When I think about Adrian Ivashkov I immediately picture a hot guy with a bad boy attitude who’s too cool for school leaning against a wall, smoking his cigarettes. Adrian is the definition of swag. He’s a rich boy who’s basically had everything handed to him his whole life.
Normally, this is the kind of guy I would hate but Richelle Mead doesn’t make one-dimensional characters so there’s more to Adrian than first meets the eye. The truth is Adrian is a very caring guy who loves hard. He’s an artist who sometimes lets his emotions get the best of him but it’s his inability to keep his feelings in control that makes him so lovable. When he falls for someone it’s not an easy fall. He gives the person he loves everything he has and then some and that’s both breathtaking and heartbreaking, depending on how it works out for him.
Besides that Adrian is a funny guy. He brushes off serious topics with little quips and is always flirting. Even so, when it’s time to step up and help his friends and family, Adrian is there doing what he needs to do. He goes above and beyond to help out when he can, sometimes pushing himself too far in terms of using his abilities (he’s a vampire with an affinity for spirit; if you don’t know what that is read the books!).
Overall, Adrian is an attractive guy with a great, loving personality who provides comic relief in serious situations. He often speaks in poetry and is one of the most loving characters I’ve ever read about. Check him out in the Vampire Academy and Bloodlines series.
[Adrian] was too perfect, despite being one of the most imperfect people I knew.’ – The Indigo Spell
If you haven’t figured this out yet I’m obsessed with the Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead. It’s no surprise then that the male lead in the series, Dimitri Belikov, is today’s man crush Monday.
He’s hot, strong, protective, and extremely loyal. As a dhampir guardian he’s considered a god with his great strength and speed. Beside that he’s the quiet, brooding type of guy. He walks around wearing a cowboy duster and loves old westerns but he’s also fierce and a force to be reckoned.
What I love most about this character, however, is underneath all of that is this really sweet, loving guy who cares deeply about people. This is most clear in his relationship with Rose Hathaway but it’s also seen by how fiercely he tries to protect the people he guards. Dimitri is also the kind of guy that wants to be married and have a family. He’s the only boy in a family of women and he’s protective of his family and loves them dearly.
I could go on and on about how perfect Dimitri is but honestly you should read these books and see for yourself. Trust me, you’ll be in love with by the end of the first book if not sooner.
“My immediate associations with Dimitri were always intense and fierce; it was his sexy, battle-god persona that came to mind. Yet, it had been Dimitri’s gentleness and thoughtfulness mixed with that deadliness that made him so wonderful.” – Blood Promise
The Vampire Academy series has a bunch of amazing characters but my fave will forever and always be Rose Hathway. She’s fierce, snarky, protective, and loyal. And she’s hella fine. As a dhamphir (a mix breed between human and vampire) she has great strength and can kick butt.
She attends St. Vladmir’s Boarding School where she learns to become a guardian, a protector of vampires. For Rose, she plans on protecting her best friend, Princess Lissa Dragomir, who lost her family in a terrible car crash and brought Rose back from the dead giving Rose some interesting abilities.
Rose comes off as a bad girl who doesn’t follow the rules, and although she technically does start off that way everything she does is to protect Lissa and do what she feels is right. When Rose gets something in her head she doesn’t let anyone or anything stand in her way and that’s what makes her so awesome.
Besides all this Rose comes from two pretty bad a** parents. Her mom is a fierce guardian in her own right and her father is a mob type vampire who doesn’t take crap from anyone. I guess we know where Rose get’s it from.
Lastly, one of my favorite aspects of Rose is how hard she loves people. Her love for Lissa is something fierce but her love for Dimitri, her teacher turned something else, might be even stronger. Rose loves hard and when she cares about someone she’ll go to the end of the world and back just to save them.
If you haven’t read the Vampire Academy series yet I’d definitely recommend it.
‘Rose,” he said, forcibly trying to keep a serious tone, “I can think of many words to describe you, sexy and hot being at the top of the list. You know what’s not on the list? Sane.’
As Hollywood gets less creative and innovative we see the increase of books being turned into movies. Of course, this isn’t a new practice its just become more frequent. Here’s the books that I’m most interested to see on the big screen this year (so far anyway).
1. The Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters (February 14)
I love this book series by Richelle Mead (I own almost all of the books), which is why I’m a little disappointed in what I’ve seen of the movie so far. This film looks more like a comedy then the drama and love filled series of books I remember. Even though I’m going to try to resist, I’m sure I’ll still end up going to see this movie in theaters. Maybe since my expectations are so low the movie will actually surpass them.
2. Divergent (March 21)
I’m still on the waiting list to get this book from the library so I can’t really say how the trailer compares to the novel. What I can say is the trailer looked so good I felt inspired to actually read the first book in this trilogy created by Veronica Roth. I’d heard a lot about these books and it was all over Tumblr but I resisted reading it because it sounded like just another dystopian novel with a heroine and her love interest. Even though I tend to love books like that I was getting sick of reading the same thing. Even so, this trailer does look really good so I’m willing to give a book a try to prep for the film.
3. The Fault in Our Stars (June 6)
I loved this book by John Green. It’s probably my favorite book by him and he’s written some great ones. There’s no trailer yet so I can’t say how close I think it’ll resemble the book but the movie poster looks great and Green was heavily involved in the making of the film so I have high hopes for it. All we can do now is wait and see. If you haven’t read the book yet I would definitely recommend it.
4. The Maze Runner (September 19)
(Source: imdb.com)
This is based on another book I didn’t read. I did try to read it however, I just couldn’t get into. I think I got three chapters in before I gave up. However, because Dylan O’Brien will be playing the main character and I’m obsessed with him I might still give this one a try. It depends on how the trailer looks when it comes out, which I’m guessing will be released when Divergent drops. We shall see.
5. Mocking Jay Part 1 (November 21, 2014)
In my personal opinion (and I’ve found many others agree with me) this was the worst book in the trilogy. Though I applaud Suzanne Collins for keeping it real with all the deaths that occur in this last book (because lets face it, this is a war; there will be casualties) it was still not the best book. Therefore I’m kind of hoping the writers, directors, and makers of this film take creative license over this one. As long as they didn’t stray to far from the novel I’d be okay with it. We’ve got a long way to go before this comes out but I’m hoping for the best. The first two films were great and I’m expecting these last two will be just as good.
6. The Giver (August 15)
I don’t even remember how long ago I read this book but similar to a lot of these novels that are being adapted into films, this is based on a dystopian world where the Giver is the only person who is allowed access to the true memories of the past. Every child is dictated what their job will be for the rest of their lives and the main character, Jonas, is chosen to learn from the Giver so he can become the next one. Its too early to tell how this will turn out. The fact that Taylor Swift has been casted in it doesn’t bode well for me since she didn’t do well in Valentine’s Day. However, Meryl Streep will also be in the film and I love her so I’ll give it points for that. Fingers crossed.
Zakiya N. Jamal 