Lisa Kleypas Historical Hero Showdown
Vote for your favourite Lisa Kleypas historical heroes in the ultimate voting bracket!
I’m excited to announce the Lisa Kleypas Historical Hero Showdown, the ultimate voting bracket to determine once and for all who is the best Lisa Kleypas historical hero! Voting will take place daily @romancingthedata on Instagram from February 12 to 26, 2025.
We need to rally all the historical romance readers on Bookstagram to participate in this epic showdown, so please share and tag all the Lisa Kleypas fans you know! Don’t worry if you haven’t read every book, you can still vote for your faves!
32 historical heroes will enter, but only one shall prevail!
WHEN
Daily polls from February 12-26, 2025
Voting ends each day at 11:59 pm PT
WHERE
@romancingthedata on Instagram
RESULTS
Round 1: Group Stage
Ravenels, Group 1 (February 12, 408 votes)
Devon Ravenel (Cold-Hearted Rake) – 6%
Rhys Winterborne (Marrying Winterborne) – 62%
Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent (Devil in Spring) – 16%
Ethan Ransom (Hello Stranger) – 15%
🏆 WINNER: Rhys Winterborne (62%)
Ravenels, Group 2 (February 13, 356 votes)
West Ravenel (Devil's Daughter) – 54%
Tom Severin (Chasing Cassandra) – 38%
Keir MacRae (Devil in Disguise) – 7%
Lord Luke Stokehurst (Midnight Angel)* – 1%
🏆 WINNER: West Ravenel (54%)
Wallflowers, Group 1 (February 14, 345 votes)
John McKenna (Again the Magic) – 18%
Gideon Shaw (Again the Magic) – 8%
Simon Hunt (Secrets of a Summer Night) – 23%
Marcus, Lord Westcliff (It Happened One Autumn) – 51%
🏆 WINNER: Marcus, Lord Westcliff (51%)
Wallflowers, Group 2 (February 15, 366 votes)
Sebastian, Viscount St. Vincent (Devil in Winter) – 84%
Matthew Swift (Scandal in Spring) – 14%
Rafe Bowman (A Wallflower Christmas) – 2%
Prince Nikolas Angelovsky (Prince of Dreams)* – 1%
🏆 WINNER: Sebastian, Viscount St. Vincent (84%)
Hathaways (February 16, 360 votes)
Cam Rohan (Mine Till Midnight) – 42%
Kev Merripen (Seduce Me At Sunrise) – 14%
Harry Rutledge (Tempt Me at Twilight) – 21%
Leo Hathaway (Married By Morning) – 23%
🏆 WINNER: Cam Rohan (42%)
Hathaways & Bow Street (February 17, 343 votes)
Captain Christopher Phelan (Love In The Afternoon) – 38%
Grant Morgan (Someone to Watch Over Me) – 5%
Sir Ross Cannon (Lady Sophia's Lover) – 36%
Nick Gentry (Worth Any Price) – 21%
🏆 WINNER: Captain Christopher Phelan (38%)
Gamblers & Capitol Theatre (February 18, 353 votes)
Lord Alex Raiford (Then Came You) – 16%
Derek Craven (Dreaming of You) – 77%
Damon Savage (Somewhere I'll Find You) – 3%
Logan Scott (Because You're Mine) – 4%
🏆 WINNER: Derek Craven (77%)
Standalones (February 19, 327 votes)
Heath Rayne (Love, Come to Me) – 3%
Hunter, Earl of Hawksworth (Stranger in My Arms) – 6%
Zachary Bronson (Where Dreams Begin) – 20%
Jack Devlin (Suddenly You) – 71%
🏆 WINNER: Jack Devlin (71%)
Round 2: Final 8
Ravenels (February 20, 550 votes)
Rhys Winterborne (Marrying Winterborne) – 56%
West Ravenel (Devil's Daughter) – 44%
🏆 WINNER: Rhys Winterborne (56%)
Wallflowers (February 21, 534 votes)
Marcus, Lord Westcliff (It Happened One Autumn) – 26%
Sebastian, Viscount St. Vincent (Devil in Winter) – 74%
🏆 WINNER: Sebastian, Viscount St. Vincent (74%)
Hathaways (February 22, 464 votes)
Cam Rohan (Mine Till Midnight) – 71%
Captain Christopher Phelan (Love In The Afternoon) – 29%
🏆 WINNER: Cam Rohan (42%)
Gamblers & Standalone (February 23, 353 votes)
Derek Craven (Dreaming of You) – 65%
Jack Devlin (Suddenly You) – 35%
🏆 WINNER: Derek Craven (65%)
Round 3: Final 4
Final 4, Group 1 (February 24, 634 votes)
Rhys Winterborne (Marrying Winterborne) – 42%
Sebastian, Viscount St. Vincent (Devil in Winter) – 58%
🏆 WINNER: Sebastian, Viscount St. Vincent (58%)
Final 4, Group 2 (February 25, 678 votes)
Cam Rohan (Mine Till Midnight) – 50%
Derek Craven (Dreaming of You) – 50%
🏆 TIE!! Cam Rohan (50%) and Derek Craven (50%)
Round 4: Final 3
In an unexpected turn of events, yesterday’s vote was a dead heat at 50/50. So I’m putting both Cam and Derek through to the final round!
Depending on input from voters and how definitive (or not) the results of this three-way vote is, I may add one additional voting day for the top two of this poll to go head to head.
