Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Hi everybody and welcome to a new Top Ten Tuesday! Today we’re highlighting characters that authors surprisingly redeemed.
I struggled with this one because I had a hard time finding 10 characters where I went from hating them to loving them in the span of a book or series. (Case in point: I only came up with 8).
I think the reason is that many ‘redemption arcs’ are pretty clear from the start of the book, so I have a hard time disliking characters if I know they’ll end up being redeemed. This is the case for so many enemies-to-lovers books. The redemption ARC then comes at no surprise at all.
It could also be that I miiight have a thing for villain romances, so often I do fall for a villain from the start, whether or not they get redeemed 😉
But sometimes, it still happens. Here are 8 characters I disliked at the start of the book but ended up loving anyway:
Zanders from Mile High was just such a douchebag at first! For a few chapters, I almost DNF’ed the book because of him, but I’m glad I persisted because he turned out to be such a sweetheart.
I did not want a redemption arc for Orpheus in Midnight Ruin, but oh boy did Katee Robert make it work!
I really did NOT like Jonathan Forest from 10 Things That Never Happened, but the weird thing is that even though his personality didn’t change dramatically, I still ended up liking him and believing in the romance.
Oh man, I can’t explain how much I hated Holland in book one of the Shades of Magic series. But by the end of book three, A Conjuring of Light, I just wanted the man to have his happily ever after and lots of hugs.
Like many others, I could not stand Nesta during the ACOTAR trilogy. But after reading A Court of Silver Flames, I ADORE HER and wish she was my friend.
I also did not like Marie in the Wild series at first, as I hated how she came between Calla and Jonah. But Running Wild gave me a better perspective and a new appreciation for her.
At first, Cardan from The Cruel Prince was just that: a cruel prince. I did not like him, nor did I see a romance happening at all. But by book 3, I was rooting for him so hard!
Similarly, I hated Laurent from The Captive Prince series at first. I did not think a redemption would be possible, let alone a romance between him and Damen that I could get behind. But by book three, he was one of my all-time favorite characters and him and Damen own my heart.
Tell Me:
Do you have any characters you hated at first but grew to love?
Do we have any in common?
I’ve heard that K.A’s boos are really good but I haven’t read any of those books. The covers are always pretty though.
They are really good indeed (and pretty) 🙂
I love when an author can make me change my opinion on a character.
Me too!
Zanders and Nesta were both insufferable at first…
My TTT: https://laurieisreading.com/2024/09/17/top-ten-tuesday-how-did-i-do-on-my-summer-2024-tbr/
They really were!
I generally dislike redemption arcs for the same reason. Sometimes they’re really good, though.
I do love a good redemption arc, IF done correctly indeed 🙂
This is a hard topic! I liked that Marie got her own story (Running Wild) and we got to know her better. I think sometimes characters are redeemed for me in grumpy/sunshine romances, if we get a real reason why someone is acting like a grump and then we see a different side of them!
So true! Grumpy/sunshine romances can indeed be so good if there’s a good reason behind the grumpiness.
I’m not familiar with any of these characters, but it’s always good to see characters grow and change throughout the book/series.
Pam @ Read! Bake! Create!
https://readbakecreate.com/books-with-yellow-covers-pick-a-color/
So true!
Haha yes!! I was surprised with Cardan when I read it. I didn’t think he’d be redeemable at all!
Haze
https://thebookhaze.com/
Me neither, but glad he was redeemable after all 🙂
We have Nesta and Cardan in common!
Love those two!
I’ve only read A Court of Silver Flames. To be honest I am still not keen on Nesta 😂
Have a great week!
Emily @ Budget Tales Book Blog
My post:
https://budgettalesblog.wordpress.com/2024/09/17/top-ten-tuesday-characters-that-i-enjoyed-reading-about/
Haha I get that too 🙂