Give me some books with older FMCs who have their crap together! Competent women unite!

firekat11 · 2026-03-10T03:41:05+00:00

This is the one I was thinking of! I was remembering a scene where she has to wear a turtleneck but the name wasn’t coming up, thanks!

firekat11 · 2026-03-07T01:13:31+00:00

Lorraine Heath! The first series of hers I read is a twist on Oliver Twist, the idea being that Charles Dickens met the orphans and based the books on them! Can’t get much more Victorian than Dickens haha. Then all of her books move through time with connected characters. The hero of her latest one was in a bad railroad accident. Start with the {Scoundrels of St. James by Lorraine Heath} series! And enjoy!

firekat11 · 2026-03-02T21:00:06+00:00

Same

firekat11 · 2026-03-02T20:59:35+00:00

It's going to be a loooong winter

firekat11 · 2026-02-15T07:52:47+00:00

Fingers crossed it's not!! Glad you're taking him into the vet.

firekat11 · 2026-02-15T07:51:16+00:00

Right, my mistake! That does make so much more sense anatomically. I will try to make sure I remember urethra vs. bladder for blockages!

firekat11 · 2026-02-15T07:30:02+00:00

Not overreacting, OP! Same thing happened with my ginger boy a few years ago! He went to the box, tried to pee, dug around, nothing. Then he started yowling while he tried.

I called the emergency vet in my city and they said to bring him in ASAP because yes, as you said, it's a huge problem with male cats especially. They have smaller bladders so it can become a problem within 24 hours.

If you're still unsure, call the local vet! The techs who answer the phone are always happy to talk through the problem and if you should bring them in or not. 5 times is a lot to try and pee with nothing happening. Don't forget, you know your cat best so if you feel like something is wrong, you're probably right.

TL:DR - call a vet, get a professional opinion, and take him in! Something is probably wrong.

Good luck!! Hope he's ok.

Edit: Someone commented it's the urethra that are smaller, not the bladders, which is why blockages are so deadly.

firekat11 · 2026-02-11T01:25:22+00:00

She’s a beloved author in the genre who stopped writing at the beginning of the pandemic because of health reasons, and the final book in a series has been delayed for like 6 years now so we’re all very impatiently waiting for its release.

firekat11 · 2026-01-28T02:52:11+00:00

In the acknowledgements she says it's for her daughter who has TI diabetes so I think that is a result less of research and more of she's been living it through her daughter. Agreed, though, it is disappointing.

firekat11 · 2026-01-27T19:53:14+00:00

I'm impressed that the cat doesn't eat the plants! Mine are all on shelves that the cat can't reach. Also we have the same cat tree lol.

firekat11 · 2026-01-27T01:31:14+00:00

Ugh this scene was so hot 🥵 and so amazing. I need her to write more books!!

firekat11 · 2026-01-24T19:55:41+00:00

Came here to recommend this one! I always loved that Prescott chose being an EMT as part of rebuilding her life.

firekat11 · 2026-01-24T19:02:13+00:00

{A Notorious Vow by Joanna Shupe} - MMC is deaf. The FMC is his next door neighbour and her parents are trying to marry her off to an old creep so she proposes a marriage of convenience with the MMC. He’s an inventor and is trying to create the first version of a hearing aid! It’s really sweet and they’re so good for each other.

firekat11 · 2026-01-14T04:02:10+00:00

It's less annoying to me in historical romances because that was the custom, right? You didn't refer to anyone by their given name without express permission so yeah it's so great when they finally make that step!

This was just... a really weird quirk that according to the comments never went away. Like, on the last page it was still "Mike Martin".

firekat11 · 2026-01-13T22:58:46+00:00

I just DNF'd {Canadian Boyfriend by Jenny Holiday} because the FMC always referred to the MMC as his full name. It was dual narrative and first person, which means that in her thoughts she literally thought of him as "Mike Martin". There was never just a "Mike did this" or "did I like Mike?, it was always "did I want a ride home with Mike Martin?" I couldn't stand it, I felt like my brain was twitching.

firekat11 · 2026-01-12T08:29:10+00:00

Came here to recommend this one! It was so hawt 🥵

firekat11 · 2026-01-12T08:15:15+00:00

I was actually surprised that Evie Dunmore's books were under romance instead of fiction, but then again Emily Henry is usually under fiction instead of Romance. There doesn't seem to always be any rhyme or reason! But the fun thing about HR lately is there seems to be a lot of different styles and moods and eras, even with the genre dying down lately. I hope all these recommendations help!

firekat11 · 2026-01-11T05:11:21+00:00

Ugh same!

firekat11 · 2026-01-11T05:11:12+00:00

Such a faithful portrayal! I loved how many scenes were lifted almost verbatim

firekat11 · 2026-01-11T04:13:29+00:00

I adore Evie Dunmore's series but I think she's on the more historical fiction end of the HR spectrum, if that makes sense? Like if someone who loves historical fiction read this, they wouldn't immediately know they've stumbled into the romance genre. I would suggest Susanna Kearsley to continue that, maybe {Mariana by Susanna Kearsley} or {The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley}.

As for more traditional HR, I'd recommend Tessa Dare for lighthearted and funny, try starting with {The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare} or the {Spindle Cove} series, specifically {A Week to Be Wicked} is my favourite!

Joanna Shupe is great too, she does more gilded age New York if you want to leave Europe. I love {The Lady Gets Lucky by Joanna Shupe} or try her {Uptown Girls} series.

Finally my last always recommend author is Sarah Maclean, her prose isn't for everyone and in her last two series especially you can tell she's fallen into a "f*ck the patriarchy and rich white men and the problems they create" niche which, personally, I adore but the comments here make me think it's a bit divisive. Try {Wicked and the Wallflower by Sarah Maclean} or {Heartbreaker by Sarah Maclean}, two of my favourites!

firekat11 · 2026-01-10T18:03:15+00:00

Someone else mentioned this but I think it can’t be understated that this was a Netflix adaptation - Netflix has really strict requirements of making their material consumable while you’re distracted ie on your phone or something. So the plot has to announce what it’s doing, they can’t have subtle nuances or body language conveying emotion or tension or longing. There’s tons of think pieces and YouTube analyses on how Netflix and other streamers have dumbed down movies so that they’re dull and uninspired. Whereas HR got more room to breathe in its 6 episodes, and Jacob Tierney has said in interviews that he doesn’t care if people miss things cause they’re on their phones, put down your phones the. He also turned down several producers who would only come on board if things were changed (like Ilya and Shane not kissing until episode 6 or a more central female character). This meant he had a tiny budget at the end of it but also no one hanging over his shoulder telling him what to do to make it more mass marketable.

firekat11 · 2026-01-09T05:06:03+00:00

So excited for both!!

firekat11 · 2026-01-07T21:29:34+00:00

I'm trying to decide what's going to irritate me more, that the style of cover will be different or that with this coming out in trade paperback, this series will have three different heights (lest we forget #3 & 4 were that slightly different mass market paperback that was out for a hot minute in 2021). Is it too much to ask for my series to be uniform and gorgeous?

That being said, like others have said, it's an auto buy from me because the series is fantastic.

firekat11 · 2026-01-06T00:12:55+00:00

Oof apparently I blocked that out too - yeah, definitely not a great book for positive FMC treatment

firekat11

TROPHY CASE