Review - Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up.

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs.

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost.

Friends can betray.
Mothers can disappear.
Visions can mislead.
Certainties can unravel.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue is book 3 in the Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater. And, as I love all things Maggie Stiefvater, I had to read this. Although, I have put it off because book 4 is not scheduled to come out until February of 2016 so I didn't want there to be a million days in between reading this and reading that but... as with all things... I am impatient. And I had to stop procrastinating and get to reading.

Blue and Co. (Or Gansey and Co. however you want to look at it) are so close to finding Glendower's tomb that they can taste it. Sort of. But Maura is gone and there are curses on caves and Greenmantle is now teaching at Aglionby and Adam has to go to court to testify against his father and things just aren't working out the way they're supposed to be.

Some finagling has to be done to gain access to certain places and to make other things go away... it's getting scary. They're getting so close but everything is upending and they're not quite sure what to do next.

*

That was the best summary I could give without giving much away. As this is still a relatively new book.

First of all, I would like to say that I would love Blue's sense of style. I really would. But unfortunately I am the type of person that can really only rock jeans and t-shirts and still look like some semblance of a human being.

Moving along. This book has a lot of surprises in it. Some interesting. Some incredibly sad. One in particular I didn't see coming at ALL. Not at all. I guess that's kind of how surprises work though. You don't see them coming.

I didn't want to put this one down. I brought it with me to babysit, to dog sit... I brought it to read while I was waiting for my daughter's band concert to start... I read it outside, inside... everywhere and anywhere and all the time. That is how magnificent this installment is. It's also frustrating in a way. Everyone seems so stubborn and no one seems to give anyone the credit that they deserve.

The crew makes some new friends in this story. One I enjoyed immensely and I thought was just absolutely fantastic. Another was... different. Although I'm not sure yet whether or not that's a bad thing. I guess we will have to wait for the 4th book to find out for sure.

I loved Blue Lily, Lily Blue. But then, I love all of Maggie's books. It's fun to read about stories that are set close to home with names of places that I've been to. It had enough suspense without making the entire thing one big ball of "Oh my gosh what's going to happen!?" and the characters (Blue especially) had enough sass to keep things funny. We get a look at how strong they can truly be when bad things happen, and boy do they happen in this one. We also get to see just how magical things are the closer they get to their goal. It's pretty incredible. And I'll just warn you now, you'll get a punch to the gut in the end. Just saying.

If you've read the other 2 in this series, you HAVE to give this one a go. If you haven't, I suggest reading books 1 & 2 first before even attempting this one. You'll be completely lost if you're not all caught up on things. I can't wait for The Raven King to be released!

Review - Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same.

Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life.

Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

I read Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater a while ago, but after much procrastinating, am finally putting up my review. My procrastination had nothing to do with the book. The book was phenomenal. I just haven't been really in the mood to write reviews. I've been reading... just... not reviewing.

But I digress.

So I loved book one in the Raven Cycle, The Raven Boys. I was very excited to start reading this one. I was definitely not let down.

Of course, it continues Gansey's quest to find the fabled "sleeping" King and Ronan's brooding and being angry-but-sometimes-a-nice-guy, Adam's insistence that he do everything for himself, and Noah being... well, dead. Blue finds herself trying to figure out a way to tell Adam she doesn't love him while trying to decide whether or not what she's feeling for Gansey IS love. She's not sure.

Then, there is the addition of The Gray Man. A man that I wanted to hate, and for good reason. At first. But the more I read from him and the more he interacted with Blue and her mother and just everyone in her circle in general, the less I disliked him. I found myself enjoying his part in the story, even if it wasn't a happy one.

 This installment creeped me out. Severely. I mean, who wouldn't be terrified if they woke up from a nightmare having accidentally pulled their nightmare out of their sleep with them? Kind of like Nightmare on Elm Street, but way more disturbing. The pictures that the descriptions of Ronan's nightmares brought to mind was horrifying in a way that made me not want to read the book at night. But I was also fascinated at the thought that, if he tried hard enough, he could literally bring to life anything he wanted right out of his own mind.

