I had to take a break from the Super Bowl, though I like the Colts, I’m a Bears fan back from the Super Bowl Shuffle, and watching them lose after waiting so long is paining me.

Originally, I was going to make my first post on annoying heroines, but I got side tracked by the lack of American based romances earlier in the day.

Yesterday, I had a book in my hand, I think it was the Nymph King by Gina Showalter (sp?). I threw the book a few yards from where I was reading it after the first few chapters, which kind of surprised me, because I’m not usually a book flinger.

The heroine in the story starts out as a complete grouch, bordering on unrepentant bitch.Yeah, she had reason to be the way she was, and readily admitted that other people tend to not like her, but the backlash was that I didn’t like her either.

I get that the author was trying to make it a personality issue for her, but at the same time, if no one else who is human wants to get close to her, why should the reader? To be fair, I actually ended up reading the rest of the book, and found it fairly readable. The heroine calms down a bit towards the middle, and I found her more likable as I went along, but not by much.

I have a problem with bitchy heroines, the same way I do with ass hole heroes. Authors set out to show off a strong female character, but instead create a very hard to like heroine with too many hang ups. It’s as though they are saying, they are strong because of all the bad things that have happened in their life. Why can’t someone be strong just because they are confident in themselves?

Same with some alphas. Like chocolate, I love me some Alpha, I admit, but there has been many a hero who has skated such a thin line between Alpha and Asswipe that I wonder why the heroine would have anything to do with him in the first place.

I like the women I read about to be strong and smart, and not roll over and play victim all the time. But, I also like them to be nice people. That doesn’t mean they should be weepy or girly girl, but I’ve seen a whole lot of the ”I have a chip on my shoulder cuz all my men have done me wrong” type of woman in contemporary fiction lately, and it’s starting to ware thin.

The typically hard headed heroine usually puts herself in situations that she obviously cannot handle on her own, and then bitches about having to be rescued in the aftermath. There have been times while reading a Heather Graham book where I’ve thought to myself, the hero would have been way better off leaving the heroine in enemy camp, found himself a woman who wouldn’t bitch him out for doing a good deed, and lived a happy life.

I’m hoping the new SEP release will not leave me wanting to throw it across the room after the first few chapters. I hear the heroine is kind of hard to deal with, but I liked her last one enough to think about giving this one a try.