I am not ashamed to say I read romance and like it. ;) Honestly, there is some stuff there that is as good as fantasy, sometimes better.

I assumed the Nikita thing was cause the name was popularized by the La Femme Nikita show. And, hm, there are a lot of names that can be both. Ashley used to be a boy's name; so did Leslie. As far as Russian, I've seen a lot of male Russian names used for women in the US. Sasha, for one example.

I actually just finished the first Guardian book cause I loved her steampunk stuff. It is not nearly as good, IMO.