Top 5 Friday: 5 YA Characters I Want to be Friends With

These are the Top 5 primary or secondary characters from various YA novels that I would love to be friends with in real life:

     1. Jace from The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

Although the series overall ran a little lukewarm for me and I was only able to get through the first 2.5 books, I really like Jace’s character.  Especially in the first novel, he is such a sarcastic and laid-back character that I could easily get along with him.  And for those times when he was a bit broody, I would just leave him to his demon hunting things until he blew off enough steam 🙂

2. Thomas Schreiber from Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

Thomas is quite simply a really solid and reliable friend. He is a genuinely great guy, who wants to see the best in everybody and improve the lives of those around him, without any ulterior motives.  With a friend like this, how could your life not vastly improve just through proximity alone.

3. The Tucks from Tuck Everlasting

This may be cheating because it isn’t just one person, but the Tucks are such an awesome and grounded family.  They focus on creating positive experiences despite the negative effects immortality can have on one’s outlook on life (with the exception of Miles at times).  I feel like spending time with them would feel like a constant potluck, a party with close friends where there is total acceptance and no need to be anything less than authentic.

4. Levi from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Levi has a quirky charm that is not over the top and makes him super realistic.  I could easily see him on the campus of the college I attended.  Reading Fangirl, I was super jealous of the easy friendship that his personality enabled between Levi and Cath at the beginning of the novel.

5. Nanny from The Nanny Diaries by Emma McLaughlin

I though Nanny made hilarious observations throughout this entire novel and loved her perspective on her job and current situation.  I cannot imagine an afternoon hanging out with her being boring or taken too seriously.

So after making this list I noticed that there are not many female characters that I would want to be friends with.  I think this is because I have a pretty laid-back personality, when I think of hanging out with friends I want to relax and anticipate sore ab muscles from the amount of laughing I will be doing.  It seems like female characters are often mired in crisis or serve as a moral compass for the protagonist.  Can anyone point me to any YA novels that have a solid laid-back female protagonist or a friend that serves as comic relief without being catty or angsty?