Authors have book boyfriends, too.
One of the questions
I’ll ask my favorite authors if / when I get the chance to meet
them will be: who are your fictional crushes? It would be delightful
to find out this little piece of themselves and then read the books
that feature their book boyfriends /girlfriends and make comparisons.
A list of book boyfriends can tell me more about the author than
hundreds of pages of interviews. It would be so interesting to see if
they value the same character traits I do.
Here are my top book
boyfriends.
10) Peeta Mellark-
The Hunger Games Series
The strength of his
feelings, his high set of morals, and his unquestionable loyalty to
Katniss make him one of the best book boyfriends. And he’s muscled.
9) Lestat de
Lioucourt- The Vampire Chronicles
Lestat is one of my
favorite anti-heroes. He’s the perfect combination of evilness,
rebelliousness, and poetic self-awareness. I fell in love with him
since I met him for the first time in Interview with the Vampire.
8) Lucious Malfoy –
The Harry Potter Series
The way Jason
Isaacs potrayed him in the movie adaptations made me fall in love
with a character I had overlooked while reading the books.
7) Atticus Finch –
To Kill a Mockingbird
Not your typical
book stud, Atticus gained my heart because his integrity and morals.
6) Jem Carstairs –
The Infernal Devices Series
The guy with a heart
of gold and the terrible illness. I have soft spots for chivalrous
gentlemen and Jem represents the quintessential chivalrous hero.
5) Minho – The
Maze Runner Series
Smart, Snarky, and a
courageous leader. Not to mention the Asian look that I find
extremely attractive.
4) Mr. Darcy –
Pride and Prejudice
3) Magnus Bane –The
infernal devices.
2) Will Herondale-
The Infernal Devices series
Will has a lot of
treats that I appreciate in a hero: the tragic past, the commitment
to the people he loves and a funny, snarky side. But what makes him
be a favorite is his undying loyalty to his Parabatai, which not even
love could tear apart. It’s been a while since I’ve read the
saga, but I’ll always remember a single line at the end of
Clockwork Prince that broke my heart to pieces: “My Jem?”
-
Aleksey Fürst. – The V girl.
This is more than
shameless self-promotion. I wrote Aleksey as the kind of mysterious,
broody, alpha-male, hero that I would like to become a reality so he
could be my boyfriend in real life. He’s a man of honor, who keeps
his integrity intact in a violent world. He’s physically one of the
strongest human characters I’ve ever read about. What I like the
most about him is that, although he’s sexually experienced and
insanely skilled at that; emotionally, he is a virgin. I’d love to
have the honor to “deflower” a man like him, and I hope soon
you’ll add him to your list of book boyfriends.
And you? Who are
your top ten fictional boyfriends?
The V Girl by Mya Robarts
Publication date: June 20th 2014Genres: Dystopia, Young Adult
Goodreads: Goodreads
In post-apocalyptic North America, rape and sexual slavery are legal. Lila Velez, desperately wants to lose her virginity before the troops visit her town, and can take it away by force. She makes plans to seduce her only friend, Rey, the most attractive man in her town. Lila does not love him, but he is the only man who has shown her true affection, an affection she is willing to take as a substitute of love.
In post-apocalyptic North America, rape and sexual slavery are legal. Lila Velez, desperately wants to lose her virginity before the troops visit her town, and can take it away by force. She makes plans to seduce her only friend, Rey, the most attractive man in her town. Lila does not love him, but he is the only man who has shown her true affection, an affection she is willing to take as a substitute of love.
Lila’s coping mechanism to her mother’s violent attack is her secret. A secret that will bring her closer to Aleksey Fürst, a foreign, broody man that she distrusts because his links to the troops and his rough, yet irresistible appearance. He offers Lila an alternative to her plans, a possibility that terrifies her…and tempts her in spite of herself.
All the while Lila will have to find a way to live in the constant company of death, slavery, starvation, sexual abuse and the danger of losing the people she loves the most.
Due to strong language, violent scenes and sexual content, this book is not intended for readers under the age of 18.
Amazon | Kobo | AmazonUK | AmazonCA | AmazonDE | AmazonAU | AmazonES | AmazonFR | AmazonIT | AmazonIN
Prologue
In the barely lit room, there are only some
gym mattresses and a couple of mirrors. I’ve set the mirrors so I
can watch myself losing the V of my nickname.
My “one-hour stand” climbs onto the
mattresses and touches my naked, trembling body. His breathing
becomes ragged; his eyes are dark.
I never imagined my first time would be
like this. In my imagination, when I had my first time, I would be in
love.
I always thought I would only allow myself
to be with someone in that way if I really, really,
loved that person. He would also be unconditionally in love with me.
He would be someone who would look at me as though I was his sun.
I wanted to lose my virginity to someone
who adores me. Preferably someone who would had said the five magic
words: “Lila, will you marry me?” I wanted to have sex for the
first time with someone I’d consider worthy enough to spend the
rest of my life with. If I only had more time. Eighteen is too young
in my book to have met the person to whom I want to commit my life.
