Thursday 13: Our Favorite Heroines

While we all love ourselves a good Alpha male, sometimes it's the heroine who makes the story. These 13 are some of our favorite ladies in fiction.

1. Kinsey Holley: Jessica, from Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels. She's resilient and humorous, she loves him even when he's an ass but doesn't let him get away with any shit; she's more anxious than he is to take in his illegitimate son, and she's really smart. (Juniper says, "I love Jessica too. Great character.")
2. Juniper Bell: Sugar Beth from Ain't She Sweet? by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. She's a former spoiled Southern beauty who's taken a lot of hard knocks and learned humility and spunk.
3. Meg Benjamin: Christine Derrick in Mary Balogh's Slightly Dangerous. Resilient, charming, and determined to be unimpressed by the Duke of Bewcastle, who is, of course, very impressed with her.
4. Erin Nicholas: I've always loved Sugar Beth Carey from Susan Elizabeth Phillips' Ain't She Sweet? (When she and Juniper picked the same heroine, Erin said, "You have such great taste! I KNEW we were connected Juniper!")
5. Kate Davies: Alyssa Locke, from the Troubleshooters series by Suz Brockmann. Strong, competent, wounded, vulnerable, fiercely devoted.
6. Kelly Jamieson: Skeeter Bang from Tara Janzen's Steele Street series
7. Kinsey Holley: Merry, from Windflower - 17, kidnapped by a duke and his pirate half-brother, she befriends this wild child marquess' son and handles herself with aplomb throughout some very trying adventures.
8. Skylar Kade: Tilda Goodnight in Jennifer Crusie's Faking It. She's a little nerdy, a lot no-nonsense, and she falls for Davy Dempsey despite her best intentions.
9. PG Forte: Owl Tycho from Owl in Love. What's not to like about a 14 yr old owl-shifter experiencing her first crush?
10. Sydney Sommers: Mac from Karen Marie Moning's Fever series. She really grew each book from a superficial chick to kickass heroine.
11. Kinsey Holley: Abby Sinclair in Allison Pang's 1st book (it's a trilogy) A Brush of Darkness. She's survived a horrible car accident that killed her mom, she's stuck in this town because she's tied to a fae, but she's tough and loyal and resourceful. No crying or freaking out, and she's understanding of the hero's really substantial issues. It's not HEA or HFN, because it's ongoing, so I'm excited to start reading the next book to see what happens. Also - Abby lives with a miniature unicorn who likes to sleep in her underwear drawer. I think that's cool.
12. Meg Benjamin: Tilda Goodnight in Jennifer Crusie's Faking It. Funniest book ever.
13. Skylar Kade: Georgina Hathaway from Catherine Coulter's Aftershocks. She's the first romance heroine I ever read, and she's really stuck with me.

If we just added a few books to your TBR pile, don't be mad! It's the holiday season--indulge in an extra book or ten!

Want payback? Tell us your favorite heroine in the comments!