I love you... you're gonna die, right?

I have been very absent this month, but I do have a good reason for that; I've been participating in National Novel Writing Month, known also as NaNoWriMo. It will be over in a couple of days, after which I hope I will have written a story of 50 000 words. Not quite there yet, but I still believe I can do it. I mean, I'm definitely not quitting now, when I only have a bit over 5 000 words to go.

But that is not the point of this post. I wanted to talk about favourite characters, and how it sometimes feels like all of one's faves die. I get Very Attached to my favourites. Like, it's kind of ridiculous sometimes, but I just love them so much. (They are my babies.) When you love a character, like really love them and want to keep them from harm and feed them chocolate, realizing some people may die before the end tends to be very stressful. For example, there is still a hundred pages left in the book, and it is not looking good for the main characters. Or, there is a war going on and people are going to die. And sometimes the death just surprises you, leaps at your fave from nowhere and takes them with it.

(This paragraph has spoilers for Harry Potter.) Sirius Black is my favourite character in Harry Potter. I love him. And the way he died, it just came out of nowhere and left me staring at the book in a bit of a shock. Like, what. How. Why. And then came the Deathly Hallows, after Dumbledore had died, and everyone just knew a lot of people were not going to make it. I was really scared that one of the main trio was going to die, I was afraid Luna Lovegood, my other favourite, was going to die. I read the book in fear, but I knew the deaths were coming, just not who they were. And yeah, it still makes me cry a bit, but at least I've now read the book so many times it isn't as surprising anymore.

(This paragraph has spoilers for the Maze Runner trilogy. I don't mention the events or the characters' names, but still. Spoilers.) My favourite characters survived the first book. Well, I did cry when a character died in the end of book 1, and he was lovely, but not in my top two. Then came book 2, and I was scared one or both of them were going to die. Luckily, they didn't. But then came book 3, and brought with it some events and revelations that made me really scared to continue reading. I was afraid to turn the pages, if it was there that I would see my favourite boys dying. And then it happened. In a way that was horrible and made me cry for a few pages. My ultimate favourite character from this series, dead. I kind of knew it was going to happen, after the things told in the beginning of the book, but it still really shook me. After that I was really fucking scared for my other favourite, who then kindly didn't get himself killed.

And gosh, I love when reading something can give you that kind of feeling, The same with tv and movies. I love it when you are sitting and gripping the book or the edge of you seat with white knuckles, because you really want to see your favourites survive. If it's at all in the genre where it's possible that people are going to die, I want to be afraid for them. I want to be gasping when things are revealed, and cry when someone dies a tragic death. (And here we could argue what or if all deaths are tragic.)

And killing people for the sake of killing people, or not killing anyone ever? If you're fighting a big monster, and suddenly all of you survive, that's not very realistic. That's something I really don't like, authors being afraid to kill people in fear of the fans being upset with them. Dude, just go for it, not everyone can survive if you have like six main characters. If you want your story to be realistic, you have to make some sacrifices. But then again, there is too much. I don't feel like all the people that died in Harry Potter had to die, but on the other hand, it was a war.

So yeah, even if it hurts, sometimes people have to die in order to keep the story realistic. Even if those people are always someone's favourites.

Ps. The Finnish parliament just said YES to marriage equality today. It's not quite legal yet but we're getting there. Fucking finally, now I don't have to move somewhere else out of embarrassment.

Taylor Swift book tag

This looked like fun, so here, have some Taylor Swift songs paired with books.

1. We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together - pick a book or series that you were pretty sure you were in love with, but then wanted to break up with.
Vampire Lestat by Anne Rice. I tried to read it,  but I just couldn't get into it and was moving so slow that in the end I just decided to give up. So we're on a break, Lestat and me. I think we'll try getting together again some day.
2. Red - pick a book with a RED cover.
Skipping this one because I'm just too lazy to find a red book and take a good picture of it, sorry.
3. The Best Day - pick a book that makes you feel nostalgic.
I'm going to have to go with Harry Potter. These are the books that really got me into reading, and these are the first books I ever read in English. I have a lot of fond memories and I just really love these. And I also keep re-reading them every few years.
4. Love Story - pick a book with forbidden love.
Mehh... I don't really like forbidden love that much I think? Or romance if it's not clearly chick lit or clearly stated that the book has romance? And I honestly can't think of a book with forbidden love right now, and I'm too lazy to start staring at my shelf.
5. I Knew You Were Trouble - pick a book with a bad character you couldn't help but love.
Ohmygod why are these questions so hard?! I wanted to say a book I haven't already picked, but I don't know if I love any bad characters in other series... But yeah, there is a character in the Inheritance Cycle who is a bit of a bad boy, in a way, and I just love him a lot. I'm not going to say who it is because he isn't "bad" until a bit later in the series, if someone hasn't read the books and doesn't want to be spoiled. I love that he isn't necessarily purely evil, but it's more the things that happened to him that made him that way. 
6. Innocent (written b/c of Kanye West!) - pick a book that someone ruined the ending for.
Allegiant by Veronica Roth. I was spoiled by a freaking Youtube video by quite a popular booktuber. And the 'spoilers' warning was said after the spoiler. This kind of ruined the whole Divergent series for me, but especially the last book, as I was just waiting for the *spoiler* to happen.
7. Everything Has Changed - pick a character from a book who goes through extensive character development.
I was thinking about this for a long time, but then thought of Eragon in the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini. Actually, I could think of other characters in that series who develop nicely as well... but I'm gonna go with Eragon. He's really young in the start of the series, but grows and learns and I just really want to re-read this series right now, it was a bad idea to think of Eragon. (Can you tell I love this series? 'Cause I do. It's another series I grew up with.)
8. You Belong With Me - pick your most anticipated book release. 
I'm going to change this one a bit because I have no idea what's coming, and pick a book I was the most excited to read this year. It's going to have to be the Scorch Trials (and the Death Cure) by James Dashner. There is no other book I could pick for this.
9. Forever and Always - pick your favorite book couple.
Anne Elliot and Frederick Wentworth in Persuasion by Jane Austen. I just loved this book so much and was really stressed while reading because I just wanted them to be together but everything happened and gosh I love this book.
10. Come Back, Be Here - pick the book you would least like to lend out, for fear of missing it too much.
I don't know, I don't really want to lend out any of my books, because I have so many terrible experiences with that. Just last spring/summer I realized my mother had lent out one of my books without my permission and it took forever for me to get it back. And once our dog got my old copy of Eragon out from my mother's bag and ate it (and now I have a crappy paperback instead of the beautiful hardcover and will forever be bitter about that). Ugh, never again, I feel bad even thinking about lending out my precious books. (I almost wrote babies. I could have written babies. They are my babies.)

Now, anyone with a blog, go do this, it's great fun! Or do it in the comments. :)

This tag was started here.

For all the Harry Potter fans

Butterbeer latte

2 tbs butter
2 tbs brown sugar
1 mug milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
a dash of cinnamon

1. Melt the butter and sugar together to make caramel.
2. Add milk, vanilla and cinnamon and stir to combine.
3. Bring to a boil and pour into a mug. Enjoy.

And a few things I have learned; You can make this from regular white sugar as well. Add cinnamon first, mix, then vanilla and mix, and last milk and mix. This way the cinnamon is really in the drink, if you add it last it's just going to float on top or be found in big chunks. You can also make more than one portion at a time, I have usually made two and that has worked really well. If you want some foam on the second mug as well, put back on stove for a little while and the milk will foam again.

I found this on the internet some time last summer, and let me tell you, it's delicious.