Top Ten Tuesday: Book Characters that Would Be Sitting at My Lunch Table

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week they post a new topic that the participants come up with a top ten list for.


Hey guys :) Welcome to my first TTT post in forever (I mean it, my last one was at the end of January). I love the idea of today's topic! If book characters went to your school, who would be sitting at your lunch table?




Varen Nethers - Nevermore, by Kelly Creagh
The amount of times I've featured that guy on my top ten lists is ridiculous, but he'd definitely be at my table! If there had been a group of goth/emo/whatever kids at my school, I would have sat with them. And if he wasn't at my table, I'd go out of my way to sit at his :P

Noah Shaw - The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, by Michelle Hodkins
Noah is into literature and theory among other things, so he might drop by my table every once in a while. I could imagine that he's a bit of a drifter between several groups of people and sits with whoever he feels like on that particular day.

Tate - The Replacement, by Brenna Yovanoff
The girl wears combat boots and kicks ass in the mosh pit. We could talk about bands and go to shows together.



Riley - The Demon Trappers series, by Jana Oliver
When she'd bother to actually show up to school, I'd love to sit with her and hear about her latest adventures hunting and trapping demons.

Cam - The Fallen series, by Lauren Kate
Most of the time, I was more of a Cam fan than a Daniel fan (though after the end of the second book, the series went downhill for me anyway). He's fun, entertaining, and devious. Also, he can procure all kinds of stuff and it always comes in handy to have someone like that at your table.

Hale - Heist Society, by Ally Carter
I'd say he has more money than brains, but that wouldn't be true. He has lots of brains. But he's also a gazillionaire. And a thief. And a conman. And well-connected. In short, you'd want him at your table. But you'd have to keep an eye on him, too.



Saira - Marking Time, by April White
Saira is a Clocker - she can time travel. She's also a badass free runner, she can fend for herself, and she's loyal. Great at sarcastic witticisms, too. I'd want her to have my back.

Simon - The Mortal Instruments, by Cassandra Clare
Because he may be a daywalking vampire now, but he was a nerd first. And I just realized that my table is kind of lacking in the nerd department. Can't have that.

Sirius Black - The Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling
Siriusly, who wouldn't want teenage Sirius at their table? He'd entertain everyone. I can already see Varen glowering at him. But I think he might get along with Noah.

I'm not quite sure whom to give the last place to. I've thought about Tod from the Soul Screamers series, but that might be too much snark in one place. Or Nick from The Demon's Lexicon, but he might kill everyone out of annoyance. I've also considered Karou from Daughter of Smoke and Bone, but somehow I can't picture her in such a mundane place. Oh! I know! I'd pick Sebastian Michaelis from Black Butler. Because demon butlers. We should have one.

This was hard, guys! There are so many other characters I considered picking but somehow felt wouldn't quite fit the table. I'm very curious to see who you guys picked! Do we have anyone in common?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Characters I would crush on

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly feature hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Every week the participants post their top ten to a specific topic.


This week's topic is: Top Ten Characters I would Crush on... if I were also a fictional character

 So... I guess this is kinda a book boyfriend post? Though I think the idea of 'if I were also a fictional character' sort of changes things around a bit. It means we know less about them than we do as readers? Not sure... anyhow, here are ten of my favorite unfortunaltely-not-real boys.

1. Varen Nethers, from Kelly Creagh's Nevermore
   Yup, I've put him in this kind of post before. He'd creep me out but I'd also feel very, very attracted to him. I just love dark and artsy and literate and damaged mysterious guys >.<


2. Will Herondale, from Cassandra Clare's Infernal Devices
   I finished Clockwork Princess on Sunday and I just fell for him all over again. I have never read a character quite like him. He's inifinitely dedicated to those he loves and he has a wicked sense of humor.


3. Seth, from Melissa Marr's Wicked Lovely series
   He's a long-term book boyfriend. I really liked him from the beginning and the way he treated Ash in a very respectful, open and honest way. He stays true to himself through it all and manages to acquire his own kind of power, and he always listens to all sides.


4. Cas Lowood, from Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood
   I just finished Girl of Nightmares and I'm crushing on Cas (or Theseus Cassio) again! Snarky. Self-deprecating somehow, but also very confident. Simultaneously sharp and insightful and blind in some respects. Determined. I don't know, I just realized I really missed his voice while reading.


5. Adam, from Gayle Forman's If I Stay
   Guitar-playing song-writing genius. He was also willing to do anything, go to any lengths for his girl. I liked that! From the way their sound was described, I'd also love his band.


