Top Ten Tuesday: Can We Get a Sequel, Please?

Happy Tuesday! Happy Top Ten-ing! Today's Top Ten Tuesday is  Top Ten Books I Wish Could Have Had Sequels. We spend a tiny bit of time grumbling about series that go on forever (SIDE EYE, Charlaine Harris) but sometimes a book is so good you want more no mater what.As always a cheers of our whiskey sours (or in CC's world, whiskey on the rocks, since she is a badass) to The Broke and the Bookish for hosting TTT. And now for books we wish had sequels:

Grad Student:

1. The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater

2. Paper Towns by John Green

3. Chime by Franny Billingsley (has anyone else read this yet!? I need a friend here)

4. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith.

Goosie Mama:

5. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky (suggested sub-title: The College Years a la Saved by the Bell. Zach Morris reference on a Tuesday morning? Awesome.

6. Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and Daivd Levithan I would like a book completely from Tiny's POV.

7. The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. Can we just dedicate an entire chapter to "bat. bat. bat." ?!

Crazy Camper:

8. The Help by Kathryn Stockett- whatever happened to Aibileen? Did Miss Skeeter's mom survive her cancer?

9. Stupid Perfect World, I liked this premise. This novella was just not enough for the characters!

10. SHOULD NEVER HAVE HAD A SEQUEL: Fallen by Lauren Kate.  Ugh. Stop after book 1.

Want to know more? See our reviews (in the links here) of The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater, Paper Towns by John Green, Chime by Franny Billingsley, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky, Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green and David Levithan, The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson (Goosie Mama's Review, Grad Student's Review), and Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfield.

Top Ten Tuesday: Fictional Crushes

Today's Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish, is a freebie and we have decided on Top Fictional Crushes.  I considered making a  list alternating between Joe Fontaine and Augustus Waters since Goosie Mama has jumped on the Fontaine bandwagon. Those eye lashes! But here are some other favorites we don't discuss as frequently at YAF & WS:

1. Numair from the Immortals series by Tamora Pierce. How the twins learned that manly chest hair = great-- Crazy Camper and Grad Student.*
2. Eric Northman from the Sookie Stackhouse books by Charlaine Harris--Crazy Camper and Grad Student.
3. Tod in the Soul Screamers series by Rachel Vincent (more GS's love of Tod here!)
4. Graves from the Strange Angels series by Lili St. Crow. From classmate to werewolf to friend to save-your-life-no-questions-asked-friend to love. (Ignoring the end of book 5: angry side-eye from Grad Student to St. Crow).

5. Eldric from Chime by Franny Billingsley. (see here for why you should be swooning over Eldric)--Grad Student. 

6. Kaleb from the Hourglass series by Myra McEntire. YAAAA for those tattoos and (slightly cocky) frat boy style--Grad Student.

7. Four from the Divergent series by Veronica Roth is Goosie Mama's number one pick. When I asked about fictional crushes she said: "Tobias, duh..."
8. Bram from Dearly, Departed by Lia Habel. "big time"crush--Goosie Mama (her review)
9 & 10: George vs Jonathan from Tamora Pierce's Alanna Quartet (the purple eyed Lioness, she had excellent choice in men) while my young self would have loved Jonathan, George won in the end. And I can't lie, one of my best friends from college also read these books and while on a road trip this weekend, we referenced her new relationship to our mutual best friend as a George vs. Jonathan debate, where again, the George character won-- Crazy Camper.

CC:  I bet you wish this was your
phone- Alana Quartet! - GS

Apparently the internet thinks Max Irons should be Eldric. I agree. And Ian Somerhalder does the best drunk-handsome-heart of gold guy on TV. Who cares if he is  too old to be Kaleb?! I am casting him. Its my TTT. 


Crazy Camper says: GS, remember that time you came down to visit and do research and instead we watched every episode of Vampire Diaries we could? and then spent $50 dollars to buy the rest of the season on iTunes? I blame Ian.


*Crazy Camper and I are twins. Have we mentioned this? TRUE FACT. Although Goosie-Mama tried to Talented-Mr.-Ripley CC's spot in the fam over Memorial Day Weekend.

