned about the scars that he has on his back and, and oh my gosh, his appeal then just totally increased when I really didn’t think it was possible because I already fell hard for him.

I won’t go into why he has those scars on his back, but I really do hope actually that Rebecca Yarrows maybe gives us some flashbacks to that time period or gives us even more about his past in some of the upcoming books of the Fourth Wing series, because I think that would be absolutely fantastic.

But if you haven’t read Fourth Wing yet, I highly recommend it for not only the strong heroine of the story but the really hot Xaden who had scars on his back, and you’ll find out why.

Book two which proves why scars are hot goes out to Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, who would probably say, “Leslie, this is not historical romance,” which I totally characterize it as. She will say it’s just historical fiction.

But, I’m absolutely and totally in love with the hero of the story, Jamie Fraser. He is another hero with scars on his back that were a result of multiple whippings at the hands of the sadistic Jack Randall and again in when he was in prison after the rebellion.

And I have to say you’ve watched the Outlander TV series, it’s some pretty impressive makeup work that they use for Sam Heughan and his character, Jamie Fraser.

But Jamie’s scars, they are like an outward reminder, I guess, to me of his strength, his loyalty and his love for his family and country. And I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty jealous that Claire gets to touch and soothe him and feel those scars herself.

But Jamie to me really is this hero who has strong emotional scars as well as those outward physical scars and I found his ability to cope and manage his past traumas to be just another reason why I totally loved him.

And the way that he helps Brianna through her feelings of a similar trauma was really just amazing and probably one of my favorite parts of the books and the TV series.

I just love this man. He’s super hot on all fronts, scars included. 

My third book which proves that scars are hot, goes to Making Faces by Amy Harmon. I think this was my first book by Amy Harmon and she absolutely blew me away with her writing and her storytelling.

I think every book that I’ve read since is just a masterpiece, with such unique storylines and unique characters. I absolutely love her books. But back to Making Faces. 

This is a new adult romance about modern Beauty and the Beast retelling, I guess you’d say, and it features Ambrose, who is a young man who went off to battle after 9/11 and he convinced four of his buddies to go with him, but unfortunately, he is the only one of them to return home.

He returns home not only with the emotional scars of his experience in the guilt that’s tacked along with that, but physical scars that no longer make him the popular and most handsome man that he was in high school.

But that doesn’t really mean anything to Fern, who went to high school with him and who has loved him for so long and she’s still there in their hometown.

This book is really about her helping him to recover from those scars when he returns home. It’s such a beautiful love story but, honestly, so much more to this book than just their love story and it truly reaffirms that beauty is truly about what’s on the inside than what’s on the outside.

So, if you’ve not read Making Faces by Amy Harmon, I highly recommend it, one of my most favorite books. 

The fourth book I want to talk about is another Beauty and the Beast-type story, and we’re going back to historical romance, and that is Romancing the Duke by Tessa Dare.

It too is one of my absolutely favorite romance novels.

It features Izzy, who is just this feisty heroine who I totally love from the first page. She is basically on the brink of poverty but learns that she has inherited (yay!) a very dilapidated castle, and upon moving in there she finds Ransom, who was this once dashing Duke, is living there who had no idea that people thought he was no longer living, but he obviously is.

But he is a man truly broken, and he’s there, reeling from an accident that left him scarred and pretty much just a shell of a man that he once was.

But you pit her feisty spirit against his brooding and it really made the best banter and, despite his best attempts to push her away, they both truly, by the end of the story, realized that they are exactly what they both needed.

I absolutely loved Ransom, scars and all, definitely one of my favorite historical romances that you should add to your TBR list.

So, the next two books are actually featuring heroines with scars. Couldn’t leave out the leading ladies, but the scars on both of these young women were what I consider just an outer mark of their inner strength that I truly admired in both of these young women. 

And the first book or the fifth book, I should say, of this list of recommendations is From Blood and Ash by Jennifer L Armentrout.

This hands down is one of my favorite fantasy romance books, favorite fantasy series, and it features Poppy, who grew up as the Maiden.

I mean, she was tucked away, not meant to be seen, not meant to be talked to, but as a child she was attacked by a creature that left a scar on her face and I think, learning that about her as a child it was really this great foreshadowing that even though that scar occurred when she was her most vulnerable, she grows up to be someone so strong and so powerful, not just in this book but honestly, throughout the entire From Blood and Ash series.

I love that about her that she wasn’t necessarily this perfect face for her world to get behind, necessarily, but it was this beautiful I won’t even say flaw, but a beautiful aspect of her that I think just made her in my eyes just even more someone to look up to because of her strength. I absolutely loved that book. 

Now the second book featuring a heroine with scars is Beard with Me by Penny Reid.

Now Reed would probably have words with me also because she would say this is not a romance book, Leslie, it is more a literary fiction, which is totally fine.

But I had to include it because I just love this origin story of Scarlett and Billy Winston.

If you have read any of the books in the Winston Brothers series then you’ve had to have read this book because it’s just incredible and it’s really Scarlett’s origin story.

It’s about how she fell for Billy as a teen and hiding out in the woods and really just trying to protect herself and escape from the father who was just this complete psycho who would slice up her back and use a blade and cut her up, and so she has all of these scars from the times that he did that.

And this book is heartbreaking, not just from what Scarlett goes through, but what Billy goes through too. But again, those two characters just embody what it means to be a strong human being and I cannot recommend it enough. 

There’s my list you guys. Six books I highly recommend. If you too like characters with scars, I think it’s such a fun piece to pick out of different books. Just this unique feature of a hero or heroine that just makes you love them even more.

I hope you check them out. Let me know if you do, and happy reading!

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