Friendship Festival: She's Just Like You

Being a part of this wonderful online book community has been a true blessing, particularly because it has introduced me to some of the best people I know. I'm so lucky to be able to call Rachel & Kelly two of my best friends, and I'm so thrilled we're teaming up again to bring you our Friendship Festival. We wanted to celebrate friendships, ours included, and since August 7 was Friendship Day, we decided to host our event through the week after! Stay tuned for the posts we'll be bringing you this week!

Since Rachel, Kelly & I all obviously love to read (and even share many mutual favorite books), we came up with a really fun idea to end our Friendship Festival! Today, we'll each be picking a book character that reminds us of the others; so, in my case, I'll picking choosing a character that reminds me of Rachel and one that reminds me of Kelly.

Let's start with Kelly. Now, the one thing you've got to know is this: I see Kelly in a lot of book characters - and I've told her so! I was sorely tempted to go with Aelin, the Queen of Terrasen, the fire-breathing bitch queen, because Kelly is the Aelin of my life (and that's the honest truth). But there just so happened to be another character who I also feel is a lot like Kelly - and that is Lizzie Brandt, the main character of Dahlia Adler's Last Will and Testament. (This book is a fabulous NA novel, by the way, and you should totally read this and the rest of the series.) Lizzie is brutally honest and unapologetic about it; she's determined to do right by the people she cares about, no matter what the cost to herself. She's also smart, interested in history and doesn't stand for bullshit. I loved her loyalty to her family, her ability to recognize when she's made mistakes and learn from that and her stubborn independence to no end. If any of you know Kelly, Lizzie is definitely a lot like her! And if you don't, then, hello, let me introduce you to this character who will show you a little bit of who she is.

And now, for Rachel. In all fairness, I found it a bit more challenging to come up with a character match for Rachel, though there are quite a few that share traits in common with her. But, in the end, I succeeded in coming up with someone who I think is just the right match for Rachel - and that is Annabelle Peyton, heroine of Lisa Kleypas' Secrets of a Summer Night. (If you're into historical romance and haven't read this novel, you've got to fix that. And if you haven't ever read historical romance, this is actually an excellent place to start.) Annabelle is a practical gal, who uses her brains and other resources to get whatever it is she wants. She has so much spirit and tenacity, and most of all, she has a beautiful heart. She is the kind of gal who takes care of the people she loves, acting very much like the capable showrunner in her group of friends. This, my friends, is pretty much what Rachel is like in a nutshell! So, if you want to get a glimpse of what Rachel is like, then definitely go out of your way to meet this character for yourselves.

And with this lovely post, our Friendship Festival has come to its end! We've truly enjoyed celebrating our friendship (which is certainly going to last for a long, long time past the end of this post), and we hope you've enjoyed all the posts we shared this week. In case you might have missed one, here are all the posts from this week:

Alexa's Introduction & Favorite Fictional Friendships

Rachel's Introduction & Favorite Fictional Friendships

Kelly's Introduction & Favorite Fictional Friendships

Alexa's Trip Hom

Rachel's Road Trip

Kelly's Trip

Alexa's BFF/Book Character Pairings

Rachel's BFF/Book Character Pairings

Kelly's BFF/Book Character Pairings

So glad you could join us in celebrating our friendship! And Kelly and Rachel, I love you both, and you guys already know how much I treasure your friendship and how I'm so glad to have you in my life for keeps.