Hi dear friends,

Today’s topic in Top 5 Tuesday hosted by Shanah @bionicbookworm is character driven stories.

I know I can be you jokester and tweak the meme but if there is one think I take seriously it’s book characters!

How so they are fictional? They don’t exist in real life?

I don’t care!

They are REAL to me.

I walk in their shoes, hold their hands when they are sad, get drunk (moderatly) with them, grieve and laugh with them…when the author does a good job that is!

I often wish I could befriend them in real life.

So no tweak today just important business.

Oh and I can’t promise to stop at five because …I am passionate!

The Silver Cage by Anonymous

This story is the most intense I have read this year. I’ve been utterly destroyed after my read. The main reason was Caleb. He had such intensity, such presence, such tragic destiny! This book just changed my view on LGBTQ reads.

Making Faces by Amy Harmon

The characters in this story are just fabulous! Inspiring! And Bailey was my super hero.

I wrote: “The characters in “Making Faces” are extraordinary. So much I wish I could be friend with them in the real life. Fern is selfless, caring, enthousiast for simple things and has no pretense. She is deeply loyal in friendship as in love. As Ambrose said, she writes “smutty romance novels and quote scripture”. Ambrose is intense, courageous, beautiful inside out. He is introspctive, strong and loyal. And Bailey … he is my Super Hero! He is so alive, self mocking, determined to fight and beat the odds. Never self centered, never complaining despite his sickness. He is a force to be reckoned with.”

All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

Finch is the star of the book. Eccentric, extreme, going from upbeat to depressed.

This is what they inspired me to write:

“And yet, I thought many times to stop reading because I could not connect with Fynch for 40% of the book. I could not decide if he was playing a role, had a mental problem hid some dark secret that would make him behave like that. I was dizzy just reading about his personality changes.
Violet I could not really feel either in the beginning.
But as he made her feel better, more like her “old self” I could see the guy had some potential.

On I went …

And all was good even very good as I fell into their world and love. They were wandering and being happy. Fynch was my buddy, the one to take me on adventure in my backyards and discover the wonder of the world just 3 miles from my house. I loved his quirks and how he had a unique perspective on life.

I was in Sophie’s (that would be me) Merry Reader World.

Now I’m furious, mad, enraged, incandescent, incensed, irate …sad, heartbroken, crestfallen, inconsolable.”

Beartown by Fredrik Backman

This book is just filled with unique and interesting characters. Fredrik has a knack for portraying them in a real and humble way.

In a nutshell I wrote: “Frederik Backman wrote a gorgeous story revolving around ordinary human beings led by their dreams only to see them crumble and leave them in a state of despair. With an acute writing he weaves a tale of friendships, fights to survive, to thrive in a hostile environment. Humanity at its best and lowest. He swept me off my feet and made me walk for two days in the shoes of these extraordinarily ordinary but exceptional characters.“

Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

Don’t start le on this one.

Lochan was just so real, so tortured, so beautiful, so …and Maya. I sobbed by the end of the book. I could not stop thinking about it for days after I’d read it.

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

I loved the three main characters. I think the author did a fantastic job portraying them. You can see who they are, live and eat with them. They become YOUR best friends. That’s why you suffer with them when fate struck. Their pain is your pain their loss is your loss.

It was my first Jeff Zentner book but not my last!

The Hate U Give by Angy Thomas

Well it simply was Starr’s story! That’s it.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

I adored Louisa Clark! She has an irresistible sunny personality. Everything in the book happens because of Louisa. If it’s not character driven I don’t know what is!

Now drum roll: the answers to last weeks covers!

Under these beautiful hard covers you had:

The Language of Thorns by Leigh Bardugo;

Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins;

Passenger by Alexandra Bracken (with the tree);

Hallowed by Cynthia Hand;

Grace and Fury (deep blue) by Tracy Banghart.

Now do tell me what are your top 5 character driven stories?

Thanks for reading!

Sophie