6. Stephen, from Cat Winters' In the Shadow of Blackbirds
   This one releases today and I just felt with Mary Shelley and Stephen so much! He's a great person and what happened to him is awful. Can't really say more than that, just go read the book!


7. Ash, from Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series
   Well... he's an ice prince of fairie with wicked sword skills. He's also loyal and sarcastic.
   Are you guys starting to see a pattern?


8. Kaidan, from Wendy Higgins' Sweet Evil
   He's a case of 'I'd crush on him but I'd eventually not really pursue him'. I'd watch from afar. Because even though I'd be attracted to him like mad, self-preservation would kick in. Or so I'd hope :P


9. Kisten, from Kim Harrison's The Hollows series
   Yeah, I still mourn Kisten... I haven't read him in a while but I really really liked him. Much of it comes from the way vampires are constituted in that series.


10. It's actually hard to pick these guys because once you think about it, if you just met them like that you might well not like them that much, or ultimately stay away. Because if you're not reading them, you don't see into their heads. Hm. Anyhow, here are a few more: Morpheus from A.G. Howard's Splintered, Cassel from Holly Black's Curseworkers, Alex from A.L. Weatherly's Angel series, Bones from Jeaniene Frost's Night Huntress series, Adrian from Richelle Meads' Bloodlines, Ash from Black City by Elizabeth Richards.

 Yeah, I'm aware that I cheated a bit. And I must confess sometimes I like the guys in how they fit with their girls. Doesn't mean I'd personally get along with them or want them in my life. I am probably taking these lists way too seriously :P
Anyhow, show me some of your crushes!

Top Ten Book Boyfriends of 2012

Hey guys :) After telling you all about my favorite books, covers, and villains of 2012, now it's time for my book boyfriends... and choosing was tough, though made slightly easier by the fact that some of my top book boyfriends are from novels I haven't read this past year. I'll have to make a post about them some time...


Here are my favorites of the past year:

Varen Nethers from Kelly Creagh's Nevermore series
I'm really glad that I re-read Nevermore to prepare for Enshadowed, so I could choose this cover. Varen would have topped my list anyway, read in 2012 or not. I went completely nuts about this book as soon as I first read it, and the year-long wait for the sequel nearly killed me. It was very much worth it though! I love Varen's mysteriousness, implied vulnerability, intelligence, looks (dark haired and green eyed? Yes please. And the cover model is perfect.), musical and dressing taste, humor, handwriting and choice of ink color, car... the list goes on. I am also slightly scared of him... in a good way.


Tod Hudson from Rachel Vincent's Soul Screamers series
I liked Tod from the beginning, but absolutely loved him in If I Die and Before I Wake. His humor, his loyalty, his wit, his courage. How perfectly he understands and suits Kaylee. I have marked up so many of his quotes, and actually found myself sighing out loud. Which is untypical for me. Nevermind that he's dead, selectively visible, can walk through walls, and short-range teleport.


Ash from Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series
I've only read the first three books but I love Ash. He's winter court, and I am winter born. His sword skills and looks do not hurt. Neither does the fact that beyond the icy exterior he is actually caring and passionate when it comes to Meghan. When he pledged himself to her in The Iron Queen I had tears in my eyes...


Bram from Lia Habel's Dearly, Departed
If you had told me that a ZOMBIE would be one of my favorite book boyfriends of the year, I would have laughed at you. Then I would have told you Hell No. That was before Bram. That his face is still intact and he doesn't look zombie-gruesome apart from the pallor certainly helps. But from the beginning, I liked the parts from his POV. He is just such an honest, loyal, selfless guy. I love him and Nora as a couple, and kept trying very hard not to think about how little time they will actually have together because of his inescapable eventual demise.


Ash Fisher from Elizabeeth Richard's Black City
I still owe you guys the review for this novel... my apologies! I loved Ash from the beginning. I could tell that much already from the sample chapters I read months before the book actually came out. He is smart, tall, edgy, my type. I liked his sarcasm. I even liked his... realistic hopelessness? His yearning for the Darkling side of the wall? But I found that I liked him even more when he finally found something worth fighting for. Worth dying for. (Damn now I want to re-read the book...)


Daemon Black from Jennifer L. Armentrout's Lux series
I would find Daemon incredibly infuriating. I think if I met him in real life, we would be bitching at each other non-stop. But I would feel drawn to him anyway. I've only read the first two books but I adore how much he cares about Katy and how they can push each other's buttons. Also, he's super strong and fiercely loyal to his sister.


