[Cover Reveal] The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

If you are a fan of Maggie Stiefvater, then you probably already know about "MagicalNovel" that she has been hinting at for months now. As a huge fan of her writing style I have been anxiously awaiting the formal announcements regarding it. Scholastic made the announcement today! "MagicalNovel" is now and forever known as The Raven Boys, the first book in a new four book series, The Raven Cycle. It will be available in stores September 18, 2012.

The Blurb from Goodreads:

Filled with mystery, romance, and the supernatural, The Raven Boys introduces readers to Richard “Dick” Campbell Gansey, III and Blue Sargent. Gansey has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on the hunt to find Glendower, a vanished Welsh king. Legend has it that the first person to find him will be granted a wish—either by seeing him open his eyes, or by cutting out his heart.

Blue Sargent, the daughter of the town psychic in Henrietta, Virginia, has been told for as long as she can remember that if she ever kisses her true love, he will die. But she is too practical to believe in things like true love. Her policy is to stay away from the rich boys at the prestigious Aglionby Academy. The boys there—known as Raven Boys—can only mean trouble. When Gansey and his Raven Boy friends come into her life, Blue realizes how true this is. She never thought her fortune would be a problem. But she was wrong.

For even more information please visit the author's official blog http://maggiestiefvater.blogspot.com/

/giddy

What are your thoughts on the cover? I'd love to hear what you think!

100+ Follower Giveaway

I promised everyone a great giveaway when I reached 100 followers. I have been super blessed to have reached just over the 300 follower mark in the past few weeks. You guys are all amazing and I loved each and every one of you for making this happen for me.

So how am I going to reward that support and dedication? With a giveaway of course, and I really hope you like what I have for you.

Back when I reactivated this blog back in June, I was aware of the upcoming release of the final book in The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater, Forever. I had been waiting for it...well..."Forever"...

I had been keeping and eye on Maggie's blog and saw the announcement for signed and doodled copies of the book available for sale. I have to tell you I jumped on that faster than a hungry flea on a fat dog. I had to have one of those.

Just before checkout I thought to myself, I'm sure I'm not the only one in the world who would LOVE to have one of these...so I added an extra copy to my order and decided once I hit 100 followers I would use the second copy as a prize for my 100 follower giveaway.

So here it is...just as I promised.

Because I love Rafflecopter so much, I will continue to use it for giveaways. The entries and what they are worth is laid out below so I don't think I have to lay it all out for you. It is open internationally.

Make sure you answer the specific question in a blog comment or your entry will not count!

Also, a special shout out to my girl Parajunkee who designed these fabulous new icons for my blog. If you are looking for something new to snazzify your Blog she is the go to girl. I highly recommend her!

Good luck!

Review of Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

~The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Shiver trilogy from Maggie Stiefvater

In Maggie Stiefvater's SHIVER, Grace and Sam found each other. In LINGER, they fought to be together. Now, in FOREVER, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in.~

I have loved this series from the beginning. Shiver, book one in The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy was one of the first YA (Young Adult) books I ever picked up and read. I had no use for Twilight Saga at the time (but after Maggie I did try more YA novels, including Twilight) and I really had no interest in books aimed at teenage girls. I had been there, done that already, and I wasn't a fan of those kinds of books. I soon came to realize that books aimed at teens nowadays are a lot different than the books that were aimed at teens when I was a teenager...which was about two decades ago now. Man I'm old...

As much as people say don't judge a book by it's cover, I have to admit I was drawn to Shiver by it's cover.

You see, I adore wolves. Actually adore might be too light a term, slightly obsessed might be more accurate. That lonely little silhouetted wolf on the cover, in blue tones, with the title Shiver...well that's what I did...I shivered. I tuned the book over and the blurb immediately captured my attention.

~the cold. 

Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn't know why. 

the heat. 
Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace...until now. 

the shiver. 
For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it's spoken, it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human—and Grace must fight to keep him—even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.~

I have great memories of a time spent at a friend's house who had wolves wander their property. I often imagined what it would be like just to sit there and watch them. I knew after reading that blurb I just had to read the rest of the book. The final prize was opening to the first page and seeing the beautiful blue font the book was printed in. The whole book was just a complete piece of artwork. I was sold.

Linger, the second book, pulled me deeper into the woods. With it's green cover and green print it was another piece of artwork beautifully done. I have a review of Linger on my blog if you are interested in reading my thoughts on it.

And that brings us to Forever. What a great title for the end of such a wonderful series.

I actually had to take some time after finishing the book to reflect on my feelings of the book, and the series overall. At first I wasn't entirely sure if I was happy with everything, but in the end I admitted I mostly like how the author tied things up. There could have been more, but it could have been much worse as well (knowing how Maggie likes to torment and torture her readers - as she has admitted personally). It was a bit too  open to interpretation, but at least it wasn't a horrid cliffhanger.

As is always typical in Maggie's books, the language and writing style is stunningly beautiful, like lyrics, like poetry, just flowing on the pages. Her wolf imagery is so realistic, and after hearing her speak and reading some of her recommended wolf titles I see she put in many hours of research on the topic. As I have mentioned before I am quite obsessed with wolves and love when authors can pull them off well. I hate when they fail miserably. Maggie Stiefvater and Kelley Armstrong are the two writers who I feel write wolves very well (realistic).

The realistic nature of the wolves, and the people who fear them, becomes even more frightfully alive near the end of the book. I literally held my breath through the last 20 pages or so. When it was all over and I had closed the book I noticed I wasn't breathing, my chest hurt, and my heart was racing. Yes, it was that emotional for me.

