Defending a happy ending

Chick lit. Those two words instantly conjure up a whole host of associations with bright pink covers, desperately single heroines and love interests whose square jaws and rippling muscles are the most interesting things about them. I could talk for days about the problems with how this genre is characterized, but that's a different sort of column all together. So instead, here are three funny and fun novels featuring spirited and resourceful heroines, believable romances and all the ingredients for a perfect, lighter read.

Sophie Kinsella is perhaps best known for her "Shopaholic" (2000 - 2014) series, but her stand-alone novels are equally charming if not more so. One of my favorites is “Twenties Girl” (2009), whose heroine, Lara, is visited by the ghost of her great-aunt Sadie, a former flapper who wants Lara to find a beloved necklace that's been missing for over 75 years. Sadie and Lara make a hilarious duo, as Sadie's over-the-top enthusiasm clashes with Lara's more careful pragmatism. “Twenties Girl” also features an adorably grumpy love interest, some hilarious scenes involving uncomfortable incidents with Lara's ex and some sweet and surprisingly insightful scenes with Lara's family. The 432 pages zip by, making for a perfect vacation or travel read, and if people give you odd looks for laughing out loud, just look right back.

If you loved “The Princess Diaries” (2000) as a teenager, “Suddenly Royal” (2013) by Nichole Chase delivers the dream of becoming royalty -- minus the constant teenage whining and plus a smart, charming and considerate love interest who just happens to be a prince. Samantha Rousseau is an aspiring wildlife biologist whose world is turned upside down when she finds out that she's actually a duchess in the small European country of Lilaria. It's a pleasant surprise to find that she deserves every bit of her good fortune. Sam is a great main character: smart, funny and mature enough to deal with both the advantages and the disadvantages of her new position. Chase takes great care to describe the challenges of sudden fame, and there are definitely no easy outs for Sam and Alex, the love interest, as Sam struggles to decide whether she wants to be responsible for an entire country. Luckily, these two characters are more than capable of figuring it out.

Finally, if your tastes tend toward the historic, Georgette Heyer's Regency novels feature period-accurate details, indomitable heroines and the occasional sly critique of romance tropes. The heroine of “Cotillion” (1953), Kitty Charing, stands to inherit a considerable fortune if she marries one of her guardian's great nephews, so, when her rakish cousin Jack fails to claim her hand, she talks her cousin Freddy into a fake engagement in order to make Jack jealous. Kitty and Freddy are one of my favorite book couples, full of witty banter and the ability to solve any problem together, and their romance is all the better for how it surprises everyone around them. Maybe it's time to see fewer rakes and bad boys and more heroes who know the right way to tie a cravat and try their hardest to fix the problems around them, rather than creating more.