Heroines Archives : All About Romance

Heroes and Heroines in Romance Novels with Unusual Occupations

By Caroline Russomanno|2022-05-12T21:16:00-04:00April 27th, 2022|Categories: Caroline AAR, Heroes, Heroines, Romance, Romance reading, tags|

I’ve been developing our “unusual occupations” tag, and I need your help!

I stated by visiting our old Special Title listings for Unusual Professions. Let me tell you, some of those jobs are a LOT more popular than we evidently thought. We have characters on that list who are, for example, archaeologists, paleontologists, and botanists. Well, it turns out that these professions are actually so common in romance that they can fill out their own tags! “Prostitute,” “male escort,” and “gigolo” are currently captured by our sex worker tag. Even tattoo artists and coffee shop owners are romance novel leads more frequently than you think!

The list did turn up a few awesome and original careers, such as the […]

A Retro Write: Yes We Can! Our favorite Activist Heroines

By Caroline Russomanno|2021-06-19T10:14:33-04:00June 19th, 2021|Categories: AAR Shannon, Caroline AAR, Dabney AAR, Heroines, Keira Soleore, Kristen D, Maggie AAR, Romance reading|Tags: AAR Loves, activists, Blog Blast from the Past, heroines, Retro Write|

originally published on February 3, 2017

Women have a long history of standing up for their beliefs, and there are great romance novels starring heroines doing just that. American and British suffragettes (or suffragists), Civil Rights activists, lawyers, writers, organizers, and military rebels – you’ll find all of them here, and more. Let these ladies inspire you to fight for your beliefs, whatever they happen to be.

Caroline Russomanno:

Erica Johnson – Unfinished Business by Karyn Langhorne

Erica, a teacher, is tired of seeing funding diverted away from the neediest and most vulnerable. She protests at the hero’s (a Southern Republican senator’s) press conference and is dragged out by police. This book is set during the W. Bush administration and Erica is a strong reminder that black activists have been working continuously, even when out of the […]

Winsome or Loathsome: Daphne Bridgerton

By Dabney Grinnan|2021-01-02T06:58:42-05:00January 2nd, 2021|Categories: Characters, Dabney AAR, Heroines, Winsome or Loathsome|Tags: Bridgerton, Bridgerton series, Julia Quinn, Netflix, The Duke and I, Winsome or Loathsome|

Given the phenomenal interest in Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton series, we thought it would be fun to republish this!

originally published on March 2, 2015

Welcome to our new column, Winsome or Loathsome. (I was rooting for Dreamgirl or Disaster but was outvoted.) Like its counterpart, Dreamboat or Douchebag, this column will look at well-known heroines and ask the pointed question: Winsome or Loathsome? We will reserve our critique for heroines who are not universally loved or who are known for behaving badly at some point in their stories. […]

Anticipating Matilda – Mary Balogh’s next heroine

By |2019-10-21T10:38:43-04:00October 23rd, 2019|Categories: Characters, Heroines, Historicals, Janet AAR, Upcoming releases|Tags: Mary Balogh, seasoned romance, Westcott series|

When I read Mary Balogh’s Only Beloved, the seventh and final book in Mary Balogh’s Survivor’s Club series which took as its heroine Dora Debbins, a thirty-nine-year-old spinster, who had “lost all hope of marriage,” I thought good on Balogh, venturing into rather virgin territory where women of a certain age, cherished within their family, unexpectedly find beloved themselves. But it seems Mary Balogh has a few more tricks up her sleeve and now I’m “Anticipating Matilda.” […]

Can we be BFFs? Or, ah, can I be you? (the TV version)

By Caz Owens|2018-09-01T19:09:59-04:00September 2nd, 2018|Categories: Anne Marble, BJ Jansen, Caroline AAR, Characters, Dabney AAR, Heroines, Lisa F, Maggie AAR, Pop Culture, Romance reading, Shannon AAR, Television|

Jenna’s recent Laminate Freebie List post started a fair bit of discussion on the site and behind the scenes at AAR, and we began to discuss the possibility of making some other lists, and talking about what we’d do if we did. In the end, we’ve rolled two of our most popular suggestions into one, and have nominated the female characters we’d either most like to be or most like to be friends with.

