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Hey everyone, just recently found this awesome site and this is my first discussion started so be nice.

Before I get into the meat of this topic, I don't want this to be another argument on whether the twilight saga is a good read or not, people are allowed their opinions etc.

A lot of the time when twilight is brought up in discussions (in my experience), it is often mentioned that the character Bella Swan is not a good role model for women and disliked by feminists. Although having not read the books but only watched the movies (not by choice I might add), I perceived Bella to be a character who had no defining personality traits, did things against others' advice without a logical argument, and throughout the season did not learn a lesson (i.e. she never overcame any fears or negative traits she had, instead having everything the way she wanted without sacrifices).

My question is this: I can't really think of many novels (romantic or non romantic) that would cater to twilight fans, and have strong leading female characters or at least a female character that develops for the good. and was wondering if we could list suitable alternatives.

I've read phillip pullman's dark materials trilogy and see that as a good alternative, and by the looks of things the hunger games trilogy is another great example.

Tags: Alternatives, Harlequin, Romance, Twilight

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I actually didn't care for Katniss (Hunger Games). I have only read the first book, so she may change. I wouldn't call her a role model.

I don't know if you are looking for yourself or someone else, but the Song of Ice and Fire (game of thrones) has some really great female characters. Some not so great also, but they have some anti-Bella characters for sure. Good or bad, the females often steal the book from the males. They aren't defined by the male characters, aren't led around by their skirts watching the boys advance the plot. Arya, Catelyn, Brienne, Melisandre, Asha, Meera, etc. And those are just the ones I personally like.  

Not appropriate for young readers, but amazing stuff. Oh and welcome to Spill!

I'm not looking for myself, but I've seen many times people say "Twilight sucks" then either say "read Harry Potter/Hunger Games instead" or suggest nothing, and was wondering is there a book that is:

A) Aimed at young adults.

B) Romance genre.

C) With a "good" female protagonist or lead. (e.g. when my younger cousins made me watch twilight, I felt that I should of paused it and told them "See when Edward says he's a killer and will hurt her, and her response is "I don't care"... that ain't smart, just run a mile in the oppersite direction")

A bullet to the brain is a better alternative. Same effect.

Poppy Z Brite has some interesting vampire characters btw. Though her books aren't for children ahem. Try reading the Sookie Stackhouse books maybe??

You're looking for literature with a stronger female lead than the one in Twilight?

Try Lord of the Flies.

How droll sir.

 

This is actually a difficult question to answer. Not so much because its hard to find a strong female lead in Lit but because Bella "not being strong" (or even intresting) is what made the books so successful/appealing. What I mean to say is since Bella is about as compelling as dry paint she makes a terrific cipher. Whenever I hear women/girl talk about why they like the books they often say the same thing, they related to Bella.
It sounded so strange to me at first untill I realized that's what makes the series work...Bella has so few charater traits so she can be swapped out for anyone,including and most likely the reader.

Someone mentioned the hunger games, its a terrfic series and I recomened it to anyone. But its not a Romance as a matter of fact Katniss spends nearly the entire series telling her suiters that their feeling for her are irrelevant because she has more important things to worry about, you know like not dying. Katnis doesn't even want to get married or have kids because she considers it a horrible atrocity to bring children into this world knowing what might happen to them.
The love story, while an important part of the story is far from the driving force.

Romance novels are far from my thing so I don't have a lot of recomendations for you but Big Love (not in anyway connected to the tv show) by Sarah Dunn might strike a cord with them. Its feet are firmly grounded in "chick lit" but it has a great deal of depth to it. Although its not really for teens and its about adult relationships...
I don't see any reason why you can't go with the ol' Jane Austin classics.
And what about nicholas sparks? I haven't read any of his stuff but he does seems to spend some time developing a personality for his charaters.

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