Top 10 Women in Books

These are in no particular order because I honestly can't rank them. I love all of these ladies so much. It was hard to trim this list down, but I think every single character on this list is absolutely deserving. Of all the books, all the characters I've come across over the years, these ladies were my favourites.

1. Regan the Radiant

“Apparently unaffected, she rose. "Yeah, you're probably right. I should be going." She feigned a yawn. "You've gotta head back to work and I've gotta head to jail. Big night for me. I'm planning to shiv someone for a bar of soap. --”

I love her so much. There are so many characters in this series and I do love a lot of them, but Regin is just the very best of them. She is so inappropriate and hilarious. I couldn't put anyone else on this list because It would have been a lie.

2. Rose Hathaway

“When I saw you fall..."
"You thought, 'Wow, she's a loser.”

She was my favourite character right from the get-go. you may notice a theme throughout this list. The women on this list are the ones that don't do what they're told. They are forces of nature and that's what I love about them.

3. Aelin Galathynius

“She was fire, and light, and ash, and embers. She was Aelin Fireheart, and she bowed for no one and nothing, save the crown that was hers by blood and survival and triumph.”

She was born to be Queen and she very much embodies that. She is a force of nature. She gives off the "don't fuck with me" energy and I live for that.

4. Daria Followhill

“He pulls me into a hug. A rarity I know not to take for granted when it comes to Vaughn. I bury my face in his chest and let myself crumple, feeling my bones shaking inside my body.”

She is spoiled and selfish, and completely human. There's something so down to earth about her character despite her being the rich popular bitch. I don't know how to explain it. When I was reading the other books in this series I was just waiting for her to make appearances because she was my favourite character.

5. Isabel Culpepper

“She'd been here long enough that all of her feelings had been replaced with high-end linoleum.”

She was like the Daria before Daria. She was rich and popular and completely closed off and unattainable. I just loved her character so much. She is just such a bitch at times and I live for it. I like main characters with bite.

6. Lizbeth Salander

“There were not so many physical threats that could not be countered with a decent hammer.”

Lizbeth never allows herself to be the victim. Even when she is victimized, she gets her revenge and she doesn't let her abuser win. She's such a strong and intelligent main character and she made her book worth reading. I don't know if I would have liked the book half as much if she hadn't been in it.

7. Banks

“People dictate rules based on how they want to be treated, but I’ll tell you something. When someone else misbehaves, it’s black and white, isn’t it? We judge, and we condemn, but when we do it, it’s a gray area all of a sudden. Other people are subject to your convictions, but not you, right? Not Michael?”

I love Banks. She is so clever and loves to stir shit up. She's definitely her brother's sister. They're two peas in a pod. I love them together.

8. Mara Dyer

“How did you get my number?" I blurted, before I could stop myself.
"It's called research." I could hear him smirking over the phone.
"Or stalking."
Noah chuckled. "You're adorable when you're bitchy."
"You're not," I said, but smiled despite myself.”

Mara is so dark. It's great. She has this horribly disturbing power, and honestly, it fits with her. We slowly see her go from a protagonist, the "good guy", into more an antihero/villain. We rarely see the main character of a book turn into a villain and I can't wait to see where her story goes from here.

9. Isis

“I would love to slap you right now, but I’m currently wielding a nine-pound ball and I’m afraid that would be called murder.”

She is so funny. So maybe she isn't as strong as some of the other characters on this list, but she's probably one of the funniest. She also has a lot of emotional strength. She has had her own shitty backstory, but she doesn't let that stop her from being a ray of sunshine.

10. Cat 

“Let go,” I demand. “No.” My eyebrows snap together. “Why not?” “Because your gut reaction is always to punch, and I don’t like being tickled.” Tickled? Tickled! Indignation swamps me. I’ll show him a tickle.”

She is such a badass. If she had sucked I wouldn't have read A Promise of Fire as quickly as I did. She is always up for a fight. She is very near and dear to my heart. If you like fantasy romances this is a good one I promise.

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Top 10 Books of 2016 Redo

This might seem a little weird, but I looked up my Top 10 Books of 2016 list because I was curious since that was the first one I did, and I realized it was very wrong. I'm here to right my wrongs. Because 2017 me was incorrect. I got rid of like, half the books I had on there originally. The list was wrong. I might be a little neurotic.

Honourable Mentions:

The Raven King

“No homework. I got suspended,” Blue replied.
“Get the fuck out,” Ronan said, but with admiration. “Sargent, you asshole.”

This was the perfect conclusion and the perfect setup to Call Down the Hawk.

My Heart and Other Black Holes

“Maybe we all have darkness inside of us and some of us are better at dealing with it than others.”

This one made me think a lot and at the time I didn't really like it, but the more I sat on it the more I liked it. It was one of those.

Captive Prince Trilogy

Source
“A golden prince was easy to love if you did not have to watch him picking wings off flies.”

