Too-stupid-to-live-Bella indeed! *nods* Have you read any of George R R Martin's Fire and Ice books? One of his female characters (he has multiple narrators through the series - at least 20 or more, I'd guess) is Sansa, who makes Bella look positively shrewd, street-wise & determined-to-survive-at-any-cost in comparison. The poor girl is a walking victim. Reading chapters narrated by her is an exercise in cringe. Not all his female narrators are like this - some are the blood-thirsty, pragmatic & resourceful women you'd meet in fiction!