Kristen Donnelly:

Who I’d like to be:

CJ Cregg, The West Wing. When the series started, CJ was the press secretary and was eventually promoted to Chief of Staff. Poised, sarcastic, and powerful, CJ navigates a world designed by men with aplomb. I never fully bought that she was a disaster in her private life the way Sorkin wanted me too, more like she understood there were seasons of life and this season was about public service and that […]

Heroes in Real Time

By Jenna Harper|2017-09-15T16:23:03-04:00September 15th, 2017|Categories: AAR Jenna, All About Romance, Heroes, Heroines, Real Life|

I admit that I love to read romance novels for pretty much one reason – the swoon-worthy heroes. Be they Navy SEALs, roguish pirates, Scottish warriors or powerful tycoons, their confidence and swagger and charm all draw me in and allow me to escape to a fantasy world where the good guy will always save the day.

Given all of the recent turmoil in our world, what with hurricanes and political tempests galore, it’s tempting to escape into those fantasies as much as possible. But every once in a while, I’m reminded that real heroes walk among us. These are the guys and gals who put their lives on the line every day to help a stranger. They go in when others are rushing out. They serve as real-life examples to our sons and daughters of the best that humanity has to offer.

Below are photos of these super folks in action. We tip our hats and thank them profusely for […]

Refugee Heroines

By Caz Owens|2019-05-04T13:05:36-04:00February 22nd, 2017|Categories: Caroline AAR, Heroines, Maggie AAR, Reading, Romance, Romance reading|Tags: AAR Loves, heroines, refugees|

Regency spy novels are chock full of French emigrés fleeing the Revolution, but more recent stories of migration, including refugees, can be a little harder to find. Here are some post-World War II stories of heroes and heroines either living in areas of crisis, fleeing them, or encountering other characters who have done both. We have border patrol agents, war orphans and adoptees, humanitarian workers, and ordinary people trying to survive.

Caroline Russomanno:

A Daughter’s Journey by Linda Cardillo in the anthology A Mother’s Heart. Journalist Melanie Ames escapes Saigon just before the city is retaken by North Vietnamese forces, cutting short her love affair with a doctor in the city. Decades later, she returns with her adopted Vietnamese daughter Tien, who is seeking to learn more about her roots, and finds her lover still in country, […]

Are you reading the Mary Russell series? Because it’s great.

By Dabney Grinnan|2017-06-23T08:30:11-04:00March 30th, 2016|Categories: Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Melanie AAR, Mysteries|Tags: Laurie R. King, mysteries, Sherlock Holmes|

Has anyone here not read the Mary Russell series yet? If so, stop now and go find yourself a copy of The Beekeeper’s Apprentice and meet young Mary Russell, 15 years old and orphaned, and snarking at a much older Sherlock Holmes who has retired to Sussex and beekeeping. Pulling heavily from Doyle’s representation of Sherlock Holmes (and still acknowledging both Doyle and Watson as fiction writers and creators of the world’s view of Sherlock Holmes), Laurie R. King has given us a new character, and a new perspective, in the great wide world of Sherlock fanworks. […]

Jessica Trent: Winsome or Loathsome?

By Dabney Grinnan|2017-06-23T08:30:17-04:00August 30th, 2015|Categories: Caroline AAR, Heroines, Winsome or Loathsome|

Welcome back to Winsome or Loathsome, the column in which AAR staffers lobby for and against controversial heroines. Today’s heroine is the leading lady of Loretta Chase’s Lord of Scoundrels, Jessica Trent.

Jessica is cool under pressure – her grandmother calls her “magnificently objective” – and does things like calmly looking at a naughty watch and suggesting it as a gift for that same grandmother. She is aloof, unconventional, and nearly impossible to shock or offend. And of course, she both hits Dain and, in the most polarizing scene in the book, shoots him for refusing to offer marriage after compromising her.

AAR reviewers tended to agree that Jessica was over-the-top, or at least, to use the Spinal Tap phrase, turned up to 11. But does that work?

Jean: I’m pretty indifferent to Lord of Scoundrels. I don’t consider it the […]

Poldark: A BBC Winner

By Caz Owens|2017-06-23T08:30:20-04:00May 1st, 2015|Categories: Book news, Caz AAR, Characters, Heroes, Heroines, Television|Tags: Aidan Turner, BBC, Cornwall, Poldark|

Ross and Demelza When Dabney recently asked for ideas for new TV shows to watch, shows with well-developed relationships and strong female characters, I chimed in immediately to suggest she might like to watch the BBC’s new adaptation of Poldark, an eight part costume drama set in late 18^th Century Cornwall. It’s due to air in the US in June on PBS, and has just reached the end of its run here in the UK, with the promise of a second series to come next year. […]