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 theShiver 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.

Publication Date: September 18, 2012

This book was definitely a huge WOW one for me. I absolutely loved it! It was a pleasant surprise in so many ways that I was literally crushed when it ended. The only other book I’ve read by Maggie Stiefvater is the beginning of Lament, which I just couldn’t get into. I’m a huge fan of the author now and I’ll have to check out the Wolves of Mercy Falls while waiting for the sequel to The Raven Boys.

What I liked the most about the book was the characterizations. Although it took me a little longer to fall in love with Blue, I instantly started crushing on the “Raven Boys.” I usually find YA males are usually made up of one of two formulas. Either they’re Prince Charming or the Sexy Bad Boy. It was nice to see how layered the boys were and how complicated their bond was with one another. Adam was my favorite followed by Gansey and Ronan. Blue and her family were interesting and I loved the teen’s unique relationships with the different members of her psychic family.

The plot was magical. I enjoyed learning about the ley line and the mystery surrounding the fallen king Glendower. The novel particularly took off when Blue came together with the boys to uncover the resting place of Glendower. I liked her interactions with Adam and Gansey and I loved how she brought one the softer sides of each boy. The twist I saw coming, but I loved what it added to the story.

SPOILERS

My one complaint is that I’m a little nervous about where the series is heading as far as the love aspect. There wasn’t much romance in the book besides some longing touches between Adam and Blue. I’m buying them as more of a couple although the book hinted at Gansey being her true love. In my opinion Gansey already has a true love: Glendower.

The ending was maddening too. I didn’t like how Gansey reacted to Adam awakening the line and Ronan’s last line had me puzzled for hours.

END OF SPOILERS

The Raven Boys is a five star read for me. I’ll be counting down the days until the sequel. There were so many mysteries left unresolved that it’s going to be torture to wait for the next installment.

Rating: 5/5 Stars 

Thanks to the publisher for a copy of The Raven Boys for review!

Review: The Duff: Designated Ugly Fat Friend by Kody Keplinger

Goodreads Summary:

Seventeen-year-old Bianca Piper is cynical and loyal, and she doesn’t think she’s the prettiest of her friends by a long shot. She’s also way too smart to fall for the charms of man-slut and slimy school hottie Wesley Rush. In fact, Bianca hates him. And when he nicknames her “the Duff,” she throws her Coke in his face.

But things aren’t so great at home right now, and Bianca is desperate for a distraction. She ends up kissing Wesley. Worse, she likes it. Eager for escape, Bianca throws herself into a closeted enemies-with-benefits relationship with him.

Until it all goes horribly awry. It turns out Wesley isn’t such a bad listener, and his life is pretty screwed up, too. Suddenly Bianca realizes with absolute horror that she’s falling for the guy she thought she hated more than anyone.

Publication Date: September 7, 2010

This was sort of a random read for me after I came across a review of the book on Goodreads. It sounded like an interesting concept to me-a girl using a guy she hates as an escape from a messed up home life. The book had some high points that I found enjoyable, but also a few things that bothered me long after I put the novel down.

I think the author did a fantastic job creating a believable friendship between Bianca, Jessica and Casey. The feelings of inadequacy and jealousy can be commonly found in a lot of high school friendships. It wasn't hard to imagine a friend upset when you've been single for a long time and are no longer available to spend time with her once you meet a guy. It was also touching how her friends insisted they were the Duffs of the friendship. The book was great at exploring issues such as self-esteem and typical sexual mores.

Bianca had some sass which I always like in my main characters. She was able to dish it out to Wesley and I'm glad she didn't cry her eyes out (like I probably would have done in high school) when the school hot shot calls her the Duff (Designated Ugly Fat Friend). Instead she tells him off and throws a soda at him. I was also able to sympathize with her as she tried to block out the divorce of her parents and her father's drinking problem.

Wesley was a maddening character. I wanted so bad to like him, but I just couldn't for so many reasons. I could've probably gotten past the initial Duff comment and root for their relationship, but he nicknames her Duffy, even after they started sleeping together! The poor little rich boy thing too didn't make me feel like it was okay for him to basically sleep his way through the entire school. I really didn't expect Bianca to sleep with him as quickly as she had and it made me want to give her a hug for having such low self-esteem to do so.

The ending was a little too neatly tied up. However, the book definitely kept me reading and I would check out other titles from Keplinger.

Rating: Four out of five stars

End of May Book Reviews-Existence, Predestined and Providence

Busy week! Besides the launch of my blog tour with accompanying contest (get details here) I also had my first Kindle Nation Daily sponsorship today. An excerpt of First Visions was mailed to opted in subscribers. Once the promotions are all said and done, I'll post my thoughts on the pros and cons of each. Here are the books I read this past week and my thoughts on each.

Providence by Jamie McGuire-Although I consider myself a new adult author, something McGuire is also known for being, I couldn’t get into her popular Beautiful Disaster novel. I found Travis way too unlikable and couldn’t get past his extreme assholeness. This made me a little skeptical over whether I’d enjoy Providence. I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. I get the readers who make the Twilight comparisons, but I think there was much more suspense in this book. The college-age characters were realistically drawn and McGuire didn’t get logged down in complicated mythology about the angels and demons. Jared was a little too tortured for my taste, but I think that’s because I always prefer the underdog love interest who doesn’t have a chance in hell of getting the girl (poor Ryan). I give the book four out of five stars.

Existence by Abbi Glines-This book equally had me on the edge of my seat and infuriated me. I must have really gotten into it though because I stayed up late to finish reading it and started the sequel right away. To start, my major dislikes were the NAMES and the lack of character development. Dank and Pagan? Really? Also, I was surprised over how quickly Dank fell in love with her and risked his existence when they seemed to have very few meaningful interactions at the start of the book. Plus, Pagan’s treatment of Leif seemed kind of crappy until the surprised ending kind of made it tolerable. Despite these couple of things, Dank and Pagan were definitely intriguing characters and there were a lot of twists and turns that made it a real page-turner. Four out of five stars.

Predestined by Abbi Glines-This is one of the rare incidences where I actually like the sequel better than the first book. I really enjoyed the alternating point of views and it was captivating to get inside Dank’s head. I think it made him more likable, especially since at times he comes off as a jealous jerk. The love scenes were great and it was another suspenseful novel. I would give it four and a half stars out of five. The only reason I’m taking away 1/2 a star is because the ending was kind of ho-hum. The conflict was resolved very quickly and the twist at the end was sort of predictable.