Top Ten Tuesday (#12): Fictional Characters I wish I knew I real life

Top Ten Tuesday this week is about 

❄ Fictional Characters I wish I knew in real life ❄

1. Hermione Granger (Harry Potter). I don't think I can even begin with why I'd love to know her. She is smart, kind, brave, and really likeable - she is just so awesome friend. 

2. Carswell Thorne (Lunar Chronicles). He is so much fun, and I love funny guys. We would have so much fun together. 

3. Peeta Mellark (The Hunger Games). The sweetest guy of all the fictional worlds. He is the type you can count on whether it was a rainy or sunny day.

4. Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish (A Song of Ice and Fire). He's not the most trustworthy guy, but I think that once you get to his good side and stay there, he would be a great friend/ally and his witty humour is a great plus. 

5. Katy Swartz (Lux). We two have so much common that it almost hurts (except for the alien boyfriend part). I think we could get along pretty well!

6. Roar (Under the Never Sky). One of the most likeable minor characters I've ever read about! He is so attentive, charming, and funny that I'd love to know him personally.

7. Tucker Avery (Unearthly). I think you all know why I listed him here - so swoony!

8. Celaena Sardothien (Throne of Glass). She is such a badass character! AND yet likes all the girly stuff! Celeana is one of my favourite fictional heroines ever so I'd love to have her as my friend. 

9. Cassiopeia Sullivan (The 5th Wave). I like both pre- and post-alien invasion Cassie which really rarely happens to me. Even though she might not be the easiest person to be around with from time to time, I really respect and like her for her determination and trying to be true to herself.

10. Locke Lamora (Gentleman Bastard). !!!! One of my favourite fictional characters ever so of course I had to include him.

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This list was so much fun to make! I'm 101% sure that I forgot to include someone really important, but what can you do when you have the attention span of a goldfish. I just have to hope that I won't be completely frustrated once I remember that forgot to add someone! 

Wait For You (Wait For You, #1) by J. Lynn

Description from Goodreads:

Some things are worth waiting for…

Traveling thousands of miles from home to enter college is the only way nineteen-year-old Avery Morgansten can escape what happened at the Halloween party five years ago—an event that forever changed her life. All she needs to do is make it to her classes on time, make sure the bracelet on her left wrist stays in place, not draw any attention to herself, and maybe—please God—make a few friends, because surely that would be a nice change of pace. The one thing she didn’t need and never planned on was capturing the attention of the one guy who could shatter the precarious future she’s building for herself.

Some things are worth experiencing…

Cameron Hamilton is six feet and three inches of swoon-worthy hotness, complete with a pair of striking blue eyes and a remarkable ability to make her want things she believed were irrevocably stolen from her. She knows she needs to stay away from him, but Cam is freaking everywhere, with his charm, his witty banter, and that damn dimple that’s just so… so lickable. Getting involved with him is dangerous, but when ignoring the simmering tension that sparks whenever they are around each other becomes impossible, he brings out a side of her she never knew existed.

Some things should never be kept quiet…

But when Avery starts receiving threatening emails and phone calls forcing her to face a past she wants silenced, she’s has no other choice but to acknowledge that someone is refusing to allow her to let go of that night when everything changed. When the devastating truth comes out, will she resurface this time with one less scar? And can Cam be there to help her or will he be dragged down with her?

And some things are worth fighting for…

--

Wait For You was my very first book read from the New Adult genre, and when I started reading I wasn't sure what to expect. I really like Lux series by Jennifer L. Armentrout (J. Lynn is her second pen name), so I though I might give a try to her contemporary series. But I have to admit that I was rather sceptical: is it going be just like something from Fifty Shades of Grey? I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised that when I realised it wasn't all about kinky sex, but maybe just more daring and sensual than Young Adult books. 

The book gave rather interesting portrayal to what sort of consequences a trauma can cause to a person. I'm not an expert on the intrapersonal coping of emotional trauma, but I think Lynn gave a very emotional and a raw image of what it can be. The readers are gradually let known that even though Avery might naturally be a bit introvert, there is something in her past that makes her unable to overcome her fears and let it all go. I appreciated the fact that the author didn't make all this easy for Avery - it's not that easy to get over a trauma in the real life either. 

I was a bit slow to warm up for Cameron, but I think his sweet and attentive personality eventually made me to accept him being good enough for Avery. They were really good together and had undeniable chemistry between them (Lynn can really write some steamy scenes, let me tell you). Their relationship wasn't really hurried, but it was well-pace and interesting to follow. I remember thinking at times "just get together already" but of course the anticipation just makes everything sweeter, doesn't it? Nevertheless, their relationship was rather adorable, even though it didn't really provide anything extraordinary or new. 

Wait For You was inarguably a bit cliché story with the insecure girl and the popular guy, and well, you know how that story ends. Nevertheless, I already expected those things to come so I was able to react to them accordingly. I can't say that the book is a literary master piece, but I did enjoy it and it made giggle from time to time. It was romantic and steamy, and those who enjoy that types of books with a mystery twist will most likely enjoy Wait For You. Sometimes  it's just nice to read something a little bit more, well not trivial, but just something less profound and deep. 

☆☆☆ 

Sunday Post (#4)

"The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Caffeinated Book Reviewer. It’s a chance to share news~ A post to recap the past week on your blog, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up on our blog for the week ahead." 

