Secondary characters are a gamble. Some are inspired, some are terrible, and some are only good in theory. One of my favorites though is a well crafted best friend. Now there are too many examples to count of great best friends in current literature. Fictional BFFs are pretty much standard in most romances so let me whittle this down a bit.

The best friend theme I love the absolute most is the witty and usually slutty humorous best friend. If he or she is a boozy, pill popping absolute mess for comic relief, all the better. I especially love when the bf is not a know-it-all but instead flawed and confused. I love it when the best friends don’t always the answer. This of course makes the moments when they do offer some rare insight, all the more meaningful and genius-like.

I like my essential secondary characters to be flawed, just as much as the main characters if not more so. In fact there is more room to play with a best friend, make them more extreme since they’re not the ones you have to sell to the reader. I like when they don’t preach and try to “steer” the characters in the right direction. I don’t see why we can’t have a bf just as equally clueless in romance and suggest the worst possible advice.

A nice responsible voice of reason is a good plot device and usually a necessity. I do get that, but I can’t help loving the absolute train wrecks all the more. I find them far more entertaining then smarter, more insightful best friend that offers that sage advice about following his heart.

Some examples of truly entertaining (and likely insane) best friends that come to mind are Rob Rosen’s Hot Lava.

What about you? Do you like or hate the best friend theme and which type gets you going?

Recently I provided the break down for the past year in reviews over at Three Dollar Bill Reviews. The average came out to be rather high (IMO) at 3.7. Kris went through her ratings and talked about how she’s perceived as a tough rater with an average of just about 3. The breakdown for her stars seemed not only appropriate but dead on. Yet she’s seen as a “tough” reader. Be sure to read the comments where other reviewers break down their system and averages as well. Great stuff.*

Since of course I’m seen that way – lately reiterated when Wave interviewed me here – I wondered what my breakdown would be. So for those interested (mostly me), here it is!

I’ve rated 1397 books as of today with an average of 3.07.

5 star books = 73

4 star books = 418

3 star books = 508

2 star books = 283

1 star books = 94

Clearly 3 is the main rating I give out but interestingly I gave out almost 30% more 4 star ratings than 2 star ratings. I give out 3 and 4 stars the most and only a fraction more 3 stars than 4 stars. My 5 and 1 star ratings are pretty close with a slight tipping to the 1 star which is no doubt what helps weigh the average closer to 3 stars.

While I’ve never really disputed the “tough” reviewer tag I’m associated with, looking at this breakdown I’m not sure that’s necessarily true. Perhaps being a critical reviewer is seen as tough but when 3 and 4 stars make up the majority of your ratings, that’s tough?

Again I don’t really dispute or honestly care if I’m seen as a harsh reviewer. I try very hard to be fair above all and based on feedback, I’ve mostly succeeded. I just think this points to a very dangerous trend in reading and reviewing where 3 has become some sort of “mean” rating.

I don’t believe now or EVER that 3 is a bad rating. It means good, average, of interest to those in the genre. While no doubt every author wants the 5 star DIK special snowflake award, getting a 3 star rating or review is not a bad thing. At least I personally don’t think so and I lobby very very hard about this all the time.

I’m not going to rant on and on about why 3 stars is good (I’ll leave that to another post, one I’m sure you all can’t wait to read) but more so this is the breakdown of a “tough” reviewer. Take away what you will if you even care. Personally I realized I’m nicer than I thought!

*btw I totally stole this post idea from Kris’ previous post. I figure she won’t mind but you should know I didn’t make it up on my own. Although Kris, I did do TDB’s first so does that count? *grin* Post thieves unite.