Until I hit my early teen years, I avoided female heroes unless they were part of a team, as much as I could because I just didn't want to read "girl's stuff" but since then, it no longer really matters much to me.
If the hero is well-written and not having graphic sex at least once every other chapter just "because" (I'm looking at YOU, Anita Blake), gender, species or level of animation doesn't matter that much as long as the story set-up is interesting, and the writing is not incompetent.