✿ What I read this week ✿

❄ Cinder (Lunar Chronicles, #1) by Marissa Meyer
❄ Scarlet (Lunar Chronicles, #2) by Marissa Meyer
❄ Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
❄ A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

✿ Reviews ✿

❄ The Geography of You and Me by Jennifer E. Smith ♡ ♡ ♡
❄ Shattered Secrets (Book of Red, #1) by Krystal Wade ♡ ♡
❄ The Troop by Nick Cutter ♡ ♡ ♡  

✿ Memes ✿

❄ Top Ten Tuesday - (Bookish Things)
❄ Waiting on Wednesday (Renegade (MILA 2.0, #2) by Debra Driza)
❄ Stacking the Shelves

✿ Around the blogosphere and elsewhere ✿

❄ Thoughts about LGBT literature  at Oh the Books
❄ If I Stay Movie Trailer 
❄ A perfect list of 10 bookish things at the Perpetual Page Turner

❄ Bookshelf Bliss at Book Nerd Reviews

✿ What else I've been up to this week ✿

1. Review Slump. I haven't been able to write a single review for 1,5 weeks now. Zero. I usually write my reviews straight away after finishing the book, but I just haven't had the inspiration for it. And now that the reviews are piling up, it's even more difficult to start writing them! 

2. Very first audiobook. I bought this week my very first audio book!! I wanted to have something that isn't the most quickest thing to listen and something that would be thrilling to listen - so I decided on The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey.  It has been on my wish list for ages so I though it was destiny when I saw it on Audible. 

3. New favourite Café: spotted! I happened to go today to my new favourite coffee shop! It's so adorable, the staff is super nice, and the lattes there are just mouthwatering. I didn't try the menu there yet, but I most definitely will in the near future!

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Stacking the shelves (#12)

It's Saturday and so it's time for Stacking the Shelves!

Here is my haul from this week:

❄ Paperbacks ❄

Ready Player One by Earnest  Cline
Leviathan (Leviathan, #1) by Scott Westerfeld

❄ NetGalley ❄

The Three by Sarah Lotz
The Moment Collector by Jodi Lynn Anderson 
Storm (Elemental, #1) by Brigid Kemmer

❄ Audiobooks  ❄

The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave) by Rick Yancey

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I love my haul this week so much! The 5th Wave and Ready Player One definitely were the books that I've been drooling after, and that's why I'm so happy I got them! Those books just might become my favourites, I have this feeling..

The Troop by Nick Cutter

Description from Goodreads:

Boy Scouts live by the motto “Be Prepared.” However, nothing can prepare this group of young boys and their scoutmaster for what they encounter on a small, deserted island, as they settle down for a weekend of campfires, merit badges, and survival lessons.

Everything changes when a haggard stranger in tattered clothing appears out of nowhere and collapses on the campers’ doorstep. Before the night is through, this stranger will end up infecting one of the troop’s own with a bioengineered horror that’s straight out of their worst nightmares. Now stranded on the island with no communication to the outside world, the troop learns to battle much more than the elements, as they are pitted against something nature never intended…and eventually each other.

--

It has been ages since I've read a horror novel, and I think The Troop was a good book to enter the genre once again. I started reading with an open mind, even though I had heard some mixed things about the book - and  I think it was a good decision to pick the book anyway. The Troop succeeded in being a gruesome horror novel, which I believe to be the main goal for the author, but I can't help but feeling that the book lacked that something special that would have made the book even more to my liking.

I, myself, am more of a psychological horror kind of girl rather than jump scare or slasher. And despite the fact that The Troop had quite a lot of emotional terror in it, the horror mostly was slasher orientated - lots of very graphic descriptions of all sorts of bodily abhorrences. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if the focus was more on the mental sufferings, but those who enjoy the gruesome stuff will most likely enjoy reading the book; some of the things made me lost my appetite. Cutter has a talent for drawing pictures with visual and olfactory imagery which is just perfect when you want to spook your readers. I could picture the events taking place with unquestionable clarity.

The reason why I found this books so horrific is all thanks to the bioengineered horror. The events are somewhat plausible, as god knows what sort of biohazardous experiments are going on even now, and this made the story so chilling. It's way more realistic and so also scarier as it wasn't about vampires or ghosts - this sort of event could actually take place somewhere in the near future. And it wasn't helping at all that the bioengineered targets were parasite worms - so disgusting. I don't know if there are many other things as disgusting as huge, white, infectious worms. 

My favourite thing in The Troop was that the story was told from various perspectives; how the people on the island saw and experienced the events, and how the outside world reacted to them. It was really nice change to the flow of the story when every now and there were interviews, laboratory diary entries, and direct/cross examinations of the witnesses in relation to the events, between the chapters. These variations to the traditional narration brought more depth to the story and let the readers know the context, origins, and aftermath of the events that took place on the island. In fact, I enjoyed more these supplementary additions than the actual story - they were really powerful chapters as they conveyed how dangerous the situation really was on the island. 

I didn't really connect with any of the characters except for Newton. This probably is because most of the characters were 14-year-old boys. I think I could have liked them more if they weren't all stereotypes of teenager boys: the nerd, the jockey, the trouble-maker, the boy from next door, and the creep. However, it was nice to notice that Cutter had given though to their origins and how they became to be who they were. - it gave them more complexity and helped me to cope with their caricatureness. Newton, for example, was a very interesting character and did experience the most perceivable character development, but he was the only boy on the island for whom I cared for. The stereotypes just rub me in the wrong way.

The Troop definitely wasn't what I was expecting, and it was a good read even though it wasn't perfect. I think I would have enjoyed the book more if there was more psychological horror included opposed to depictions of the bodily horror. The book was somewhat predictable, but there were also some interesting twists that I didn't see coming. It's funny how I know that if this book was made into a film, I would probably hate it, but because it was book I found it okay. Magic of the words, I suppose?

☆☆☆