Sidekick Showcase Saturday #28

For this week’s Sidekick Showcase (which yes, I realize, I am once again not posting on a Saturday, but I was travelling back from Uni on Saturday as I am on reading week this week, so I didn’t really have time to post!), I’ve chosen another Hunger Games character to talk about, this time I’m focusing on Johanna Mason.

What I like most about Johanna is her confidence, she’s very bold and gutsy and I have to say the scene where she meets Katniss for the first time is probably one of my favourite parts of Catching Fire, it’s just so funny. I love that she fights for what she believes in and is not afraid to show how much she dislikes the Capitol. She’s brave as well, given that she managed to withstand the Capitol’s torture and that she helped with the plan to get Katniss out of the arena in Catching Fire, even though she must have known it was dangerous. I also like her sarcastic, snarky nature. I like that even though she seems cruel sometimes, there is a vulnerable side under the harsh exterior. I also love watching the development of her relationship with Katniss, from enemies to friends, as I feel like the two of them are somewhat similar.

I will be back with another Sidekick Showcase Saturday next week, but in the meantime, I will have my newest Swoonworthy Sunday post up really soon.

Sidekick Showcase Saturday #27

For this week’s incredibly late Sidekick Showcase (sorry about that, again!), I’ve decided to focus on another Hunger Games character. This time, I will be talking about Effie Trinket.

I like Effie, because she somewhat provides comic relief in an otherwise very bleak series, with her over the top attitude, her insistence on manners, her odd way of speaking and her optimism. As a character, I think she’s important to the Hunger Games cast, because everyone else is pretty bleak and depressed, so it’s nice to have a more upbeat character to take the edge of some of the depressive feel of the book. I also thought that it was sweet that she managed to see the beautiful side in Katniss volunteering for Prim. Plus whilst she seems vain and shallow and unaware of what is happening around her, you get the sense that she does at least somewhat understand the political implications of Peeta and Katniss’ attempted suicide at the end of the first Hunger Games books and I think she’s smarter than she’s given credit for. I liked that she changed sides to the rebels side, not because of political loyalties, but because of personal loyalties, to Peeta and Katniss and you can tell that she cares about them a lot. Ultimately, I think whilst Effie may have her flaws, she’s a kind hearted, loving person, who likes to look on the positive side of life, which in a world like Panem, I think is no bad thing.

I will be back with another Sidekick Showcase post next week, but in the meantime, I will have a new Swoonworthy Sunday post for you guys really soon.

Sidekick Showcase Saturday #26

For this week’s Sidekick Showcase Saturday, I’ve decided to focus on a Skulduggery Pleasant character, as I haven’t done one of those for a while and there are some great supporting characters in that series. The character I have chosen to focus on is China Sorrows.

I love China because she’s a morally ambiguous character, you can never really tell what her true intentions are, she was initially on the side of the Faceless Ones and then she becomes allied with Skulduggery and Valkyrie, though you can never completely be sure that China can be trusted. She’s very mysterious and manipulative, able to use the way she looks in order to charm people into doing what she wants, as she has a charm on her which makes people fall in love with her instantly. She is a very powerful sorceress, able to use different symbols for both offensive and defensive purposes and I love her symbol magic because it’s so different from everyone else’s magic and has so many different purposes. She’s kind of apathetic towards most people and has kind of a cold, uncaring attitude but that’s part of her character, she cares more about things than she does about people. Plus, she loves horses, which automatically makes her cool in my book!

I will be back with another Sidekick Showcase Saturday next week, but in the meantime, I will be posting a new Swoonworthy Sunday post as soon as possible.

Sidekick Showcase Saturday #25

For this week’s Sidekick Showcase, I’m going to focus on another Percy Jackson character, as I haven’t done that for a while and Percy Jackson does have a great supporting cast. The character that I have chosen to focus on this week is Rachel Elizabeth Dare.

Rachel didn’t really make much of an impression on me in the first book, she wasn’t in it for very long, although I will admit I was intrigued by the fact that she could see through the mist and wanted to learn more about her. I grew to like her more in the fourth book where we got to see more of her personality, she’s this bold, loud mouthed, witty girl, who talks at a mile a minute and she’s very clever. The part where she throws her blue plastic hairbrush at Luke/Kronos, is one of my favourite moments of the series, it’s hilarious. I love that she’s very passionate about things, like her art and saving the environment. I also like that she’s blunt and honest and says what she thinks. I didn’t even mind her crush on Percy, because it was clear that she knew that Annabeth liked him (and that he liked Annabeth) and she didn’t try to get between them. She’s not just a fun, loud mouthed, outgoing girl, she’s willing to take on serious responsibility, like helping out the group through Daedalus’s labryinth and taking on the responsibility of being the Oracle. All in all, she’s a pretty awesome girl!

