Top 10 of 2019: Captivating Characters (Favorite Characters)

Top 10 of 2019 is hosted once again by Kimberly Faye Reads, and this year she has a co-host Ginger @greadsbooks.   The third topic, captivating characters, tripped me up at first because I started listing book boyfriends immediately, but I decided to save them for one of the later top 10s this week, favorite couples, although I may re-do that subject for myself as top book boyfriends.  We'll see.

1.

As crazy as it may sound, I haven't actually even read his book yet, pictured above, but Cletus Winston is one of my favorite characters even as a supporting character in all the other books I have read in the Winston Brothers series or other SmartyPants Romance books.

2.

Of course I was so happy to get a great new venture into the world of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and it was written by one of my favorite authors, so I love our "new" slayer, Nina, and I look forward to reading her next bit of story in Chosen very soon!

3.

This is the author's second book, and I love her take on historical fiction.  In this case, a person I've always been intrigued by, but haven't read much about, Anastasia, even with the added fantasy or magic in the story.

4. and 5.

The two main characters in this, Lena and Campbell were great leading characters and the whole book was just really good.

6.

I loved the original three books for this series, and now we have a new character, Genevieve, and I have to definitely pick her for this topic.

7.

 

I'll go with Cager in this story, he was a very interesting and funny character.

8.

Violet from the original story in the Pucked series was showing up in several other books and extras by the author this year, so she is one that I adore when she does appear in a story because she is so funny!

9.

He was only a side character in this one, but Roth will always be one of my favorite JLA characters!

10.

Janie is not a new character to me, but I did get to jump back into her life with this audiobook this year, and I enjoy her in the other characters' books in this series.


Have you read any of these books?  Do you know the characters I'm talking about?

If you're interested in joining in to the Top 10 of 2019, you can go to the links at the top for the hosting blogs.  Here are the other topics you'll see coming up:

Also, while you're here, make sure you go enter into my weekly Cleaning Up My TBR Giveaway HERE.  It's open until this Friday until midnight!

ARC Review: I'm Not Dying with You Tonight by Kimberly Jones and Gilly Segal

Book info:

Title:  I'm Not Dying with You Tonight
Author:  Kimberly Jones, Gilly Segal
Genre:  YA contemporary
Release Date:  August 6th, 2019
Publisher:  Sourcebooks Fire
Source: Physical ARC received from publisher which did not influence my opinion
My rating:  5 stars

Synopsis:
Lena and Campbell aren't friends.

Lena has her killer style, her awesome boyfriend, and a plan. She knows she's going to make it big. Campbell, on the other hand, is just trying to keep her head down and get through the year at her new school.

When both girls attend the Friday-night football game, what neither expects is for everything to descend into sudden mass chaos. Chaos born from violence and hate. Chaos that unexpectedly throws them together.

They aren't friends. They hardly understand the other's point of view. But none of that matters when the city is up in flames, and they only have each other to rely on if they're going to survive the night.


My Review:
I read this book in one day.  It was so good!  When I picked it up, I couldn't put it down.  The book goes back and forth between the viewpoints of the two characters.  Which I think was a great way to do it.  So you can see how each is feeling and reacting, and how each situation unfolds in their eyes.  While as an adult I had a bit of a time reading Lena's chapters with her major use of slang and the type of language that teens may be using right now, I was able to google what I needed and figure it out.  I feel like this is a much needed story for today for both sides of society represented in this to read.    To see first off their totally different reactions to the police showing up.  Campbell feeling that now things would be safe once they showed up, that she and Lena could go to them to be safe, to how Lena froze up at the sight of cops and wouldn't go near them.  To see the looting taking place and realizing that not everyone agreed with it, but many may just look the other way.  So much of the story was intense and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time wondering just what situation the two girls would find themselves in on the next block, or even the next house they reached.  In the end the girls probably were able to forge a friendship even if the ending leave it ambiguous and maybe up to our imagination.  A great read, one I immediately passed along to a student to read, although I will keep my copy on my own shelves, I will be sure to order several copies for my school library as well.