wcw – Page 2 – Zakiya N. Jamal

Woman Crush Wednesday: Katy Swartz

Posted on June 24, 2015June 23, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Blog

I was rereading the Lux series this week and it reminded me of one of my favorite characters, Katy Swartz. Now if I’m being honest I wasn’t a big fan of Katy at first. I found her incessant overthinking of everything in her life (mainly her feelings for Daemon, the love interest) annoying. Additionally her obsession with books and her blog, although something I should’ve found relatable, I instead found irritating.

That being said Katy grew on me and allowed me to become obsessed with the Lux series and finish it in a very short span of time.

What took me a while to realize about Katy is she has high standards and she’s dedicated to them. The whole reason she has issues accepting Daemon has feelings for her and she has feelings for Daemon is because she has this idea of what a perfect relationship should be: the relationship between her parents. Katy doesn’t want to settle for love; she wants the whole fairytale. Once I got that I respected her a little more.

I also respected her loyalty and her refusal to be shut out from big decisions and big fights. She hates being underestimated but also uses that to her advantage. She’s strong and handles a lot of stuff much better than I probably ever would have.

Therefore, I had to make Katy my crush this week.

“Me and Katy look adorkable in extraterrestrial
highway shirts. You would just look stupid. You can thank me later.” – Daemon Black, Origin

Woman Crush Wednesday: Rosie Dunne

Posted on June 10, 2015June 10, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Blog

If you haven’t read Love, Rosie (or Where The Rainbows End) please do so immediately. The story follows the WCW of the day, Rosie Dunne, and her best friend, Alex, through their lives of missed opportunities, complete misunderstandings, and tells a tale of love and loss all told through emails, letters, and IMs.

I specifically chose Rosie as my WCW because not only is she hilarious she’s also a very strong character. She has a bit of a rough go of it during her life but she makes it work. She doesn’t quit when things get hard and does everything she can to keep moving forward even when every obstacle seems to be standing in her way.

My heart broke for Rosie multiple times in this book and of course she made many mistakes but at her core Rosie is a genuinely loving and caring person that often put other people’s needs before her own. I loved watching Rosie grow from a young child to a reckless teen to a precarious young adult to a semi-wise grown up.

Just as most books these days there is a movie version of the novel but I do advise reading the book first if you’re going to see the movie. The movie itself isn’t bad but they did have to remove a lot of the story in order to shorten the film and although some may argue the shortening of the film is better than the long winded romance we’re given in the novel, I for one loved seeing Rosie and Alex take two steps forward and one step back (multiple times) in their relationship in the novel. But to each their own.

Honestly though, Rosie is a character you should get to know. She’s one of my favorite female characters and I love her wit and sass in this novel. I might have to go and reread this book now. I almost forgot just how much I love it. Good thing I own it.

‘[Greg] is the luckiest man in the world to have you, Rosie, but he doesn’t deserve you and you deserve far better. You deserve someone who loves you with every single beat of his heart, someone who thinks about you constantly, someone who spends every minute of every day just wondering what you’re doing, where you are, who you’re with and if you’re OK. You need someone who can help you reach your dreams and who can protect you from your fears. You need someone who will treat you with respect, love every part of you, especially your flaws. You should be with someone who can make you happy, really happy, dancing-on-air happy.’ – Love, Rosie

Woman Crush Wednesday: Rose Hathaway

Posted on May 6, 2015May 21, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Blog

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.’

Woman Crush Wednesday: Ruby Daly

Posted on April 29, 2015May 21, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Blog

The Darkest Minds trilogy is one of my favorite series and that’s mainly because I loved the main character, Ruby Daley. Although she’s very fearful of her own powers she’s not afraid to use them to save the people she loves and care about. She’s fiercely loyal and selfless. Although she makes mistakes (everyone does) she owns up for them and eventually learns from them.

Besides that she’s beautiful with her long brown hair and green eyes. She’s kind and caring but also powerful. With the ability to control people’s mind she could do anything she wants and probably get away with it. Instead, however, she resists the power lust of her abilities and chooses to control them, using her powers only when absolutely necessary.

If you haven’t read these books yet, I definitely recommend them. Great characters, great story, and great writing.

Woman Crush Wednesday: America Singer

Posted on April 22, 2015May 21, 2015 by Zakiya N. Jamal in Blog

First, if you’ve never heard of America Singer that’s because you haven’t read The Selection series yet and that’s a shame. Please get with the times.

Moving on, America is gorgeous with her long red hair and ice cold blue eyes. Besides that though, she’s smart, funny, brave, and stands up for what she believes in. She loves hard and won’t let anyone stand in her way when she makes up her mind about something (which can sometimes be a bad thing).

In The Selection series, America is entered into the selection, a competition of 35 girls to win Prince Maxon’s heart and become queen. It takes place in a dystopian world where the U.S. (now called Illéa) is ruled by a royal family, by the way. I won’t say what happens in case you haven’t read the books (which, again, you really should) but what makes America stand out is she never went into the selection to become Queen. She didn’t even really want to be there in the first place.

However, once she figures out what she really wants she’s not afraid to go after it whole heartedly. The way she stands up for her friends, her maids, her caste (yes there’s a caste system; please read these books), and the castes below her is extraordinary, thereby making her beautiful both inside and out.