List your favorites:-)

Mine include (There are alot more but these come to mind first):

Mick Tremore (The Proposition - Judith Ivory)

Rupert Carsington (Mr. Impossible - Loretta Chase)

Jasper Renshaw - Lord Vale (To Seduce a Sinner - Elizabeth Hoyt)

Justin Powell - (Bridal Favors - Connie Brockway)

Harry Braxton - (As You Desire - Connie Brockway)

Sir Gerald Stapleton (A Precious Jewel - Mary Balogh)

Avery Thorne (My Dearest Enemy - Connie Brockway)

I'm not sure I have ever read a romance that had a hero who was beta rather than alpha.  I do like heros that aren't insanely alpha like the heroes in Robyn Carr books.  Maybe I'd like a book with a beta hero.

I love beta heroes too! Especially the ones who can laugh at themselves and treat the heroines as if they value and respect their opinions, intelligence, and strength.

Restell Gardner (If His Kiss is Wicked - Jo Goodman)

Bowie Stone (The Wives of Bowie Stone - Maggie Osborne)

Nicholas Davies (Thunder and Roses - Mary Jo Putney)

Ian Cameron (Veils of Silk - Mary Jo Putney)

Zeke Jeffries (Summer Fancy - Anne Avery)

Most of Pamela Morsi's heroes

Those are just the ones I can think of right now - the ones I've read or re-read most recently.

La Nora writes a really good beta hero.  The hero from the 1st "Brides" quartet was adorable. Carter-the clumsy high school teacher.  Another favorite  is Shaun-or did she spell it Sean?  the middle book in the Ardmore trilogy.

But already mentioned are probably my favorite beta heros of all time-Gerald in Precious Jewel and Ian Cameron from Veils of Silk.  In fact I wrote MJP a letter-yes, an actual letter in the days before email and websites-about how I was a fan of her writing and of Ian in particular.  Still have the signed bookmark she sent me

Love 'em! (Not sure I would call Nicholas a beta though.)

Some of my favs not mentioned - Michael from Wild at Heart by Patricia Gaffney (though by his own definition, rather than the romance ideal, he would be an alpha), Brand from Secrets of the Night by Jo Beverley, hmmm.... maybe Gideon from The Perfect Rake?  And I love Nora Roberts' betas, she does them really well. Oh, I see someone else already mentioned that. :-)

Nicholas might be a mixture of both. As I was reading it I thought he had some beta in him. He was willing to back down from Michael's insults and tried hard to avoid explosive situations between them. I have Shattered Rainbows in my TBR, but Michael really annoyed me in Thunder and Roses, so I don't know if I want to read that one. I loved the scene where they played pool in T&R though. :D

I agree with Willa too-for me Nicholas(my favorite it that series btw) has alot of alpha but yes, when the occasion called for it, he backed down from Michael but because he knew who the true villians of the piece were-and it wasn't Michael.  Sorry for the mixed plurals-but it makes sense if you've read the book. 

Michael was horrid in Thunder and Roses-and still not overly nice in the others in the series-so I agree that I wasn't really looking forward to his book.  But I trusted MJP to explain the "whys".  And, boy, did she ever.  So much so that Shattered Rainbows is my 2nd favorite in the series.  Plus we get to see Michael again in his brother's story-One Perfect Rose-which I believe has a re-release coming soon. 

Margaret-sorry for the hijack....

Will in Morning Glory by LaVyrle Spencer is my favorite beta

Gabriel in That Camden Summer, also LaVyrle Spencer, is another

Ford in Tribute by Nora Roberts is a good one too

Everyone on Margaret's list works for me.  Plus Wll Scarlett from Carrie Lofty's What a Scoundrel Wants, James from Sleeping Beauty by Judith Ivory, Michael from Wild at Heart by Patricia Gaffney, who I think has a bit of alpha in him too, Dominic from The Wild Child by Mary Jo Putney, and I really liked Douglas from Sold to a Laird by Karen Ranney.  He had some alpha qualities too, but he was too patient, sensitive, and intuitive to be an alpha:P

I always have trouble understanding what a Beta Hero is......

I get it that Will in Morning Glory is one.

Jesse in Simple Jesse was pretty good in this role.

Would Gabriel St. Croix in Broken Wing qualify as Beta Hero?

How about Harry Pye in The Leopard Prince?

La Nora writes a really good beta hero.

Now that you mention it, Nora Roberts does write beta heroes.  Or at least her heroes aren't uber alphas.  Maybe that's why I like her books so much. 

