Amid all the sailing, swimming, eating and honeymooning I have had the pleasure of reading two delightful novels with badass women characters.

The first reignited my appetite for beautifully written well crafted fiction. As soon as I turned the last page I set out ravenous for the next great novel to devour.

While the second satisfied my appetite, it was almost but not quite as delicious.

Now I’m in search of a third and have tried thrice and have abandoned them a chapter or two in, not willing to settle for something less satisfying.

So please, if you have a favorite novel, preferably with an inspiring heroine, share it in the comments.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens is a poetic and lyrical novel whose heroine, Kya, raises herself in the marshlands where she forms deep bonds with the birds, plants and occasional humans that become her family.

The story is at once a love story, mystery and family saga that interweaves two timelines – Kya’s childhood into adulthood, and the death of the town’s high school football star and ensuing investigation and trial with Kya the “Marsh Girl” as the primary suspect.

Where the Crawdads Sing is a celebration of the beauty of the natural world and the strength and ingenuity of the human spirit. It is one of those books that I begged not to end, and when it did I grieved turning its last page. It is a gripping mystery in a rich setting brought alive with Owens magical writing.

City of Girls is Elizabeth Gilbert’s latest novel. I was compelled to read it because her last novel, The Signature of All Things, is a favorite of mine. Don’t give up on Gilbert’s fiction if you too found her most famous work Eat, Pray, Love, tiresome and self-absorbed. Her subsequent novels are delightful.

The heroine of the novel, Vivian Morris, flunks out of college and is sent to live in 1940 New York City with her eccentric theater owner aunt Peg (don’t we all want an aunt Peg?).

Vivian falls head first in the bohemian debauchery of the city and theater scene, and falls from grace, only to resurrect and reinvent herself as single, post- war female entrepreneur.

What I love most about the novel are the vivid descriptions of the fashion and glamour of the theater and the era. As a child Vivian became an expert seamstress under the strict tutelage of her beloved grandmother. She goes on to make her living first as a costume designer for the theater, and ultimately a part owner and designer of a custom wedding dress boutique.

Perhaps the most unusual aspect is that the story is told in a long narrative letter to Angela, a mysterious woman whose relationship to Vivian we only discover in the last few chapters.

City of Girls is s rich, colorful and sexy novel that will hold your attention to the end.