Best romantic couples
Dwayne and Misha (Black Sheep by Na'ima B Robert) - After taking a while to get used to Dwayne's voice, which is
heavy on the street slang, I ended up falling in love with the two narrators of
this. The contrast and chemistry between posh Misha and much less well-off
Dwayne, whose words 'dance and jive and shimmy', is incredible.
Esteya and Skizi (Love In Revolution by BR Collins) - Like Dwayne and Misha, there's a class divide between this pairing
- an even worse one, as Skizi's a Zikindi, shunned by most of society. The
forbidden love between them and the pressure they come under during the
revolution make this one of the most enthralling reads of the year.
Gretchen and Trent (Wereworld: War of the Werelords by Curtis Jobling) - I love Drew and Whitley as a couple, but for me the relationship
between Gretchen, who's gone from a spoilt vixen (literally... sorry, couldn't
resist!) to a brilliant heroine, and Trent, who's turned from a misguided
antagonist into a truly heroic figure, edges them out.
Isaiah and Rachel (Crash Into You by Katie McGarry) - McGarry has now written three novels featuring mismatched pairings
of dual narrators falling for each other. Not only has she kept the three of
them, and the six voices, really distinct, but she's also managed to inject
sizzling chemistry into all of them.
Kendall and Payton (The Gravity Between Us by Kristen Zimmer) - I'm sure I said that I wasn't including NA books in the character
awards, but really, how could I not pick this pair of best friends trying to
work out their feelings for each other? Wonderful.
Best overall casts
Crash Into You by Katie McGarry - I'm not sure how many people McGarry has left who she hasn't
written about in a central role (book 4 centres on West, I'm begging her on
Twitter to do book 5 about Abby, so there's two!) but the shifting focuses in
these companion books are wonderful. For a start, it's great to see old
favourites like Echo and Noah return, but the new characters are always just as
interesting. McGarry also writes the adults - parents, guardians, teachers and
social workers - superbly.
Flappers: Diva by Jillian Larkin - Three wonderful central characters in this series and a
selection of brilliant love interests as well. This is one of the ones I'm most
sorry to see finish. As much as I loved Wereworld, Gallagher Girls and LIGHT,
they all seem to have reached a fairly natural stopping point. (Curtis, if
you're reading this, this DOESN'T mean I've stopped hoping for a prequel!)
While Larkin gives us a great conclusion here, I'd be thrilled if she announced
another book.
LIGHT by Michael Grant -
And so it comes to a close. One of the best series of recent years, with
wonderful character development throughout, wraps everything up brilliantly
here. Everyone gets at least one great moment, even if not all of them get what
they deserve. I love that Grant did such a superb job of making the non-powered
characters just as important as those with strong powers, as well.
United We Spy by Ally Carter - The core four at the centre of this series - Cammie, Bex, Liz and
Macey - are a wonderful quartet of friends and the relationship between them is
brilliant. However they also have a massively interesting bunch of teachers and
antagonists.
Wereworld: War of the Werelords by Curtis Jobling - I was asked for an epic fantasy recommendation earlier today and
wanted to describe this as "6 books containing about 15 wonderful
character arcs" but wasn't sure if they'd think I was exaggerating. If
anything, I may have under-estimated there. In this book alone, we get
brilliant development and stunning conclusions to the stories of Drew, Hector,
Whitley, Vega, Gretchen, Trent, Shah, Casper, and a host of others.
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