If this had been a top 11 list this one would have made it. It was so hard not including this one in my top 10. I couldn't even just pick one book, they were all so good.

Crooked Kingdom

“Crows remember human faces. They remember the people who feed them, who are kind to them. And the people who wrong them too. They don’t forget. They tell each other who to look after and who to watch out for.”

I couldn't put this in the top 10 because that ending upset me too much. This was a very good book, incredibly well written on honestly I'm surprised that 2017 me overlooked this one for the original list.

Tales from the Shadowhunter academy

“Little James Herondale, age two, was in fact holding a dagger quite well. He stabbed it into a sofa cushion, sending out a burst of feathers.
"Ducks," he said, pointing at the feathers.”

If you looked at my ranking of the best Shadowhunter books you may be surprised to not see this in the top 10. Lady Midnight just edged this one out by a slim margin. I couldn't justify putting both of these on the list. 

10. Empire of Storms

“Aelin Galathynius, Queen of Terrasen, knew the time would soon come to prove just how much she'd bleed for Erilea.”

This book stayed in the exact same spot. This was not my favourite book in the series, I liked it, but it definitely wasn't any higher on the list. 

9. The Power

“You don't apologize,' Deacon said, pressing a kiss to my greasy head, unlocking best friend status.”

This is a new addition to the list. I remember when reading this one, I couldn't stop reading it. The first book was okay, but this book was such a step up. I don't remember where I was when I read this one. I do remember I was on a trip or something when reading this one and I just devoured this book. So good.

8. Fires of Winter

(I could not for the life of me find any quotes for this book and I don't have the time or patience to go through the book and find them myself.)

I love vikings. I love biking romances. When I read this book I didn't realize I would love it as much as I did. I've reread this book so many times. 

7. Fear Me

“I will do everything in my power to make it work. You see, I have nothing to lose…but you do.”
“Maybe you do, but you just don’t care,” I argued.
“Then that makes me a very dangerous man.”

I didn't think I liked this book that much when I read it the first time. As time went on I realized I liked it more and more. It is now one of my favourite romance novels. Keiran is my favourite Antihero. Honestly me not thinking I liked this one that much to begin with was the reason I never put it on my list. I've definitely changed my mind though.

6. Emerald Green

“Did you know that Gideon and I were trained in Krav Maga?" Charlotte took another step closer to me, and I automatically took one back.
"No, but did you know that at this moment you look like that crazy rodent in Ice Age?”

I loved this book. I actually reread the series a year or two ago and I remembered that this trilogy only took place over the course of a week. All the time-travelling really messed with me. I really want more books about this. I honestly don't know why I didn't put this on my original list.

5. The Name of the Wind

“Call a jack a jack. Call a spade a spade. But always call a whore a lady. Their lives are hard enough, and it never hurts to be polite.”

This is probably one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read. It's so well written. Everything is so well planned out and it's long but never boring. If you love fantasy and you haven't read this book yet I would highly recommend reading this one. 

4. The Bourbon Thief

“How are you going to get revenge against dead people? Dig ’em up and stake ’em through the heart?”
“I asked myself that same question, and I think I know the answer. You destroy what they loved, and you love what they destroyed.”

I never expected this book. I got an arc of it and just thought whatever, it's just a romance. But I read this book and it changed everything. I was so obsessed, I immediately reread it. I posted a review on it when I did read it, but I ended up privating it because I didn't think it was a very good review. I don't know if I updated it yet or not. I do plan on rewriting the review if I haven't already done so.

3. Lady Midnight

“He bumped into a pay phone and said, 'Excuse me, miss,' on our way in," said Julian.
"It's polite to apologize," said Mark with the same small voice.
"Not to inanimate objects.”

I just talked about how much I loved this book. It really showed how much Cassandra Clare has grown as an author. It was so well thought out and all the side characters were so interesting and dynamic. This book was an A+.

2. A Court of Mist and Fury

“He thinks he'll be remembered as the villain in the story. But I forgot to tell him that the villain is usually the person who locks up the maiden and throws away the key. He was the one who let me out.”

I remember absolutely losing my mind when this book came out. I know, it's no longer at number 1. I still love this book, but I think time has dulled it a little bit for me. I still think this is an amazing book and I would definitely read it again. I just think with time I do like the new number 1 book a little more.

1. A Monster Calls

“Your mind will believe comforting lies while also knowing the painful truths that make those lies necessary. And your mind will punish you for believing both.”

This book was so good at displaying grief. This is a children's book and it so eloquently showcased grief and how we come to terms with life and death. This book was a masterpiece. 

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Top 10 Books I Love But Never Talk About

I've finally figured out why I haven't been blogging as much as I should have been. I finally took off my acrylic nails the other day and now the words are just flowing out of me. I realized that the month or so of not posting when I should have been was caused by it being extremely annoying/difficult to type with fake nails. I'm probably won't be doing that again for a very long while.

