Faves of 2011 continues...

Faves of 2011 continues...

this is a continuation of the Faves of 2011 series hosted by Nomes at Inkcrush. Again, I had so much fun picking these out. Thanks Nomes for coming up with this series. It's brilliant!

1. best female POV 

The Earth, My Butt, and other Big Round Things

It was hard to choose this one because so many books are written in the female perspective. I decided to go kind of askew here and picked one that I thought dealt particularly well with a girl's emotions and struggles of just trying to figure out who she is. The Earth, My Butt definitely has this going on. 

 
2. best male POV 

The Piper's son 

This one was a pretty easy choice. Tom's voice is so authentically male, Melina Marchetta hit it spot on. But then, it's MM, what do you expect?

3. Best couple 

Anna and Etienne from Anna and the French Kiss

I really liked how their relationship grew over a longer period of time. You rarely get that these days - usually it's just love at first (and man am I guilty of that in my own writing, hehe). Loved the chemistry between them and the friendship and especially the moment when Anna realizes that she's in love with him and starts calling him by his real name. It was so well done.

4. who i so want to be best friends with

Bindy Mackenzie from The Murder of Bindy Mackenzie 

She was so brilliantly funny. She's kind of socially inept, yet you know she'd be the kind of pal who would never let you down. And yes, that pictures is pretty much spot on.

5. who i fell completely in love with 

Etienne from Anna and the French Kiss

Okay, I admit there were times when I was frustrated with him, but he had it all going on, funny, friendly, made the girl feel special just by a glance, and a British accent to boot! Yeah, he's definitely my new literary crush. 

6. worst (best) villian 

Aaron from the Knife of Never Letting Go

He's a preacher out to kill the main character (or so you think). Every time he showed up in the novel I felt like I wanted to scream, why isn't he dead? And kill him already, kill him! And run! He reminded me of that evil preacher guy from the last season of Buffy. Oh he is just too deliciously evil. :)

7. best character twist (who you loved then hated or vice versa) 

So this award goes to a secondary character from Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, Nick's last girlfriend.

 who unfortunately I can't recall the name of (it was a library borrow). Anyway, you think she's a total bitch, but in the end she turns out to be actually kind of nice. It was a good character twist, I thought.

8. best kick-arse female

Rose from Vampire Academy. 

I've said it before that Rose reminds me of Faith from Buffy the Vampire Slayer (although not as psychotic). She's tough, sexy, a boy-magnet, doesn't really care what others think of her, and although she might not be the toughest protector around, you just know that she's going to get the wind under her sails (she has to with an instructor like Dimitri). I NEED to read more of this series. 

9 best kick-arse male 

Four from Divergent

I don't usually go for military types, but Four could teach me boxing lessons any day. :)

10. broke your heart the most 

Culler from Fall For Anything

I was really hoping that Culler would turn out to be the older, crushworthy guy who turns a crush into something more. There were clues this wouldn't happen, but I ignored them. Totally broke my heart. 

 

11. best/worst character names 

Worst: Delilah from Fixing Delilah - not sure what it is about that name that just niggles with me.

Best: Alliecat from Chasing Alliecat. 

Well, her real name is Allie, but she's a mountainbiker who always lands on her feet (both literally and figuratively). I loved how the nickname fitted her personality.

 bonus: 5 fave covers:

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater - I love the artistry in these covers so much. It's so unique and fresh.

Raw Blue by Kirsty Eager- There's just something about the blues on this cover that makes me feel all achy inside.

Matched by Allie Condie - If that dress had been any other color than green, I don't think I would have liked it as much. 

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta - I love this cover for some reason. 

Angus, Thongs and Full Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison - look at that cat, just look at him!!

I'm eager to see what everyone else picked, so I'll be going through the blogs over the next few days. This series is so much fun, yes? YES!!