I will have another one of these for you next week, but in the meantime, I still have a couple more posts to catch up on tonight, so make sure you check them out!

Sidekick Showcase Saturday #24

For this week’s Sidekick Showcase, I’m going to focus on another Hunger Games character and the character that I’m going to be focusing on is Cinna.

I love Cinna because he’s one of Katniss’ only real friends, he never stops supporting her and it’s clear that he cares a lot about her, which I love because you get to see Katniss’ more vulnerable side around him, which is nice because Katniss is usually so prickly. He acts as a mentor to her, being incredibly supportive towards her in both the 74th and 75th Hunger Games and I love how much he believes in her. I also feel like he truly understands her, he creates the whole “girl on fire” image for her, to show her feisty personality and he knows her so well that he doesn’t reveal his true loyalties so as not to sway her decision to be the Mockingjay one way or the other, knowing that she would be indecisive. He’s clearly very intelligent, he knows exactly what to design for Katniss so that the right image of her is put across to Panem. He’s incredibly good at hiding his true loyalties and channels his emotions through his designs, so that no one guesses that he is actually a rebel, because his acts of defiance towards the Capitol are incredibly subtle. He is a quiet, caring, hardworking man who takes deep pride in his work and he is almost like a father figure towards Katniss.

I will be back next week with another Sidekick Showcase Saturday post, but in the meantime, I will have my newest Swoonworthy Sunday post for you all as soon as I possibly can.

Sidekick Showcase Saturday #23

I know, I know, I’m terrible, once again, I have several updates for you at once because I’m behind on my posts! I’ve just started Uni and I was kind of busy over the weekend, so I didn’t get the chance to write anything! For this week’s Sidekick Showcase, I have chosen to focus on a character from one of my favourite books, Hans Hubermann from The Book Thief.

I’m sure that anyone who has read The Book Thief will understand why Hans is an amazing supporting character and why I love him. He loves Liesel as if she was his own daughter, he teaches her to read and write and the bond between them is very special, it’s heartwarming to see their interactions in the book. Hans is kind and gentle and patient, he’s a very sympathetic character and you instantly fall in love with him because he is so lovely. He is a brave man, shown by the fact that he is willing to hide Max (a Jew) in his basement, at great personal risk to himself if he is caught and he does challenge Hitler’s regime. He has great empathy for people, does not like to see them in pain, which can get him into trouble. He also clearly loves his family and is very protective of them as shown by his actions towards Liesel and his wife. He and his wife are polar opposites, him being quiet and gentle and her being loud and strict but they work well together. Hans is such a kind, loving, compassionate man that it is impossible to read this book and not fall in love with him!

I will have another Sidekick Showcase Saturday post for you next week, but in the meantime, I will hopefully have both my Swoonworthy Sunday and Monday Recommendations posts for you as soon as possible!

Sidekick Showcase Saturday #22

I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do for this week’s Sidekick Showcase Saturday as I feel like I am running out of memorable sidekicks, but then I figured, why not return to the tried and trusted favourite Harry Potter, which seems to have no end of memorable secondary characters to use for this feature?! This week I have chosen to feature one of my favourite characters from the series, Neville!

I love Neville for many reasons, I love that he’s shy and awkward, that made me like him in the first book because he wasn’t this brash, confident, arrogant kid like Malfoy, he was just this shy, awkward boy, who didn’t realize how great he really was, which is incredibly endearing in a character. I always felt kind of bad for him because everything seemed to go wrong for him all the time in his first few years of school, though I do have to admit, it was kind of funny, especially when he said “why is it always me?” in the movies! I loved that he was brave in a not-so-obvious way (at least at first) and over the course of the books, we get to see this side of him emerge more. I also love how loyal he is to his friends, I would love to have a friend like Neville, he seems like someone I would actually be friends with in real life!

I will be back next week with another Sidekick Showcase Saturday, but in the meantime, I’m going to be posting a new Swoonworthy Sunday post for you all soon, so make sure to check that out!

 

 

Sidekick Showcase Saturday #21

For this week’s Sidekick Showcase Saturday, I am going to return to Harry Potter for inspiration, as Harry Potter is always a great source of brilliant side characters to feature in these posts (I mean I knew Harry Potter had a great cast of characters, but I didn’t realize quite how awesome all the secondary characters were until I started using them so often for this feature!). This week I have decided to feature my favourite members of the Weasley family (and yes, I do have favourites!), Fred and George!

