Sunday, December 8, 2013

Sidekick Showcase [38] Grinch!

Sidekick Showcase, previously known as Sidekick Saturday, is a weekly bookish meme, hosted here by Jaclyn at JC's Book Haven. There are many secondary characters that are as great as the primaries. In some cases, the sidekicks actually steal the show and you like them better than the heroine or hero. Maybe they didn't have enough page time for how great they were. Anyone can play along! I will post my Sidekicks on Saturday, then whichever day during the week that you would like to post yours, you can put your link in on my page. Just do the following:
• Choose a sidekick *or someone other than the hero or heroine* that you would like to put in the spotlight that fit's in the week's topic
• Share a picture (if you can) and information about the character
• Give the title and author of a book the character can be found in
• Please don't include too many spoilers when describing why the character is such a great sidekick
• The day of your post, put your link in below and grab the code for your post so you can see the others that post their's throughout the week as well

For the month of December we're choosing holiday/Christmas spirit themed sidekicks! There's wiggle room, so don't fret if one doesn't come to you right away. 

Joe Manganiello croppedThis week I'm choosing Finn Duncan from Debbie Macomber's latest Christmas novel. In Starry Night you have a recluse bestselling author and a society page reporter. No one has a lead on Finn Duncan, but if Carrie Slayton can find him in nowhere Alaska and convince him to give her an interview her career path will be pure gold. Finn is the biggest Grinch. The moment Carrie falls into his life, he can't wait to throw her back, and he doesn't keep those feelings to himself. Does he put great effort into making Carrie feel unwelcome? Yes. Does he scorn all women everywhere? Yes. Does he ever put up a Christmas tree and decorate it? NO. And yet I love Duncan. I wanted to smack him a few times, or at least kick him in the shin. He's stronger than strong. He's one of those uber-burly men and has the beard to prove it. Even though Finn isn't traditionally handsome, I couldn't help envisioning Jo Manganiello (Alcide) from HBO's True Blood series.

"What are you doing here?" he demanded a second time.
"A ... well, my name is ..."
"I don't care what your name is." Finn Duncan (Starry Night, pg 39)

"Is there someplace you'd like me to put my suitcase?" she asked.
"You mean like in a guest bedroom?" he asked with more than a hint of sarcasm.
"Well, yes."
He snickered. "There's only one bedroom, and only one bed, and I'm telling you right now I'm not sleeping on the sofa." Finn Duncan (Starry Night, pg. 52)

"He really has mother issues, doesn't he?" she told the dog, lowering her voice to a whisper.
"I heard that." Carrie Slayton to the giant dog (Starry Night, pg. 61)

(By Joe_Manganiello.jpg: Ronald Woan derivative work: RanZag (Joe_Manganiello.jpg) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)

6 comments:

  1. Oh yes, how couldn't you envisioned this?:D
    As readers we don't care how the character is in the author's mind. We have our own picture and I love yours. hehe.

    Thanks for sharing, Robyn.

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    1. You are so right on both counts. Alcide (Jo) is the picture of many of the male characters I read about. He's just so beautiful! We can't help how our minds create the faces of the characters we read about. A lot of times the characters have a brown skin tone in my mind and I'm surprised at the book covers with sparkling white people on them.

      Have you watched the True Blood series or read the books? I can't remember.

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    2. No, I haven't. My sister used to watch the series and she liked it very much. I was used to tease her. :)

      But yeah, you're right about the covers.

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  2. I haven't read any of Ms. Macomber's books yet Robyn, but if I'm gonna see Mr. Manganiello in my head as Finn while reading Starry Night, I'd better start this one asap! ;) *haha*

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    1. Two things pushed me in the direction of Starry Night. First was Lexxie's review. She said she was so happy after reading it. Second was after I heard Debbie Macomber talk at my library I vowed to read one of her books. I was a true blue fan before reading anything by her. I think you'll really like it because Carrie is smart and caring and with it. Despite Finn's messed up view on woman he's also pretty with it. And the writing is smooth like butter (John's latest saying). Feel free to cast Finn as Jo. I'm not as stingy as some bloggers I know. hehe haha hoho.

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  3. Ah! You had to. Isn't he just so fun to look at? I love your choice :D Especially since he looks like Joe in your mind. He most certainly sounds like the epitome of a Grinch. Brrr! I hope he warms up some. Jaclyn @ JC's Book Haven.

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