#but if the heroine lacks dignity or any sense of self throughout the novel that is so fucking hollow

[mermaidsirennikita]

Since we're on the topic what is your favourite kind of romance heroine? It doesn't have to be one specific type just what kind do you gravitate towards.

Hmmm I mean, I love a lot of romance heroines, but I've noticed that I tend to enjoy heroines who've experienced life most of all or are very determined to experience it. This doesn't have to mean a widow in historicals, or even necessarily one who isn't a virgin (though I do prefer a non-virgin heroine over a virgin--and it truly doesn't matter lol, I'll read either very happily, it's just that like... if I HAD to choose I'd pick a heroine who wasn't a virgin, and the hopeful? series I'm trying to write does not feature any virgin heroines, which wasn't planned and sort of just happened). I just like a heroine who's at least somewhat jaded, who knows how the world works. Someone who is closed off.

I do love an ice queen. The lady of the manor, as it were. I also really love an unrepentantly sexual and hedonistic heroine--like, I ADORE this type, virgin or not. Someone who's all "well what happens if I do tHIS?" and very happily teases her partner. I think both the ice queen who's seen too much of the world and is tired of this shit and the very sexual heroine (whether she's done it before or adjusts to it like a duck to water lol) are preferable to me than like... The true babe in the woods innocent who's like "whaaaaat" at every single sexual thing that happens. Like, as an example of how you can handle this with virgin heroines--Evie in Devil in Winter is a virgin, but she's very naturally sexual and doesn't have an issue with adjusting to St. Vincent's appetites and is soooo into sex that she's the one who "makes" him lose the bet. And she's so practical about it. She finds out they need to fuck to make it legit and goes "yeah that sounds about right". She's not all shocked or whatever.

I love very feminine heroines, and will usually gravitate towards heroine that give "divine feminine" vibes over tomboy vibes. BUT THAT BEING SAID. I can get behind most heroines. Very rarely will I turn down a book just because the heroine doesn't seem like my type. I tend to love heroines that people hate. The only things I really can't do with heroines is:

--constant insecurity

--constantly mentioning how plain or ugly she is like shut the fuck up Mr. 6'5" stunnah with a 9 inch cock is railing you at every minute, I don't buy it, this feels like such pandering and I frankly don't want or need it

--subset: heroines who are fat and are always like "I know that because of my ample body he probably doesn't like me" oh my god this romance hero is clearly one of those guys who likes to see it jiggle get ooooover it (I say this as someone with insecurities about my weight--I just can't get behind heroines who agonize over it every other page, she can have body image issues without it being 20% of the novel)

--heroines who fuck the hero over but it's fine because she's the heroine and he's the hero and we never confront these actions ever (ex: I just a read a book I was really loving with an NFL player hero who was a virgin, and the heroine deflowered him, they fell in love, and this Ashley Madison type site put out a $1 million reward for a woman who could prove she took his virginity; someone steals hero's phone and leaks nudes of the heroine she sent him, and it's hORRIBLE and she's understandably traumatized and depressed, but she claims her power by TELLING THE PRESS SHE TOOK HIS V CARD without TELLING HIM IN ADVANCE so she can donate the money to charity???? And when he's understandably mad it's treated as this overreaction on his part??? And dude I am sorry but how the fuck is very intimate info about his sex life being shared without his permission okay???? Anyway sorry that shit blew my mind.). I find that condescending.

Heroines I love that I think sum up a lot of this:

--Greer Galloway/Colchester/Galloway Colchester Moore or whatever the fuck from New Camelot by Sierra Simone. Greer is so self-possessed and cool and smart, but she's also like, this hedonistic wild woman who is fully willing to "why not both?" her marriage. Lol some of the best parts of the sex scenes in those books are Greer in the background like "GIVE HIM THE DICK!!!!!"

--Neomi Laress, Dark Needs at Night's Edge by Kresley Cole. A total temptress(ssss) who flirts first and asks questions later, but is also out for her own (understandable) game and accidentally falls in love with a deeply damaged Conrad Wroth and is like "he is baby". Both tough and jaded and deeply nurturing once her heart opens up.

--Ellie Peirce, Lothaire by Kresley Cole. I love Ellie so fucking much. (And she's a virgin heroine, so again, I love all!) She's tough as nails (her epigraph is literally "steel magnolia? TRY TITANIUM") but has the vulnerability to like, cry and break down when shit gets really hard. She refuses to be disrespected. She's very in touch with her own sexuality and uses it to get what she wants. I love a heroine who approaches a hero that is basically the equivalent to a massive toothy snarling monster and like, solemnly buckles a diamond collar that says "BRAT" or something around his neck, and then he's just her bitch from there on out.

--Eleanor Ramsay, The Duke's Perfect Wife by Jennifer Ashley. A new favorite! I love her your honor! Very fun and nice and perky and confident, but has been around the block and isn't super quick to trust Hart this time around. (Even if they did have sex THRICE like a decade ago, as he constantly reminds her.) She had the dignity to expect better from him and dumped his ass without crying (in front of him). She also, unfortunately, can't resist that dick. And wants to take Victorian photographs of it. The dichotomy of woman. But again, this heroine who just blinks at the hero unimpressed and goes "down boy" is really My Shit.

--Sara Fielding, Dreaming of You by Lisa Kleypas. Sara really encapsulates a specific subset of heroine that I love, and I think this is probably my favorite type of virgin heroine, which is "local woman cartwheels headlong into mortal peril at any given moment while very growly man shrieks in terror and runs after her like she's a priceless vase that just fell off his mantle". Sara is nosy, she's not afraid to learn, she is naive at points but in a very "my b" kind of way, she super doesn't care about cheating on her wet blanket fiance when Derek Craven is on the menu, and she does dumb shit like go "Should I get bangs?" (Derek: I WILL KILL MYSELF IF YOU GET BANGS.)