Top Ten Tuesday: Things on My Reading Wishlist

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created and hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Top Ten Things on My Reading Wishlist
My wishlist this week is about the perfect lead female character with five characteristics I wish more female leads had and five characteristics I don’t want to see in a female lead. There are a lot of authors who get their bad-ass heroines just right, and there are some authors who need to shake up their heroines. I don’t need a female character turning into a ball-buster or into a stubborn know-it-all with a propensity for too-stupid-to-die actions. I just need a strong, independent lead who can take care of herself and those that she loves.

5 Things I like to see in my heroines:

1. Intelligence
See Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

2. Healthy self esteem
3. Just Being Plain Good at Your Job
See Eve Dallas from the In Death series by J.D. Robb

4. Saving the Man Instead of Needing to be Saved
See Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

Also see this very insightful article about Peeta actually being the Movie Girlfriend

5. A Sense of Humor Especially in the Face of Adversity
I love a female lead capable of witty banter, but not overdoing the snark factor. Also, there is nothing worse than a whiny or mopey lead.

See Charley Davidson from First Grave on the Right (Charley Davidson #1) by Darynda Jones

5 Characteristics We Need Less Of:
1. Damsel in Distress.
You have a brain and abilities - use them! Save yourself!

2. Losing Your Femininity
Why can’t women act like a female and still be bad-ass? It is possible to wear makeup and dresses, show some vulnerability and care about your friends/families/pets and still be a bad-ass. Even some of my favorite heroines have this characteristic and it drives me crazy.

See Eve Dallas from the In Death series by J.D. Robb

3. Being Too Stubborn or Refusing to Ask for/Accept Help From Friends
Just because you’re a bad-ass, does not mean that you don’t need a little help. And a lot of times being too stubborn for your own good leads to….

4. Making Irrational, Unexplainable and Too-Stupid-To-Die Decisions.
The equivalent of the slasher flick chick running up the stairs of the house with no weapon instead of running out the front door with a knife, a gun, or anything that could possibly cause bloodshed.

5. Accepting (Meekly and Submissively) That Your Male/Man is Alpha
Almost nothing will make me put down a book faster than this. Is it just me or is paranormal romance full of these alpha male, Me-Tarzan-You-Jane characters who just get to throw tantrums and get their way?

What is on your reading wishlist?