Vote for Alex!!!!

Just in case you didn't know, or don't follow YA lovers/authors/obsessed people on Twitter, Alex Andros, the Heroine from Jennifer Armentrout's Half-Blood. If you have a really awesome memory, you'll remember her from a previous post.

Here's the deal, peeps. There's a tournament highlighting our favorite YA heroines going on at the YA Sisterhood blog. It's not surprising that Alex is in this tournament. She's been a scrappy underdog since page 1, and she showed just how awesome she and her fans are when she beat Nora from Hush, Hush (also of note: Aiden is awesomer than Patch).

Well, she has another battle today. Against Rose from the Vampire Academy series. This one will be even tougher than her battle against Nora (and that one was a nail biter, lemme tell ya).

In case you haven't read Half-Blood (and are staunchly against blind voting [in which case, good for you!]), here's why you should vote for Alex.

Alex is a fighter. Deep in her heart, she wants to do the right thing. She's constantly at a war with herself between what she believes is right (i.e. what the "rules" tell her to do) and what she knows in her heart is right. She's an embodiment of everything that is so difficult and rewarding about being a teenager. Also, she'll do anything to protect the people she loves, even if it means going against everything she thought she knew.

Alex is a dreamer. Alex's world is separated into 3 camps: the Pures--descendants of the Greek gods, the Half-Bloods--children of human/Pure descent, and mortals who *usually* know nothing about the previous 2 camps. Alex's dad was a Pure, her mom a mortal, and Alex is the best and worst of them both. She's not a perfect character, so she gets herself into trouble. In this world where Pures and Halfs are hardly supposed to look at each other, let alone fall in love, Alex only has eyes for one man--Pure-blooded Aiden (fans self). Alex knows she can't or shouldn't be with him, and for the most part, she does really really well with avoiding any romantic situations with him. But there's that nagging part of her that wonders what could be, what could happen if they were to be together, and if it would be that bad. Honestly, she does a better job resisting than I ever could.

Alex is a real teenager. She's so well-written. Seriously. I think that's one of the biggest draws for this series. Alex has such emotional and visceral reactions to her situations that it's hard to forget she's not an actual person. She's not cardboard, nor is she melodramatic. She's tough-as-nails. She's no-nonsense. She's also scared and vulnerable. For all her strength, for all her snark and sarcasm, she has real fears. Fears of the daimons who killed her mom. Fears of having/losing Aiden. Fears of losing her friends to these horrible creatures. Fears of being made tranquil (Dragon Age reference, sorry, but appropriate) and becoming a servant in some Pure's household, scrubbing toilets for the rest of her life. Alex has a LOT on her plate, and she doesn't always react with grace. That's why I love her the most--she's imperfect. She's bullheaded, tactless, feisty, and awesome. She's also strong, loyal, and hilarious.

Trust me, you'll love her.

So please, vote for her!!!

Also, there are goodies available as well. Alex's advocate, Momo at Books Over Boys, will be giving away a copy of Half-Blood, a copy of Daimon (the prequel), and a pre-order of Pure (Covenant #2). If Alex wins against Rose, Jennifer will post Chapter 16 from Aiden's POV. Don't know why this is important? Read the book. I have a copy. I'll loan it to you :)