Top Ten Tuesday: So This is Love

Today’s TTT hosted by the Broke and the Bookish is dedicated to Book Romances That You Think Would Make It In The Real World (aka outside the book). Here at YAF & WS we are suckers for romance, but stand firm against insta-love and teenage angst. In the words of the awesome Maggie Stiefvater, who makes some of the best couples out there: “Many, many readers have written asking me wistfully about the nature of Sam and Grace's relationship, and I can assure you, that sort is absolutely real. Mutual, respectful, enduring love is completely attainable as long as you swear you won't settle for less.”  

We think these couples would make the cut.

Crazy Camper

• Lissa and Christian from Vampire Academy. (Crazy Camper is on a BINGE- GS) Reviews coming soon.
• Sookie and Eric (NOTE NOT BILL) from Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire series. Pretty much because brainwashed Eric was the cutest thing ever. (And Sookie deserves a good guy- GS)
• Alanna and George- The Song of the Lioness Quartet by Tamora Pierce. Remember when my college friend and I were making analogies to her new relationship and the Alanna/George/Jonathon love triangle? Well, she and he were Alanna and George, and it is working! 

Grad Student

• Taylor Markham and Jonah Griggs from Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta.  This story and their romance is breathtakingly realistic.
• Cole and Isabel from Forever the last of Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver Trilogy. If you don’t swoon over those two, particularly that last set of voicemails/call, YOUR HEART IS MISSING and you should go out and find it.
• Cinder and Kai from Cinder by Marissa Meyer. Mutual respect is a good thing.

 …and in a better world... (SIGH)

• Humberto and Elisa from Rae Carson’s The Girl of Fire and Thorns. Humberto’s last line. He completely believes in the girl he loves.
• Tuck and Clara  from the Unearthly series by Cynthia Hand. I love them together: “'Your hair smells like wind, did you know that?'  Yep, me and Tucker, smelling each other.” 
• Augustus Waters and Hazel Grace from John Green's The Fault in Our Stars.  Potentially one of the most powerful book relationships ever.

TFIOS-  heart-breaking AND quotable

 Want to know more about these reads? See our reviews of Hallowed by Cynthia Hand, The Girl of Fire and Thorns, and Jellicoe Road!

NPR's 100 Best Ever Teen Novels

NPR's 100 Best Ever Teen Novels....

WOW WOW WOW.  While this list is chock full of books we love here at YA & WS, including tons of Tamora Pierce, John Green, Laini Taylor, and many other books that made my childhood, there was one that made me gasp. out. loud.

#84 

The Enchanted Forest Chronicles

by Patricia C. Wrede

Princess Cimorene of Lindenwall decides she's had enough of being a princess, and hires herself out to cook for the dragon Kazul. This boxed set follows her adventures, and those of her son Daystar.

This was it, the original books Grad Student and I loved.  I did'nt even remember they existed under I read "Princess Cimorene....".   Now, I would bet these are a low reading level, as we were young when we read them, but the light hearted magical books, classic and wonderful.  Did I mention GS and I had a thing for dragons?

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.

Tamora Pierce- Protector of the Small Quartet: Coming up for air

I am midway through book three and taking a breather to check in. The premise:

This is the tale of Keladry of Mindelan, a girl who wants just one thing: to copy the feat of her hero Alanna the Lioness, and win her knight's shield.

As a young teens, GradStudent and I LOVED beyond belief Pierce's Alanna and Wild Magic books. I think they were the first series we ever owned every book of. Recently, I saw a friend reading the Protector of the Small series and she immediately lent them to me when she saw the expression on my face.

To be clear, I am too old for this series. When it starts, Kel, our heroine, is 10. TEN. As it has been many years since I was 10, maybe I am wrong, but these are the oldest 10 year olds ever. So I pretend they are not, just to make it easier on my late-20 something self. I have been crushing through these books, happily returning to Tortall and Pierce's world in a very self-indulgent way. Currently on book 3, Squire, and not stopping anytime soon.

• Originality: Well, its hard to say, since it is VERY similar to the Alanna books, but I am going to go with Tortall as a whole, and I give it a 5. Nothing like quasi medieval magical fantasy to get me going.


• Absurdity: 5, this is accepting the world of magic and Immortal enemies of centaurs and spidrens. My absurdity ranking is due to the fact that she is TEN and I dont know any ten year olds killing grown bandits. But I also don't know any bandits...


• Level of Paranormal Romance: 1, so again, there is not romance paranormal or not. But in book three, at the age of 14, hints of crushes are beginning to emerge. YA book with no romance? Why am I still reading this? O wait, cause it's awesome somehow still.


• Level of Harry-Potterness: 5, like Harry Potter, fans of Alana will fall right back into the world of Tortall and do so happily with many of the same characters guest staring in this new series.

Overall? I am only mildly embarrassed to say I am enjoying this series incredibly. I may need to look back at the other series soon too. Am I bringing this on my climbing trip this weekend? You betcha.

Review: Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Remember when I put this on my Top Ten Tuesday: Spring Reads? of course, 'cause it was 2 days ago. Well, yup, I came, I saw, I conquered. Graceling by Kristin Cashore=Read. BAM.

In the world of Graceling people are born with Graces, giving them incredible skills. for Katsa, that means being able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight. She is an unstoppable fighter, but a bit of a short-tempered person, in part because people fear Gracelings in general and her dangerous gift in particular. As the niece of a despicable king, she is forced to work as his thug, doling out pain to misbehaving subjects. But she also heads a secret council that, like Robin Hood, works to right wrongs across the seven kingdoms. Then Katsa meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, who becomes a fighting companion, an ally for the council, and one of her only friends. Together they stumble onto new secrets about her Grace and a terrible threat to their kingdoms. DUN DUN DUN-Adventuring Time! The adventuring is the best part of this. ninja kicks! horse riding! spying on the bad guys! hiding from the bad guys! swan wrestling! yes, even swan wrestling!

Originality: 6. A Made-Up Country where people have Magical Gifts? (HELLO, TAMORA PIERCE) but I still liked it. I liked how Graced people had 2 different colored eyes and how you could be Graced with anything in theory--swimming, fighting, mind reading--but I kept trying to come up with silly Graces. Whistling maybe?
Absurdity: 1. Its fantasy. You suspend disbelief and just go with it.
Level of Paranormal Romance: 4. Does it count as "para" if there is some mind reading involved? The romance wasn't a big draw here, at least for me. I just thought, yes, yes, share that eye contact and feelings, do some making out, but come on! There is fighting and questing to do!
Level of Harry-Potterness: 4. This was basic storytelling, no fancy tricks. Some funny banter between Po and Katsa and Bitterblue though, so ya! for that.

LUCKILY my favorite part of the book, Bitterblue (she is smart and observant and has the driest sense of humor I have ever heard of in a ten year old) is the focus of the third book in the Seven Kingdoms series, coming out this spring. WIN.

Coming Soon- "Protector of the Small Quartet"

Get ready..

From the author Tamora Pierce that brought you "The Song of the Lioness", "The Immortals", and the "Circle of Magic" quartets (http://www.tamora-pierce.com/books.html), comes a new (er) series, at least to us-- "The Protector of the Small."

For all of us who loved the warrior with the red hair and violet eyes, and the wild magic of Tortall, comes a new story of "10-year-old Keladry, who must fight her way through her first year of knight training as a page".

Amazon tells me its for Grades 5-8. Still, expectations are high, childhood love rekindled... here's hoping for the best. Hopefully Sweet Tea will let us know.