Am I the only one who’s tired of reading books about women who let rich guys beat the crap out of them, or lust after blood-sucking mythological creatures, or lead a revolution–reluctantly? Look at the 3 best-selling literary heroines of the last 5 years: Anastasia Steele, Bella Swan, and Katniss Everdeen. Where did they get […]
Is There Room for a New Thriller Heroine?
My recent poll proved Charlie Fox is a favorite thriller heroine ahead of Katniss Everdeen. Oddly, several well-known and long-standing female leads in thrillers fell below the entry “Still Looking”. Are some of the popular characters like Tempe Brennan, Stephanie Plum or Kay Scarpetta played out? Too much of the same thing? Charlie Fox evolved […]
Review: Killer Instinct
Killer Instinct – Author Zöe Sharp – ~99,000 words, $14.95 PB / $3.49 E I accidentally followed some author I’d never heard of simply because her tweets tended toward humor. After reading a few of her clever observations, I picked up Killer Instinct, her first book. Wow. What a great book. And don’t I feel […]
Still Looking for a Great Heroine
My post for Heroines in Fiction produced several unexpected results. First surprise: the hands-down favorite was Charlie Fox, the martial-arts expert created by Zoe Sharp. I’d never heard of Charlie Fox until two weeks ago when I met her author on Twitter. I read the book and loved it, so I included her. Apparently, she has a lot of […]
Poll: Heroines in Fiction
Update: While this poll remains open (heck, why not?) I’ve posted a new one called “Design Your Own Heroine“. Take the poll! Be heard! How should a female lead act, look, think? Literary heroines are everywhere these days. From Anastasia Steele to Katniss Everdeen, books are filled with more multi-faceted, complex women than ever […]