The 12 most bad-ass heroines in romance today

If you’ve read any of our romance novel reviews, you know that if there’s one thing we hate here at Romance Rehab, it’s weak, spineless heroines. (And also country music, camping, big hairy spiders and reality TV, but we digress...) But fortunately, for every too-stupid-to-live heroine we’ve encountered on our reading adventures, we’ve found at least one outstanding, super-smart, bad-ass woman—the kind of woman who can overcome any obstacle and generally grabs life by the balls and makes it her bitch. The kind of woman who kicks the crap out of the romance stigma. So, without further ado, here are our top 12 favorite bad-ass heroines:

First Grave on the Right
Author: Darynda Jones
 
Amazon blurb:
Charley sees dead people. That's right, she sees dead people. And it's her job to convince them to "go into the light." But when these very dead people have died under less than ideal circumstances (i.e., murder), sometimes they want Charley to bring the bad guys to justice. Complicating matters are the intensely hot dreams she's been having about an Entity who has been following her all her life...and it turns out he might not be dead after all. In fact, he might be something else entirely.

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The Witness
Author: Nora Roberts
 
Amazon blurb:
Daughter of a cold, controlling mother and an anonymous donor, studious, obedient Elizabeth Fitch finally let loose one night, drinking too much at a nightclub and allowing a strange man’s seductive Russian accent to lure her to a house on Lake Shore Drive.
 
Twelve years later, the woman now known as Abigail Lowery lives alone on the outskirts of a small town in the Ozarks. A freelance security systems designer, her own protection is supplemented by a fierce dog and an assortment of firearms. She keeps to herself, saying little, revealing nothing. Unfortunately, that seems to be the quickest way to get attention in a tiny southern town.​
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The mystery of Abigail Lowery and her sharp mind, secretive nature and unromantic viewpoint intrigues local police chief Brooks Gleason, on both a personal and professional level. And while he suspects that Abigail needs protection from something, Gleason is accustomed to two-bit troublemakers, not the powerful and dangerous men who are about to have him in their sights.
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And Abigail Lowery, who has built a life based on security and self-control, is at risk of losing both

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Magic Bites
Author: Ilona Andrews
 
Amazon blurb:
When the magic is up, rogue mages cast their spells and monsters appear, while guns refuse to fire and cars fail to start. But then technology returns, and the magic recedes as unpredictably as it arose, leaving all kinds of paranormal problems in its wake.
 
Kate Daniels is a down-on-her-luck mercenary who makes her living cleaning up these magical problems. But when Kate’s guardian is murdered, her quest for justice draws her into a power struggle between two strong factions within Atlanta’s magic circles.
 
The Masters of the Dead, necromancers who can control vampires, and the Pack, a paramilitary clan of shapechangers, blame each other for a series of bizarre killings—and the death of Kate’s guardian may be part of the same mystery. 

Pressured by both sides to find the killer, Kate realizes she’s way out of her league—but she wouldn’t have it any other way…
 
Note: Honorable mention to Andrews’s Nevada Baylor series.

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Honor
Author: Jay Crownover
 
Amazon blurb:
Don’t be fooled.
 
Don’t make excuses for me.
 
I am not a good man.
 
I’ve seen things no one should, done things no one should talk about. Honor and conscience have no place in my life. But I’ve fought and I’ve survived. I’ve had to.
 
The first time I saw her dancing on that seedy stage in that second rate club, I felt my heart pulse for the first time. Keelyn Foster was too young, too vibrant for this place, and I knew in an instant that I would make her mine. But first I had to climb my way to the top. I had to have something more to offer her.

I’m here now, money is no object and I have no equal. Except for her. She's disappeared. But don’t worry, I will find her and claim her. She will be mine.
 
Like I said, don’t be fooled. I am not the devil in disguise... I’m the one standing front and center.

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Precarious
Author: Bella Jewell

Amazon blurb:
In darkness, we find danger. In danger, I find Beau.
 
Ash is a prison guard, she's tough, she's strong and she never backs away from a fight. She takes her job seriously, she takes her training seriously, and everything in her life goes as planned.
 
Until the day he is brought into the prison.
 
She'll never forget meeting Beau 'Krypt' Dawson for the first time. He's a member of the Jokers' Wrath MC and it is said he killed an innocent family in the middle of a cafe, in cold blood.
 
Deranged. Crazy. Psychotic.
 
All those words describe the infamous Krypt, but Ash suspects there's far more to the quiet man than meets the eye. 

Secrets are being hidden by the club, information is being kept under wraps. Krypt is silent for a reason.
 
Ash is desperate to know that reason.
 
Continually fighting, Krypt is transferred to a high security prison. Ash is in charge. She's always prepared, always alert. Not even her skills will stop the club from ambushing them and taking back Krypt. Only Ash ends up right in the middle of it.
 
They take her, too.
 
Now she's stuck with a Motorcycle Club who are determined not to let her go. She's too much of a risk. Until the situation can be sorted, they send her and Krypt into the mountains together....alone.
 
The dark, sexy, handsome biker will crawl into her soul and embed himself there. Changing her life forever.
 
An epic, dangerous love will be built on the foundations of darkness.

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Shadow Bound
Author: Rachel Vincent

Amazon blurb:
Kori Daniels is a shadow-walker, able to travel instantly from one shadow to another. After weeks of confinement for betraying her boss, she's ready to break free of the Tower syndicate for good. But Jake Tower has one final job for Kori, one chance to secure freedom for herself and her sister, Kenley, even if it means taking it from someone else.…
 
The job? Recruit Ian Holt—or kill him.
 
