Casee
- Elena Deveraux from Archangel’s Heart by Nalini Singh. Elena tops my list every year. She’s my all time favorite heroine. She never gives up on Raphael. She also never allows Raphael to bulldoze her with his strong personality. I heart her.
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Eve Dallas from Apprentice in Death by J.D. Robb. Eve Dallas is still as amazing as she was from the day Naked in Death came out. I can’t even choose between her and Elena. I think that they are the best heroines in romance.
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Vinnie Wellington from Shadow Falling by Rebecca Zanetti. Vinnie Wellington was a new heroine for me and I was highly impressed. She was tortured and came out on top. She’s a survivor.
Holly
- Dina DeMille from The Innkeeper Chronicles by Ilona Andrews: Dina is such a killer heroine. She’s an Innkeeper, which means she runs a bed-and-breakfast for intergalactic space travelers who are using Earth as a stopping point. She’s intelligent and pretty kickass, but also sweet and a caretaker. I loved every facet of her.
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Kate Daniels from The Kate Daniels Series by Ilona Andrews: Kate is just kickass, period. I might want to be her when I grow up.
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Elena Deveraux from The Guild Hunter series by Nalini Singh: Elena remains a favorite no matter how many series I read. She’s a kickass, tough woman, but also vulnerable enough to make her sympathetic. I adore her.
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Cerise Mar from Bayou Moon (The Edge series) by Ilona Andrews: Cerise was such a killer heroine. Street-wise and tough, the way she kept surprising her hero – and every one else – had me cheering for her right from the beginning.
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Audrey Kidder from Bittersweet by Sarina Bowen: Audrey was kind of a wild card for me. I didn’t love her at the beginning of the book, but her personal growth really stuck with me. When I was looking back at my reads for the year she stood out as one of the heroines who changed and grew the most during her book.
Rowena
- Charlotte Highwood from Do You Want to Start a Scandal by Tessa Dare: Charlotte was so young when we first met her in the Spindle Cove series and I’ve always wanted to read her story. I trusted Tessa Dare to take care of us and she totally did. Charlotte’s story was such a delightful read but more than that, Charlotte was a fantastic heroine. I loved her at every turn in her book. She was so great!
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Anna Latham from Cry Wolf by Patricia Briggs: When I first met Anna Latham, she was at her lowest or pretty close to it but man, you can see the potential right from the beginning. You can see the strength in her and I really loved getting to know her.
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Sienna Laurens from Kiss of Snow by Nalini Singh: Sienna was the bomb dot com. When she unleashes the force of her rage on the people that would dare to harm her loved ones, I was blown away. She was always so strong headed, stubborn and what not but holy cow, the amount of love that she had for her loved ones was fierce. She was everything. Loved her!
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Ella Harper from Paper Princess by Erin Watt: Ella was another fierce heroine that I met in 2016. She so young and suffered so much but she didn’t let that determine her fate. She fought tooth and nail for everything and what I admired the hell out of was that she didn’t lose herself in the process. At least, not in Paper Princess and I really loved Ella in that book.
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Sophie Talbot from The Rogue Not Taken by Sarah MacLean: Sophie Talbot was another heroine that I absolutely adored. She had me laughing from the beginning to the end of her book. I loved getting to know her. I love how she really came into her own in her book and how fierce she was in her beliefs and in her passions. She was a memorable heroine for sure and one of my favorites of the year.
Who were your favorite heroines of 2016? Anyone we know and love? Share your favorites with us!
Love your lists! One of my favorite heroines from this year was Lou from the Search & Rescue book 1. I know some people found her too over-the-top but I loved her energy and craziness. I also really loved Jace from the Call of Crows book 2 (and actually that should have gone on my best books list too!). She is nerdy and introverted, and I want to be friends with her! And one final favorite was Calista from Amanda Quick’s Til’ Death Do Us Part. She’s smart and capable, and she totally forges her own path at a time when it was still near-impossible for a woman to survive on her own. The book had some issues, but Calista was amazing.
Looking back over my favorite books of the year, one thing they had in common was great heroines. I especially love Ilona Andrews’ and Patricia Briggs’ heroines. The one person that I’d add to this list is Sophie from Moonshadow by Thea Harrison. She was a strong, competent, independent woman who refused to take orders from the hero Nik. He was an old-fashioned alpha who tried to “protect” her all the time and she was having none of it. Every time he tried to order her to stay back, not get involved, etc, she basically shook her finger in his face, told him off, and went out and saved the day. It was great.