The relationship between Noah and Blue I thought was sweet. They're like, childhood best friends. Which I think was good for Blue with the changes going on in Adam. She needed someone that didn't expect anything from her and wouldn't be able to hurt her in any way.

I liked this book because it kind of makes me wonder if there isn't some truth behind it, ya know? Don't they say that all fiction is based in reality? How awesome would it be if there really was some ancient king hidden somewhere in Virginia. Or if there really was a place like Cabeswater where you could wander through for hours and come out having only been gone for a few minutes.

However, I would STILL love to know what a Henrietta accent sounds like. I've lived in VA 99% of my life and I know what an Appalachian accent sounds like, a southern accent, no accent at all (even though people still insist that I have one), and God knows how many other accents. The Henrietta accent is mentioned so much that I would love to know what it's supposed to sound like.

Does that make me weird?

Anyways, great book. Super dark and ominous (and creepy!) but great. If you read the first installment, I suggest you give this one a go! I can't wait to read book three!

Review - The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

It's taken me a while to finish The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. I started it a few times, but I'm on my 3rd copy since I first attempted to read it. It's gotten lost twice since I've moved so it kind of puts a damper on enjoyment. This says nothing about the book itself. It was fantastic. Once I was finally able to get in to it.

Blue is what I wish I could have been at 16. Heck, she's what I wish I could have been now. Personality-wise at least. She seems responsible, mature, and she doesn't really care what other people think about her. I don't think she gave Gansey an entirely fair shot when they first met, but in her defense he was kind of puffed up and egotistical. Like a guy who is rich and powerful and wants everyone to know it.

Gansey is the kind of person you have to really get to know to appreciate. Once you get past his name and his money, he's a pretty interesting person. Searching for mythological and magical ley lines and not-dead kings. He's the kind of guy you go on adventures with. But he's also the kind of guy who can buy his way out of trouble.

Adam and Ronan were probably my favorite characters out of the 4 boys. Adam is just a small town boy (go ahead and sing that part) trying to make something of himself so that he can get out of where he is. Ronan is an angry, but super loyal, hothead who you definitely don't want to cross. If you'd put the two of them together they'd be like the perfect person. Compassionate but fierce. Loyal and looking to make his own way in life.

The story itself is absolutely magical (although, I am trying to figure out what a Virginian accent sounds like... apparently the boys all have a certain accent and being from Virginia, I'd like to know what it is... I'd always operated under the impression that Virginians don't really have accents unless you're from super south VA or you're Appalaichan, if its a cool accent then I feel left out... I want one). Hidden kings and corpse roads and clairvoyant families are just a little bit of what makes up The Raven Boys. And most of the good stuff happens after the first half of the book.

That's when we find out about Noah and his... "disability". That's when we meet the trees that can speak Latin and the teacher from Aglionby who will stop at nothing to find out everything Gansey knows and then use it to his advantage. Ok, so we met the teacher earlier, but didn't REALLY see his true colors until later on. Halfway through the book is when they travel in to the forest and through seasons and turn night in to day and time stops. It's just fantastical and it makes me wish that there truly were places like that here.

If you're a fan of Maggie Stiefvater then you need to read this book. If you like mythology and magical legends then you need to read this book. If you live in Virginia like I do, you should read this book. It's fine for all ages, although it may take an older reader to truly understand what's going on. Hopefully if you do buy the book you don't lose it as many times as I did!

Stacking the Shelves #5

Thanks to Tynga at Tynga's Reviews for hosting Stacking the Shelves every week!

No books this week, but I did get a couple of things that were book related. Which is just as good.

First, I got a signed Raven Boys bookplate from Maggie Stiefvater (if you haven't gotten one yet, check out THIS VIDEO for how to score one!).

Second, I brought home Beastly on DVD from Walmart (book is by Alex Flinn). 