I love Fred and George mostly because of their sense of humour, I love male characters who have a great sense of humour and you really can’t get much better than these two! Their inventions for their joke shop are awesome and come on, who hasn’t wished they were able to use something that Fred and George invented? Personally, I would love to have the Extendable Ears, for obvious reasons! I just loved reading about them because you could never not smile when there was a scene with Fred and George in it. I loved how different they were to the rest of the Weasleys and of course, I loved the relationship between them as well. I also liked that they did something creative with their considerable magical talents and one of my favourite moments in the Harry Potter series was with these two (when they leave Hogwarts on their brooms, with the fireworks display and everything, I thought that was awesome). You can’t help but admire them, because their inventions are so ingenious and they are both brave and daring. I would definitely want to be friends with Fred and George if they were real, you’d have to watch your back in case they pulled a prank on you, but I imagine they would be so much fun to be around!

I will be back next week with another Sidekick Showcase Saturday post, but in the meantime, I will have my latest Swoonworthy Sunday post for you soon!

Sidekick Showcase Saturday #20

I had a bit of trouble deciding which character to choose for this week’s Sidekick Showcase Saturday (which yes, I realize is not actually being posted on Saturday), because after all, it’s actually quite difficult to think of memorable side characters, in the most of the books that I read, the main characters are far more memorable than the side characters and I’m sure you will have noticed that most of my choices for these are from the same couple of books! Anyway, today I decided to choose another character from the Throne of Glass series to focus on. She was introduced in the last book and whilst her storyline will probably become more important as we reach the latter half of the series (Queen of Shadows releases tomorrow, who’s excited?????), for now the storyline of her and the witches was definitely a side plot for the main action, so I think she qualifies for this feature. The character I am talking about is of course, Manon Blackbeak.

(Picture from Sarah J Maas’ tumblr)

Manon Blackbeak is an Ironteeth witch and she is heir to the Blackbeak clan. At first I wasn’t entirely sure what to think of the witch storyline, it kind of confused me as to why it was there and whilst I did get into it, I have to admit I was still left kind of confused at the end of the book, so hopefully in Queen of Shadows, the witch plot is weaved into the main plot more. But anyway, that’s not the point of this post, the point of this post is sharing my love for Manon. Manon is awesome, she is a definite badass female, she’s bloodthirsty and cruel and an awesome warrior and I so admire her stubborness and determination when it came to getting Abraxos to fly, because she clearly saw something in him that the other witches didn’t. I would so love to see her join forces with Aelin (Celaena), as they would definitely be a force to be reckoned with together, considering how deadly both of them are. I also love how smart and resourceful Manon is. Also somehow, despite how lethal and cruel and heartless Manon is, you still root for her (or at least I did), which I liked. Basically, I thought she was a really great character and I would love to learn more about her in the next few books and to see her and Aelin meet and maybe work together (heck, they don’t even have to work together, seeing a fight between the two of them would be equally epic).

I will have another one of these posts for you next week but in the meantime, I will be posting my Swoonworthy Sunday and Monday Recommendations posts today as well, so make sure to check those out.

Sidekick Showcase Saturday #19

First off, I would like to apologise about how far behind I have become with these posts! I swear it was not meant to take me this long to catch up, but we had a huge problem with our internet yesterday, it was off all day, which unfortunately meant that I could not do anything for this blog! Hopefully, I will be able to catch up on all the posts I’ve missed today and also update my latest Top Ten Tuesday post! For today’s Sidekick Showcase, I’ve decided to focus on a character from a book that I am currently reading, Sarah J Maas’ A Court of Thorns and Roses (I’ve almost finished guys, I have about nine chapters left to go!) and the character I’ve chosen is Feyre’s sister Nesta. She doesn’t play an extremely huge role in the story, in fact I kind of wish she’d played more of a role because she’s such an interesting character. At first it seems like she’s a lazy, greedy, selfish, angry person who doesn’t care one bit about her sister, but her character development, especially considering that she’s not really in the book for very long is great, we come to see that she is angry yes (I mean who wouldn’t be, what their dad did to them was awful) but also that she fiercely loves Feyre and that she is incredibly strong willed and stubborn which I kind of admire about her. I feel like there is so much more to Nesta than we were told in the book and we’ve only scratched the surface of her character, I would love to see more of her in the second book (I haven’t finished the first book yet, so I don’t know if she’s in any more of it, but I don’t see how she could be since it’s all told from Feyre’s POV and I doubt she’s going home at any point now that she’s Under The Mountain). I kind of wish there was more to say about her, but she’s not really in the book enough for that, all I can really say is that I loved her feisty, strong willed nature and she really surprised me because she turned out being so much more than I thought she would be. I loved her kind of antagonistic relationship with Feyre because that’s how sisters are, they annoy each other, even hate each other sometimes but they ultimately love each other and have each other’s backs and that is definitely true of this pair. I know that we have not seen the last of Nesta and I really hope that she plays a bigger role in the next book, because I loved the little glimpse of her that we saw in this book and I would love to see her maybe come to Prythian and for her relationship with Feyre to develop further.

I’m going to have a lot of posts for you today, with my Sunday and Monday posts to catch up on and my new Top Ten Tuesday post, so make sure to come back later and check them out!