Top Ten Tuesday: "Top Ten All Time Favorite Characters In Books"

Today's Top Ten Tuesday is entitled "Top Ten All Time Favorite Characters In Books." Hosted by the Broke and the Bookish TTT is a weekly feature dedicated to book-list-mania.  I found this top ten hard to do--recent characters I read and liked, but had not necessarily upgraded to love status, crowded for attention. Sheesh (made-up) people, get in line! Not to mention I tend to love supporting characters best. I didn't realize it until I made this list! Without further ado, characters we love fall into these categories:

Ridiculousness Incarnate 

1. Peasebottom, Cobweb, Moth, and Mustardseed from the Theatre Illuminate series by Lisa Mantchev. I dare you to resist them! For example, this is such a funny play on famous first lines (as the first lines of Perchance to Dream, the second book in the series).  Ridiculous AND smart at once!

 “It is a truth universally acknowledged,” Mustardseed said, flying in lazy loops like an intoxicated bumblebee, “that a fairy in possession of a good appetite must be in want of a pie.” “Yes, indeed,” Cobweb said over the rattle of the caravan, “though I awoke one morning from uneasy dreams, I found myself transformed in my bed into a gigantic pie.” “It was the best of pie, it was the worst of pie,” was Moth’s contribution."

Exuberant characters!! Exclamation point!!

2. Eldric from Chime by Franny Billingsley. McDREAMY with an excellent vocabulary and a vivid imagination. (my review!)

3. Augustus Waters from The Fault In Our Stars by John Green.

“When surprised and excited and innocent Gus emerged from Grand Gesture Metaphorically Inclined Augustus, I literally could not resist.” --ME EITHER. Augustus loves life and I love him. He is my new favorite (made-up) person.

4. Joe Fontaine from The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson. (my review!)

 “The guy is life drunk, I think, makes Candide look like a sourpuss.”

Spunky Heroines 
5. Alanna of Trebond from the Song of the Lioness books by Tamora Pierce. We talk about these books a lot. Alanna is the original gusty heroine in the reading lives of Crazy Camper and Grad Student. When my roommate ran in (last month) and said “did you ever read those books about the girl with purple eyes?” I KNEW EXACTLY what she meant. We love her still.

6. Hermione Granger from J.K. Rowling's HP. Smart and Sassy. What is not to like? Points to Crazy Camper for adding to the list.

7. Puck from The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. She loves being terrible! But is really awesome. (my review!)

8. Sookie Stackhouse from the Southern Vampire series by Charlaine Harris. Sassy and southern. YES. This was Crazy Camper's second excellent addition. I think it says something that 12 books in we still get a kick out of Sookie.

Review: Chime by Franny Billingsley

IGNORE THIS COVER. It is ridiculous--that choker, how embarrassing! This is a far cooler book than the cover lets on.

Franny Billingsley 's Chime is set at turn-of-the-twentieth-century England in a town called Swampsea. The main character Briony has been convinced by her stepmother of her own wickedness--she blames herself for her family's hardships and her sister Rose's compromised state of mind. Briony knows she is wicked (But she is salty and a bit sassy and secretly enjoys being terrible sometimes!).  She no longer lets herself escape to the swamp, where she used to run and run and entertain the Old Ones, the spirits of the marshes, with stories. For only witches can see the Old Ones,and to be a witch is a death sentence. But Briony's story is not as it seems, and slowly, with the arrival of mischievousness Eldric and a suspicious woman, the mysteries unravel as to the causes of sickness in town, the nature of Briony's stepmother's death, and Briony's fate itself. After all, the book opens with "I've confessed to everything and I'd like to be hanged. Now, if you please."

Chime is quirky and lyrical and has a writing style all of its own. Apparently in the book review world people either get it and like it or think its crazy-pants weird. If eccentric narrators, fairy tale retellings, TWINS, and characters of drinking age are your thing, it is excellent. 

Originality: 8. Everyone is quirky. and its definitely different, but fine by me! It doesn't feel like anything else out there.

Absurdity: 2. I bought this world and these people (I particularly like the Brownie who follows Briony around and wants to be her friend) but be prepared for spirits/witches/Mucky Face, the wave who lives in the river (seriously).

Level of Paranormal Romance: 9. I LOVE ELDRIC.  He likes to fidget up little presents, has a curling lion smile, is friends will all the little kids in town, and is all around amusing.

Level of Harry-Potter-ness: 7. the amount of  magic is pretty high (and mostly dangerous), but it is a normal part of the Swampsea.