Thursday, December 26, 2013

Top 10 of 2013: Best Book Boyfriends of 2013


You can find links to the other blogs taking part in this event at Fiktshun.


Today’s topic is not a particularly great one for me because I read so little that could even vaguely be classified as Romance. Also, the rules stipulated that this list could only include books published in 2013, which reduced my choices even further because I mostly read books a year or two old. I am left with a grand total of two choices, but they both appear in the same book, so I hope that they both still count!


The Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch is the third in his wonderful Gentleman Bastard series. This was one of my top reads for the year and you can find the links to the Read Along posts here. The two main characters of the series are Locke Lamora and Jean Tannen. Although they are almost complete opposites from one another they are both extremely engaging characters and I can hardly wait to read the fourth title in their adventures.

Throughout the first two titles, The Lies of Locke Lamora and Red Seas Under Red Skies, we are faced with a love-sick Locke who can never find a replacement to the red-headed love of his life: the absent Sabetha. Finally, in The Republic of Thieves, we meet this woman, who has managed to completely captivate one of my favorite characters of all time. Many of us were wary approaching the book because if Mr Scott had fluffed Sabetha we would have been totally disappointed, but she is revealed to be the perfect woman for Locke. We get to see both their initial excruciating courtship as teenagers and their reunion after several years apart. Both story lines were handled beautifully and showed that Locke could be the most thoughtful and yet annoyingly stupid boyfriend of all time.

If the people doing the Read Alongs are any indication of the general female population, then it is actually Jean Tannen who would win the title of Best Boyfriend EVER. At first glance he appears to be the brawn to Locke’s brains, but he is an avid reader and, therefore, very knowledgeable about all kinds of strange subjects. He has a particular liking for Romance titles, but we will draw a veil over that . . . In Red Seas Under Red Skies, we saw him lose his heart and prove that he could be as ‘enthusiastic’ as the next man, even though he is normally shy about approaching women. Unfortunately, the relationship did not end well and his heartbreak was dreadful to read. In The Republic of Thieves we see him lose his virginity to a good woman, which earned a rousing cheer from those of us who carry a rather large literary torch for him. Jean is almost perfect in every way: strong, with nice big shoulders; well-read and educated; good in a fight, but gentle as well; not afraid to show his more feminine side and emotionally intelligent.

  

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