Heroes and Heroines with a lot of (book) spine

I love to read--and that's putting it mildly! I love words and they way they can be woven to create a character one would swear must live, breathe, and walk this earth or one in the past or future, or a character who seems uncannily familiar, or who you'd go to great lengths to avoid.

While checking e-mail, I noticed this post from a reader/writer list from Regency@yahoogroups.com While there is certainly room in this world for the positive spirit and unflagging hope of Pollyanna (portrayed on stage brilliantly by my daughter when she was a 13-year-old!), there has to be a bit of grit in each of our hero or heroine (Pollyanna again, an orphan determined to survive whatever the fates throw her way) or they wouldn't take risks with their safety, their feelings, etc. I like this reader's take on well-developed characters and her comparison to forming a character like creating a pearl:

"But what I do think is that a market has been created - and clearly thrives - for what I think of as wallpaper historical romances, where the setting really is incidental to the hero and heroine so long as there are lots of petticoats rustling, a bit of infodump and some sexy action. That market is a glomming type of market so in response, publishers have pushed it and the quality is not as high as it could be in terms of prose style and characterisation. The characters are wraiths, lacking vividity and passion. When I think of my favourite romantic heroines, they have real flaws and tempers (Scarlett O'Hara, Jane Eyre, Shanna from my teen years, Dorothea Brooke, Philippa Somerville) and do things that they may believe are right, but have bad consequences, which they have to live through. Too many of the romances I've read recently have heroines who are two-dimensional.... Absolutely no grit - and you need grit to make decent pearls." (quote from Zeba Clarke)

What do you think? Do you have a favorite author or a favorite genre you enjoy? It's your turn to share!