Characters I Love (ALMOST As Much As My Tiny Baby Nephew) – 2018 Edition // Blogmas

Hello and happy Thursday, you guys! I hope you’ve had a good day so far? How are you feeling post Christmas? Have you gotten over all that food you ate? I hope so!

Today’s post is getting to your readers a bit late as my day started out not so good: my dumbass broke her glasses while asleep (I have a habit of falling asleep with them still on. It was bound to happen). And since I can’t do anything without my glasses, that had to take priority today and by the time I was done running errands and tidying up, the last thing I wanted to do was do blog work. I needed a break.

But it’s 9:30pm now and I’m finally in the mood to write this post! Better late than never, right? And what’s more fun than just gushing about characters one adores? This is also an excuse to finally talk about one of my faves on my blog who hasn’t gotten the love and attention he deserves.

Nikolai – Grisha Trilogy, Leigh Bardugo

2018 was the year I finally went back to the Grisha trilogy to reread it which also meant I was reunited with my love Nikolai.

Like, I’ve always known that I love him, right? That much I still remembered from my first read of the trilogy years ago but I didn’t remember all of his hilarious quotes and his sassiness towards Mal, especially. If you have to read about a character that’s kind of really annoying it’s nice having a different character giving them shit. Makes it much more bearable, let me tell you!

And obviously we also got the news that this dashing human being was getting his very own duology in 2019 (aka just over a month until the release of King Of Scars. I am FREAKING THE FUCK OUT.) so of course I needed a refresher on all things Nikolai (which I’ve regretted since. My boy’s already been so much and now Leigh Bardugo has two more books to put him through more. Be careful what you wish for and all that.).

Now, if you haven’t read either of the books set in the Grisha verse, please do yourself the favor and binge read them? You can definitely do them. Leigh’s books aren’t too long and quite addicting once you get started! You wanna meet the famous Nikolai, trust me! 😉

Leah Burke – Creekwood Duology, Becky Albertalli

One of the characters I was able to relate to a lot this year was definitely Leah from Leah On The Offbeat. I saw so much of myself in her. The way she thinks about herself, the way she feels in her environment, the way she acts out sometimes – so much of it reminded me of myself.

I remember tabbing so, so many different scenes and quotes in this book and I keep repeating a piece of advice Leah’s mom gives her to myself whenever I get in one of my moods and just want to ignore everyone and everything. I just wish Becky would’ve found a better way to make the relationship happen in this book. It’s one of the things that keeps bugging me even months after finishing this book.

This, at times, felt like a money grab rather than an organic story? I don’t like it when you’ve got to do a 180 on a character to set up something for someone else. And that’s what happened here. I almost didn’t want to put Leah on this list because of how I feel about this book in general but Leah the character means too much to me to do that to her.

Chaol Westfall & The Women Of TOG – Throne Of Glass, Sarah J. Maas

Can you believe it took me until now to get to Tower Of Dawn?

I’ve honestly always been a fan of Chaol and the fact that I didn’t read this book until a year after the release still pains me because it was just so good. I adored Chaol in this. His story arc was awesome and I love the man he comes out of this as. And the awesome AF partner he has too.

And speaking of his awesome AF partner, she’s just one of the handful of women who just dominate in this series and I can’t possibly pick a favorite. They all bring something unique to this world and story thanks to who they are and how they grew up.

You can’t help but root for them and love them (even the ones you initially start out not caring about aka Manon Blackbeak). There’s that one scene at the very end of Kingdom Of Ash that just made me bawl my eyes out because it was so beautiful.

Ronan Lynch – The Raven Cycle, Maggie Stiefvater

Don’t we all have that character were we just can’t decide how we actually feel about them? There’s this spark there that has us curious but we just can’t quite decide. Until it suddenly hits us.

That was me with Ronan in The Dream Thieves. He’s already quite the intriguing character in The Raven Boys but he really shines in this book, in my opinion. I was so gone for this boy, it’s ridiculous.

And I thought I was over the little bad boy phase I had going as a teen – apparently not. xD But Ronan is also so much more than just a bad boy. He adores his younger brother, he loves his friends, he has demons to fight and he’s super freaking gentle with a god damn raven. Like, please, Ronan. Chill.

Don’t get me wrong, this series has a bunch of characters to love and I’m with everyone else there too but like, Ronan gets that special place in my heart.

Ty, Dru And Kit – The Dark Artifices, Cassandra Clare

I feel like it is no surprise that I love a good family dynamic, no matter if it’s the blood related or the chosen kind. Just give me a good family dynamic and I will eat up whatever it is you’re serving me. And we definitely get that in this trilogy and I loved it.

And while it was fun to follow Julian, Emma and Mark, I have to say I’m almost more interested in what the younger characters are going to get up to! 13-year-old Dru is already so sassy and awesome and demands she be treated age appropriately and Ty and Kit just have the most interesting dynamic between them that I can’t wait to see developed further, especially seeing how the trilogy ended.

There’s so much more yet to come and I’m sure I’ll regret asking for more from them because it’ll be pain and more pain. It wouldn’t be a Cassandra Clare series otherwise. xD

How about you guys? Who were some of your favorite characters that you read about in 2018? Any returning favorites? Any characters you didn’t expect to love as much as you do now? Let me know in the comments down below! 😀

• Bonus Post: 29 Blogmas Post Ideas To Save Your Day
• Blogmas Day 1: DIY: Easy Christmas Garland
• Blogmas Day 2: November Wrap Up
• Blogmas Day 3: Decorate With Me For Christmas
• Blogmas Day 4: Naughty Or Nice Book Tag
• Blogmas Day 5: 8 Things To Do This Holiday Season + Caro’s Post
• Blogmas Day 6: Rest Of The Year TB
• Blogmas Day 7: Christmas Movies You Need To Watch Part 1
• Blogmas Day 8: Blogger Recommend Their Favorite Books Part 1
• Blogmas Day 9: Recipe: White Chocolate Dipped Sugar Cookies
• Blogmas Day 10: Book Series Extravaganza
• Blogmas Day 17: Bloggers Recommend Their Favorite Books Part 2
• Blogmas Day 18: 2019 Releases I Can’t Wait To Get My Hands On
• Blogmas Day 19: Reacting To Popular Books you Guys Won’t Read
• Blogmas: Best Sequels And Finales Of 2018