Faves of 2011 (so far): {the characters}:

The ever lovely Nomes over at Inkcrush is hosting a virtual, interactive awards show of sorts for books read in 2011. Any books read in 2011 are fair game and all "winners" are chosen respectively by the blogs participating. I thought it was an awesome idea so I've decided to join in! If you'd like to participate check out the informational post here.

♥ Best female POV:

• Taylor from Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta. Sassy, strong, and completely real. Love love love reading in her voice.
• Yelena from Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder. This girl is such a badass. I loved fighting along with her through physical opponents as well as the demons in her own head. Brilliantly written!
• Bianca from The DUFF by Kody Keplinger. She's hilarious. She's so very real I can picture her right now, hanging around her History class or in one certain boy's bedroom. ;)

♥ Best male POV:

• Cassel from Red Glove by Holly Black. Can I just be appointed the president of the Cassel Sharpe fan club or...?

♥ Best couple <3:

...can you tell I like couples just a little bit? Heh.

♥ Who I so want to be best friends with:

  

• Bianca because she's hilarious and we have the same sense of humor. Plus she's pretty blunt, which I also am.
• Yelena because once again...she is too badass for words. And I totally want an excuse to own some ninja stars.
• Cassel. Because he's Cassel. And Cassel is perfect.
• Alec because if I can't date his wonderful self we must be BFF. Magnus too.

♥ Who I fell completely in love with {new literary crush} <3:

• VALEK. *le swoon* I loved him from the first appearance, even when he was a jackass I was totes magotes a proud member of the Valek fan club.
• Gabriel <3______<3. Helllllooooo there, Gabriel.

♥ Worst {best} villain:

• Because there is no villain. The villain is inside Jonah, Jonah himself. This was a story of internal struggle. Outside stimuli affected his decisions but all in all Jonah was the truly villainous one.
• Reyad. He's on this list because Maria V. Snyder made his crimes so real and so raw that I wanted to rip him from the pages and beat the living daylights out of him {preferably with the aforementioned ninja stars}.

♥ Best character twist {who you loved then hated or vice versa}:

• Lord help me if I ever hated a human being the way I hated Cole St. Clair in the beginning of this book. And now he's my homeskillet. ;)

♥ Best kick-arse female:

• I LOVE YELENA.
• Honorable mention: the girls of the TMI series...Isabelle's whip is legit.
• Honorable mention: Taylor from Jellicoe Road. Also a badass, but not in the same way as the others.

♥ Best kick-arse male:

• Valek. He and Yelena are too badass for words. And I love it oh so much.
• COFA is full of badass boys and their deadly toys.

♥ Broke my heart the most:

• Can you tell they all break my heart? A character I like could catch the common cold and I would be a blubbering mess.
• Benny had no one but one loyal friend and a bunch of mindless undead former friends set on killing him, Bianca & Wesley's lives are being shot to hell, Jonah is killing himself, quickly. Taylor has gone to hell and back again and again. Yelena & Valek both endured some of the hardest situations I've read in YA. Those two survived more than I imagined someone could.

♥ Best/worst character names:

• Best> Nix Riley from Rot & Ruin; Yelena from Poison Study; Bianca & Wesley from The DUFF; Lila from Red Glove
• Worst> Ash from The Iron Fey Series {I cannot speak, type, or even think Team Ash without feeling like an arsonist sympathizer}; Cassel from Red Glove; Toby from The DUFF {because my aunt's dog had the same name and I always picture an odd teenage boy/black lab hybrid when characters are named Toby; frightening, I know}

♥ BONUS: Five fave covers:

 

• Poison Study> Love the hair intermingling with the weeds. It makes me think of the poisons and such mentioned throughout the book and also the magical element. Plus in real life some of the vines are all SHINY. It's great.
• Jellicoe Road> The orange, seemingly painted band, the kooky font, the very orange, simple flower that seems to have the essence of the entire novel trapped within it's petals. The cover designer should get a raise or a bonus or cookies; something.
• Break> It's so simple and gritty. Completely fits the tone of the book.
• Beauty Queens> It's such a contradiction. Pretty, blonde beauty queen with...bullets strapped across her chest like a second, hard earned sash.
• Slice of Cherry> The bloody teacups make so much sense when you've read the book. Two serial killing girls in a charming Southern town = bloody teacups galore. Plus cool font = bonus points.

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This has been another edition of Nomes' faves of 2011. If you participated leave a link! And don't forget to enter my CONTEST and vote in the poll at the bottom of my blog.

Happy Sunday!

"Pumped Up Kicks"-Foster the People,