Final 3 (February 26, 634 votes)
Sebastian, Viscount St. Vincent (Devil in Winter) – 58%
Cam Rohan (Mine Till Midnight) – 25%
Derek Craven (Dreaming of You) – 16%
🏆 AND THE WINNER IS… SEBASTIAN, VISCOUNT ST. VINCENT
The lovable rake could not be stopped! We didn’t need a final vote, as St. Vincent handily beat the other two heroes combined.
Bonus Rounds
St. Vincent was clearly the overall winner based on Wednesday’s vote, garnering 58% of the votes. Even if Cam and Derek’s votes had been combined towards just one of them (41%), they still wouldn’t have beaten him. (I know those % don’t add up to 100, but that’s what IG gave me 😂).
The tie on Tuesday complicated things a bit and I feel like Rhys got a bum deal going up against St. Vincent, when there wasn’t a clear winner between Cam and Derek. There’s also an element of luck in any bracket based on who you get paired with and only the ultimate winner is truly definitive. So we’re doing a bonus vote to determine 2nd, 3rd and 4th place of the remaining Top 4 heroes!
Final 3 (February 28, 470 votes)
Rhys Winterborne (Marrying Winterborne) – 59%
Cam Rohan (Mine Till Midnight) – 25%
Derek Craven (Dreaming of You) – 16%
🏆 WINNER: Rhys Winterborne (59%)
Giving us our Top 4 of:
Sebastian, Viscount St. Vincent
Rhys Winterborne
Cam Rohan
Derek Craven
I added this last vote just for fun and to give some recognition to the most popular heroes who didn’t make it past Round 1.
Best of the Bested (March 1, 454 votes)
Tom Severin (Chasing Cassandra) – 51%
Simon Hunt (Secrets of a Summer Night) – 19%
Leo Hathaway (Married By Morning) – 20%
Sir Ross Cannon (Lady Sophia's Lover) – 10%
🏆 WINNER: Tom Severin (51%)
Resources
Lisa Kleypas catalogue (Fantastic Fiction)
A Comprehensive Categorization of Kleypas Heroes (@baskinsuns on Fated Mates)
For those who celebrate, Derek Craven Day is February 4 (created by Fated Mates) and St. Vincent’s Day is April 2 (created by Heaving Bosoms).
Round 1: Group Stage
32 heroes | Voting on groups of 4, winner moves to next round
Wednesday, February 12: Ravenels, Group 1
Thursday, February 13: Ravenels, Group 2
Friday, February 14: Wallflowers, Group 1
Saturday, February 15: Wallflowers, Group 2
Sunday, February 16: Hathaways
Monday, February 17: Hathaways & Bow Street
Tuesday, February 18: Gamblers of Craven’s & Capitol Theatre
Wednesday, February 19: Standalones
Round 2: Final 8
8 heroes | Voting on groups of 2, winner moves to next round
Thursday, February 20: Ravenels - Final 2
Friday, February 21: Wallflowers - Final 2
Saturday, February 22: Hathaways & Bow Street - Final 2
Sunday, February 23: Gamblers of Craven’s, Capitol Theatre & Standalones - Final 2
Round 3: Final 4
4 heroes | Voting on groups of 2, winner moves to next round
Monday, February 24: Ravenels vs. Wallflowers
Tuesday, February 25: Hathaways & Bow Street vs. Gamblers of Craven’s, Capitol Theatre & Standalones
Round 4: Final 2
2 heroes | Winner crowned!
Wednesday, February 26: THE FINAL VOTE!
Voting Bracket Breakdown
Note: This showdown focuses on Lisa’s UK-based historical heroes, so the Vallerand series is not included. Also, Lisa’s two earliest books Where Passion Leads and Forever My Love are very hard to find, so they also weren’t included.
Ravenels, Group 1
Devon Ravenel (Cold-Hearted Rake)
Rhys Winterborne (Marrying Winterborne)
Gabriel, Lord St. Vincent (Devil in Spring)
Ethan Ransom (Hello Stranger)
Ravenels, Group 2
West Ravenel (Devil's Daughter)
Tom Severin (Chasing Cassandra)
Keir MacRae (Devil in Disguise)
Lord Luke Stokehurst (Midnight Angel)*
Wallflowers, Group 1
John McKenna (Again the Magic)
Gideon Shaw (Again the Magic)
Simon Hunt (Secrets of a Summer Night)
Marcus, Lord Westcliff (It Happened One Autumn)
Wallflowers, Group 2
Sebastian, Viscount St. Vincent (Devil in Winter)
Matthew Swift (Scandal in Spring)
Rafe Bowman (A Wallflower Christmas)
Prince Nikolas Angelovsky (Prince of Dreams)*
Hathaways
Cam Rohan (Mine Till Midnight)
Kev Merripen (Seduce Me At Sunrise)
Harry Rutledge (Tempt Me at Twilight)
Leo Hathaway (Married By Morning)
Hathaways & Bow Street
Captain Christopher Phelan (Love In The Afternoon)
Grant Morgan (Someone to Watch Over Me)
Sir Ross Cannon (Lady Sophia's Lover)
Nick Gentry (Worth Any Price)
Gamblers & Capitol Theatre
Lord Alex Raiford (Then Came You)
Derek Craven (Dreaming of You)
Damon Savage (Somewhere I'll Find You)
Logan Scott (Because You're Mine)
Standalones
Heath Rayne (Love, Come to Me)
Hunter, Earl of Hawksworth (Stranger in My Arms)
Zachary Bronson (Where Dreams Begin)
Jack Devlin (Suddenly You)
*Stokehurst series used to fill in the groups.