I used to be a huge fan of Beatrice Small and her O'Malley family saga. Heck I have most of her other books too. So, on my last trip to B&N, on impulse, I picked up the first in the most recent series she has been writing -The World of Hetar.
Either it's been longer than I thought, my tastes have changed drastically, or Ms Small has really gone downhill.
Lara-the first book in the Hetar series-was not only 400+ pages, it was barely readable.
I could swear I was hip deep in one of the most hormonally overwrought Mary Sue's I have ever read.
IMHO you need some sort of flaw to make a character believable, and Small has always included some sort of endearing failing or weakness in her heroines before, even if it was a weakness for handsome men.
However, The Infallible Lara Guided By Manifest Destiny gets old (and boring) rather quickly, even though she herself does not age.
One of the male love interests in the book said it best...'I shall be cursed to fall in love with you' (he is a demigod and can see the future) and so she leaves a trail of broken hearts behind her, (never meaning to of course, being perfect in face and nature) on her way to Greater Things. She even became The Greatest Sword Fighter of All Time after just a few months of lessons!
She has another 5 or 6 books out in this series that I will not read, even for free.
I read the first O'Malley book of hers when I was 16 and have greatly enjoyed that series. But it is the only series I have read of hers.(If she has any others ongoing?)