Ok I am as much fo a feminist as the next gal-girl power=yay and all of that. Loved Jennifer Garner in ALIAS and I cheered for Cahrlie's Angels. But lately it seems that writers are trying a little too hard to make these women bad ass and over the top sexy as well-sort of a praody of the Austin Powers Fem Bots. And yes it irritates me.

Three Cases:
BARE FACTS by Kathrine Garbera-Main character tried WAAY too hard to be the ultimate babe and iltimate defense machine. Former model turned intoa  Charlie's Angel...yea right. I ended up shaking my head through the majority of the book. Did I mention Fembots already?....

Overall Grade C-

A RUSH OF WINGS: Pretty good first time effort by a debut author. Great paranormal possibilities for the next book in the series. I liked the story and the characters were a bit cliched; one gorgeous but determined police detective - check; one stunningly sexy, dark and mysterious vampire male - check. But the overall story for the first 1/3 of the bookw as great-darws you right in to the serial murder spree going on a, etc. So it is worth reading in the hopes that the second book in the series gets better. BUT SHE MUST do something about the main heroine...2 key points that made me go UGH were:

1. She falls alseep in the house of a suspect (the sexy male lead) and the bad guy she is tracking happened to be there as well-they dismissed him as not a threat not realizing who he really is (stupidity at its finest) and while she falls alseep he gets free and TAKES THE SPARE MAGAZINE TO HER GUN. It getts better-she doesn't even realize it. Later she walks into a fight with her purse; etc.

2. Did I mention there is also the fact that she hooks up with her main suspect (teh cliche sexy  brooding bad ass vamp) after two days; this despite knowing he is a possible pschopath?

Overall grade B

ISSUE OF TRUST by Lorie O'Clare: This started off pretty good- (REVIEW FROM AMAZON)Joanna Hopkins worked as a spy for the covert agency, Alpha Corp, for most of her adult life. Leaving the agency is a guaranteed death sentence, but the night her mission turned sour, she made a break, claiming her freedom and running from everything she'd ever known including the man she loves. Jonathan Estevez still claims her dreams, even six years later. She has a son now his son and needs to find a sanctuary for them. Tired of running from agents who continually track her, she undergoes plastic surgery and decides it's time to settle down. The small town of Valley View, buried deep in the Rockies, seems the perfect place for a new start. Things aren't always as they appear. And the incredibly sexy man who immediately takes a strong interest in her bears an uncanny resemblance to Jonathan. Physically he's different, but Joanna can't explain how he's able to make her respond to him so easily. Even when she fights it, this dark stranger is able to ignite a fire she swore burned for only one man. But if this man is Jonathan, she and her son are in trouble big trouble.

it had excitement and all of that BUT what bugged me is that the main character is suposed to be essentially Jennifer Garner from Alias-a bad ass former agent.  Yet she repetaedly does foolish stuff and puts herself and her brilliant 5 year old (Think MinI Einsten) in jeopardy. She makes a few attempts at being alpha female but quickly gets ridden down by the male lead so she looks like a paper tiger. Oh and did I mention what she did to change her apperance so she could start a new life? The afore mentioned plastic surgery? Here it is folks..She got a NOSE JOB AND BREAST IMPLANTS!!!!!!!

WHAT THE HELL??? You're hididng from people who want to kill you, you are supposedly bad ass as all get out with money to burn and more intelligence than the average bear and you to alter your appearance get a NOSE JOB and Helium boobs??..The fembot phenomenon strikes again....

Overall grade B-

I really want to read about strong female leads-truly. But PLEASE cant we get a strong female lead and have the focus on HER not her cup size? Just a thought...

I loved A Rush of Wings, flaws and all. Actually, none of that really bothered me. I love Dante and I cannot wait til the next one. Adrian Phoenix is awesome too, she even followed up on me to see how I was feeling after I had been sick for awhile. She also has the best contests on her group.

Not syaing the book wasnt good-it was and it had possibilities and Im sure the author is lovely, but as somone who likes to write and is VERY crticial of herself, I am more critical of suspending belief to the point of nonsense. If you want to appreciate it for simply the paranormal aspects thats great but from a writing perspective I felt it was sloppy. A little too contrived to create drama like OH NO! Where is my gun! She was doing great with moving the story along and having just the right amount of suspense and mystery witht he murders and all of that. She is obviously extremely talened, so she didnt need to resort to blatant silliness to add to the story. It was doing just fine.

Dante has a lot of promise. I just felt in the first 2/3 of the book he was cliched to the max. Sure he was hot and yummy-she developed him to the standards fo what sells and he sold. She just seems to have so much promsie as a writer I would personally like to see her develop her skill, and maybe she will be able to break out of the cliches once she finds her own niche.  It was her first novel and she did do a great job with the new idea of a creator type of vampire. That was pretty awesome. She just needs to push those angles more and stop relying on formulas.

I have to agree with you JJL.  Not that I'm overly fond of wimpy heroines but the recent rash of super-strong heroines is really not as tempting to read as I think the authors believe they are.

I agree Sherri-I am not calling for the wimpy girls. They bug me just as much. I would just like a dose of realism, because otherwise its not helping the "cause" of making women seem just s strong and copmpetetnt as heroes as men are. It kind of makes them caricatures; bg breasted NAnrbies who save the world which most people know is unbelieveable so its never taken seriously.

ISSUE OF TRUST was really good. It just bugged me that for the "Reconstruction surgery" to change her appearance she did breast augemntation...I mean come on. When would you see a male bad ass gettign a penis enlargment?

The breast enlargement thing is kinda weird. I don't think larger boobs really counts as a disguise. I think I could easily recognize a person after a nose job and breast enhancement.