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This is a meme that's pretty popular in the book blogging world, and I always kind of wanted to participate but didn't have a blog. Seriously, why should book bloggers have all the fun?

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created over at The Broke and the Bookish. Everyone is welcome to join in, and don't worry if you can't think of 10 - just do as many as you can. As always they are in no particular order.Everyone is welcome to join. Have fun with it! It's a fun way to get to know your fellow members. :)

Top Ten Favorite Kick-Ass Heroines in Books

1. Tris from the Divergent series. She kind of starts off strong willed, but a little afraid and doesn't really have the physical strength. That soon changes however. She chooses the most difficult faction and instead of letting those that are bigger than her bully her, she fights back.

2. Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series. Can anyone really make a list of heroines and not include Hermione? She is the smartest witch of her age, stands up to the strongest of foes and doesn't even falter when one of the people *cough Ron cough* walks away. She, along with her two best friends, helps to save everyone.

3. Sansa Stark from the A Game of Thrones series. I love Sansa. So much. She and Margaery are probably my two favorite characters in the entire series. Remember how Brienne says to Catelyn that she has a "different sort of courage, a woman's courage"? Sansa has that too. If you're interested in reading, here's a post that pretty much sums up how I feel about Sansa and why:

4. Katniss Everdeen from the The Hunger Games series. Well, if she’s not bad-ass then I don’t know who is. She sacrificed herself to save her little sister from The Games, she saved Peeta and she gave President Snow the ultimate IN YOURFUCKINGFACE (at the end of the first games). While the series didn’t end perfectly, and Lord knows this girl dumb as a hammer when it comes to guys, I admire her strength. Had I been in her position, I would have hidden in a tree and cried until someone captured me. But not Katniss. Hell no.

5. Allie from the The Immortal Rules series. She had no fear and was willing to whatever it took to survive. Even when she became the thing she hated most.

6. Kansas from Taking on the Dead. She's got snark, dreads, and a fucking bomb shelter. The world succumbs to a zombie outbreak, and this bitch is swinging her machete Michonne-style.

7. Gemma from A Great and Terrible Beauty. Gemma starts off as insecure, and develops this amazing strength over the course of the trilogy. She has her flaws, but they don't impede her.

8. Josie Moraine from Out of The Easy. While she may not be physically strong, she's quick-witted, resourceful, and smart enough to find a way to control her future. When trouble finds her, she's close to giving up, she doesn't put her hand to her head and ask for help, she pushes on and finds a way to make it work.

9. Margaery Tyrell from A Game of Thrones series. Another character who isn't noted for her physical ability! Margaery doesn't have to be cruel or ruthless to play the Game of Thrones like a boss. Where Cersei scorns her femininity, Margaery embraces hers and uses it to her benefit. She's like the Kate Middleton of Westeros!

I'll have to think about this one and post my list tomorrow. :)

Awesome! I can't wait to see your list. :D

I too shall think on this

I like that you put Sansa on your list. I become agitated when I see people refer to her as the weak female pov or whatever. Seriously? She's just as strong, but in a different way. She's a survivor. There is another good post/article about her titled "In Defense of Sansa Stark" that is really good. Here is the link:

I'm excited to write up my list! I have to look through my favorite books and compile my thoughts and I'll be back to post.

(I really like Sansa too. I don't think it's unheard of for a character to start off unlikeable. I've read many books where I hated a character but got to watch them grow and change and see their strengths blossom. Sansa is no different. Did I like her in the beginning, no. I didn't like how she treated her sister, and she was blind to Joffrey. But since everything has happened she's proven to be brave and bold. And while it may be a more understated version, then Arya or Dany or one of the other women, it's just as powerful. Phaedra from Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn reminds me of Sansa... oooh, she's a good one for my list!)

Top Ten Favorite Kick-Ass Heroines in Books
(In no particular order)

1. Rose, Vampire Academy

2. Mercy, Mercy Thompson

3. Katniss, The Hunger Games

4. Yelena, Study

5. Saba, Dustlands

6. Fayth, Shifters

7. Georgina, Georgina Kincaid

8. Charley, Charley Davidson

9. Elisa, Fire and Thorns

10. Katsa, Graceling

Now that I think about it, Mercy Thompson has always had the top spot in this list. I swear I would marry that girl if she was real!


