List Maniac #9 Favorite Guys of Fiction

We already did girls and now Guys!! I usually read books with girl narrators and often end up falling in love with the boys they fall in love. So, here we go! In no order in particular these are my favorite Guys of Fiction!

Jesse de Silva - Mediator (Mild SPOILER ALERT)

Oh, Jesse. He had to wait 150 years to meet the girl of his dreams and he did. Jesse is actually a ghost who inhabits Susannah's new bedroom, he was killed in that same room when he was 20 years old in the mid 1850's, and he just hanged around. There is this part in the story where Suze asks him if he knows why he's still around, and he sort of hints that he knows and that the reason is Suze. He's a gentleman, he's reluctant to fall in love with Suze because of his ghostly status, but they still become friends and they still fall in love. Jesse is a really nice guy, that's his core yet his still hot and everything - just because he's nice and gentlemanly doesn't mean he's not going to fight for what he loves (namely Suze), and he's so cute when he gets jealous!!

Wes - The Truth About Forever (mild SPOILER ALERT)
In some ways, Wes is the epitome of the Dream Guy, not that he's perfect but he's all those things any teenage girl wants. He's artistic, he's kind and he's even responsible with his feelings -as in when he starts feeling something from another girl, he ends his relationship as soon as he can, rather than dragging it out - and he still has a bit of a bad boy appeal to him. Plus, he's really handsome. But what I really like about Wes was that he was very honest, he and Macy fall in love by talking, by playing their game of truth and when it comes to facing those feelings he gives Macy the time and space to do so, even when it looks to him like he isn't going to win.


Derek - Darkest Powers (low SPOILER ALERT)
Oh Derk, Derek, Derek. I fell in love with him from mid-way through The Summoning, I just couldn't help myself. He's so socially awkward, he's not good with other people's feelings but the people he considers his pack, his family, those he fights for tooth and nail. Absolutely adore that about him. I don't think he wanted to like Chloe but he couldn't help himself and it starts to show early on the series -at least for me, I remember mentioning to a friend that I thought him and Chloe were going to end up together. Derek doesn't like being vulnerable but he allows himself to be vulnerable with Chloe, first out of necessity and then because he really wants her around, and that made me go "Siggggghh"

Heathcliff - Bard Academy Series (mild SPOILER ALERT)
I freely admit that when I first read Wuthering Heights, and when I first saw the movie with Ralph Finnes and Juliet Binoche, I couldn't quite see what was the big appeal of a character like Heathcliff. That changed when I read Wuthering High. There I could see Heathcliff as this vulnerable boy who was sure of only one thing in his life: his love for Cathy. Cathy, however, turned out to be every bit as selfish as I always thought she was. So when Miranda and Heathcliff met and became friends and all that, well I fell for him. He is the original brooding guy with a big heart. He would do anything for Miranda, he would never abandon her and I love that about him.


Jonah Griggs - Jellicoe Road
One of the first times Jonah Griggs' comes up during Jellicoe Road, Taylor says that he is "not only a name but a state of mind I don't care to revisit" or something like that. Slowly we start to see what happened between them a few years ago and why things are what they are between them, for good and bad. But some feelings are too strong to hide and so happens with Jonah and Taylor. He has one of the most awesome lines ever: "I'm here because of you. You're my priority. Your happiness, in some fucked way, is tuned into mine. Get that through your thick skull. Would I like it any other way? Hell, yes, but I don't think that will happen in my life time." He has had so much crap happen to him yet he's still a decent guy, he loves his family and he loves Taylor. Jonah knows Taylor is one hell of a tough cookie, but he still can't help to give in into his impulses to protect her but he never takes over, he's just there for her.

Those are my guys. What about yours?

The Reckoning by Kelley Armstrong

Warning: I'm going to assume you've already read the first two books of the Darkest Powers series.

After being on the run for several days, young necromancer Chloe Saunders and her friends werewolf Derek, sorcerer Simon and witch Tori, are finally safe under the care of Andrew (a friend of Derek and Simon's Dad) and his organization, a group of people who used to work for the Edison Group but that now are working to destroy them.

Things should go pretty well from then on, since destroying the Edison Group is high on Chloe's list of priorities - along with rescuing her aunt Lauren and friend Rae, and finding Derek and Simon's Dad - but pretty soon things start going south.

For starters, she's seeing a rather unpleasant ghost, Derek doesn't full trust Tori yet and he doesn't seem to trust Andrew all that much, either. Plus, Andrew's group is skeptical about their story and don't seem all that willing to help them out anytime soon.

To top it all off, and though the circumstances are hardly conductive of romance, Chloe does find herself between Simon and Derek (and I wish I could say more but I shan't spoil!!).