Adrian Ivashkov from Richelle Mead's Vampire Academy and Bloodlines
I remember finding him very annoying when he first shows up in VA, but then I grew to like him. Great humor. I felt very sorry for him at the end of VA, though I thought Rose did belong with Dimitri. I never would have guessed that I would start shipping him with Sydney of all people! I didn't even like her until I was inside her head. I love Adrian trying to change and become a better person. Plus, he's an artist, and a little tragic. But his way with words is what really does me in.


Cassel Sharpe from Holly Black's Curse Workers series
Oh Cassel. Another tragic case. The actually good guy who can never conceive of himself as such. His family is completely wacked and I would never want to meet any of them, but Cassel is so full of guilt over what he believes to have done... he's different. His grandpa thinks so too, was my impression. Cassel has great snark, an incredibly resourceful mind, and amazing ideas for cons and how to pull them off. My heart kept breaking for what was happening to him during the series. Over and over.


Sebastian from Kelly Keaton's Gods and Monsters series
I liked him from the moment Ari laid eyes on him. Another boy fighting the nature of who and what he is... are you beginning to see a pattern in my boy choices? Sebastian is half warlock half vampire and caught in the middle of two of the most powerful families in all of New 2, a re-imagined New Orleans. Powerful. Smart. Torn. And ready to help Ari with whatever she needs. I adore him, and I'm so glad there will be a third books after all!


Cas Lowood from Kendare Blake's Anna Dressed in Blood
Cas' voice was one of my favorites I read all year. I love snarky and sarcastic. Cas tries never to get emotionally involved with anybody, because he knows that as soon as he solves one of his ghost hunter cases, he will have to move anyway. He is incredibly determined and strong, and exceptionally good at what he's doing. Boys with knives. Yum. Provided the knives are not pointed in my direction. I also liked to see him slowly change and come to appreciate having friends and opening up to them a bit. Can't wait for Girl of Nightmares to come out in paperback so I can read more of him and Anna!


Honorable mentions:
Noah from Katie McGarry's Pushing The Limits, Ziri from Laini Taylor's Days of Blood & Starlight (I don't care that he's a minor character!), Kaidan Rowe from Wendy Higgin's Sweet Evil. Maybe I should have put Kaidan in above - he's certainly hot and conflicted enough. Hm... Oh well. I bet he was picked by enough others ;)

So what do you guys think of my picks? Anyone you felt the same about? Someone you would kick off the list immediately? Leave the link to your own post if you have one, I'm curious :)

Review: Enshadowed, by Kelly Creagh

Release date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Atheneum Books
Format: Hardcover, 429 pages

Description from the dust jacket:

Varen Nethers is trapped in a perilous dreamworld – a treacherous and desolate realm where the terrifying stories of Edgar Allan Poe come to life. Isobel Lanley, plagued by strange visions and haunted by nightmares of Varen’s creation, is the only one who can save him.

Isobel knows that her only hope lies within a Baltimore cemetery. There, in the early morning hours of Edgar Allan Poe’s birthday, a mysterious stranger known as the “Poe Toaster” will make his annual homage at the legendary poet’s grave.

Only the Poe Toaster holds the key to the way between worlds. But great dangers lie ahead for Isobel. An ancient evil, draped in veils of white, is watching, challenging her for Varen’s affections. When Isobel finally finds Varen, he is no longer the quiet and brooding boy who once captivated her, but a dark force, powerful and malevolent.

Could Isobel’s greatest love also be her greatest adversary?

The following review is based on a copy I purchased myself.

Do not read if you haven't read Nevermore and don't want to be spoiled!!!

Review (no spoilers):

I have waited for this book for more than a year, with big expectations and not a little fear for what the novel would hold in store for Isobel and Varen – I was not disappointed on any of those accounts. Trying to review Enshadowed is difficult for me because there is just no way I can do this book justice. Anything I say will be bland compared to the experience of reading it. It made me laugh, it surprised me, it scared me, intrigued me, and it left me in pieces – as it well should.

The ending of Nevermore left Isobel in the real world while Varen was a captive in the dreamworld he helped create. Enshadowed picks up a few weeks later. Isobel has still not found a way to reach Varen but is trying to convince her parents to take her to Baltimore for a ‘university trip’ so that she can then sneak off and intercept Reynolds, aka the Poe Toaster, at Poe’s grave and make him take her to Varen. Meanwhile, she is under a lot of strain because the police, her teacher Mr Swanson, and basically the entire student body think that she has at least an idea about where Varen went. Isobel feels terrible for leaving him behind, even though she was tricked by Reynolds into doing it, and she is hell-bent of finding him and bringing him back no matter what.