There are other kickass ladies in other books I've read worth mentioning, Justine from The Dissillusionists trilogy . Celia, The Night Circus . Penryn, Penryn & the End of Days . Temple, Reapers . Cat, Night Huntress .

Thanks for sharing that, Jenny! I love it. LOVE. IT. I also feel like people have a tendency to forget that she was only eleven when she met Joffrey. Personally, when I was eleven, I was a horrible beast of a girl. I was mean to my siblings and had silly crushes and cried over dresses. This is perfectly normal, I think. Obviously the scraggly neckbeards made much better decisions at eleven.

TLDR; I agree that Sansa is a BAMF.


Wendy, I've been meaning to read the Lumatere chronicles foreverrr. And yay! Another Sansa supporter!!

Uggghh Carina, how could I have forgotten about Cat, Elisa, or Fayth?! Worst of all, I completely forgot about Rose! /fail
This is a really good list. :D

Geez Carina. Way to steal 99.99% of what my list would be! lol j/k. I will reeeeeally have to think about it now.

I love this idea! I also follow that blog and think about what I'd choose but I have zero motivation for my own blog. I will add details later.

10. Mackayla "Mac" Lane from Darkfever

9. Georgia "George" Mason from Feed

8. Sansa Stark from A Game of Thrones

7. Eona from Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

6. Winry Rockbell from Fullmetal Alchemist, Vol. 01

5. Cimorene from The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

4. Deryn Sharp from Leviathan

3. Eowyn from The Lord of the Rings

2. Ella from Ella Enchanted

1. Alanna from The Song of the Lioness Quartet

Haha, sorry Hillary! And thanks Meg. But yeah, shame for forgetting those! Lol jk.

I agree with George too Natalie! I knew I had forgotten one.

I love that Sansa pic! She looks so badass!

Okay, so kick-ass is in theory, right? LMAO, I'm realizing that as I put together my list of favorite heroines, more than half of them aren't actually kick-ass, literally. They're mentally and emotionally kick-ass.

1. Quintana from Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn.
"...only to notice a white jagged line across her shoulder. He reached over to touch it and she flinched.
"What happened there?" He asked.
"Dagger," She said. She showed him an even more impressive scar on her upper thigh.
"Clumsy girl," He reproached, reaching out to touch it. She gripped his fingers and twisted them, nearly breaking one.
"Not clumsy at all," she said, letting go, and this time she sounded insulted. "Out of sixteen assassination attempts, only eight managed to leave a scar," she added. "Although I do swear that my hearing hasn't been the same since the ninth assassin hollered, 'Long live Charyn,' in my ear."
She showed him the remaining scars quickly, practically, and in the order they were received.

2. Hazel Grace from The Fault in Our Stars (This was so hard to pick just one quote that sums up Hazel Grace!)
“People will say it's sad that she leaves a lesser scar, that fewer remember her, that she was loved deeply but not widely. But it's not sad, Van Houten. It's triumphant. It's heroic. Isn't that the real heroism? Like the doctors say: First, do no harm.�

“She walks lightly, old man. She walks lightly upon the earth.�

3. Phaedra from Froi of the Exiles and Quintana of Charyn
“Phaedra shook her head. “If your people mean no offense, they should not speak their thoughts out loud in front of their children, Tesadora. Because it will be their children who come to slaughter us one day, all because of careless words passed down by their elders who meant no harm.�

4. Tara Finke from Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son
"We're the only democratic country in the world that puts children in jail," she says, looking around at everyone.
"It's very easy to express outrage from your comfortable middle class world, Miss Finke," Mr. Brolin says, pleased with himself.
"Well that's pretty convenient," she says sarcastically. "Shut the comfortable middle class up and rely on the fact that the uncomfortable lower classes in the world aren't able to express outrage and offer solutions. They're too busy trying not to get killed."
"I don't like your tone," he says.
"My tone's not going to change, Mr. Brolin."
"you have to question where you get your facts from," Brian Turner says.
"Where do you get yours? The Telegraph? Today Tonight? Your parents? Well, my mum works for the Red Cross Refugee and International Tracing Agency, and she goes and visits the people in Villawood every two weeks. We don't put on our uniforms just when it suits us, and I resent someone stopping me from saying what I believe just because I live happily in the suburbs."

