My favorite fantasy series!

I read a lot of fiction. But there are some series that I keep coming back to. I was thinking about them one day and I suddenly realized that my favorite books all involve strong confident women. It's something I aspire to be. So I love to read about it too. I'm sure this list will just get bigger over the years.

1. Artemis University by Erin R Flynn

2. Alice Worth by Lisa Edmonds

3. UnderVerse series by Jez Cajiao

4. Lizzie Grace series by Keri Arthur

5. Covenant College series by Amanada M. Lee

6. Jacky Leon series by K.N. Banet

7. Kurtherian Universe by Michael Anderle

8. The Culling Series and Legacy Series by Tricia Wentworth

1. I keep coming back to Artemis University because no matter what’s happened or is about to happen, Tamsin is always prepared and has an answer. She is a confident, smart and resourceful woman. This is a happy endings story with many twists and turns. The author is logical and sensible. However, I do feel that the author has stretched the series a lot. The later books turn repetitive with the same kinds of struggles. After a while, as a story, it gets boring. I think she started strong but didn't know how to end things well. This would have been good as a 10 book series at max. After book 6, she should've started answering a lot of questions towards resolution so that by the end of book 10, the story was wrapped up.

2. Alice Worth is my favorite heroine. She is everything I aspire to be. She is smart, insightful, empathetic, practical, independent, adaptable, confident, riveting and magnetic. She is cold and super goal-driven when necessary. She is the real deal. I would want to be a perpetual fly who could live vicariously through Alice if I could. The book in the series I love the most is when Alice goes to a mirror verse. It is such a curious reality. Everything seems familiar and yet it is different at its core. Plus her man, Sean is one of my favorite partners for a main character. He is an alpha in the truest sense of the word. He is a leader but he let's Alice lead all the time. I love that he is strong but doesn't need the feel to flex that strength. I love that he keeps trying to protect Alice but despite his frustrations with Alice's need for independence, he keeps fighting for her and their relationship. I like a man who isn't afraid of a strong independent woman and can walk alongside her. He is a rare gem.

3. UnderVerse is amazing. There is so much depth and detail to this series. I learn something new every time I read it.  Before this I never really cared about armor terminology. But this series has made me want to understand the parts of armor, where they go and what and how they protect us. Jez keeps me worrying by the seat of my pants but at the same time I know that good things are coming. I love that Jax keeps growing. Honestly I would love to have stats like he does. I would love to have trainers like he does. Although I hate being told what to do, honestly, if I'd joined the army/military, they would've drilled some discipline in me. It's one thing I do regret. I love that Jax never gives up. He just keeps going.... to the next adventure or the next problem to solve. Everything is a step forward.  Honestly, his father should've realized that the dreams were an advantage cause they prepared Jax and Tommy to be fighters. I don't think Jax or Tommy would've won in the arena without all that experience. Sometimes you have to suck at something a thousand times before being a pro at it. Another thing I love is that Jax has a strong lady love - Oracle. Even though Jax is the protagonist in this series, Oracle is no slouch. She is magically uber cool and has a perky happy personality. But she can also be a blood-thirsty bitch... she watched the fights in the arena from the front row. Her favorite spell electrocutes her opponents.

4. Lizzie Grace is another series I love. The main character, Lizzie, has this aura of calm strength. She is a badass alright. Her best friend provides comic relief and I love their connection. Also love her relationship with Aiden. Honestly he is my second favorite male character after Sean from Alice Worth series. He is not as security driven as Sean but he does have a calm strength that matches Lizzie. Honestly I've never been attracted to blonde men so it was a little hard to imagine him being hot... but maybe Lizzie doesn't mind blonde dudes. :)