However, there are signs of Varen reaching out to her in her dreams and Isobel is finding it harder and harder to distinguish between waking and sleeping, between what is real and what should not be real. Pinfeathers, one of the Nocs created by Varen, is haunting her both in he dreams and in the real world. I never thought I’d say this but I grew to love Pinfeathers. In Nevermore, he plain scared me (though during the re-read I learned to appreciate his sense of humor) but the Pinfeathers in Enshadowed is changed, and Isobel can no longer be sure about who is friend and who is foe. The connection between Pinfeathers and Varen is one I found very fascinating, as are the parallels between Varen and Poe and their relations to the dreamworld and to the veiled female figure who lured them there and whom I cannot really talk about without spoilers.

Isobel is a very strong heroine, refusing to give up even as everyone around her, in the know or not, tells her to turn her back on Varen and get on with her life, lies to her, or otherwise tries to hinder her. Comparing her to the spoilt cheerleader she was at the beginning of Nevermore, she has undergone incredible growth! And she does not wallow in self-pity, even though she has reason enough to do it.

Also the minor characters gain a lot more depth in the sequel: Isobel’s family plays an important role, we get to know Gwen better and there is also some light shed on Varen’s parents and his past in general. I’m still not sure I have figured out how it’s all connected but I have theories ;) Kelly Creagh definitely keeps the reader guessing, and I loved that!

Of course what I loved most of all was the wonderful, rich and lyrical prose. Not once does Creagh resort to a clichéd description; instead, she comes up with wonderful new similes and metaphors that fit her story perfectly. She creates moods and scenes that will pull the reader right into the story, at her mercy to be awed or terrified. Poe’s writing is a phantom haunting the story, woven through it in an unobtrusive yet recognizable way to those who know his stories and poetry. And it’s not just random phrases, quotes or allusions – it’s the deeper themes, the places, the names… I could write an essay just on intertextuality in this series.

All in all, this is a wonderfully crafted, dark read full of mystery and its very own brand of magic, both in the story and in the words Creagh uses to tell it. It will make you laugh and cry and shake your fist at the injustice of the world, and like the notes of a certain lullaby, it will haunt your mind for a long time to come.

I could rhapsodize on forevermore but this is a novel you just have to read for yourself to feel its full effect. I can’t wait for the conclusion of this trilogy!

P.S.: And yet I feel I should ramble on because this is too short to possibly do the story justice… maybe I’ll edit it at a later point. My brain is still too bedazzled but I had to get this on the page while still ‘under the influence’, so to speak.

Have you read Enshadowed? What were your thoughts? Predictions? Fears? Favorite bits? Let me know in the comments :)

Teaser Tuesday: Nevermore

Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

add it on goodreads

I'm still not quite finished with my re-reading of Nevermore to prepare for Enshadowed, so I'm giving you a teaser from here this week. You can read my review here.

I am shamelessly extending the two sentences thing this time...

"Read me something?" She heard herself say, as though someone else was speaking through her.
He hesitated. Then, after a moment, she felt him slide nearer, causing every one of her senses to become amplified. His shoulder brushed against hers, igniting a tremble that ran through the length of her, and she tried to hide her shaking hands by gripping the sides of the book. He began turning pages once more. She could feel the movement of each sheet with her entire frame, fist as it lifted, then as it settled on the other side.
At last he stopped, and she stared down at the printed column of words, unable to comprehend a single one. His hand, warm and steady, wound its way around hers, wrapping it like a spider would its prey. She surrendered it to him, unable to watch even as his thumb traced the place, just above her knuckles, where he had once written his number in deep violet. Isobel ceased to breathe. Her heart pounded in her chest, her thoughts shattering into senseless fragments. All the while, her eyes remained trained and unblinking on the open page. [...]
"Ulalume," he began, and the word itself, which he'd pronounced "You-la-loom," flowed from him like a string of notes. [Creagh, page 290-291]

 *Sigh* I love Varen Nethers. I could have chosen so so many bits and pieces of this book. He is the guy I always wished I'd meet but never did. And to have a guy with his dark intensity settle beside me and read to me? Woah... But enough of my non-existent love-life :P

What are you reading and teasing us with this Tuesday? Leave a link in your comment :)