5. Claire from Outlander, the series
“The rest of the journey passed uneventfully, if you consider it uneventful to ride fifteen miles on horseback through rough country at night, frequently without benefit of roads, in company with kilted men armed to the teeth, and sharing a horse with a wounded man. At least we were not set upon by highwaymen, we encountered no wild beasts, and it didn't rain. By the standards I was becoming used to, it was quite dull.�

6. Viola from Chaos Walking: A Trilogy
“But what he's forgetting," she says. "What he's forgetting is that me and Todd, we ran halfway across this planet together, by ourselves. We beat his craziest preacher. We outran an entire army and survived being shot and beaten and chased and we bloody well stayed alive this whole time without being blown up or tortured to death or dying in battle or anything."
She takes her hand of Lee so she's balancing just against me.
"Me and Todd? Together against the Mayor?" She smiles. "He doesn't stand a chance.�

7. Hermione from Harry Potter
Do I really have to put a quote? I mean, we all know why Hermione rocks, lmao.
(Thanks Meghann!)
Hermione drew herself to her full height; her eyes were narrowed and her hair seemed to crackle with electricity.
"No," she said, her voice quivering with anger, "but I will write to your mother."

8 & 9. Sansa and Arya from A Game of Thrones

“After my name day feast, I’m going to raise a host and kill your brother myself. That’s what I’ll give you, Lady Sansa. Your brother’s head.�
A kind of madness took over her then, and she heard herself say, “Maybe my brother will give me your head.� - Sansa

“It's just a stupid sword," she said, aloud this time... but it wasn't. Needle was Robb and Bran and Rickon, her mother and her father, even Sansa. Needle was Winterfell's grey walls, and the laughter of its people. Needle was the summer snows, Old Nan's stories, the heart tree with its red leaves and scary face, the warm earthy smell of the glass gardens, the sound of the north wind rattling the shutters of her room. Needle was Jon Snow's smile. He used to mess my hair and call me "little sister," she remembered, and suddenly there were tears in her eyes.� - Arya

10. Chess from Unholy Ghosts
“She was here, and she was stronger than this, harder than this. They could make her hate herself, make her doubt herself, but they couldn’t take away her deepest instinct. Not just the need to survive, but the need to survive long enough and strong enough to tell them to go fuck themselves.�

I love that you used quotations! I so should have done that. Also, Hermione's awesome needs to explanation. It just is. :D

Love that Sansa pic! I agree with Arya too.

I looked for one! But I couldn't find just one quote that said "Hermione"! So I gave up.

And Sansa and Arya... I couldn't think of a specific moment that stood out for me, moreso than them overall.

I'll find one for Chess when i get home. I had to get back to work, lmao... since I'm at work and all.

Haha, that pesky work thing.

Here's a cute Hermione one!

Hermione drew herself to her full height; her eyes were narrowed and her hair seemed to crackle with electricity.
"No," she said, her voice quivering with anger, "but I will write to your mother."

Not in order:
Katniss from The Hunger Games
Georgina from Succubus Blues
Rose from Vampire Academy
Arya from A Game of Thrones
Katsa from Graceling
Karou from Daughter of Smoke & Bone
Yelena from Poison Study
Janelle from Daughter of the Blood
Olivia from Captive in the Dark
Cat from Halfway to the Grave.
And special mention to Sansa, Phedre from Kushiel's Dart, Mac from Fever, Penryn from Angelfall, Trips from Divergent, Lela from Sanctum and Beatrice from Elemental Mysteries series.

Meghann, that is a cute one! I'll have to add it later when I'm home. :)

I love Sansa too!

