Top 10 Week #4: Best Book Boyfriends of 2012

Top 10 of 2012 is one week of bookish goodness hosted by the fantastic peeps at Two Chicks on Books, Fiktshun, Confessions of a Bookaholic, and Magical Urban Fantasy Reads! Every day from December 24th to December 28th, I'll have a Top 10 list up regarding to the day's topic. Today's topic is:

Best Book Boyfriends of 2012

In no particular order, here are the guys I swooned over and pretty much married in my 2012 career as a professional book boy addict:

Bitterblue

Bitterblue
By: Kristin Cashore
Reported by: Julianna Helms
Source: ARC borrowed from the amazing Karen
Release Date: May 1st, 2012, from Dial/Penguin

Eight years after Graceling, Bitterblue is now queen of Monsea. But the influence of her father, a violent psychopath with mind-altering abilities, lives on. Her advisors, who have run things since Leck died, believe in a forward-thinking plan: Pardon all who committed terrible acts under Leck’s reign, and forget anything bad ever happened. But when Bitterblue begins sneaking outside the castle—disguised and alone—to walk the streets of her own city, she starts realizing that the kingdom has been under the thirty-five-year spell of a madman, and the only way to move forward is to revisit the past.

Two thieves, who only steal what has already been stolen, change her life forever. They hold a key to the truth of Leck’s reign. And one of them, with an extreme skill called a Grace that he hasn’t yet identified, holds a key to her heart.

-Summary from Goodreads
Pre-order: Mrs. Nelson's||Barnes&Noble||Amazon||Book Depository

Designed to deceive and fabricated to steal, Bitterblue is a more-bitter-than-sweet story bursting with emotions and hidden truths destined to kill.

Top 10 Settings in 2011

Today's topic was characters, and I chose settings. Though some people might say that a setting isn't a real, animate thing, it can't be a character (and you're right), here is the definition for character (from dictionary.com):

Character: Noun. One of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish the individual.

A setting is an attribute that distinguish the characters in a story, and it usually plays a major role as well. Without the claustrophobic environment of Godspeed, would Across the Universe be as horrifying as it is? Without the Shifted world of Shade, Aura's story would have been exponentially different. So, here it is, my top 10 settings of 2011 (in no particular order):

Top 10 Book Boyfriends in 2011

After much hair-pulling and no actual cursing, here are my top 10 book boyfriends of 2011 (in no particular order):

Top 10 Books I've Read in 2011

Top 10 Books I've Read in 2011(in no particular order):

My Grace is Learning

Graceling
By: Kristin Cashore

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight—she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug.  

When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change. She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace—or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away . . . a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone. 

-Summary from Goodreads

I love high-fantasy, I love strong heroines, and I love a story that makes me swoon.

But what I really love is a story that makes me think.

Graceling is original and thought-provoking, and truly, can anyone deny that Kristin Cashore has the grace for writing? 

Thank you to my friend Soph for forcing telling me to read Graceling. Katsa is this incredibly tough heroine with a heart, and her character grows so much throughout the story, I ached for her. She lived her whole life believing herself to be a killing machine. She thrived despite everyone's fearful, judgmental opinions about her. But in her heart she's just a girl who wants to be appreciated and recognized, and that vulnerability in her broke my heart a little.


I loved Po. I can't help, though, but compare Po to Peeta. Peeta complements Katniss like Po complements Katsa, but this book hypocritically can't really be compared to The Hunger Games, because even though they both involve cruel, inhumane tyrants, heart-breaking decisions, and aching romance, the message these books approach are met from different angles. Graceling is a tale of love and fighting and making the right choices, and Katsa can break. That's what I loved so much about this book. The protagonist can break, but even as she does she stands strong and fights because she cares so much about everyone else that slowly warmed their way into her heart (even if it isn't many people). And in her resilience we find hope, and in hope we find triumph.


This is an action-packed book laced with romance and tortuous dilemmas. This is a book that will stay with you long after you've finished it. This is the book about a girl who turns from the puppet to the puppeteer.