10. The Grey Wolves Series

I honestly don’t know why I’ve never mentioned these, This series is right up my alley and something I think my YA-loving readers would also love. This series centers around three best friends and their discovery of werewolves. Lots of romance and lots of paranormal action. 

9. Arranged

You all know I love Sara Wolf, she has written some of my favorite books and this is one of them. I probably don’t talk about this duology as much as her other books because the protagonist isn’t quite as savage as her other leads, but it’s still a hilarious book and full of drama. I love the two lead characters and I love the plot even more.

8. Stage Dive Series

I’ve mentioned Lead, the third novel in the series, once and that was for the best rockstar romances post. Correct me if I’m wrong, but that’s the only time I’ve mentioned the series on my blog before. I just love the authors writing style so much. I love all of her characters so much, I felt like I knew them after reading this series. And if you are into NA rockstar romances then I think you’d enjoy this one too.

7. Wait For You

This is one of the stepping stone New Adult romances that made me fall in love with the genre. I read it years ago and it’s pretty fundamental to my love of NA. It actually makes me sad realizing that I never really talk about it.

6. The Green Mile

I know I mention it every once in a while saying that it’s really sad, but I feel like I’ve never actually made it clear that I think it’s an amazing book. it had so much depth in plot and in the characters that were in it. 

5. Bloodlines series

I often talk about my love of the Vampire Academy series but I never seem to mention how much I really loved the Bloodlines series. I still prefer Rose and Dimitri, but i still love Sydney and Adrian. 

4. Stolen Songbird

I read this this year and have only mentioned it in my monthly wrap up. I started writing a review and just never finished writing it. I do plan on finishing it and it was actually part of my mid year giveaway that just ended last night. That shows you just how much I really did enjoy the book.

3. The Collector

I never really seem to talk about this one because it was only the first book that I actually liked.  The next two novels just didn’t do it for me and I found Charlie got really annoying. However, the protagonist Dante was really funny and I loved the unique perspective and idea of the book.

2. Inkheart

This was a book about books! It was so meta and I loved it. It was dark and weird and had no hint of romance in it. I feel like as I’ve gotten older I’ve enjoyed books with romantic plot lines a lot more than just plain action and adventure, but this was one of those books that I loved despite there being no hint of romance. It was all about the magic. And maybe I don’t really talk about it because I’m so romance heavy, but what I’m trying to say is that it deserves recognition.

1. The Dead List 

This was originally published on Wattpad by Jennifer L. Armentrout and it was pretty amazing. This is actually the second book by that author on this list and maybe that’s why the two of them are on here, she’s just written so many books that I just can’t give props to them all. Anyway, the is a very YA murder mystery/thriller and is deinfitly worth the read. I think about what happens in this book a lot more than I would like to admit.

What are some of your favorite books that you don't feel like you talk about enough?

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Top 10 Recent Favorite Things #2

I did one of these in November of last year and I enjoyed it so much that I decided I wanted to do it again! This is just a list of things that I'm really enjoying right now that aren't books. We like a little variety over here on Book Ballistic.


1. Avengers: Infinity War

This is the first movie ever that I have actually gone to see I theaters twice. It's just something I don't usually do, but I had to see it again because I wanted to see everything that I might have missed the first time.

2. Deadpool 2

This movie was perfect. It was so heavy, but the humor made it more bearable. It was like a euphemism for my life. I actually cried.

3. Foo Fighters

Dave Grohl is the shit. He's in two of my favorite bands of all time and I'm so glad that he is still releasing music. The Pretender is the greatest song ever.

4. Hourglass Stick Foundation

I'm one of those weird people that prefer stick foundations and concealers over liquid. I just feel like it gives me more coverage. I might just be imagining things.

5. On My Block

This show covers a lot of real shit from gangs to growing up, to being a minority, and yet even with a lot of heavy subjects it still manages to be light. I love all these characters so much I don't want anything bad to happen to them.

6. Bob's Burgers

This is one of those shows that I always just have on in the background and I love it so much. Louise is my spirit animal.

7. Acrylic Nails

I got these done recently for my Grad and I honestly love having them on so much. This is the first time I've ever had acrylics and I can't stop using my hands to gesture at everything because I'm extra. Although they are really hard to type with so I'm glad autocorrect is a thing.

8. Going to the Gym

I recently started going to the gym regularly and it has honestly made me feel so good! I go for an hour whenever I have the time and then I don't feel as guilty whenever I eat a cookie or take a nap in the middle of the day. It's great!

9. Harry Potter App

I finally bit the bullet and downloaded the Harry Potter app because I just kept seeing everyone playing it. Man is this game addictive.

10. Sephora Glitter Eyeshadows

I usually don't like singles, but these glitter eyeshadows from Sephora Brand are to die for. They're 10 dollars each but they're so pretty! I got three of them, but my personal favorite is Hollywood Calling.

What are some things that you guys are loving right now? Books and other things.


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