Let's talk about book crushes

Normally I wouldn't do two let's talk abouts in a row, but this one I've just got to get off my chest.

We all have book crushes. It's hard to not fall in love with the hunky guys in the books we read. We love them so much that there are weekly memes such as Missie's My Book Boyfriend to show off our love of them. Now we also have  The YA Sisterhood's YA Crush tournament.

It's this said tournament that has me all worked up right now. When I went to go nominate my 10 favorite boys, I was looking at the list and saw that Sebastian from the Mortal Instruments series is at spot #29 and Jordan from the same books is at spot #30.

This disgusts me.

I know that for myself, personally, that the boys I love in books are not always like the boys I like irl.* Take for instance Jace and Simon both from the Mortal Instruments. Jace is a complete jerk who is very into himself. Normally I'd hate a guy like him irl but in the books I absolutely adore him. Simon who is an adorable, funny nerd, I don't much care for in the books but in irl I'd be all over that.  Why this is I can not say. While reading, you get everyones sides of the stories. Sometimes the reader is inside the head of the boy himself, or you are in the head of the girl who loves the boy so you as the reader just can't help but feel the same way towards them. Most of the time.

And while I know and understand that the boys we love in books are not always the same boys we love irl, there should be boundaries. There are just some things that should disgust and horrify you to the point that no matter how hott the guy is, he is a monster of a man and should in no way be "crush" material.


Why I'm so upset Sebastian is on the list:
For those who have not read the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare THIS IS GOING TO BE A MAJOR SPOILER! If you haven't finished reading City of Lost Souls yet, you might not want to read this.

Sebastian is Clary's brother who is part Shadow Hunter, part Demon. On a few different occasions he tries to rape Clary, aka HIS SISTER. His full blooded sister. Like that isn't enough, but oh no, he also killed a fellow shadowhunter named Sebastian, AND STOLE HIS IDENTITY. Then to add on top of it, he killed the youngest Lightwood, Max, and then left and started a war, not once, but twice. To add on top of this, he tried to kill his step brother and when that didn't work, he bound his brother to him so that what he thinks, his brother has to think, and if he gets hurt, his brother gets hurt.

What a bastard. Oh, but don't forget, he's like, hott, so I guess that makes up for it.

*headdesk*

Why I'm upset Jordan is on the list:

Jordan is Maya's ex boyfriend who beat her and then turned her into a werewolf. But once again, he's like, a total babe, so it's okay he beat his girlfriend.

UGH.

So where should we draw the line from "it's just a book, don't get all huffy over it" to "wow, even if he isn't real and just in a book, you shouldn't still like him." I know that I definitely have that line and it falls before abusers and rapists.

A few people in the comments have also stated that they are upset over these two being on the YA crush list and have asked that there be boundaries for who can and cannot be on the list. The YA sisterhoods reply is this-

"Thank you for your comment. We understand your concerns. These votes are in no way representative of our own opinions. We are only showing the results as based upon voting.

Regardless of how we ourselves feel, we cannot change votes simply because of any one person's opinion, especially being that there were no restrictions outlining which characters were eligible for nomination.

We would, however, encourage you to rally support behind other characters in the hopes that they might overcome him."

 

So dear goodness people, if this bothers you in the slightest, please make sure to go put in your top 10 favorite boys and then go vote when the time comes so that Sebastian and Jordan are not on the final list. And if you are one of the 98 girls who nominated Sebastian for this tournament, can you PLEASE explain why you think he should be on that list above people like Harry Potter and Vincent, both characters who sacrifice everything to save people.

Here is the link to the page: YA Crush Tournament

On a side note, I would really like to know how Cassandra Clare feels about Sebastian being on this list.

*IRL = In Real Life. Just posting this for people who do not follow internet lingo