My Favorite Heroines

I admit it, I read books for the heroines. Oh, give me a Lord of Scoundrels and I'll be in a tizzy for the hero, but truly, nothing loses me quicker than a heroine that I don't love.

Like Quinn in Crazy for You by Jennifer Crusie. Quinn is every woman who happens to be the woman I'd like to be. She decides she wants a dog and in a short time, that one decision starts life changing events in the lives of everyone around her.

The hero Nick is cool. But Quinn is the coolest. I want her to be my best friend, my sister, my neighbor and the heroine of more books.

Another favorite heroine is Ella in Lisa Kleypas' Smooth Talking Stranger. Ella is a nice woman who tries not to make waves and smooth the waters around her. She's got a boyfriend she gets along well with, a family that is broken and when she's forced into caring for a child and trying to discover her sister's secrets, she still tries to do it as nicely as possible.

I love when she finally starts accepting her own wants. I love that she allows love into her life even though she knows it might destroy her.

Oh and Daphne from Loretta Chase's Mr. Impossible. Oh lord, this book is a delight. Daphne is a brilliant woman who has to pretend not to be brilliant and when her brother (aka, her beard) goes missing, she ends up with Rupert, a loveable dumb ox who isn't as dumb as he appears. Those two are hysterical.

I love when Loretta Chase writes dumb men and smart women. Nobody makes a dumb man look better and gives a witty heroine a better spotlight.

And last but never least, I have to mention Liz/Abby from Nora Robert's The Witness. She's one of the smartest, saddest heroines you'll ever meet. Carolyn kept saying that all she wanted to do was hug her and I completely agreed.

She's a woman who should have folded from the events of her life but instead she perservered and made a life one could admire. The hero Brookes was great but it was Liz/Abby who was the heart and soul of the story and oh my lord, she made the book one of the best I've read in years.

So those are my heroines.

The Series vs The Single

I'm reading the Bridgerton books by Julia Quinn for the first time and they're brilliant. Well, wait... let me restate this. I have read the first three and the second was 100% my favorite, the first was excellent and the third was okay. Today I'm going to start Romancing Mr. Bridgerton which is rumored to be the best.

The thing about series romances is that they can't all have the same story line. The Duke and I was the first and a good read. Good enough that I wanted to read them all. Then came The Viscount Who Loved Me and I was in heaven. It had my favorite trope of all time: two brilliant characters who hate each other, snipe constantly and fall in love.

The third book, An Offer From a Gentleman was a complete and total Cinderella story which was fine but not a trope I adore. The heroine was in such dire straights because of her illegitmate birth that no matter how smart or strong she was, she was always weak because her choices sucked.

So the books are a real see-saw of enjoyment for me. The writing is excellent but the things that make me love a story are definately back and forth. The strong heroine I adore was in books one and two but not three. I have a feeling that book 4 will have another heroine I love.

The heroes are all excellent and the Bridgerton family is one I like. I think that in this case the family adds to the pleasure as does the chapters beginning with comments from a scandal sheet but a part of me wishes for single title romances so I can pick and choose my heroines more carefully.

(Yes, I read and I'm heroine-centric. A great hero means shit to me if the woman isn't one I root for.)

I'm going to start the fourth book next. And after that... well, I don't know. There's a new Loretta Chase series starting. Do I dare?