Do We Really Want The Heroine To Look Like Angelina Jolie?

A poster on the All About Romance group list, commented that she’d recently read a book in which the author likened the heroine to Angelina Jolie. Apparently, this totally put her off the book.

Now lots of people love Angelina Jolie, but there’s a fair amount who think she’s nutty as a fruitcake. Somedays, I’m one of those people, other days I have girl-on-girl lesbian fantasies about her don’t think she’s too bad.

I don’t really get why authors liken their characters to popular culture figures in the first place. As well as possibly dating the book, surely the author takes a huge risk in assuming that the reader, firstly, knows who the hell they’re referring to, and B, actually likes the celebrity in question.

I’m sure no author in their right mind would liken any of their heroines to Britney Spears mother of the year, but I have read books where the author likened her characters to Meg Ryan (who I’m not keen on), and Ben Affleck (who I hate). Needless to say, I couldn’t finish either book.

This is one of the reasons why I’m so glad that J.D Robb’s, In Death books don’t have depictions of Roarke on the front cover. I much prefer to use my imagination, rather than have an image of Antonia Banderas forever imbedded in my skull. In my mind, Roarke is the most beautiful man in the world, and for the sake of my continued enjoyment of this series, I would like him to stay that way.

What do you guys think? Are there any universally admired celebrities out there, who you would hate a lead character to be likened to?