The Wishy-Washy Heroine

I'm going to complain a bit here. I don't want to, but...

I recently purchased two ebooks by the same author. I really wanted to read the third book, but I like to read a series in order. I did not purchase the first because it had a vampire hero, and I'm off vampires right now. (Yes, you can read too many vampire stories.)

So, as you can see from my anal description of my book buying practices, I had to read the second book before the one I really wanted to read. Sigh. The book was great! Everything I love, suspense, fantastic locations, futuristic, and paranormal flavor. There was also a hunky alpha male desperately in love with the heroine.

So what was the problem? The heroine was completely unworthy. I don't want to call her TSTL, but she was too wishy-washy. Did the heroine love the hero or not? I can't take pages of inner dialogue and action where the heroine is jerking the guy around because she doesn't like something she thought was adorable in the last chapter.

She was too undecided and it ruined it for me. In my mind she couldn't be trusted. It wasn't about conflict, there was enough in the plot and she didn't have to declare herself in love so early. I don't mean simple romance novel hero-heroine give and take. She didn't seem to like him even when he redeemed himself, for her!

She also put him in danger with her unworthiness. If she couldn't have his back when he had hers, she was untrustworthy. At a certain point in a romance novel, especially an action filled one, the hero and heroine are a team. They may grumble a bit, but they come to each others rescue. She turned her back on him when he really needed her. I began skimming her parts. I didn't care when she was in danger ( I know, harsh.)

The heroine in the third book was much better. The untrustworthy heroine was in the book as well, though. She was back to her old tricks, too. Sigh.

I know what you're thinking. "But Stormie, you kept reading the book!" I had to. Really, the rest of the book was awesome.

So, what do you think? Have you come across this type of heroine before? Leave a comment and we'll grumble together.

Stormie
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