The Perfect Heroine

So I think I'm on my last "perfect" post, unless I write about the perfect dog, which is a title taken by my deceased dog Honi, who WAS, indeed, the perfect dog, and at least a dozen people who knew her told me so, so then it must be true.

But what makes a perfect heroine?

For me, it is that she is utterly imperfect. Messy, quirky, neurotic, wise-mouthed . . . (hmm . . . sounds like someone I know). Better yet, she is NOT self-absorbed and cares about something bigger than herself. Billie Quinn worshipped at the altar of Chemistry and solving cold cases. Cassie Hayes sacrificed for Work. Ava in The Roofer for Family. There was always something in my heroines that they cared about far mroe than themselves.

I hate to say it, but the above reason is very often why I don't read romance and was selective about chick lit. Because so much of it, or too much of it, felt like it was all about ME (not me, per se, but Heroine). Wanting to get married, find a boyfriend, get revenge on a old boyfriend, whittle down to a size 2, shop, go to the hot spot, whatever it was . . . it wasn't from MY world. I just don't care about those things. And I generally don't care to spend my time around people who do. You want to talk politics, social causes, books, family . . . I'm with you. Well, except politics. That leads to fights.

But, dedicated to a cause or something bigger than herself, my heroine must be deeply flawed and the journey for her is discovering that flaw and repairing it. Not perfectly. But enough that she is wiser by the end. She is also, throughout, loyal to a fault. And smart. And usually funny.

So that's my perfect heroine. And when I think of books I have loved that resonate through me, I think of Jo in Little Women . . . and you know? She is a perfectly modern heroine in this vein. Loyal to a fault, funny, headstrong . . . but flawed in acting and speaking without thinking, and sometimes a little selfish. A perfect heroine.

So what's your idea of a perfect heroine?