5. Zoe Lake is another badass lady. Mostly I love her sass, self-confidence and determination. She has strong morals that she abides by and she doesn't suffer fools. Honestly if she were a real person, I would love to be her friend. I love sassy people with a good sense of humor. Zoe has depth but she chooses to live happy. That's what's so magnetic about her. Plus the whole series is really well written. Even though it's structured across different semesters of her undergraduate experience, it's never predictable. Normally a lot of college romances turn out to be reverse-harem series and after a while it just gets boring to the point where I'm skipping all the sex scenes but the author has shown us that sometimes monogamy can be just as spicy in this series. Love that she shows normal love/sex lives for our character as well as other characters like Paris. It builds a strong base.  Another thing I love is that Aric and Zoe's relationship grows gradually. There is a gradual and natural progression to all her relationships. All the characters evolve. And the negative characters have also been really well developed. I was surprised by at least 2-3 of them. Never expected them to be bad... and not all their motivations are the same either... seems pretty legit. The series has put a lot of depth to that. Plus there's variety in the moral compass of characters. Not everyone is 100% bad or good in the series. Some people like Mark are weak but not truly bad. The author has done a great job of building this world. It's believable. The flow for the series is also very good. Everything progresses at a consistent pace in the stories. And at the same time she does a good job building anticipation.  She builds curiosity about the challenges to be faced without evoking fear/concern for the protagonist. Some authors create extreme situations in their stories to evoke strong emotions which ends up making you worry a lot for your favorite character's future. It adds unnecessary anxiety. I am so glad that the author has not done that in this series. The quality of writing didn't fluctuate. Honestly I'm looking forward to reading more work by this author.

6. Yep another badass lady.... Jacky a is strong and independent werecat. Plus it's cool that she is stronger than her alpha werewolf love and he is more than okay with it. I find her intriguing. Another series I keep coming back to. And yes, I love cats. Cats do love their owners but they're emotionally independent as well and want their own space. I like that. I love dogs too cause they're just too lovable.

7. The Kurtherian Universe deserves its own blog post. It has more than 150+ books written by 10-15 authors with Michael Anderle being the main author. He is the creator of the main character Bethany Anne Reynolds/Beythany Anne Nacht/The Queen Bitch/Queen of the Unknown World/Queen of the Etheric Empire/Empress of the Etheric Federation. She is a badass leader lady. She is charismatic lady who cusses and puts grown men in the hospital for misdeeds. There are several strong women in the Kurtherian Universe besides Bethany Anne (BA for short) - Gabrielle,  Tabithia, Valerie, Char Muddy, Christina, Ekaterina and so on. Also a lot of strong men - Michael of course. but my second favorite male character is Terry Henry Walton. I think I loved TH's stories because he created a working world out of nothing. Anyhow, the Kurthertian Universe deserves its own blog post. A paragraph is not enough.

8. Reagan Scott is a smart, confident and personable leader off to become Madame President. This series is more of a Dystopian category book than a  Fantasy series book. Some people in life are natural leaders. They understand people and know how to effectively interact with people to get things done... left on their own, they can take a group of people and bring about the best of them. Reagan is one such leader. She is young (just 18) but charming and so much more. And her dude, Lyncoln is just a wet dream for every girl. All his darkness and good looks makes him the bad boy every girl chases. No wonder only a strong girl like Reagan can keep his attention. ;)

Another thing I really love about the Culling Series are the changes that the Presidential couple bring about in their term - reforming marriage laws (by getting rid of them) or by bringing about the collaboration of projects across the townships to improve the state of the union as a whole - both are worthy and groundbreaking changes. They also come up with a long term solution for the drifter problem. It is not a perfect solution but it works and gives the drifters a chance to self-govern and live within the framework of the new civilization without hurting other townships. The Presidential couple from the Legacy series is the second generation of amazing leaders and brings about even bigger and far reaching changes - by reducing presidential terms to 10 years, bringing back the office of the Vice President, giving more power to townships and by increasing the age-ranges allowed to participate in the Culling, they're strengthening tenets of Democracy. It further improves the drifter problem by giving the new citizens more power and more say. Addition of another township where citizens do not have to disclose their origins further addresses discrimination against drifters and allows people to feel heard and included. Overall this is a good conclusion to the world that Tricia W created. More than anything, I love how Tricia created a world where a Presidential couple leads rather than just one person.