The YA Heroine Tournament is here and if you don't vote for Vampire Academy's Rose Hathaway you are not my son!
(That threat usually works in Chinese families, especially on daughters.)
Two Chicks on Books is our Team Rose headquarters. Vote at The YA Sisterhood tomorrow - Monday Dec 12, for 24 hours.
Actually Rose is a very particular hero. If you had a sunny childhood where your parents told you they loved you every day before cheerleading practice and you grew up with absolutely no issues whatsoever 1) I'm not sure why you're writing YA instead of, like, being a Stepford wife 2) you won't relate to Rose.
But if sarcasm is a fine art form for you, then read on!
Why Rose is a Badass Mothertrucker
- She's a dhamphir: strong as a vampire, hearty as a human
- She embraces her sexuality in a very realistic teen way. You go with your non-prude self!
- She's curvy and half-Turkish, not a blonde, blue-eyed model waif like a certain boring Moroi. (I kind of hate that certain Moroi.)
- She defies authority and risks public excoriation to stand up for what's right. Revolucion!
- She has mommy issues. Don't we all?
- She's the opposite of a passive Mary Sue. This girl's got Anger and she's never afraid to speak her mind. Down with whiny, helpless female characters!
- Rose is the first YA character I can relate my actual high school experience to. That's right, I was a half-vampire guardian who was gravely misunderstood.
- No seriously, Rose's story made me cry harder and harder with each book in the series. It's like the grown-up version of Walk Two Moons for me.
- She is for all the misfits, goth girls, freaks & geeks who were made fun of; people who didn't belong. (I may have played a sorority girl onscreen but in high school I was so far from popular I was anti-popular.)
- Rose lets us know others feel like we do. And that it gets better.
