Smart Chicks! Get Yer Smart Chicks!

I've mentioned, repeatedly, how much I adore Sarah Rees Brennan and her two lovelies The Demon's Lexicon and The Demon's Covenant. The woman is hilarious. And smart. What else would you expect from the someone who brought us not only the unforgettable Ryves brothers, Nick and Alan, but two of the smartest heroines, Mae and Sin, I've read in quite some time. Seeing as I can't sit down to reread her books every single day (well, I could but that would be a bit unproductive on my TBR pile), I get my periodic Sarah Fix by stalking following her around the internets - either on her journal or at the newly created Smart Chicks Tour Blog. Recently Ms. Brennan wrote about some of her favorite Smart Chicks from the books she loves. In her words, they are:

These are all very different ladies, with one thing in common: in a crisis, they tend to keep their head (just about, anyway. Usually. Just enough.) They have their own very strong views on things, and when they act, they act practically and decisively, using all the weapons they have to hand (brains, brawn, magic) to the very best of their ability.

Another thing they have in common is that I really, really love them.

I especially like that bit about them "usually or just enough" keeping their head in a crisis. At the end of her post, she asked her readers (that's me!) to put on their thinking caps and list our favorite Smart Chicks. Now, Sarah already mentioned a couple of ladies that automatically go on my top 5 list: Kate Daniels (clearly, she is a god) and Attolia (woman is like a machine, but a loveable one) so I won't include them here, because I'm just say amen to her reasoning and be done with it. Minus those two, these are the Smart Chicks that immediately came to mind.

Liadan from Son of the Shadows ~ Despite being handed a pretty raw deal by the fae, Liadan truly fights for everything she wants. The Fae say: choose between your son and the man you love. She says: Nope. Not gonna do it. And then she goes on to keep both.  She MAKES her own happily ever after come true and I love her so much for that alone.

Meg Powers from The President's Daughter series ~ I know I keep going on and on about how wonderful these books are, but it's because Meg truly is one of Smartest Chicks out there in YA lit. Even though she's suffered emmensly (emotionally and physically) due to her mother's elected office, Meg still refuses to back down. I'm sure she's up there on the genius level, but it's her clever yet snarky off-the-cuff remarks she's constantly spouting to basically everyone she meets that make me look up to her so.

Fire from Fire ~ Fire is an outcast. She'll always be mistrusted by society simply because of her heritage but Fire refuses to give up or turn into the monster her father was. Incredibly strong and forward-thinking, she's never once refused help to those in need or backed down from making the hard choice. Obviously she's someone who knows how to keep her wits in a crisis.

Do any of these Smart Chicks strike a chord with you too? Who would make your list?