Top Ten Villains I Love to Hate!

(Images link to Goodreads, Titles link to Amazon)

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish in which you make a list of ten to do with a certain topic.  This week’s topic is “All About The Villains — I don’t think we’ve done a villains topic since back in November 2010 so let’s revisit: top ten favorite/most compelling villains in books, top ten of the most vile villains/bad guys in books, top ten villains I secretly (or not so secretly) love, favorite tv villains, favorite comic book villains, ten “villains” of contemporary lit.”  I decided to do Top Ten Villains I Love to Hate!

Lenoreo’s Top Ten:

So what I learned while trying to come up with my ten, is that it’s really hard when the majority of books you read are contemporary…and not mystery contemporary, but like romance standard contemporary.  And then, quite frankly, there were only a few that really stood out to me (and it turns out there’s one author that writes villains I love to hate more than any other).  So bear with me and we’ll see if I even get to 10…

1. Nix from the Siren Series by Rachel Higginson — I ALWAYS KNEW who my number one villain was going to be…as soon as I saw this topic I was like NIX!!  I HATE HIM.  I mean HATE HIM WITH THE FIRE OF A THOUSAND SUNS hate him.  Like in my review of the first book I wrote: “And I must say, I’m not sure I’ve ever HATED a character as much as I hate Nix….and her mother. They are just so…GAH! Sometimes it’s nice to be able to black and white know how to feel about a character. And that feeling is disgust. I can’t even think about them without shuddering.”  In my review of the second book I wrote: “Didn’t think I could hate Nix more than The Rush, but oh holy hell do I want him to die a fiery death full of torture and badness….give me that god-killer, I’ll do it. He really did turn from human nightmare into paranormal nightmare supreme (now available at taco bell).“
2. Queen Julia from the Bound series by Stormy Smith — Now this was a villain that probably doesn’t quite belong in this category, b/c I didn’t hate her so much as I was intrigued by her in a really morbidly curious kind of way.  Here’s what I say in my review of the second book: “Now, strangely enough, you know what my favourite part was? Queen Julia. Well, favourite might not be the right word. But basically, Queen Julia turned into this bizarre 3 dimensional evil character. Bizarre? Bizarre because she just wasn’t the usual paranormal villain. She…she is….I don’t know. She’s like an Immortal Hitler. She is so unbelievably power hungry, but she believes with all her soul that she fights for the right. It’s just…well….different from what I’ve come to expect, and I appreciated that.”
3. Rhi from the Bound series by Stormy Smith — Now Rhi on the other hand was just awful, and I truly hated him.  😉
4. Lucan Kendrick from the Star-Crossed series by Rachel Higginson — A xenophobic slightly crazy and power hungry King?  Yup, hated him.
5. Terletov from the Star-Crossed series by Rachel Higginson — And for the spinoff part of the series, Ms. Higginson brought back one of the greats — a mad scientist experimenting on people!
6. Aliah from the Starbright series by Rachel Higginson — He stole Seth’s soul…what more do I need to hate him?
7. Matthias Allen from the Love & Decay series by Rachel Higginson — I may have only read the first 2 seasons so far, but I can categorically say that Matthias is EVIL.
8. Grandma and Alexa from Family Secrets by Kat Nichols — From my review: “The Grandmother and Alexa were fabulous bad guys…you could really feel how “on the edge of madness” they both seemed to be.“
9. Zach from the Hashtag series by Cambria Hebert — LOOK!  A contemporary villain!  And hoo boy did I hate Zach.  I’m rereading this series right now, and it’s all coming back to me…
10. Derek from the Big Play series by Jordan Ford — And another contemporary villain!!  Yup, really hated Derek.  And I hated him more and more as the series went on.  (I used the cover for book 3, b/c that was about the no turning back point for me)

So who made it to your villain lists?  I mean, obviously J.K. Rowling nailed villains, I could name 3 from the Harry Potter series I’d want on my list.  But who else?  Who just brings out all your bile and vitriol?