Fictional Book Boyfriends Pt 3

About once a month we like to gather a small list of  what we and others like to call Dream-cast or Fictional Book Boyfriends. We've said it in the past we LOVE putting faces to the characters in our books (especially the men). We also LOVE seeing page to premieres. So we combined the two to do our spin on dream casting. We picked a few titles and show you who we imagined the leading men to be. We'll put the link to the previous ones at the bottom of this page. 

Slammed by Colleen Hoover 

girl moves to Michigan and falls for poet neighbor

Aaron Johnson as Will Cooper 
Because who doesn't think Aaron Johnson is beyond charming?!

Red Rising by Pierce Brown 

Boy disguise himself in a higher class to help lead a rebellion to free the suppressed lower classes. 

Douglas Booth as Darrow

All those rough edges has us love Douglas booth.

Never Never by Tarryn Fisher and Colleen Hoover  

Best friends since they could walk. In love since the age of fourteen. Complete strangers since this morning.

Brando Eaton as Silas 

That boyish charm...Swoon.

Broken Skies by Theresa Kay 
Aliens have invaded earth and have always kept their distance until now. 

Wade Poezyn as Lir

Slap some scales on him and try and tell us he doesn't look like Lir!!

pt 1

pt 2

<3 A&L

Golden Son by Pierce Brown

Golden Son continues shortly after where Red Rising left off, Darrow, a rebel battling to lead his oppressed people to freedom from the overlords of a brutal elitist future built on lies. Embedded fully in with the Golds ruling class, Darrow continues his work to bring down society from within. 

"...So it's pride."
"It's always pride."
"Pride is just a shout into the wind."
He shakes his head, voice deepening. "I will die. You will die. We will all die and the universe will carry on without care. All that we have is that shout into the wind-how we live. How we go. And how we stand before we fall." He leans forward. "So you see, pride is the only thing..."

Red Rising took me by surprise... Way way by surprise. Golden Son did the same and then some. I have no idea where Pierce Brown came from and I really don't care. Golden Son puts Red Rising too shame! Everything I wanted too get out of book one and didn't till the end you'll get out of the entire book two. Golden Son is none stop action! 

There were a lot of politics in this book and I would usually be turned off by this but not in this case. Darrow navigates his way through all of the plotting and plans of others in ways that nobody expects. In a way that I've never read before. Darrow is a character unlike anyone else. He isn't the only character in this book that you'll be falling for. Servo is a character you can't ignore. Easily one of my all time favorites. Lorn is another strong and ballsy character, and constantly telling it how it is. Friends become enemies, enemies become friends. Characters I don't even want to mention will have you freaking out.

The plot of this story is just action, unlike the first which was a lot of info dumping and world building, Golden Son is just nonstop the whole time. Until the last page you'll be on the edge of your seat. I started this book at 6pm and ended it at 8pm... It was that captivating.   Instead of the story being held in one solid location reads will get to see and experience more of universe. More second books suffer from "second book syndrome", but this wont be a problem when you pick this up. There's so much suffering, pain, and sorrow pushed into this book.

This novel had me freaking out and wanted to flip tables until the ending... because that ending... that ending is world shattering. I CAN'T REMEMBER THE LAST TIME MY BRAIN ACTUALLY CRIED OUT IN PAIN BECAUSE A BOOK SHOOK ME SO HARD.

 Intense, brutal, heart-breaking, The Red Rising series isn't one you're going to want to miss. I could go on for days about plot, characters, and my love for what this series turned out too be but this is something you need to enjoy yourself. I find it so hard to find books I can recommend for guys but I will no longer have to struggle with a book to mention.

Comparing this book to Ender's Game and The Hunger Games makes complete sense, but at the same time Golden Son is in a class all of it's own. 

Take everything you love in books, throw in a bitchin ending, gore for days, and a touch of Star Wars and you'll get Golden Son. 

10/10 Stars 

-Angela 

Red Rising by Pierce Brown

"Old enough to screw, old enough to crew"

I actually started Red Rising last year and it ended up going in my "DNF/On Holf" list on goodreads. At the time it just wasn't want I wanted to read... BUT seeing as in it's the start of a new year I said I was going to go back to that list and finish every book on it (there's around 11). I am so thankful I did this.

Originally I got about 90-ish pages in and it was just so slow... So this time knowing some of what was going on I powered through the first part of the book and when I hit the second half I wanted to smack myself in the face for even putting it down. If I would have known that the second half of the book would have hit like a train I wouldn't have stopped in the first place. I also, like everyone else I know whose read this, am having a hard time placing this book... Is it Sci-fi? Is it YA or NA? Is it Fiction?... I don't know and I don't care I just loved it. 

I will repeat though the first half of this book is slow. Once I hit the other section I completely understood why. Pierce does an amazing job in world building and setting up the story to have this amazing POW effect towards the end. On to the actual review though.

Darrow is a Helldriver on Mars. He is drilling mines with the hopes that one day people will live on the surface. This world is ruled under strict laws/rules. Darrow is all about keeping a low-pro and just doing what needs to be done. His wife, Eo, however doesn't feel the same way. Disgusted by how the Golds rule she wants to take action to free everyone from the way things are. The relationship between Eo and Darrow is so much more than sweet. I feel a lot of times male writers either hit or miss the mark when it comes to capturing relationships, and Pierce hit the bulls-eye. After several events take place Darrow ends up on the surface of Mars disguised as a Gold. After which he enrolls into an Academy with the goal of rising up in the Gold ranks. 

“I would have lived in peace. But my enemies brought me war.”

 

The Academy however is not what you would think. THIS IS WHERE THE STORY REALLY HAPPENS! THIS IS WHERE I SHOULD HAVE PUSHED MYSELF TO GET... Once he is enrolled all shiz hits the fan. Darrow goes from this mundane kind of boring character and truly transforms into someone that is even hard to describe. Just this off the charts growth. I thought this story was going to take kind of a feeling like The Testing had too it, but I was so so wrong. I was excepting the school to start off norm and then become something insane. What I didn't expect was Darrow's first test to be killing a boy with his bare hands. I didn't expect his character to be thrown into such warfare. I didn't expect all hell to break loose or this story to go from zero to sixty so fast. I know I'm saying "I didn't expect" a lot during this review, and again I don't care, because this book wasn't at all what I thought it was going to be.

The thing Red Rising has going for it besides the complete turn around in plot, was the surprising amount of action. I ended up feeling like I read two books at once. The first half was this world building, low key gem and the second half was this action packed book that could and will play out amazing on the big screen. There are so many surprises and action packed into the last half of this book that I swear I said "WHAT THE F DID I JUST READ" probably 50 times.

Character development was another thing that Pierce mastered, with such grace. If I would have read Red Rising last year it probably would have gone as my "biggest surprise read of 2014", sadly it didn't happen for me then... But thankfully it got my 2015 reading year off on the right foot. Also can't thank him enough for how he ended the book. (it wasn't on a cliffhanger and for once I'm really glad about it.)

Red Rising if you can't tell, took me by surprise and I can't wait to read Golden Son. This is a book you need to experience.

8.5/10 Stars 
-Angela