The Dream Thieves (Maggie Stiefvater)

Title: The Dream Theives

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic

Length: 439 (*ARC)

Rating: 5/5

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... (Summary from Goodreads)

Remember how much I loved the first book in this cycle? You should probably just go read that review because I felt all those things and MORE after reading this second book. We get to know all the characters better, flaws and strengths, as well as the introduction of new characters, who range from awful to redeemable. Plus, there’s more bromance, and even a little more forbidden romance.

If you’ve read the first, you will LOVE this book. If you haven’t, watch this video, and go read it. Seriously, do it!

*I was lucky enough to snag an ARC at BEA of this, but the book comes out September 17th, and you can bet I’ll be at the bookstore that day! And then the day after, flailing about how much I want the third book. 

The Raven Boys (Maggie Stiefvater)

Title: The Raven Boys

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic

Length: 409 pages

Rating: 5/5

Blue has always been told that she will cause her true love to die. Her general rule is to stay away from boys, so she doesn’t find this premonition a problem until she meets Gansey on the Corpse Road on St. Marks Eve, the night that spirits of the soon-to-be-dead show themselves to the clairvoyant members of Blue’s eccentric family. Gansey is a Raven Boy from the rich boarding school down the way and all Blue knows about his is that he will die in the next year, and she may be the cause. Blue’s rule to avoid boys is soon abandoned and she is drawn into Gansey’s world, filled with his friends Ronan, Adam, and Noah and their obsessive search for a specific kind of supernatural.

Because I feel like numbering things today:

1.      I love Maggie Stiefvater. I had the pleasure of meeting her last year, and she’s awesome. If that’s not enough to convince you, she also plays the bagpipes.

2.      This book was intoxicating and addicting and gave me all the FEELS.

3.      BROMANCE. Finally, because I needed some good YA bromance. I adored all of the Raven Boys- their quirky ways and heart-breaking faults, and they way they supported each other no matter what. Blue isn’t used to having boys in her life, but she fits right in with the boys, and despite all unhappy predictions about true love, this isn’t just an unhappy love story.

4.      Welsh lore and supernatural elements were perfectly interlaced in an everyday world. 

5.      This is one of those “so good you have to go out and buy it ASAP” books.

6.      I need the sequel. Like, now.

7.      I obviously loved this book and you should definitely give it a try!

Meeting the Merry Sisters of Fate

The Merry Sisters of Fate: Maggie Stiefvayer, Tessa Gratton, and Brenna Yovanoff. YA authors, critique partners, and now co-authors of the new book, The Curiosities.

I was lucky enough to meet these three lovely ladies at an event hosted by the Lawrence Public Library on August 25th. Here's what I learned:

Maggie, searching for critique partners (authors who will read your work and provide helpful suggestions before your editor does), turned to the internet, and after a little critique partner dating, found Tessa and Brenna. After a short time, she introduced them to each other, saying, "you will be friends!" Soon, Maggie had an idea that they should each write a short story a week to improve their writing and have a chance to take new risks. And the Merry Sisters of Fate website was born. Tessa calls them "speculative fiction writers" and their website describes itself as "the dark, the weird, and the strangely beautiful." In The Curiosities, they hope to show their variety and growth from their experiments on the Merry Sisters website. It's an especially fun book because it doesn't just contain stories, it also includes comments on their own work, hand-written in through magical computer software.

Through the event, Maggie, Tessa, and Brenna contrasted their very different writing styles, but agreed on some helpful writing tips. Maggie described books as mixed tapes; they have individually important aspects, but must be cohesive. Tessa suggested that to write a character, you must know one true thing about them. Once you've found the one core value that makes them real, you work from there. All agreed that knowing too much about a character is unhelpful. Brenna helpfully reminded us that something you get your ideas from the most bizarre things. Their advice for writing a good query letter to a publisher? "Just be sexy."

Here they are signing books:
(Maggie on the left, Brenna in the middle, and Tessa on the right)

Look for a review of the book, coming soon.

The Scorpio Races (Maggie Stiefvater)

Title: The Scorpio Races

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic

Length: 404 pages

Rating: 4.5/5

Every November, tourists pour into the small island of Thisby to watch the violent Scorpio Races, where it’s far more likely for a racing water horses to kill his rider than it is for him to win. Puck Connely has lived on Thisby her whole life, and it’s desperation that finally drives her to become the first girl to compete in the Scorpio races. Sean Kendrick is the four-time reigning champion of the Races, but this year, he’s also fueled by desperation. As they prepare for a race that could very well take their lives, Puck and Sean’s paths cross and change both their lives forever.

I enjoyed Maggie Stiefvater’s writing in Shiver, and had heard great things about this book. And while the book started off slowly, it definitely lived up to the hype. The writing was gorgeous and descriptive, giving life to the courageous Puck and the unmoving Sean, as well as to the island itself. almost as a third main character in the book. The water horses were a little harder to picture- half regular horse, half part of the ocean, but I liked that the murky way they were portrayed mirrored the way their spirits refused to be tampered down by humans on the island.

I’m beginning to wax a little too poetic in this review, but only because Stiefvater somehow manages to make a story about dangerous killing beasts so beautiful. I grew to love both Puck and Sean as characters and was incredibly sad to let them go at the end of the novel. I can’t give much higher praise than that! A definite must-read. 

Shiver (Maggie Stiefvater)

Title: Shiver

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic

Length: 390 pages

Rating: 4/5

Grace has spent winter after winter watching the wolves in the woods bordering her backyard. One wolf with yellow eyes watches back. Sam is that wolf, but he’s a human in the summer months, never daring to speak to the girl he watches so diligently. Suddenly, the two are given a chance together. But as the weather turns cold, Sam struggles to remain human and Grace refuses to let go.

Everything about this book screams LIFE IS FRAGILE! Grace and Sam hold onto each other so tightly, never knowing when a burst of cold air might take it all away from them, the love which they never thought they could actually have. It’s heart-wrenching, and I loved that cold weather (something I myself hate) was the nemesis. Also getting in the way of their love was prejudice, misunderstanding, and dumb parents. There were no good parents in this book: oblivious parents, awful parents, parents with guns, but no good parents. The kids are on their own to fix things, to find a way to make the dream last.

I liked that his book made me see werewolves in a different (non-Twilight) light. I had the same period of adjustment the characters had in the book, them trying to understand werewolves as real, me trying to understand them as portrayed in this book rather than the ones in my imagination.

This book is told from both Grace and Sam’s perspective which strengthened the bond between them for the reader. However, as much as I loved them together, I wasn’t fully convinced. Maybe it’s because they became obsessed with each other before the book began, they had six years of knowing and accepting the connection, whereas I was only given a few pages. Still, the idea that the person you’re obsessed with is obsessed back is very tantalizing, so I gave them the benefit of the doubt and ended up loving the story.

This book is the perfect curl-up-under-a-blanket winter read- check it out!

Hold the phone. It’s part of a trilogy. Why am I not surprised? Despite my protests that this book would have been just fine on its own, I’m totally reading the other books.