Kaily, you are so right! If the heroine has a cringe worthy moment or two, we find her more relatable. I'll want to stop reading if she's perfect--the best at EVERYTHING she does, wimpy, whiny, or just plain selfish.
I noticed the The Irish Warrior has received fantastic reviews. Congrats! I sure would love to win that one--especially after reading some of your favorite passages!
A fave passage of mine from The Journal of Dora Damage by Belinda Starling: The train took the dead to their graves, but it took Mrs Eeles to heaven... For Mrs Eeles had an inclination towards death. I do not mean that Mrs Eeles lived in morbid sufferance. I mean that she loved death with a passion: she delectated in mortification. She loved death the way that a child loves sweets: it made her giddy, and giggly, and slightly sick.