In no particular order:

1. Cordelia Naismith from
2. Kate Daniels from
3. Holly Short from
4. Aerin from
5. Sabriel from
6. Keladry from
7. DJ from
9. Sunshine from
10. Amaranthe from

Arg! So many! I have to mention Karigan from Green Rider, Tarma and Kethry from the Oathbound duology, Celaena from Throne of Glass, Ella from Ella Enchanted, Paksenarrion from Deed of Paksenarrion, Joat from The Ship Avenged, Mercy Thompson, and Alanna and Ali.

whoo hoo, got the rest of my quotes in, lol!

In no particular order (and off the top of my head):

Pol from the Eddings books Polgara the Sorceress

Mac from Shadowfever

Temple from The Reapers Are the Angels

Georgia from Feed

Kate from Magic Bites

Chess from Unholy Ghosts

Sorcha from Daughter of the Forest

Eona from Eon: Dragoneye Reborn

Ruby Oliver of The Boyfriend List: 15 Guys, 11 Shrink Appointments, 4 Ceramic Frogs and Me, Ruby Oliver

Beth from Little Women, (just because)

Angela & Kami from

Risa from

Julie from

Jenny from

Max from

George from

Juliet from

Alice from

Lily from

I moved this down to fun & games, since I assume it will be a recurring topic?

I am having a hard time thinking of so many. There are a lot of female characters I love but I don't know if they all qualify for this list.

Some heroines I happen to like for being strong for various reasons :

Rose from because she kicks ass and fights for the greater good
Ellie from for showing strength of character and fighting for equality of the outcasts
Merit from because she also kicks ass and doesn't let anyone push her around
Faythe from because she's a tough bitch
Katniss for her inner strength moreso even than her physical prowess
Yelena from for playing on multiple strengths, most of all cunning
Mac from putting on her big girl pants and learning to grow up/figure out how to fix a bad situation when her life went to shit
Diana from for not conforming to what was expected of her

Even though I'm not a huge fan of Graceling, I do think Katsa was a strong character in her own right.

Meg's busy right now, so I'll throw something out there.

Let's go top ten villains. If you can't think of but a few, that's fine. List what you can.

Oooh, I'll totally be putting this list together when I get home tonight!

Came up with eight that actually have villains instead of an "unnamed group of people in charge." Which is what a lot of the books I read fall into. I'm sure there's still a lot that I'm missing. In no particular order:

Voldemort in because. That's why :P

Billy Dent in so good at the psychological stuff.

Warner in I love to hate him, but he's well rounded too.

Aaron in because I hate him. HATE HATE HATE him.

Mayor Prentiss in Calculated, precise, deliciously terrible.

The Protectorate in This man is just plain evil. I mean, seriously.

Dax Lafache in because I really enjoy the evolution of his character.

Dr. Cable in There's so many things psychologically wrong with Dr. Cable, which makes her broken, and awesome.

In no particular order:


Definitely Voldemort. Who splits their soul so much? Evil people.
Moriarty. Because a better evil nemesis is unlikely to exist.
Iago from Othello because he's SO DIABOLICAL.
Count Olaf from A Series of Unforunate Events. What a douche, am I right?
President Snow. Anyone whose breath smells like blood is sure to be a dickbag.
Sauron. Because he's like the evil observation tower in a panopticon of evil.
The Darkling from Shadow and Bone. Hands down my favorite jerk face of the past year.
The Other Mother from Coraline. Replacing eyes with buttons is the mark of an unstable person.
Ray from Living Dead Girl. Must cut his junk off. Must cut his junk off. Must cut his junk off.
Ramsay Bolton from A Song of Ice and Fire. Demented little shit.

This one is hard for me. I know that I've read books with villains in them but can't seem to think of who to list.

Ditto Stacia.

The only ones that I can name from the top of my head are Voldemort and President Snow.

Jenny, your list was perfect and had me cracking up.... Loved it! I also don't think the term "dickbag" is used often enough in my everyday life. This must change.

Hey guys! This week's Top Ten Tuesday is going to feature our favorite mean girls in books. Why is it that the villians always seem so much more interesting?

