Top Ten Tuesday, a concept started by The Broke and the Bookish, is a themed post that connects bloggers to bloggers, bloggers to readers, and readers to readers. Every Tuesday has a special topic, and this Tuesday is Top Ten Characters Who ___. I’ve chosen “never left me.”

Characters Who Never Left Me means they’ve made an impression on me, their stories connecting to mine in some way, leaving me with a book hangover and constant love.

Jane Eyre — Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte — She sparked everything I am, everything I love, everything I study in academic culture. She awakened me.

Sirius Black — Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Goblet of Fire, Order of the Phoenix by JK Rowling — The first character I distinctly remember crying over.

Hermione Granger — Harry Potter series — She made nerdy girls cool.

Lara Jean Song Covey — To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han — I’m over halfway finished with this, and I so desperately wish this came out when I was a teenager. Lara Jean is basically me in a nutshell, all quirks and awkwardness.

Lina Vilkas — Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys — Extreme book hangover. I want to read it again, but I have to do it knowing I won’t read another book for several weeks.

Celia and Marco — The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern — Another extreme book hangover. These two — their love, their talent — just swept me away.

Catherine Morland — Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen — She is one of the silliest and most under-appreciated heroines in Austen literature, and she’s my absolute favorite. Her wild imagination is extremely entertaining.

Emma of Normandy — Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell — Damn. This woman’s made of steel.

Cassie Maddox — The Likeness by Tana French — Another book hangover. My absolute favorite murder mystery / psychological thriller. Except it’s not a thrilling book — it’s quite slow, Victorian even — but that creeping plot makes it all the more intense. And Cassie’s in the middle of it all.

Emma Morley — One Day by David Nicholls — EMMA, YOU ARE MY SPIRIT ANIMAL.

Who are the characters that never left you? Or, what did you fill in the blank for TTT?