#RomBkLove Day 4: Secondary Characters

Which ones have you adored? Which ones have you hated or loved to hate? Which ones stole the book?

Some authors liberally fill their books with sequel-bait characters who they are intentionally positioning for their own books, but then there are the secondary characters who are so interesting that they steal focus from the main characters whether or not the author intended for them to have their own stories.

When I read and reviewed Venetia, I was fascinated by Aubrey, Venetia's younger brother:

The supporting cast was large and amusing. I found myself loving Aubrey. Aubrey is Venetia's little brother. He is 18 or 17, on the verge of going off to Cambridge and obsessed with the classics. He has been lame since childhood, and is very sensitive about it. He hates the coddling and patronizing attitudes people have toward him. Like Venetia, he has a contrarian steak, and little regard for the opinions of others. If I wrote romance, I would love to write his story. He felt so real, and genuine, and not a plot device, even when it is his injury that serves to throw Venetia and Damerel together. I loved that he was a fully rounded character. Heyer really excelled in this as no one, including the villains were one dimensional. Too often supporting characters are simply written as sequel bait, but these people felt legitimately interesting and I just wanted to see more of them.