Veronica Wolff is an award-winning, bestselling author who likes monsters, fight scenes, and first kisses. Sometimes all at the same time. She lived everywhere from Texas, to Hawaii, to India, before finally settling in Northern California, where she lives with her husband, two kids, and a small menagerie of rescued pets. She writes in several genres, including Scottish historical romance, time travel, contemporary romance, and young adult.
This whole series was a delight—a historical fantasy full of kick-ass young women. Ismae, the heroine of book one, is brave and fierce, the love story feels rich and
right, and even with such vivid and extensive world-building, I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. Assassin nuns—what more do you need to know?
Seventeen-year-old Ismae escapes from the brutality of an arranged marriage into the sanctuary of the convent of St. Mortain, where the sisters still serve the gods of old. Here she learns that the god of Death Himself has blessed her with dangerous gifts—and a violent destiny. If she chooses to stay at the convent, she will be trained as an assassin and serve as a handmaiden to Death. To claim her new life, she must destroy the lives of others. Ismae’s most important assignment takes her straight into the high…
Though it was published back in 1952, True Grit features one of my all-time favorite fierce heroines, Mattie Ross. Though she’s only fourteen, Mattie sets off on a journey through the old west to avenge the death of her father. She’s smart, no-nonsense, incredibly courageous, and truly the embodiment of grit. Bonus tip: the audiobook is extraordinary, narrated by bestselling author Donna Tartt, and no exaggeration, I listened to it twice in a row.
There is no knowing what lies in a man's heart. On a trip to buy ponies, Frank Ross is killed by one of his own workers. Tom Chaney shoots him down in the street for a horse, $150 cash, and two Californian gold pieces. Ross's unusually mature and single-minded fourteen-year-old daughter Mattie travels to claim his body, and finds that the authorities are doing nothing to find Chaney. Then she hears of Rooster - a man, she's told, who has grit - and convinces him to join her in a quest into dark, dangerous Indian territory to hunt Chaney down…
The Duke's Christmas Redemption
by
Arietta Richmond,
A Duke who has rejected love, a Lady who dreams of a love match, an arranged marriage, a house full of secrets, a most unneighborly neighbor, a plot to destroy reputations, an unexpected love that redeems it all.
Lady Charlotte Wyndham, given in an arranged marriage to a man she…
This is the harrowing story of two young women, a pilot, and a spy, in World War Two. “Fierce” isn’t a strong enough word to capture these characters and the story of their friendship, courage, and heroism amidst the horrors of the Nazi regime. It’s an intense and satisfying read that resonated with me long after I finished.
'I have two weeks. You'll shoot me at the end no matter what I do.'
Shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, Code Name Verity is a bestselling tale of friendship and courage set against the backdrop of World War Two.
Only in wartime could a stalwart lass from Manchester rub shoulders with a Scottish aristocrat, one a pilot, the other a special operations executive. When a vital mission goes wrong, and one of the friends has to bail out of a faulty plane over France, she is captured by the Gestapo and becomes a prisoner of war. The story begins in…
For fierce heroines, readers generally rave about Maas’ Throne of Glass, but I am all about her A Court of Thorns and Roses series. Feyre is a hunter, a survivor, and the protector of her family who finds herself held captive in a magical kingdom that is, naturally, populated by some devastatingly handsome faeries. The second book in this series is on my shortlist of favorite books of all time.
Experience Feyre Archeron's journey all over again with the beautiful collector's edition of A Court of Thorns and Roses, the seductive first book in the #1 New York Times bestselling series by Sarah J. Maas, featuring a deluxe new package, an updated map, ribbon pull, and more!
When nineteen-year-old Feyre kills a wolf in the woods, a beast-like creature arrives to demand retribution for it. Dragged to a treacherous magical land she only knows about from legends, Feyre discovers that her captor is not an animal, but Tamlin-one of the lethal, immortal faeries who once ruled their world.
As she…
Aury and Scott travel to the Finger Lakes in New York’s wine country to get to the bottom of the mysterious happenings at the Songscape Winery. Disturbed furniture and curious noises are one thing, but when a customer winds up dead, it’s time to dig into the details and see…
If you somehow missed the Vampire Academy series when it first came out in 2007, you’re in for a treat. There’s friendship, romance, intrigue, and a whole lot of female badassery. This book really lit the fire for me--and helped inspire my own vampire series--with its creation of a world where it's the young women who are the empowered ones.
ONLY A TRUE BEST FRIEND CAN PROTECT YOU FROM IMMORTAL ENEMIES . . .
Lissa Dragomir is a mortal vampire. She must be protected at all times from the fiercest and most dangerous vampires of all - the ones who will never die.
Rose Hathaway is Lissa's best friend - and her bodyguard.
Now, after two years of illicit freedom, they've been dragged back inside the iron gates of St. Vladimir's Academy. The girls must survive a world of forbidden romances, a ruthless social scene and terrifying night-time rituals. But above…
When Annelise left for college, it meant good riddance to her abusive father and stepmother—until a bureaucratic screw-up left her without a diploma, flat broke, and facing an uncertain future. Then she met Ronan—tall, dark, and way too seductive for her own good. He promised Annelise a new life, if she had the courage to chance the unknown.
Whisked away to a mysterious island in the North Sea, Annelise is pitted against other female recruits in tests of skill, smarts, and strength. To win is to become a member of the Watchers, an elite and unique partnership—with vampires. It’s not exactly what Annelise had in mind for a new beginning. Because on the Isle of Night, to lose the challenge doesn’t just mean dishonor. It means death.
All Elizabeth Bennet wants for her father to bring back from Lambton is a cutting of Pemberley’s famous roses. Little did she know that her humble request would lead to her father’s imprisonment, putting both her father’s life and her childhood home of Longbourn at risk.
Selected by Deesha Philyaw as winner of the AWP Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction, Lake Song is set in the fictional town of Kinder Falls in New York’s Finger Lakes region. This novel in stories spans decades to plumb the complexities, violence, and compassion of small-town life as the…
