Razorbill Presents: Be My Book Boyfriend

Happy Valentine's Day, everyone!!

I hope you're all enjoying delicious chocolate and a good book or fun date ;)

The head blogger from the new Razorbill Canada site, Jackie from Hardcover Obsession, has organized a fantastic event for all of us who love YA books... and the swoon-worthy guys in them!

There are about 12 of us who each decided to choose a boy (believe me- that was the hard part. How are we just supposed to choose one?!) that would be the topic of our book boyfriend post for today! So make sure that you stop by and visit the rest of the posts because let's be honest, the best thing about book boyfriends is that we don't have to choose!

And I decided to select a new guy on the YA scene who's been leaving girls swooning in his presence ever since ARCs went out!

It's my pleasure to (re?) introduce you readers to the delectable Prince Kai from Marissa Meyer's Cinder (Book 1 of The Lunar Chronicles)!

Prince Kaito of the Eastern Commonwealth
Born April 7, 108 T.E.

Basic Stats:
Prince Kai is described as having "copper brown eyes" which I LOVE because brown eyes are seriously underrepresened in YA.
Black hair that hung past his ears (I like that look- boys that just about need a haircut!)
Tall - this is such a must for me. I know, I'm being picky and swoon-worthy guys can be short (See: Etienne St. Clair from Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins) BUT I really like it when a guy is tall. And I'd guess that he's about a head taller than Cinder, since she mentions him bending down to her eye level when they first meet.
I'm not sure if I'm poing out the obvious here, but he's Asian (Eastern Commonwealth) which I think is pretty cool since we don't get too much racial diversity in YA either!

My Perfect Date with Kai: 
I would absolutely love to go to the Annual Peace Festival with Prince Kai; why? Because it's one of his favourite events, and it holds such fond memories for him from when he was a child with his parents. The fact that it means so much to him, and represents so much of the Eastern Commonwealth culture would be just incredible.

But if you guys don't believe me that Kai is pretty much amazing yet... well, I'll just show you and let him speak for himself.

In this interview from the Cinder blog tour, Marissa shared this image of an anonymous guy as the original inspiration for Prince Kai. Oh, I see it. I TOTALLY see it.

So if this is Kai here, this is his unimpressed face. Especially when it comes to Queen Levana.

"Right," said Kai, "that'll be no problem in a city of two and a half million people. Let me just go dig out my special Lunar detector, and I'll get right on that."

I love a guy with some sarcastic wit and who isn't afraid to stand up to scary, super evil queens. +1 for Kai!

Oh wait, you wanted romance? Fine. He can do that too!

"Cinder... 200,000 single girls," he said. "Why not you?"

It's also been suggested that Harry Shum Jr. would make a fabulous Prince Kai.

Oh.. hello there, shirtless Prince Kai <3

And humour! Gotta love a guy with a sense of that.

"Now, I don't want to tell you how to run your business or anything," he said, "but have you considered actually charging people for your services?"

"Bodyguards? Who would want to harm a charming guy like me?"

Prince Charming errr... I mean Prince Kai

"Believe it or not, I seem to be having technical difficulties again." He unhooked the portscreen from his belt and peered down. "You see, I figured it's probably too much to hope that New Beijing's most renowed mechanic is having trouble with her port, so I figured there must be something wrong with mine."

ALTHOUGH, you know who else I could picture as Kai? Patrick Chan (Canadian figure skater)

And if you want more delicious Kai-ness, watch the book trailer for some more!

Review: Cinder

Cinder (Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer
Release Date ~ January 3, 2012
Feiwel & Friends
ISBN13:  9780312641894
Received from: Raincoast Books for review

Goodreads Synopsis:
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . .
Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

A really good fairytale retelling is amazing because it takes a familiar, well-aged story and maintains those familiarities that we love but gives the reader a deeper appreciation for the story overall.

Marissa Meyer has taken Cinderella to astounding new heights, incorporating a favourite fairytale with the action and intrigue of a sciene fiction novel, but with the emotion that ties it all together. An instant new favourite on my book shelf. Take a look at my copy in 10 years and I'm sure you'll find it well-loved and the pages worn, right next to another favourite of mine: Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine.

1. A flawless retelling of a beloved tale:
   Flawless. I can't emphasize that enough. I have never been a big fan of the Cinderella story, but for some reason there seem to be hundreds of retellings on it and I've read a large proportion of them. Ella Enchanted is an old standby for it (and a must-read for every reader) BUT Cinder is just as good. JUST AS GOOD. Cinder and Kai are just as likeable as Ella and Char, and I loved them immediately. And there isn't any fairy godmother or glass slippers in this story, but it is just as enchanting. Cinder is the same overburdened, brave and engaging girl we know but is even more admirable for her strength and determination to give all that she can to those she loves. (Also, there's a little bit of Anastasia in here too. Just a few small elements in it, but it's there!)
2. Impeccable storytelling:Marissa masterfully lures you into her story world and creates this incredible adventure for you to become a part of- I mean literally become a part of the story, because that is exactly what it felt like. She is no stranger to writing, and her experience shines through easily. Is there a Marissa Meyer fan club? Because I'd really like to be a part of that. Somehow she takes this really intriguing, yet bizarre,  mash-up of inspiration and ideas to come up with a bold new face in the YA world. In doing so, she took a chance and completely succeeded.
3. A whole new setting:
   I only briefly mentioned this above, but Cinder is a really great blend of ideas and I think the setting is the main way we really see evidence of this. Rather than being set in some Medieval fantasy world, Cinder takes place in the future with some distinctive science fiction, futuristic, even post-apocolyptic/dystopian elements. This really makes it stand out among other novels and sets the bar high for those to follow it.
4. Widespread appeal:
   Not only does it's crossover with genres and the setting make it more interesting for wary readers (even male readers are going to find enough action and no overload of dull romance), with something for everyone. But even better is that it's going to appeal to such a wide variety of ages from younger readers (I'd say that as young as 11-12 year olds would enjoy this and find it appealling) to older audiences as well.

This is the kind of book that will take the book world by storm. A very strong start for YA in 2012, one that will be difficult to follow up. I'm really excited for the remaining books in the series, and dismayed that we have to wait so long (Scarlett comes out in 2013). Presumably these next books look like they will feature other characters, but I'm so attached to Cinder and Kai that I hope we get to see much more of them in future books!