In any case, things are hardly what they seem at this 'safe' place...

Okay, so, I'm a fan of this series and it's proving to be very hard not to gush because I loved this book. With each book I have grown to like Chloe more - she starts the series as a very naive girl but by the time we get to The Reckoning Chloe, though basically the same person, is more assertive and she's willing to do what needs to be done to help those she cares about; and she's willing to admit when she makes an error of judgment and learn from it. And, I really liked how she learns to stand her ground with certain werewolf.

Derek is another of my favorite characters, I just love him - I think the scenes with him are my favorite, but I might be biased because, like I said, I love him.

I even grew to like Tori, who was not my favorite character in previous books.

As for the story itself, well it starts a bit slow as Chloe & Co are still trying to see how much they can trust Andrew and his group, and how much they are willing to help them. But when things start happening, they happen fast and it makes for one hell of a ride.
3/4

The Awakening by Kelley Armstrong

Warnning: I'm going to assume you guys already read The Summoning (book one of this series) so some spoilers might show up.

A few weeks ago, Chloe Saunders was a regular girl, but that all changed the day she saw her first ghost. After being sent to Lyle House - a group home for mentally disturbed kids - she finds out she's not crazy at all, she's a Supernatural and her life might be in danger.

So, she runs away, ready to seek answers with the help of foster brothers Derek and Simon, and her new friend Rae - young Supernaturals like herself - but after they get separated, Rae and Chloe get taken by what they find is The Edison Group, a group of mostly supernaturals who claim to be trying to make life easier to supernaturals by using science.

In reality, though, The Edison Group has way more devious purposes than that. After realizing that Rae actually likes the Edison Group, Chloe escapes the Group's clutches with the help of Tori - a fellow housemate from Lyle House whom she doesn't like really but is forced to trust in until they can find Derek and Simon.

All too soon, the four of them are on the run again, to find answers and save their lives.

Oh! I loved this book, my only complain about The Summoning was that I found it slow at the beginning, there is nothing slow about The Awakening, things are happening left and right all the time. It's action packed, yet there is a lightheartedness too the story that keeps it from being oppressive, yes, Chloe, Derek, Simon and Tori are in the run for their lives, and everything - from their powers to whom they can trust outside the odd foursome - is uncertain, but they still mostly act like teens. Smart teens, but teens all the same.

3/4

Book Gossip (#14)

Book Gossip #14 Cover and Summary this time

Here you have the lovely cover for The Reckoning Book 3 in the Darkest Powers series by Kelley Armstrong, set for release May 1, 2010.

And the summary, courtesy of Amazon UK, cover found at Goodreads.com

The nail-biting climax to Kelley Armstrong's bestselling YA series. Chloe Saunders is fifteen and would love to be normal. Unfortunately, that's not going to happen. First of all, she happens to be a genetically engineered necromancer who can raise the dead without even trying. She and her equally gifted (or should that be 'cursed'?) friends are on the run from the evil corporation who created them. To top it all, Chloe is struggling with her feelings for Simon, a sweet-tempered sorcerer, and his brother Derek, a not so sweet-tempered werewolf. And she has a horrible feeling she's leaning towards the werewolf. Definitely not normal...

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong

The Summoning by Kelley Armstrong (Darkest Powers #1)

Chloe Saunders had a perfectly ordinary life, living in Buffalo and attending an artsy high school, with her father mostly absent on business - her mother died when she was little - all Chloe wanted was to, one day, fulfill her dreams of making the type of movies she loves.

But everything changes one random day when she starts seeing people who aren't there -later figuring out they are ghosts - and gets shipped off to Lyle House, a group home for 'troubled' teenagers.

At first, Lyle House seems okay enough, there is one resident diva called Victoria, but the other two girls there -Liz and Rae - seem nice enough. The other residents rounding the group are Simon and Derek, foster siblings who keep themselves to themselves for the most part.

However, things aren't what they seem at Lyle Hose, not by far. Something is, in fact, very wrong, which Chloe begins to suspect after Liz is mysteriously 'transferred' to another hospital.

I tried very hard not to spoil too much of the book, but I can say it's quite good. At first I wasn't sure I was going to like it, in fact at the beginning I thought the story was dragging a little, but when it picked up I was enthralled reading page after page. I'm not a huge fan of paranormal books, but this one really caught my fancy, and I LOVE the fact that it talks about a wide variety of Supernatural beings - necromancers, werewolves, half demons, sorcerers and witches - rather than focusing on just one group, which I found rather refreshing.

I really liked the setting and the pace toward the end of the book, and I can't wait to read The Awakening.

Grade