The best contemporary books with smart, female protagonists

I fell in love with the protagonist, Emily Wilde, right away. She’s smart and focused, and utterly unaware of how she presents to the world or how to react to it. She is a dryadologist, that is, she studies Faeries and other Folk which, in the world of the book, are real. Despite the huge dose of magic that exists in the book, it doesn’t read like fantasy. Written in diary form, my heart ached witnessing Emily’s personal and professional struggles to understand what’s going on around her.

She’s immensely talented, stronger than she realizes, and her personal quirks that are off-putting to the people who meet her charmed me, as I could see inside Emily’s thoughts. In this book, she’s off to Scandinavia to research some Folk, and while there, she solves a few mysterious disappearances, almost entirely by accident. It’s also fun because the antagonist, her colleague Wendell Bambleby, is the loosey-goosey, emotional one, while Emily insists on reason and careful research.

I love how opposite that is from the usual stereotype. This book is the first in a series, so I was glad that after I fell in love with Emily and Wendell, I didn’t have to let them go when the book ends.

I can’t stop thinking about this book. The setting is Florida in the near future, where climate change has reached a point where the ocean is reclaiming the state. The book spans the entire life of the protagonist, Wanda. Wanda broke my heart. She suffered so much loss, none of which was her own fault. But, smart and curious, she found a way, led primarily by an older woman who took her under her wing. 

I felt for Wanda as she lost her family and friends, dealt with bullies, and lost her home. And I cheered her on when she found ways to survive. Wanda is the light: the message of the book, which could easily have been horribly depressing, was that love will find a way—life will find a way if you give it room to breathe.

I’ve always been drawn to the mythological character of Cassandra. Many times, I feel like her, always accurately predicting the future, but no one listens to me. I loved this twist on the Cassandra myth—this particular Cassandra is neurodivergent and clearly does not understand the people around her. She has a terrible day—she gets dumped and fired, and the café is out of banana muffins. 

In the freak out that follows, she learns that she has the ability to rewind time in small bits so she can do things over again. It’s like Groundhog’s Day, but on purpose. And as she tries to redo things, as she gets the ability to think about how she’ll respond, she learns a lot about herself. I am fascinated by this concept, and the book made me laugh out loud and, in turns, cringe and cheer for Cassandra.  

I am not the target audience for this book. But it had gotten some buzz, and it seemed interesting, so I read it. And it just blew me away. I’ve read so many articles that say that the more fiction you read, especially books about people and cultures unlike your own, the more empathetic you become. This book does this so well you can practically see it happen. I’ve seen this book on a lot of banned book lists, and for the life of me, I don’t understand why. 

When I first read it, my thought was, “Everyone should read this book. I understand so much better now.”  It’s about 16-year-old Starr Carter, who is smart and wise beyond her years. She witnesses a police officer shoot her childhood best friend, Khalil. This puts her in the middle of a maelstrom of opinion and gives her inside information on a case that makes national headlines. Nothing is what you think. Motives are different from what they appear. It’s honest and heartbreaking and doesn’t simplify complex subjects.

I was utterly charmed by this book. Although the woman who is smart doesn’t get a lot of page time in the book, she is its core. Sayuri Komachi is a librarian in a neighborhood library who is literally larger than life. This book has five overlapping stories, and Ms Komachi is at the center of all of them.  When they come to her reference desk for help, she gives them three things: 1) what they ask for, 2) a ‘bonus’ gift, and 3) what they need. 

What they need is a book they never would have chosen on their own but which contains information that will help them decide which direction to go at a crossroads in their lives. I want a Ms Komachi in my life—someone slightly mysterious, always there, always interesting, and who doesn’t give answers but who gives you the tools to answer questions yourself.