Should heroines be sweet or snarky?

It is a truth universally acknowledged that all romance heroines must be likable. This often means they must be sweetness and light and pure radiant beauty with perfect teeth and a lilting laugh. She encounters hardships and obstacles nobly and nicely. She may never be spoiled, or selfish, or mean. I'm bored already.

And I'm thinking about Scarlett O'Hara (Gone with the Wind)–not the most likable of characters but certainly one of the most fascinating. Or Ayn Rand's heroines, like Dagny Taggart (Atlas Shrugged) who is tougher than nails made with Reardon metal (If you have to ask, you need to read the book). Or in the romance genre, I love heroines like Shanna from Kathleen Woodiwiss novel of the same name, or Jessica Trent from Lord of Scoundrels.

These are heroines for the ages and they have some really admirable qualities: amazing self-confidence, determination, hard-working, intelligent. They may not be sugar n' spice all the time, but they are never mean just for kicks. Those that may get the short end of their stick were probably just underestimating them. These were the heroines on my mind when I created the Writing Girls.

I confess this matter of heroines is  on my mind given that some reviews have intimated that my heroine is not all that likable. (I will take this opportunity to note that they loved the hero, the writing and couldn't put it down, hooray!). Lady Julianna is passionate, and stubborn and fiercely protective of all that she has achieved for herself. She throws Roxbury under the bus in her column–but she's got a job to protect and a rival who is merciless. After all, at this point in the novel, Roxbbury is just some rake.  As my husband says, "She's been burned by a rake before, needs her column to survive and has a ruthless rival. Of course she's going all out to protect herself." But that's the thing about heroines: they're supposed to do that and be sweet and nice about it.

Frankly, I'd rather read a snarky heroine than a stupid one, or one that is a doormat.

On the flip side,  many a reader has said they want flawed characters. This is yet another challenge for the writer: can this character be flawed, yet still likeable? Is she similar and relatable to the reader but different, all at once? Can sweetness and niceness move the plot forward in an exciting, dramatic, entertaining way? Now that's a juggling act.

How do you like your heroines? Sweet or snarky?