Happy Wednesday, everyone! I’m back with Why I Love Wednesdays, hosted by Reflections of a Bookaholic. Today’s topic is Book Family!

If you’ve ever read this blog, you know I love a lot of books. After much deliberation, I settled on the Earnshaw/Linton/Heathcliff family from Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte.

Now, even if you haven’t read Wuthering Heights (which you should–it’s awesome), you probably know a little bit about the story of Cathy and Heathcliff. They grow up together, fall in love…but Cathy says something that makes Heathcliff take off and when he comes back years later, she’s married. The whole story is really sad (and that’s a serious understatement).

The whole Earnshaw/Linton/Heathcliff family is pretty messed up. Maybe that’s why they seem so real–or disturbing. (WARNING: major spoiler alert if you haven’t read this.) Heathcliff (he only has the one name) and Catherine (Cathy) Earnshaw are in love with each other. Edgar Linton is also in love with Cathy and when Heathcliff disappears, Cathy marries Edgar. When Heathcliff returns and finds Cathy married to a man he hates, he takes up with Edgar’s sister Isabella, whom he later marries. Cathy falls ill and dies shortly after giving birth to a daughter, who is also named Cathy. Isabella takes off on Heathcliff and he finds out years later that he has a son. He sends for the boy when Isabella dies, and later tries to marry his son off to Cathy’s daughter so he can have all of Edgar’s wealth. (He already has everything Cathy’s family had owned–her brother gambled it off to Heathcliff before he died.) Cathy (the daughter) and Linton, Heathcliff’s son (named for his mother’s maiden name), do marry and Cathy’s father Edgar dies shortly after. Cathy is forced to move in with Heathcliff, Linton, and Hareton, her cousin through her uncle Hindley Earnshaw. Her husband Linton soon dies and she’s left with just her father-in-law and her cousin, understandably miserable. Heathcliff eventually wanders off, thinking he sees Cathy’s (the mother) ghost, and he dies. Cathy (daughter) and Hareton decide to marry.

Crazy, messed up family, right? This is the ultimate love web, and really takes the phrase “keep in it the family” to a whole new level. Reading this story reminds me that no matter how crazy some of my family may get sometimes, they’re no where near as crazy as the Earnshaw/Linton/Heathcliff family. Their drama is extreme–and that’s why I love them.

I’m finally back with Why I Love Wednesdays… hosted by Reflections of a Bookaholic. This week’s topic is “Favorite Villain”.

Since I recently read Destined, book nine of the House of Night series by P.C. and Kristin Cast, I thought I would talk about Neferet.

First of all, Neferet is seriously twisted. I wouldn’t want to meet that woman/vampyre in a dark alley, that’s for sure. She is manipulative and dangerous. If you haven’t read the series, I don’t want to ruin anything, but the woman is straight up EVIL. I really don’t understand why everyone doesn’t see all the crazy stuff she gets away with, or why most of the other vampyres/fledglings still follow her. Only Zoey, the protagonist, and her friends see what’s really going on. Of course, if everyone saw what the woman was really doing, there wouldn’t be much of a story, would there? It’s rare for me to want even a villain to die as much as I want Neferet to die. That’s how awful she is. The Cast duo would have to do some extremely fancy footwork to make Neferet redeemable.

Now, I know this is supposed to be all about a villain, but I have one more thing to say about the House of Night series. Stark=major yum. Even if you have no interest in vampire books, or crazy evil Neferet, read the series for him. I love me some Stark. He doesn’t show up until book four, Untamed, so stick with it. I guarantee he’s worth it (especially when he starts talking in a Scottish accent).

When I first saw today’s “Book Crush” topic, my mind immediately went to Kellin from The Chronicles of the Cheysuli. Since I already discussed him in a previous, non-WILW post (HERE) I thought I would tell you all about my most recent book crush: Phoenix “Nix” Birmingham from Pandora’s Box by Gracen Miller.

This is Gracen’s rendition of Nix (Chris Evans with different hair and tattoos added).

Today’s “Why I Love Wednesdays . . .” is all about a favorite book couple. At the risk of repeating myself and posting massive spoilers, I’m going to tell you about Garion and Ce’Nedra from The Belgariad and The Mallorean by David Eddings.

If you’ve been following my “Why I Love Wednesdays . . .” posts, you’ll know how much I love David Eddings’ works, particularly The Belgariad and The Mallorean (in case I haven’t mentioned this before, they’re technically companion series, set in the same world and with many of the same characters, but several years apart). I’ve already expressed my love for Ce’Nedra (if you missed that post, you can find it here). Now it’s time to share about Ce’Nedra’s relationship with Garion.

Garion is the main character of The Belgariad and one of the main characters of The Mallorean. He and Ce’Nedra first meet when they are fifteen. They hate each other at first. Garion thinks Ce’Nedra is a spoiled brat (which she kind of is) and Ce’Nedra thinks Garion is an uneducated peasant (which he basically is). They have screaming fights and she treats him as her servant. They eventually begin to become friends when Ce’Nedra takes it upon herself to teach Garion how to read. Garion’s aunt, Polgara, cautions Ce’Nedra against playing with Garion’s emotions, although Ce’Nedra insists that she feels nothing for him.

Ce’Nedra finally realizes her feelings for Garion when he goes away for a time to retrieve a magical object that’s been stolen. She’s been left behind and she finds herself missing him. When he returns, she goes into a fit of jealousy when she sees him with another girl (who is in fact his cousin).
When they reach the end of their quest, Garion and Ce’Nedra are both surprised when Garion is revealed to be the long-lost Rivan king. Ce’Nedra catches the implication of this, although Garion doesn’t. There has been a long-standing treaty that one day an Imperial Princess of Tolnedra will marry the Rivan king. This means that they have to get married.

It isn’t until Garion has to leave on a dangerous quest to kill an evil god that Ce’Nedra finally decides that she wants to marry him. She leads an army to distract the disciples of the evil god to help insure Garion’s safety.

The two are eventually married at the end of The Belgariad series. The Mallorean series begins with the abduction of their child. Garion, Ce’Nedra and many others must go on another quest to retrieve the child. Throughout it all, Garion basically has to keep Ce’Nedra sane. After all, what mother wouldn’t go crazy if someone kidnapped their son?

Through all ten books of the two series, I enjoyed the development of Garion and Ce’Nedra’s relationship. They may fight, they may drive each other crazy, but they always manage to work it out. It’s funny what lessons we can take from books sometimes.