Ian's ability to manipulate the dark has drawn interest from every syndicate in the world, most notably an invitation from Jake Tower. Though he has no interest in organized crime, Ian accepts the invite, because he's on a mission of his own. Ian has come to kill Tower's top Binder: Kori's little sister.

Amid the tangle of lies, an unexpected thread of truth connecting Ian and Kori comes to light. But with opposing goals, they'll have to choose between love and liberty…

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Sugar Daddy
Author: Sawyer Bennett

Amazon blurb:
Sela Halstead lost her innocence in a way that no sixteen-year-old should ever have to endure. She’s spent years trying to forget that night even while wondering about the identities of the monsters who brutalized her—until a telltale tattoo flashes across Sela’s TV screen. The incriminating ink belongs to Jonathon Townsend, the millionaire founder of The Sugar Bowl, a website that matches rich older men with impressionable young women. Obsessed with revenge, Sela infiltrates Townsend’s world, only to come face-to-face with a tantalizing complication: Beckett North, his charismatic business partner.

The tech mastermind behind The Sugar Bowl, Beck always gets what he wants, in business and in bed. And yet, for a man who’s done every dirty thing imaginable, there’s something about the naïve, fresh-faced Sela that sparks his hottest fantasies.

Because with her, it’s not just about sex. Beck opens up to her in ways he never has with other girls. So why does he get the feeling that she’s hiding something? In a world of pleasure and power, the shocking truth could turn them against each other—or bind them forever.

Fair warning: there’s a cliffhanger. It’s worth reading the whole series, though.

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Moon Called
Author: Patricia Briggs

Amazon blurb:
Mercy Thompson is a shapeshifter, and while she was raised by werewolves, she can never be one of them, especially after the pack ran her off for having a forbidden love affair. So she’s turned her talent for fixing cars into a business and now runs a one-woman mechanic shop in the Tri-Cities area of Washington State.
 
But Mercy’s two worlds are colliding. A half-starved teenage boy arrives at her shop looking for work, only to reveal that he’s a newly changed werewolf—on the run and desperately trying to control his animal instincts. Mercy asks her neighbor Adam Hauptman, the Alpha of the local werewolf pack, for assistance.
 
But Mercy’s act of kindness has unexpected consequences that leave her no choice but to seek help from those she once considered family—the werewolves who abandoned her…

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Naked in Death
Author: JD Robb

Amazon blurb:
Eve Dallas is a New York police lieutenant hunting for a ruthless killer. In over ten years on the force, she's seen it all—and knows her survival depends on her instincts. And she's going against every warning telling her not to get involved with Roarke, an Irish billionaire—and a suspect in Eve's murder investigation. But passion and seduction have rules of their own, and it's up to Eve to take a chance in the arms of a man she knows nothing about—except the addictive hunger of needing his touch.

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Sealed with a Curse
Author: Cecy Robson

Amazon blurb:
The Wird sisters are content to avoid the local vampires, werebeasts, and witches of the Lake Tahoe region—until one of them blows up a vampire in self-defense. Everyone knows vampires aren't aggressive, and killing one is punishable by death. But soon more bloodlust-fueled attacks occur, and the community wonders: are the vampires of Tahoe cursed with a plague?

Celia reluctantly agrees to help Misha, the handsome leader of an infected vampire family. But Aric, the head of the werewolf pack determined to destroy Misha's family to keep the region safe, warns Celia to stay out of the fight. Caught between two hot alphas, Celia must find a way to please everyone, save everyone, and oh yeah, not lose her heart to the wrong guy—or die a miserable death. 

Because now that the evil behind the plague knows who Celia is, it’s coming for her and her sisters. This Wird girl has never had it so tough.

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Semi-Charmed
Author: Isabel Jordan
 
Amazon blurb:
Psychic and paranormal PI Harper Hall isn’t that surprised when her business partner skips town. Really, she can’t help but feel it’s her own fault for trusting a guy named Romeo in the first place.
 
But if Harper wants to consult for the police on a high profile case, she’ll need a new partner—preferably one with some supernatural skills of his own. Enter Noah Riddick, a slayer left jobless by the legalization of vampirism.
 
Riddick’s dark secrets and shady past have forced him into exile from human society—an exile he was completely comfortable with until gorgeous and exasperating Harper waltzed into his life. Now, all too aware of how…unlifelike his life has truly been, he agrees to partner with her (as if saying no to Harper Hall was ever really an option).

Fighting vampires, making immortal enemies, engaging in semi-sadistic interrogation techniques, staging daring rescues…it’s all in a day’s work for this paranormal odd couple. But falling in love? Well…that’s a little trickier. Even for the Semi-Charmed Harper Hall. 
 
Note: Honorable mention to Seven in Semi-Broken. Check out our full 5-star review.

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Spider’s Bite
Author: Jennifer Estep
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Amazon blurb:
After Gin’s family was murdered by a Fire elemental when she was thirteen, she lived on the streets and eventually became an assassin to survive. Now, Gin is given an assignment by her handler to rub out an Ashland businessman, but it turns out to be a trap. After Gin’s handler is brutally murdered, she teams up with the sexy detective investigating the case to figure out who double-crossed her and why. Only one thing is for sure —Gin has no qualms about killing her way to the top of the conspiracy.

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What about y’all? Are you favorites included? If not,let us know! We’d love to hear from you.