Top Ten Mean Girls

1. Penelope Hayes from The Luxe series. How could you not love this evil, scheming breath of fresh air? This socialite has everything � looks, wealth, brains, and a cold, cold heart.
“As she always did on any really important day, Penelope Hayes wore red.�

2. Blair Waldorf from the Gossip Girl series. Blair and Penelope are pretty much one in the same. I have a serious thing for a powerful, intelligent mean girl and Blair is no exception to that rule.
“Here is the thing. You have to be cold to be queen. Anne Boleyn loved with her heart, and ended up getting her head chopped off. But her daughter Elizabeth, vowed to never marry a man. She married a country. Keep your eye on the prize. You can't make people love you but you can make them fear you.�

3. President Coin from the Hunger Games series. Yea, I know she was executed, but you can't deny this woman's brains and style. She was smart, cunning, and completely jack shit insane. Kinda like Margaret Thatcher.
"When the time comes, I'll flip you for it."

4. Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind. The original Belle of the Ball, Scarlett can be looked at as a conniving, spoiled brat or as a clever survivor. The girl does what she needs to to survive. Occasionally marrying for money, Scarlett pines over the spineless Ashley, her cousin Melly's husband. Yet despite all her flaws, Scarlett does what needs to be done in order to keep her family from starving.
“How wonderful to know someone who was bad and dishonorable and a cheat and a liar, when all the world was filled with people who would not lie to save their souls and who would rather starve than do a dishonorable deed!�

Alright, this is all I've got for the moment. I'll add to the list if I think of more.

Who's on your Top Ten Tuesday list this week?

I love this list. I don't know why I can't think of stuff off the top of my head. This time, I might have to look through my books and think about the characters in each one in order to come up with a halfway decent list.

Penelope is a good one though. She was a bitch and a half, but she was also interesting.

Mmm, not all my mean girls are actually villains though... but I still think they'd likely qualify.

1. Eliza Boans from Fury
“My uniform felt like a costume. I put on a fresh coat of black nail polish. I twisted up a tube of Revlon Red and put my war paint on. I sharpened the tips of my Fierce Words so they were like a row of shiny arrows.�

2. Alona Dare from The Ghost and the Goth
“It’s called a near-death experience. You should try it sometime,� I said sweetly. “Maybe without the ‘near�.�

3. Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind
“She could see so clearly now that he was only a childish fancy, no more important really than her spoiled desire for the aquamarine earbobs she had coaxed out of Gerald. For, once she owned the earbobs, they had lost their value, as everything except money lost its value once it was hers. �

4. Jessamine Lovelace from Clockwork Angel“We don't know for certain that she's a warlock, Jessie," said Will.
Jessamine ignored him. "Is it dreadful, being so evil? Are you worried you'll go to hell?" She leaned closer to Tessa. "What do you think the Devil's like?"

5. Diana from the Gone series
“No you sick, stupid creep, I love you. I shouldn't. I shouldn't. You're sick inside, Caine, sick! But I love you.>

6. Blue from the Unholy Ghosts series.
(No quotes I could find. Picture snarky bitchy, but you find yourself trying not to laugh.)

I might have had quotes to share, but I'm too lazy to look through my reviews.

This is a rough category for me. I guess I haven't had many mean girls stand out.

Okay, so even though I think the House of Night series is ridiculously bad on so many levels, it does have one of my favorite mean girls.

1. Aphrodite from HoN because she owns her bitchiness and has never strayed from it, even after she made friends with her enemies.

2. Penelope from Luxe. Stealing Meg's nod here. Penelope is one of those "love to hate" characters. She pissed me off over and over, but her scheming was briliant at times.

I had a brief fleeting memory of Mimi from Blue Bloods, but then I couldn't remember why I felt sorry for her being such a mean girl, or if I even respected it. I guess I kind of do though because she did have someone sort of butt in on her long-staked (hah) territory.

I haven't read book 2 of The Opportunist, but I'm curious to see if I'll end up having some sympathy for Leah. She was such a piece of work in book 1 that I am curious to see how it goes when we're in her head.

How could I have forgotten Mimi and Aphrodite?! Those two were so much more interesting than the MC in both series.

No joke. Zoey can drive off a cliff. Then come back to life and drive off it again.

