My Top 10 Characters of 2011 (Blog Event)

Day Four of our Top 10 week features Characters. Who are yours for 2011? Mine, you can check out below, then as always be sure to take a look at my co-hosts - Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic,  Rachel from Fiktshun and Jamie & Patricia from Two Chicks on Books and then don't forget to link up yours using the linky below.

Title: Divergent (Divergent, #1) 
Author: Veronica Roth
Publisher: Katherine Tegan Books, 487 Pages (May 3rd, 2011)
My Review

Characters: Tris & Four

Why I love the characters, in a sentence - It's the writing and the story that make these characters more than memorable - you'll feel like your right there with them jumping on & off moving trains & off buildings.

Synopsis: In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself. During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves… or it might destroy her.

Title: Hourglass (Hourglass, #1) 
Author: Myra McEntire
Publisher: Egmont, 400 Pages (June 14th, 2011)
My Review

Characters: Emerson & Michael

Why I love the characters, in a sentence - Michael knows Emerson and what's she's going through and is able to help her when no one else could - yet he's mysterious and Emerson wants nothing more than to be that normal girl her family want her to be... the two together quickly became two of my favorite characters for the year.

Synopsis: One hour to rewrite the past . . .

For seventeen-year-old Emerson Cole, life is about seeing what isn’t there: swooning Southern Belles; soldiers long forgotten; a haunting jazz trio that vanishes in an instant. Plagued by phantoms since her parents’ death, she just wants the apparitions to stop so she can be normal. She’s tried everything, but the visions keep coming back.

So when her well-meaning brother brings in a consultant from a secretive organization called the Hourglass, Emerson’s willing to try one last cure. But meeting Michael Weaver may not only change her future, it may change her past. Who is this dark, mysterious, sympathetic guy, barely older than Emerson herself, who seems to believe every crazy word she says? Why does an electric charge seem to run through the room whenever he’s around? And why is he so insistent that he needs her help to prevent a death that never should have happened?

Title: Forgotten 
Author: Cat Patrick
Publisher: Little Brown, 288 Pages (June 7th, 2011)
My Review

Characters: London & Luke

Why I love the characters, in a sentence - Such a unique story once you've read the whole book and the characters are are amazing, interesting and very entertaining... I loved this book from beginning to end because of wonderful characters.

Synopsis: Each night at precisely 4:33 am, while sixteen-year-old London Lane is asleep, her memory of that day is erased. In the morning, all she can "remember" are events from her future. London is used to relying on reminder notes and a trusted friend to get through the day, but things get complicated when a new boy at school enters the picture. Luke Henry is not someone you'd easily forget, yet try as she might, London can't find him in her memories of things to come.

When London starts experiencing disturbing flashbacks, or flash-forwards, as the case may be, she realizes it's time to learn about the past she keeps forgetting-before it destroys her future.

Title: Starcrossed (Starcrossed, #1) 
Author: Josephine Angelini
Publisher: HarperTeen, 487 Pages (May 31st, 2011)
My Review

Characters: Helen & Lucas

Why I love the characters, in a sentence - Helen and Lucas and their story was written in the stars, they are meant to be and getting a sneak peek into their lives and how they go about things and how they deal with the past, present and looking on into the future makes them highly note worthy.

Synopsis: How do you defy destiny?

Helen Hamilton has spent her entire sixteen years trying to hide how different she is—no easy task on an island as small and sheltered as Nantucket. And it's getting harder. Nightmares of a desperate desert journey have Helen waking parched, only to find her sheets damaged by dirt and dust. At school she's haunted by hallucinations of three women weeping tears of blood . . . and when Helen first crosses paths with Lucas Delos, she has no way of knowing they're destined to play the leading roles in a tragedy the Fates insist on repeating throughout history.

As Helen unlocks the secrets of her ancestry, she realizes that some myths are more than just legend. But even demigod powers might not be enough to defy the forces that are both drawing her and Lucas together—and trying to tear them apart.

Title: Darkness Becomes Her (Gods & Monsters, #1) 
Author: Kelly Keaton

Publisher: Simon Pulse, 273 Pages (February 22nd, 2011)

My Review

Characters: Ari & Sebastian

Why I love the characters, in a sentence - In the end, both are looking for answers to some very life changing questions - Ari is a tough girl and Sebastian is pretty hot, and so much more for each of them - they have stuck with me that's for sure.

Synopsis: Ari can’t help feeling lost and alone. With teal eyes and freakish silver hair that can’t be changed or destroyed, Ari has always stood out. And after growing up in foster care, she longs for some understanding of where she came from and who she is.

Her search for answers uncovers a message from her long dead mother: Run. Ari can sense that someone, or something, is getting closer than they should. But it’s impossible to protect herself when she doesn’t know what she’s running from or why she is being pursued.

She knows only one thing: she must return to her birthplace of New 2, the lush rebuilt city of New Orleans. Upon arriving, she discovers that New 2 is very...different. Here, Ari is seemingly normal. But every creature she encounters, no matter how deadly or horrifying, is afraid of her.

Ari won’t stop until she knows why. But some truths are too haunting, too terrifying, to ever be revealed.

Title: The Iron Knight (The Iron Fey, #4) 
Author: Julie Kagawa
Publisher: Harlequin Teen, 361 Pages (October 25th, 2011)
My Review

Characters: Meghan, Ash, Puck & Grim

Why I love the characters, in a sentence - These four make a great group of characters over the coarse of 4 books - how can anyone reading this series NOT find something to love about these friends?

Synopsis: Ash, former prince of the Winter Court, gave up everything. His title, his home, even his vow of loyalty. All for a girl… and all for nothing.

Unless he can earn a soul.

