Five Friday Favourites is a weekly event hosted by Book Badger, where once a week, a five favourites subject is posted and everyone is welcome to join in. You can find out more about Five Friday Favourites and the future subjects here.
I actually found my not-so-favourite leading ladies easier than my not-so-favourite lads. I think it's because I read a large amount of young adult and a lot of the narrating/lead characters are women. But, I've also read a lot of books lately where the lead character got to me so they were fresh in my mind.
Bella Swan
Edward topped my list of not-so-favourite leading lads, so it seems only fitting that Bella would top my list of my not-so-favourite leading ladies. These two are just the two most annoying, most irritating, most want-to-reach-into-my-book-and-strangle-you characters that I have ever come across. I just really, really, really hate Bella Swan. Even when I read all four Twilight books I never really liked Bella as a character, or Edward all that much. My favourites were always Alice and Jasper. I am happy to see more YA providing us with kick-ass female heroines and less Bella Swans. For one thing, she finds Edward amazing in every way, even though he's just a controlling and creepy guy. She always needs saving by the guy and she allows her life to become utterly consumed and controlled by that guy. When he breaks up with her she literally just crumples to the ground and stays there for hours. No, just no! Your love wasn't that special, so get up, dust yourself off and realise you don't need some 100 year old dead guy to make you happy. 
Side Note: If you have NEVER watched Alex Day Reads Twilight... DO IT!!! Go and do it now! RIGHT NOW! Here's Chapter 1 to get you started:
Tris Prior
Movie Tris rocks, but book Tris is so whiny that she makes me want to kill her. In book one she makes a ton of brave decisions, learns how to beat the crap out of people and gets the hot guy. Awesome! But then we get to book two and she just becomes this whiny, annoying mess who makes one bad decision after another. How Four put up with her, I will never know! Her inner monologue is so dull and whiny that it took all my effort not to put book two or three down. And on three that would have been the smart move, Tris was as boring as the plot. I was really pleased with how Allegiant ended, it finally put a stop to her never ending internal moaning.
Sloane Barstow
The more I think back on The Program, the more I reconsider my 5 star rating, especially after reading the sequel. I adored the character of James and seeing all of Sloane's memories of him and how they got together, that was honestly my favourite part of the whole book and series. But Sloane was a character who completely got on my nerves and I didn't really understand at all. She has a really ridiculous and utterly pointless love triangle going with this Realm character, who is a complete dick. I just didn't understand that side to it at all, that part of Sloane made me want to give up on the second book because it got tiresome and really annoying. Sloane without her memories was just intolerable and infuriating and it made me want to slap the girl.
Lainey Mitchell
I hated her! I honestly just wanted to punch the girl. She was an absolute idiot and I didn't like her at all. She spends most of the book trying to get back with her ex boyfriend, who's a total wanker. She's almost best friends with a girl who is an utter bitch. I judged her choices and just couldn't understand her at all. I didn't get what Micah ended up seeing in her, she had no self-respect and no self-esteem and she was a pathetic character. I hated her, hated her, hated her!!!!!!!
Becca Williamson
She breaks up couples for a living, which is weird all by itself. But she just comes across as a bit too bitter in this for it to really work. She had her absolutely hilarious moments that made me want to really love the girl, but overall I didn't really think she was that great of a leading lady. She started out as quite witty and a character I could really like, but over time she just began to grate on me.
In conclusion:
One chance to win a Kindle Fire HDX, to enter go here.
You can also enter my 1,000 Bloglovin followers giveaway below. For full details go here.
Five Friday Favourites: Not-So-Favourite Leading Lads
My Weekly Book Haul
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart: Review 5/5 Review
2014 Series Challenge: Sign Up & Progress
2014 First in a Series: Sign Up & Progress
Top Ten Tuesday: Covers I'd Frame As Art
The Art of Lainey by Paula Stokes: 2.5/5 Review
Films for Thoughts on Thursday: The Other Woman
These are some good choices here! I haven't read Twilight (but I own it, whoops) and neither any of them actually, but I've considered Divergent for a while now and am seriously serious about trying it from the library, and I'm sorry you didn't enjoy The Art of Lainey or The Break Up Artist all that much but reading your reviews I can see why! Great to get a rant out of your system right? :) Great post and please don't hate me with one of my choices..
ReplyDeleteIt's always good to get a rant out of your system, I am quite a fan of the rant ;) I really quite enjoyed Divergent, it was just the other two books that I had a problem with - both irritated the crap out of me.
DeleteGrr, I don't like Bella or Tris either. At least like you said, movie Tris is good. Movie Bella, well we all know how that went...
ReplyDeleteHAHA! Soooo true about movie Bella. It was just painful at times!
DeleteHa!! This made me smile. I didn't have so much of a problem with Bella, but I think she needs a hobby. Just, you know, something to give her a creative out let that isn't wondering about her 100-year-old boyfriend. Also: HOW COULD YOU NOT LIKE TRIS??!! But does this mean you still like Four? ;) My sister is aaaalways complaining about Four. I think he's fine...I mean, I actually DON'T think him and Tris would have had a very happy married-old-life. I want to write a post on that actually, but I can't figure out how to do it without Allegiant spoilers. ;) Though would've needed counselling. Loooots of counselling.
ReplyDelete(And I actually rated Divergent 3 or 4 stars or something when I first read it because I thought Tris was a dorky rip-off Katniss...haha! So I can't really say anything about your dislike of her. XD I seriously need to see the movie....)
She needs a hundred hobbies or something. HOW COULD YOU LIKE TRIS?!? Sorry, I felt like I needed to caps shout it back at you. She was sooooo annoying. Like Four, I LOVE FOUR. Except for in Allegiant where she decided to narrate chapters through him that were essentially the exact same as Tris - she turned him into a whiny girl and I hate her for it. SEE THE MOVIE!!! =D
DeleteDayum... made me laugh about what you said about Tris in the end.
ReplyDeleteAlex is hilarious. I hated reading the Twilight series; the lighter fluid was calling me when I got to the end of BD.
BD was just painful, that ending was horrific! Haha, thanks, that is exactly how I felt at the end.
DeleteI completely agree about Tris. I really liked her in book one, but I disliked her in book two and flat out hated her in book three. She kept getting more and more annoying. I also agree with Bella too!
ReplyDeleteAmber @ bookish wonders
Well I am happy that I wasn't the only one who felt that way about Tris, the girl had to go!
DeleteAgreed with Tris, wanted to smack her a few times in Books 2, and a bit of 3, I felt bad then and had to take it back, cuz, well you know.... lol loving the Sheldon gif!
ReplyDeleteHaha, I did not feel bad in book three. I felt like she got what she deserved, it was punishment for her endless whining ;)
DeleteThanks to you I just spent the past hour watching all of Alex Day's Twilight videos. AMAZING
ReplyDeleteHAHA, it's totally worth losing an hour of your life to that ;)
DeleteI totally have to agree on Bella. I mean, I liked the books all right, but she is not even on my list of favorite female protagonists.
ReplyDeleteShe's just not a great character at all, and definitely not a good female one either.
DeleteOh no…I was really looking forward to reading The Art of Lainey, but she sounds horrible and if I hate the main character, that pretty much dooms the book for me. Bella, completely agree with you there. She reminds me of Elena from Vampire Diaries, always needing to be saved. ~Pam
ReplyDeleteWell, it did get some really amazing reviews so maybe it was just me. But I just ended up not loving Lainey at all, I couldn't understand her very much or why she was so obsessed with getting her arse of an ex back.
Delete