I will admit, I've never read the book. But watching the movie makes me want to. It's been one of those books that I keep picking up off the shelf at the book store and then putting it back. I really loved the movie though. It was short enough so that I didn't lose interest in it and I think Vanessa Hudgens and Alex Pettyfer were perfect in the roles that they played.

Raven Boys Bookplates from Maggie Stiefvater

So Maggie Stiefvater has extra,limited edition bookplates for her newest novel, The Raven Boys.

She's decided to give them away.

For info on how to win one for yourself, click HERE.

Cheers!

Stacking the Shelves #3

Thanks to Tynga over at Tynga's Reviews for hosting Stacking the Shelves every week.

Now, last week I said that I hadn't gotten any books recently. Well... I needed some "retail therapy" in the form of bookstore purchasing (I'm not a clothes buyer). So I went to Books - a - Million and got some new reads.

Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

Celia Reynolds is the youngest in a set of triplets and the one with the least valuable power. Anne can see the future, and Jane can see the present, but all Celia can see is the past. And the past seems so insignificant -- until Celia meets Lo.

Lo doesn't know who she is. Or who she was. Once a human, she is now almost entirely a creature of the sea -- a nymph, an ocean girl, a mermaid -- all terms too pretty for the soulless monster she knows she's becoming. Lo clings to shreds of her former self, fighting to remember her past, even as she's tempted to embrace her dark immortality.

When a handsome boy named Jude falls off a pier and into the ocean, Celia and Lo work together to rescue him from the waves. The two form a friendship, but soon they find themselves competing for Jude's affection. Lo wants more than that, though. According to the ocean girls, there's only one way for Lo to earn back her humanity. She must persuade a mortal to love her . . . and steal his soul. 

Sweetly by Jackson Pearce

The forest invites you in . . . but will never let you go.
As a child, Gretchen's twin sister was taken by a witch in the woods. Ever since, Gretchen and her brother, Ansel, have felt the long branches of the witch's forest threatening to make them disappear too.
Years later, when their stepmother casts Gretchen and Ansel out, they find themselves in sleepy Live Oak, South Carolina. They're invited to stay with Sophia Kelly, a beautiful candy maker who molds sugary magic: coveted treats that create confidence, bravery, and passion.
Life seems idyllic, and Gretchen and Ansel gradually forget their haunted past -- until Gretchen meets handsome local outcast Samuel. He tells her the witch isn't gone -- it's lurking in the forest, preying on girls after Live Oak's infamous chocolate festival each year, and looking to make Gretchen its next victim. Gretchen is determined to stop running and start fighting back. Yet, the further she investigates the mystery of what the witch is and how it chooses its victims, the more she wonders who the real monster is.
Gretchen is certain of only one thing: a monster is coming, and it will never go away hungry.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan

Waverly and Kieran are finally reunited on the Empyrean. Kieran has led the boys safely up to this point, and now that the girls are back, their mission seems slightly less impossible: to chase down the New Horizon, and save their parents from the enemy ship. But nothing is truly as it seems…Kieran’s leadership methods have raised Seth’s hackles— and Waverly’s suspicions. Is this really her fiancé? The handsome, loving boy she was torn from just a short time before? More and more, she finds her thoughts aligned with Seth’s. But if Seth is Kieran’s Enemy No. 1, what does that make her?

In one night, a strange explosion rocks the Empyrean—shooting them off course and delaying their pursuit of the New Horizon—and Seth is mysteriously released from the brig. Seth is the most obvious suspect for the explosion, and Waverly the most obvious suspect for releasing him. As the tension reaches a boiling point, will Seth be able to find the true culprit before Kieran locks them both away—or worse? Will Waverly follow her heart, even if it puts lives at risk? With the balance of power precarious and the clock ticking, every decision counts… every step brings them closer to a new beginning, or a sudden end...

How was your book haul this week?

Book Trailer - The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Really excited about this one! How about you guys?