To cold, emotionless faery prince Ash, love was a weakness for mortals and fools. His own love had died a horrible death, killing any gentler feelings the Winter prince might have had. Or so he thought.

Then Meghan Chase—a half human, half fey slip of a girl— smashed through his barricades, binding him to her irrevocably with his oath to be her knight. And when all of Faery nearly fell to the Iron fey, she severed their bond to save his life. Meghan is now the Iron Queen, ruler of a realm where no Winter or Summer fey can survive.

With the (unwelcome) company of his archrival, Summer Court prankster Puck, and the infuriating cait sith Grimalkin, Ash begins a journey he is bound to see through to its end— a quest to find a way to honor his solemn vow to stand by Meghan’s side.

To survive in the Iron realm, Ash must have a soul and a mortal body. But the tests he must face to earn these things are impossible. At least, no one has ever passed to tell the tale.

And then Ash learns something that changes everything. A truth that turns reality upside down, challenges his darkest beliefs and shows him that, sometimes, it takes more than courage to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Title: Blood Red Road (Dustlands, #1) 
Author: Moira Young
Publisher: Margaret K. McElderry, 495 Pages (June 5th, 2011)
My Review

Characters: Saba & Jack

Why I love the characters, in a sentence - These two characters are so different from each other, yet they work well in such a harsh story - I loved them both for their strength and what they learned throughout the book.

Synopsis: Saba has spent her whole life in Silverlake, a dried-up wasteland ravaged by constant sandstorms. The Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed, leaving only landfills for Saba and her family to scavenge from. That's fine by her, as long as her beloved twin brother Lugh is around. But when a monster sandstorm arrives, along with four cloaked horsemen, Saba's world is shattered. Lugh is captured, and Saba embarks on an epic quest to get him back.

Suddenly thrown into the lawless, ugly reality of the world outside of desolate Silverlake, Saba is lost without Lugh to guide her. So perhaps the most surprising thing of all is what Saba learns about herself: she's a fierce fighter, an unbeatable survivor, and a cunning opponent. And she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. Teamed up with a handsome daredevil named Jack and a gang of girl revolutionaries called the Free Hawks, Saba stages a showdown that will change the course of her own civilization.

Title: Across the Universe (Across the Universe, #1) 
Author: Beth Revis
Publisher: Razorbill, 398 Pages (January 11th, 2011)
My Review

Characters: Amy & Elder

Why I love the characters, in a sentence - How can you not love these two with their struggles as they each come to terms with some shocking truths - I loved how they worked together and pushed each other to find the answers they needed to survive.

Synopsis: Seventeen-year-old Amy joins her parents as frozen cargo aboard the vast spaceship Godspeed and expects to awaken on a new planet, three hundred years in the future. Never could she have known that her frozen slumber would come to an end fifty years too soon and that she would be thrust into the brave new world of a spaceship that lives by its own rules.

Amy quickly realizes that her awakening was no mere computer malfunction. Someone - one of the few thousand inhabitants of the spaceship - tried to kill her. And if Amy doesn't do something soon, her parents will be next.

Now, Amy must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets. But out of her list of murder suspects, there's only one who matters: Elder, the future leader of the ship and the love she could never have seen coming.

Title: Lola and the Boy Next Door 
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Dutton, 338 Pages (September 29th, 2011)
My Review

Characters: Lola & Cricket

Why I love the characters, in a sentence - Perkins knows how to write memorable, relate-able characters that are unforgettable - such as Lola and Cricket.

Synopsis: Budding designer Lola Nolan doesn’t believe in fashion . . . she believes in costume. The more expressive the outfit -- more sparkly, more fun, more wild -- the better. But even though Lola’s style is outrageous, she’s a devoted daughter and friend with some big plans for the future. And everything is pretty perfect (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the dreaded Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood.

When Cricket -- a gifted inventor -- steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

Title: After Obsession 
Author: Carrie Jones & Steven E. Wedel
Publisher: Bloomsbury, 320 Pages (September 13th, 2011)
My Review

Characters: Aimee & Alan

Why I love the characters, in a sentence - There was no way for Aimee and Alan not to be on this list - I loved reading their story and watching the two hover around each other - very memorable characters for me.

Synopsis: Aimee and Alan have secrets. Both teens have unusual pasts and abilities they prefer to keep hidden. But when they meet each other, in a cold Maine town, they can't stop their secrets from spilling out. Strange things have been happening lately, and they both feel that something-or someone- is haunting them. They're wrong. Despite their unusual history and powers, it's neither Aimee nor Alan who is truly haunted. It's Alan's cousin Courtney who, in a desperate plea to find her missing father, has invited a demon into her life-and into her body. Only together can Aimee and Alan exorcise the ghost. And they have to move quickly, before it devours not just Courtney but everything around her.

Honorable mentions - Dana, Keane & The Erlking from The Faeriewalker Series By: Jenna Black, Jacinda, Will & Cassian from Firelight By: Sophie Jordan, Brooke & Mirka from Descended By Blood By: Angeline Kace, Silla & Nick from Blood Magic By: Tessa Gratton, The Whole Cast of Characters from Beauty Queens By: Libba Bray and so many others, this list could go on and on.

Tomorrow's Topic - Top 10 Books Looking Forward to in 2012

Don't forget to link each day! Signing up & then linking your Top 10 posts early you EXTRA entries into the $50.00 Amazon Gift Card Giveaway. The last day to share your posts is January 8th, 2012. The winner will be picked using Random.org and announced during the week of the 9th, 2012. Good Luck!

NOTE: This is the SAME Linky on each of the Co-Hosts Blogs, so please only enter your Name, Blog Name and URL or YOUR Top 10 post of the day on one blog. Thanks!

*Titles listed are in no particular order.