Holy shirtballs! We love The Good Place and are so excited the series is returning this fall for its’ third season. Waiting forking stinks though, so in the meantime, we’ve matched The Good Place characters with the YA book that best fits their, well, character. Haven’t watched The Good Place or read all of the included books? We understand, pobody’s nerfect! But get to work!
ELEANOR = Seafire or Obviously
Okay, so Eleanor can use some help in the teamwork department, but there’s no one better to fiercely lead this group of undesirables into the Good Place. What else do they have to lose? Plus, Eleanor definitely thinks that revenge is a dish best served immediately and sometimes that’s exactly what you need in a captain.
Buy Seafire here: https://bit.ly/2u2MkMY
BUUUUUT if Eleanor’s looking for truth telling, honest and real read, then we think she’d love Obviously, because obviously, we kinda think Eleanor and Akilah would be best friends!
CHIDI = The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik/Frankly in Love
Change, choices, relationships, and pretty much everything else in life stresses out the well-intentioned Chidi. We think he’d find a kindred spirit in the protagonist of David Arnold’s newest novel, The Strange Fascinations of Noah Hypnotik, because, well, Noah is at a crossroads in his life, and that definitely stresses him out, too.
Pick up a copy here: https://bit.ly/2FjqcOR
Because when you know, you know and sometimes once you stop overthinking EVERYTHING and just accept your feelings Chidi/Frank – then love finds a way!
TAHANI = Her Royal Highness/The Beautiful
Her good friend Princess Flora, has a book about her romance and while Tahani wouldn’t want to name drop *ahem*, we know for fiction, that Flora and Tahani have definitely spent time together partying up.
Pick up a copy here:
And if Tahani is going to pick a book on title alone (and we’re pretty confident she would), then it’s really obvious that she’s going to read The Beautiful.
JASON = Boying Up/Hot Dog Girl
If you were to look up adorably stupid in the dictionary, there would definitely be a picture of Jason Mendoza. He probably has never looked at a dictionary, which is where Boying Up comes in. It’ll teach him all he needs to know about all the things he definitely knows nothing about.
Pick up a copy of Boying Up: https://bit.ly/2ltd2r9
As much growth as we’d love Jason to have, to be honest, we know he’s picking Hot Dog Girl because he likes hot dogs and girls. It’s sometimes just that simple for Jason.
MICHAEL = Jane Unlimited/
As the architect of The Good Place, Michael has the ability to not only control the environment of the neighborhood, but also its occupants. When things go bad, he’s been known to restart and try for a different outcome, which reminds us of the “genre-obliterating book” (as the New York Times Book Review says), Jane, Unlimited. Jane isn’t able to control her ever-changing surroundings, she does discover that her choices can help determine the course of her life.
Buy Jane, Unlimited here: https://bit.ly/2KHuKlI
The Rules for Vanishing would be completely up Michael’s alley, and sure, he might be confusing it with an instruction manual and hopefully figuring a way out of this mess but, once he starts to read it, he’d stick around for the page-turning read.
Pick up a copy here:
GOOD JANET = Always Never Yours
Good Janet isn’t the luckiest in love, but she doesn’t let that keep her down (most of the time . . . also, reminder: she’s not a person). Good Janet avoids wallowing in heartbreak by always being on the go—answering literally everyone when they need help, and building her own boyfriend, Derek. Megan in Always Never Yours is unlucky in love, too. Not exactly like Janet is, seeing as Megan is a person and all. Still, we admire both of these characters for their persistence!
Buy Always Never Yours here: https://bit.ly/2EcXP4Y
Janet knows a thing or two about being viral, and so, she’d definitely want to dip into Arvin Ahmadi’s Girl Gone Viral
BAD JANET = Forest of a Thousand Lanterns/Kingdom of the Blazing Phoenix
Bad Janet has a major attitude problem, but that doesn’t stop us from loving her. Because we all enjoy getting to know an anti-hero, like Xifeng in Forest of a Thousand Lanterns. We just hope that Bad Janet designs her own destructive plot, rather than helping Trevor execute his (maybe in Season 3?)
Buy Forest of a Thousand Lanterns here and preorder the sequel!: https://bit.ly/2uGGjp3
DEREK = The Emotionary
Since Derek is a creation of Janet, he doesn’t have any emotions. So, we figured he could use a little help. The Emotionary provides definitions for all those emotions you wish you could define and for those that you never knew existed. As Derek would say, this book is definitely Maximum Derek.
Pick up a copy here: https://bit.ly/2tuOilQ
THE JUDGE = Beasts Made of Night/Crown of Thunder
The Judge eats envy. Taj and other aki in Beasts Made of Night eat sin. Both grapple with the weight of justice as they find themselves grappling with the true meaning of guilt, and how its consequences can alter lives.
Preorder the sequel to Beats, Crown of Thunder here: https://bit.ly/2MCVZOL
SEAN = Lies You Never Told Me
Sean is the true villain of The Good Place. Michael’s boss shows up at the least-opportune moments and always leaves the gang guessing about what he knows and what he plans to do. In short, the only thing that’s reliable about his character is that he’s unreliable. So, if you’re looking for a story that’s as twisty as Sean, Lies You Never Told me is the book for you.
Pick up a copy here: https://bit.ly/2EePDp6
TREVOR = Warcross/Wildcard
We’re the first to admit that we love a bad boy. Trevor takes that to a whole new level and is both bad and, well, really kind of terrible. He is a demon, after all. There’s still something… oddly charming about him? He gives off serious Hideo Tanaka vibes from Marie Lu’s Warcross. Except while Hideo might be morally gray (for kind of good reasons?), Trevor is totally bad, but we love him for it. You can get your intriguing bad boy fix in the follow-up to Warcross with Wildcard, out this Fall!
You can pre-order it here: https://bit.ly/2lrUCXy