I was very happy to see more depth added to Isabella and Cole's characters, and their connection to each other. I felt they were sidelined way too much in the previous novel. It was also interesting to see Sam and Grace's relationship flipped around as Sam was sat waiting around and worrying in his human form as Grace frolicked in the wintry woods.

My rating?

4 super scribble spiders out of 5!

30 Day Book Meme - Day 3

Elleira over at Chimneys & Magic is running the 30 Day Book Meme. 

Day 03 – Your favourite series:

I have quite a few favourite series, and it would be really hard to narrow it down to one, so I will share my top three with you. (In no specific order.)

1. The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater. - My first introduction into the new world of YA was this wolf based trilogy. It was amazing well written with strong characters and realistic wolves. Short but sweet, and not dragged on forever. What is not to love about that.

2. The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. - I don't even think I have to justify this with too much rambling. I don't think there are many people left out there who have not read and enjoyed the Harry Potter series.

3. The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead. - A series I was introduced to by a friend. After reading the back of the first book I thought I was going to hate it and have to murder my friend for forcing me to read it. But I was wrong. Dimitri saved the day. Without him I'm not sure I could have read it, but Dimitri is the type of character who can make me read any book...just like Ash in the Iron Fey series right now...

Thanks for reading and link below if you are doing the 30 Day Book Meme as well. I would love to see your answers!

Day 01 – The best book you read last year

Day 02 – A book that you’ve read more than 3 times
Day 03 – Your favourite series
Day 04 – Favourite book of your favourite series
Day 05 – A book that makes you happy
Day 06 – A book that makes you sad
Day 07 – Most underrated book
Day 08 – Most overrated book
Day 09 – A book you thought you wouldn’t like but ended up loving
Day 10 – Favourite classic book
Day 11 – A book you hated
Day 12 – A book you used to love but don’t anymore
Day 13 – Your favourite writer
Day 14 – Favourite book of your favorite writer
Day 15 – Favourite male character
Day 16 – Favourite female character
Day 17 – Favourite quote(s) from your favourite book(s)
Day 18 – A book that disappointed you
Day 19 – Favourite book turned into a movie
Day 20 – Favourite romance book
Day 21 – Favourite book from your childhood
Day 22 – Favourite book you own
Day 23 – A book you wanted to read for a long time but still haven’t
Day 24 – A book that you wish more people would’ve read
Day 25 – A character who you can relate to the most
Day 26 – A book that changed your opinion about something
Day 27 – The most surprising plot twist or ending
Day 28 – Favourite title(s)
Day 29 – A book everyone hated but you liked
Day 30 – Your favourite book of all time

Teaser Tuesday - July 12th 2011

I haven't participated in the Teaser Tuesday before, but I couldn't help myself today.

I have been waiting for this book FOREVER!

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along!

Just do the following:

1. Grab your current read
2. Open to a random page
3. Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
4. Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My teaser:

"I am silent as I move through the darkness.Dust hangs in the air of the nighttime wood; the moonlight makes constellations of the particles where it creeps through the branches overhead."

And of course this is from Forever by Maggie Stiefvater.

I cannot wait to finish devouring this book after work!

Share your teaser with me!

Also, don't forget to check out my giveaway! It ends Sunday!

Review of Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

~In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past?and figuring out a way to survive in the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves?and is nonetheless drawn to Cole. At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love-the light and the dark, the warm and the cold-in a way you will never forget.~



I have been waiting to read this book since I devoured the first novel in this series, Shiver. I was so impressed with the author's mature writing style and unique take on werewolves (shifters really) that I couldn't put that first book down until it was finished. I was nervous wondering if Linger could live up to the standards that Shiver had built up.

The answer was yes. Hell yes.

I was slightly disappointed to learn that the book would not be immediately available for Kobo.I am finding that usually one has to wait at least a week or more for newer books to be available for purchase. For some books this is fine, but for Linger it was not.

I was actually quite surprised to see the hardcover edition available for purchase at Chapters earlier than the noted release date of July 20th. This made me ecstatic and I scooped it up eagerly on my weekly Saturday visit, lured in by its gently glowing green cover. I even had to buy myself a new wolf bookmark, slightly tinted green just for this particular book. Can you say OCD much?

Upon opening the book as soon as I arrived home I was tickled pink (well green actually) to discover the text of the whole novel matched the lovely green colour of the cover. Something so small, yet so amazing I couldn't tear my eyes from the pages. (Luckily I didn't buy this on the Kobo as I would have missed that nifty little tidbit.)

Once again, Stiefvater's writing creates images so vivid its more like watching a movie play inside my head than reading a book. I am a huge fan of her rotating first-person narration. The story just wouldn't be the same with any other narration technique. It can sometimes be a little disorienting shifting to another person's viewpoint in the middle of a chapter, but the characters are so clear you quickly pick up who is telling the story (together with the person's name being noted at the beginning of each new section).

The only negative comment I have is the sense of the dreaded cliffhanger the reader is left with at the end of the novel. I notice more and more authors, especially YA authors, are using this to pull in their readers and leave them hanging with their tongues out for the next installment. I don't find this necessary at all. Shiver did not end this way and I was still so eager to get my claws into this book. In fact being left this way makes me more angry and less likely to want to read anything more by this author because I don't like the feeling of being held hostage. Vampire Academy's Richelle Mead has also recently jumped on this bandwagon (luckily only for her second to last book) and it drives me insane!

But beyond all that I have to give credit where it is due. Maggie Stiefvater is a very talented writer who brings stories to life for her readers. I certainly do suggest reading this series to anyone who loves wolves, good young romance tales, and amazingly good writing.

My rating?

4 super scribble spiders out of 5!