This definition works for me: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/164968/alpha_males_versus_beta_males_in_romance.html?cat=38

The Beta male is good looking, charming, affable, confident, strong, and a family type of guy. He hates to lose but is a fairly good sport when he does. Maybe he works in some type of civil service occupation. For example, he is a cop or a doctor or he works in a business environment, second in command to the Alpha male in the story. He is perceptive, maybe more perceptive than the Alpha male and more in touch with his feelings. He is usually the best friend to the Alpha male. He is good at what he does, but when necessary he does not mind deferring to the Alpha male because he is comfortable and confident in who he is. He is also good in bed but not promiscuous. Maybe he has been hurt by women: she cheated or she lied to him. He has a temper but is slow to reveal it. He is the nice guy who has the patience to wait.

I usually think of my cat.  He's the second male from the litter.  Laid back & relaxed, loves a good cuddle, and purrs like a motorboat.  He's a little smaller & less aggressive than his older brother, but he's all tomcat, and he'll grab your face in his paws & bite you on the nose if you annoy him:P

Now that you mention it, Nora Roberts does write beta heroes.  Or at least her heroes aren't uber alphas.  Maybe that's why I like her books so much.

well, she does write some - even many -  beta heroes but I wouldn't classify all her heroes as beta - the Quinns in the Chesapeake Bay series are completely alpha in my opinion, even Philip who comes across as slightly less alpha, with his fancy dress and upscale lifestyle. And I've only skimmed the surface of her backlist, so I would guess there are others. So far, I think Ford is the one that truly fits the beta definitions - even the heroine is more alpha than Ford.

I like to read beta heroes too, but I admit the alpha ones (all authors) are my favorite even though in real life I would probably have run away from any of them within 1 hour of meeting them!! That's what makes reading fiction so much fun for me - it's pure fantasy, and I would not actually put myself in most heroine's places in real life, even if in my fantasy I would! LOL!

Pamela, I LOVE Harry Pye! I think his character has a bit of both alpha and beta characteristics.

For me, an alpha male isn't controlling of the heroine - he can be strong, powerful and definitely not a wimp its just that he isn't insensitive, abusive or terribly promiscuious. Another important beta characteristic, imo, is the fact that he doesn't take himself too seriously and he isn't afraid to be vulnerable with the heroine.

I'd call Robert's Ethan Quinn a beta - quiet, patient, yearns for the heroine from afar for years. I didn't like his book much - I prefer Robert's nerdy, scholarly-type betas.

I love Harry Pye, that's my favorite Hoyt book.

Me too.  I loved Harry Pye and if I ever meet someone like him, I am going for it!  I loved that series, but Harry was my favorite.  I think I read that book 5 times before it went on the Keepers of the Keepers shelf.

I have never read a Nora Roberts or a Janet Dailey.   If you were going to recommend ONE, what would it be? 

I think that I always like the secondary stories in romance books because the men tend to be more beta males.  I liked the lawyer in Bowie Stone.   I thought that he was male enough.  I don't like belligerence (sp) and the "do what I say and shup up" type of alphas.  Even in books!

Ooohh...I love Will Scarlett and Harry Pye as well. I wish Hoyt's later books were as good as her first two.

Jan - I'll take your word for it and get around to it eventually. I'm glomming MJP's works, except for the ones where I read the plot synopsis/reviews and think I will not like, like Rafe's story.

ITA - The Leopard Prince is my very favorite Hoyt novel. The Hero and Heroine are just spectacular - among the best I have ever read. She made me laugh out loud reading that novel. The heroine is just hysterical!

Oh yes Will in Morning Glory!  Love, love, love him!  Love the whole book really.  I don't do "keepers" generally- but I read this one upon the advice of this forum and wasn't disappointed.  I'm hanging on to it to pass on to my Mom when she gets here next month!

Pamela - I'd suggest Robert's Vision in White. Can't recommend a Dailey, I don't like her much.

The only one I can think of is Heath from Dakota Cassidy's The Accidental Human (probably because I just read it). I don't know that I would classify him as strictly beta, but he definitely wasn't alpha. And he was one of the best male characters I had read in a while, which is strange, because I'm a gal who loves her alpha men!

I just thought of the perfect Beta male:   The Romantic by Madeline Hunter:    hero is named Julian Hampton and he is a wonderful Beta Hero. 

You know I can honestly say I do not like beta hero's.  I've tried.  Just not my thing.

One of the Bridgerton's was a beta, huh??  Colin, I think?  He was always my favorite of the look-a-like Bridgerton Brothers.

Did anyone mention Christy from To Love and to Cherish by Gaffney? And Liz Carlyle also had a minister hero in A Woman Scorned, though I can't really remember if he was beta or not.