I felt the same way about Schuyler. That basic bitch can go bite a brick.

Zoey was infinitely worse though.

Schuyler didn't bug me the way Zoey did. She was just sort of there.

But that was just it though! She was this awkward wall ornament who didn't particularly need to be there. Tbh, I would have been satisfied if the series had been about Mimi or Jack. Hell, even a series about Bliss would have been preferable.

Hey everyone! This week's subject is Top Ten Books that deal with tough stuff. So, books dealing with abuse, suicide, grief etc or something personal hard for you. Remember, you don't have to list ten, just do as many as you can!

Top Ten Books Dealing with Tough Subjects

1. Hate List by Jennifer Brown. This one deals with bullying. It's been a while since I read it (like 2010, I think), but it will be forever one of those books that really made me stop and think about how I spoke to and treated people.

2. White Lines by Jennifer Banash. This was actually the last book I read, and I really really enjoyed it and found it to be very John Hughes-esque. It wasn't your standard book about drug abuse, though. The MC was a very damaged individual, having dealt with many years of child abuse and neglect. While the ending was a little too nice and tidy, it felt pretty real.

3. Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley. This book was utterly horrifying, and by far one of the most emotional books I've read all year. We've all heard the news stories of young girls kidnapped and raped but rarely do we hear what actually happens during those terrifying hours, days, months, or in this case, years. In Pretty Girl-13, readers are subject to the harsh realities of sexual abuse and the long-term effects on the personality and behavior of Angie.

4. Where She Went by Gayle Foreman. I always have an emotional time reading books that deal with loss and grief but I really found this to be a great example of a YA book that handles that topic well. I loved If I Stay but I found Where She Went to be so much more complex and this easily became my favorite out of the two.

5. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Suicide is one of those really tough issues and this book really explores different sides of it and see the complexities for all in involved. I found myself experiencing a myriad of emotions while reading this.

6. Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson. Laurie Halse Anderson is renowned her her novel Speak but I'd like to remember her for her 7th book. Wintergirls opened my eyes to a terrifying world of sadness. A beautiful novel about one of the most heartbreaking forms of self-harm.

7. Stay by Deb Caletti. While this book is on the whole about an abusive relationship and obsessive behavior, the story between the lines is about female empowerment and realizing that it's more than okay to say no.

8. Little Brother by Cory Doctorow. While I'm aware that the things discussed in this book may never happen, the scary part is that they could.

9. Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu. I'll admit, I know little to nothing about hoarders and always had a really narrow and admittedly ignorant view on the subject. This book sort of helped me to realize how serious a disorder compulsive hoarding really is. The author pulls in the reader into Lucy’s life, hour after hour as she deals with the tremendous hardships of her mother’s hoarding and the tragedy that follows. There were quite a few flashbacks that helped you to understand how the hoarding started.

I'm loving your lists. This one might be easier for me than last weeks too. BBL. :)

Yea, last week's was a lot tougher than I originally thought it would be. Once I sat down, I only had a few. Lol. So stoked to read your list for this week, though!!

I have done this one before on my blog:

I made this list almost 2 years ago but this is what was on it (in no particular order and in an attempt to cover a variety of issues):

1. Speak - rape
2. Thirteen Reasons Why - suicide
3. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian - race, poverty, alcoholism, bullying
4. I Never Promised You a Rose Garden - schizophrenia
5. Forbidden - incest
6. Stay - emotional abuse
7. Living Dead Girl - child abduction, pedophilia, sexual abuse
8. Wintergirls - anorexia, cutting
9. Crank - drug addiction
10. Willow - cutting


There have been plenty of good ones since then of course and some of those could probably be swapped out for others but rather than redoing it, which would require thinking, I'll just add a few extra:
Grief: Twenty Boy Summer or Fall for Anything.
Cancer: The Fault in Our Stars or Second Chance Summer
Sexual abuse: Live Through This

Jenny, your blog is adorable and your list is fantastic.

this is hard!

1.Forbidden
2.Stolen
3.The Storyteller
4.Thirteen Reasons Why
5. Pieces of Us

Does it have to be YA? Because there's this one too... The Handmaid's Tale