Yes, I'm still reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (poor Winky!), but this week is slightly insane (Hi, Boy Scout. How're ya doin'? Good? Good.) and rather than blow off the writing until I'm done like I have in the past, I have decided to mix things up and write about one of my heroines. You know, that list I was/am/was/am putting together at my own convenience.
Nicole Lasseter is the first heroine Kresley Cole wrote (well, the first one she published) and in my mind she remains one of the best. Girl sailor, raised on the high seas by her father, and then sent to exclusive boarding schools at the insistence of her grande dame granny. Nicole, like so many of my faves, likes the sea, has red hair, and is fairly kickass.
Mostly what I like about her is that she knows who she is and knows how to stand up for herself. Falling in lust-at-first-sight with your father's sworn enemy is not the easiest way to go about things, but Nicole manages to keep both men in her life without compromising her relationship with either one of them.
There are a couple of instances, too, where she stands up to Sutherland, the reprobate middle-son-turned-heir-to-the-title ship captain determined to ruin her father, without coming off as a total shrew. When Sutherland has her father thrown in jail to be released only after the commencement of The Great Circle Race (England to Australia in the fastest time), Nicole decides to captain the ship herself, which she does successfully until an act of sabotage brings down her ship.
When Sutherland rescues her from the sinking vessel, his own ship has already been sabotaged with tainted water, an act he assumes she has committed out of revenge. Rather than cowering under his anger and scorn and the active hatred of his crew toward her, Nicole holds her ground, holds her head high, and literally dares a ship full of salty sailors to do her harm.
Sutherland's past is murkier than expected (it's not often you meet a glowering hero with a genuine reason to glower), and when he and Nicole have their Big Separation, she definitely doesn't just fall back into his arms when he shows up at her doorstep. And she definitely refuses to let Sutherland bully her with regard to helping her father's shipping business off the ground. Again, she remains obstinate that she will not choose between them and he'll just have to get over it. And of course he does... it's a romance novel, people!
So Nicole is strong and clever and intelligent, and she commands the respect of those around her. So she's a rockstar for the back five of my Top Ten. Or Nine. Or whatever.
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