I wish this occasion could have been a
romantic spur of the moment situation. One thing leading to other in
a natural manner and then ... I wouldn’t be a V-girl anymore.
That would have been an ideal situation.
But I don’t live in an ideal world; I live in a world defined by a
civil war.
My deflowering can’t be romantic or
spontaneous. I’ve been preparing my first sexual encounter since I
heard the troops were on their way to Starville.
I don’t love my sexual partner. He
doesn’t love me, either. But it has to be him,
or it’s going to be a random guy from the troops … through force.
My “lover” hesitates for a moment. I
feel his weight pressing me into the mattress. His body tenses. I
wait for him to make the next move, but I’m afraid he has changed
his mind.
Interview Questions:
What was the
first seed that sparked the story that would become The V Girl?
I was doing
research for another novel, when I came across testimonies that made
my skin crawl because they described the cruel reality of mass rape.
The one that disturbed me the most came from a woman whose country
was invaded by several foreign armies. She was fourteen or fifteen at
the time. When the Army of her own country was about to regain the
control of her town, her mother made provisions so both of them could
avoid rape, even though the girl didn’t think this was necessary.
Mother and daughter prepared themselves for the soldiers’ arrival
by shaving their heads, and the girl acted the role of a very sick
girl, hoping the soldiers would spare her. When the soldiers finally
came, it turned out the mother had been right all along. Their
schemes worked and the soldiers didn’t rape this girl, but they
raped other girls. How did the mother know that certain precautions
were needed? It was clear to me that abuses from the troops were not
only known, but also expected. The fact that the mother knew that
this would happen; the fact that they did not make these provisions
around the soldiers of the foreign army, but around the soldiers of
their own country, had an impact on my emotions. I thought, Wouldn’t
the girl try to lose her virginity to a guy of her choice as part of
her preparations? That was a story that deserved to be written,
and I wanted to write it myself.
Did you have
trouble writing any of the scenes (the action scenes or the most
emotional ones)?
Writing the
action scenes is extremely hard and I’m rarely satisfied. I write
them, discard them and rewrite them repeatedly. Another challenge is
putting my characters through such dramatic events and situations.
I’m emotionally attached to all of them, even the antagonists, and
writing their suffering becomes uncomfortable. During certain scenes,
their level of anguish and pain is so high that their emotions rub on
me. I also had trouble writing Chapters forty-eight and forty-nine.
At the same time writing those chapters was cathartic because I had a
similar experience when I was ten years old. I never told anyone
until I became an adult, and by writing a scene like this, I was able
to have some kind of closure.
How did you
manage to balance the disturbing themes with the romance or the
dystopian sense of pushing for freedom in an unjust society?
The romance
wasn’t central in the earlier drafts of the book. But my readers,
my editor and my own heart responded well to it, so I ended up
increasing the time for the romantic storyline. I love YA dystopian
books that present a romantic subplot, but more often than not I
finish the book thinking: I need more romance. The first draft
was brutal and violent, and there wasn’t a romantic counterpart to
create balance. But I added more pages of the romantic and emotional
attachments. That allowed me to develop the characters more, and to
add a bit of humanity to this disturbing world. I like it better this
way. I had the chance to add swoon-worthy moments and a little bit of
comic relief, by presenting a love story limited by the circumstances
of the war,.
How long did
it take you to get the plot rounded and what kind of message did you
want to convey?
It took months to
get the plot rounded. Lila’s storyline ends in The V girl, but the
political context was so intricate that I’ll need more books to
develop the world building and give resolution to the war storyline.
The ending was extremely difficult to write because the book was
going to be published in two parts, and I took out around fifty
thousand words from the original draft.
I tried to convey
the feeling that even under the darkest, most difficult circumstances
we can allow ourselves to hope and love. No matter how dire the
situation is, there’s always some level of hope. The V girl world
is so bleak and at times it seems that everything is lost, but if we
don’t lose our humanity, we can find the motivation to hope and
love.
Did you have
to do any research and what kind?
I looked “rape during war” up in Google, and found eighty-seven
million results. I had plenty of material to read. Besides, I read
plenty of books and saw documentaries about the topic. Mass rape is
something that if you don’t see it, you don’t believe it exists
and yet it has been an unfortunate occurrence since forever. I also
found useful information in RAINN.org, a site for rape survivors. I
dedicated the book to them.
Do
you plan to write more stories based in the same world, maybe
continue the timeline?
I’m writing
more books based on this world featuring different characters as we
speak. Some of The V Girl characters are secondary characters in
them. What I’ll write first will depend on the readers feedback. I
want to know what they’d love to see in future books.
Can you see
yourself as not being a writer in the future?
No. Reading and
writing are part of who I am. I'll always write stories even if I
decide to keep those stories to myself and never publish them.
I am a bookaholic and regret nothing.
I spent years trying to become a contemporary dance choreographer. Eventually I realized that I enjoyed writing my stories rather than creating dances for them.
I am obsessed with books that present damaged characters, swoon worthy guys, controversial topics and happy endings.
I am obsessed with books that present damaged characters, swoon worthy guys, controversial topics and happy endings.
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