Here we go, Day 2 of the Sharing the Awesome awards hosted @ inkcrush is all about the characters.  (P.S. This is a fairly open and relaxed set of awards. I don’t see a deadline, nor any real rules other than whatever books you choose for your awards be books you read this year. I urge you to join in on the fun if you’re thinking about it)!  🙂

1. Best female POV – Bianca Piper from The Duff for sounding like a real teenager. Sarcastic, smart, and a little buttkicked by Life (but learning how to deal with it).

2. Best male POV – Eugenides from The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner. I really loved the first person point of view of this book. Just the right bit of cheeky. A close runner up was R from Warm Bodies by Isaac Marion.

3. Best couple ❤ – After all my obsessing over Grace and Vaughn from Unsticky, it really would be strange not to see them win this one from me, wouldn’t it? Yes, they win. I love this couple for being individually quite dysfunctional, but together, quite amazing.

4. Who i so want to be best friends with – Hmm, this is one that took some thought. There are a lot of tough, cool ladies, but I think my choice is going to be Cat from Cold Magic, who can be counted on when someone she loves is in trouble.  A very important trait in a friend.

5. Who I fell completely in love with (new literary crush) – Oh please. Eugenides of course.

6. Worst (best) villain – the villain from Double Cross by Carolyn Crane. To tell you more may spoil it.

7. Best character twist (who you loved then hated or vice versa) -See above.

8. Best kick-arse female – Irene from The Queen of Attolia. An overlooked, underestimated female who seizes power and rules with a will of iron? Shiver me timbers.

9. Best kick-arse male – For his sheer crazysauce and preternatural fighting skills (never wearing any kind of armor), this goes to Whirrun of Bligh, also known as Cracknut, a secondary character in Joe Abercrombie’s The Heroes. In the beta male category, this goes  Eldric (from Chime by Franny Billingsley) who kicks butt for saying something when Briony is wrong (like when she says she’d be better if she was someone else), and for also recognizing (and regretting) when he’s an idiot.

10. Broke your heart the most – I would have to say Rowan Mackenzie from Spellcast by Barbara Ashford. He broke it in a way it needed to be broken though. It felt right. I know that sounds strange, but it makes sense, really.

11. Best/worst character names – Best character name is a toss-up. It’s either Atticus O’Sullivan from Hounded by Kevin Hearne (Atticus is a great name), or Dreadnought Stanton from The Native Star by M.K. Hobson. DREADNOUGHT! Love it.

As for Worst character name.. sigh, I’m afraid I have to go with Deuce from Enclave by Ann Aguirre.  I like it within the context of the book, but it does not have the best colloquial meaning.

Nomes of inkcrush is hosting the Sharing the Awesome awards – which is a series of posts about people’s favorite books for 2011 (so far) are. Looks like she’s doing this until the end of June and everyone is welcome to jump in whenever they want. Day 1 is about your favorite books, Day 2 focuses on your favorite characters and Day 3 is about the scenes and randomness!

Looks like fun to me! There are 20 categories at inkcrush, but I don’t think I have answers for all of them, so I’ll just wing it. Here are my choices out of the 38 (and a half) books I’ve read so far in 2011.

favourite book read so far in 2011:

Unsticky… oh how do I love thee. This book left me obsessed with Grace and Vaughn after I finished it. I would ponder the ending for weeks afterward. Part of the reason I bought So You Think You Can Love Me, (Manning’s second adult novel) halfway through reading Unsticky was because I read Grace and Vaughn would make cameos, and I wanted to check to see how they were doing. I didn’t move this book from my bedside table for about a month after reading it because I “may need to reread my favorite parts before I go to bed”. Yeah.

Brilliantly funny:

I’m actually halfway through this book right now. I didn’t expect this, because  this is an urban fantasy, but it’s got a lot of amusing moments. There’s a doggy sidekick (an Irish wolfhound), who makes me smile like crazy (yes, magically talking dog trope = one of my weaknesses). I’m constantly chuckling over this one.

Delicious rainy day comfort read:

Sugar Queen surprised me with its charm and magic. This is a definite comfort read. I felt like I trusted the author to make everything all right in the end, even though I’d NEVER read anything by Sarah Addison Allen before. And she did. Yes, I know, I need to go and find Garden Spells.

Adrenalin-fuelled, unputdownable award:

Oh. My. God. Freaking.. ahhh. Part of the adrenalin here comes from Toby and one of her love interests and what happens in this book. One of those books that has you looking for someone else who has read it so you can basically scream “OMG!” “RIGHT?! RIGHT?” “AND THEN THAT PART WHERE… ” “I KNOW!!!”  and both of you will know exactly what the other is saying. There’s a lot going on in this series to mull over and try to guess what it means. Which I love.

Most original and imaginative:

Chime wins most original/imaginative hands down. It’s WEIRD, and I’ve said this in my review, the weird takes some getting used to, but I think if  you’re a reader where the weird works for you, it works very well. I would also put this down for the most atmospheric and vivid setting award for the strange swamp and the creatures that live there. I have images of lush vegetation, water, and mist.

I-so-want-to-go-there award

Because of The Thief, going to Greece and seeing the Sea of Olives is up there on my List of Things I’d Like To Do.

Outside my comfort zone but gosh how i loved it:

I loved a ZOMBIE BOOK. A zombie won me over as a romantic lead. Did not expect that at all. Did not expect to love this one as much as I did. And I find myself trying to convince other zombie-no-love people to try it (which is – sigh, kind of difficult).

Series that i’m loving:

If you’ve been following this blog, you knew I would choose this. I tried The Thief, and then I just couldn’t help it – I had to read the rest. And now I must wait for book 5. Darn lack of self control, I should have paced myself.

I’ve also been blown away with Carolyn Crane’s Disillusionists trilogy. The ending of Double Cross? Amazing. A very well thought out series that has the reader guessing about who the real villain is. Love the anti-hero angle here.

I believe I’ve already talked about this one. Quite addicted, thank you.

I-had-no-idea-I-would-love this-so award:

You know, I didn’t think this would do it for me, but after one review I decided I had to read it, and I’m so glad I did. I found Bianca’s casual use of expletives so refreshing, and although I didn’t agree with her using a guy she hardly likes for sex, the unapologetic messiness of her life appealed to me. I wanted her to figure things out, and she does. I was dithering whether I should put this book down for the most memorable voice award. I guess it goes there too.