Paranormalcy by Kiersten White

Title: Paranormalcy

Author: Kiersten White

Publication Date: August 31, 2010

hardcover, 335 pages

Weird as it is working for the International Paranormal Containment Agency, Evie's always thought of herself as normal. Sure, her best friend is a mermaid, her ex-boyfriend is a faerie, she’s falling for a shape-shifter, and she’s the only person who can see through paranormals' glamours, but still. Normal.

Only now paranormals are dying, and Evie's dreams are filled with haunting voices and mysterious prophecies. She soon realizes that there may be a link between her abilities and the sudden rash of deaths. Not only that, but she may very well be at the center of a dark faerie prophecy promising destruction to all paranormal creatures. - Summary from Goodreads

Thanks to a VERY friendly librarian, I was able to snag this book a few days before it came out! Unfortunately I didn't actually go to pick it up until the day it was published... :(

Paranormalcy is by all means way past my expectations. With all the tacky, twilight faux out there, my taste for paranormal was at a demise. However, when I picked up this book, my love for this high-demand genre was back. Every part of this book is different from those that I had read before. The best part about Evie, the main character, is that she herself does not know who she actually is. The story was about finding that person inside of her, literally. In the beginning she is just a normal person, which I am still, months after reading this book, loving. For once there is a book where you don't truly know the main character, and since she doesn't know herself either, her curiosity and adventure is in your veins as well.

When Evie meets Lend, it's as if the whole book was merely a rocket just waiting to be launched, finally, when they meet. They bond instantly-at first, just as friends, which is the best part. Neither of them try to take it to fast, but are both content with the ever-so -as well as patient- growing bond between them. Even better, this time, it was Evie who made the first moves rather than Lend. Lend is fantastic, and his power met with Evie's is a perfect match. It's clear that they are meant for each other. Lend's abilities are intriguing and original, and constantly made me curious to know what he would do the next time he shows up.

The idea of Evie's paranormal abilities deserves 5 stars on its own. The rest of the paranormals in the story are also just so differentiated from the average werewolf/vampire scenarios, they too alone could have kept me lured into the story. The antagonist is, well, think of her as an extremely distorted (and by distorted I mean lighter AND distorted) version of Harry Potter and Voldemort. Evie and her share many things in common such as their abilities, but also have feelings for each other that are not mutual. The face-to-face scenes are not as dark and twisted as they are in Harry Potter, but they do have the perfect amount of action and suspense a 14 year old girl is looking for in such a story.

I was amused by how fairies, once their true names are discovered, are forced to do the bidding of whoever speaks their name. Reth, Evie's ex-boyfriend, had a rough, bad-boy touch with a slightly predictable twist in the end. In a more positive statement, I would call the predictable twist more of clever foreshadowing. . . However, all in all this was a very satisfying story that was was very enjoyable. It fits the description of a young adult book perfectly.

4 Beasts

Graceling by Kristin Cashore

Title: Graceling

Author: Kristin Cashore

Publication Date: September 7th 2009

Hardcover, 471 pages

Katsa has been able to kill a man with her bare hands since she was eight — she’s a Graceling, one of the rare people in her land born with an extreme, and in her case horrifying, skill. As niece of the king, she should be able to live a life of privilege, but Graced as she is with killing, she is forced to work as the king’s thug. When she first meets Prince Po, Graced with combat skills, Katsa has no hint of how her life is about to change.

She never expects to become Po’s friend. She never expects to learn a new truth about her own Grace — or about a terrible secret that lies hidden far away... a secret that could destroy all seven kingdoms with words alone. - Summary from Goodreads

Kristin Cashore is the master of combining fantasy, adventure, romance, and a thick page-turning plot into one book. Every part of this story was enticing, and there were little to no parts I had issues with. Every character is strongly developed and has a voice vital to the overall story.

In the beginning, Katsa, the main character, is working for her uncle, King Randa, as a form of a threatener who forces kings from other kingdoms to do what Randa pleases. Katsa has a Graceling, a special power she was born with that allows her to excel in a particular subject in life. It is believed that she has the Grace of killing, and that gives Katsa the power to kill or hurt someone with the slightest ease. Because of this Grace, her uncle basically "tools" on her and forces her to go to other kingdoms and do his bidding. And the worst part is that Katsa goes along with it. It is not until Prince Po enters her life that he makes her change her view of herself.

The plot itself is well written and very thorough. It definitely would have kept the story a page turner had it not involved Katsa and Po's romance. (Even though that was a very big part!) It is not a simple plot, but easy to understand and definitely unpredictable at multiple points. Katsa and Po are to travel and find King Leck, the ruler of Murgon for suspicion that he had captured Prince Tealiff. That adventure turnes out to be more than just a simple mission, for there are three branches off of the objective. One task they are to do is to rescue Bitterblue from the wrath of her father, King Leck who is this-close to mistreating her. The second is unexpected to the Po and Katsa (however completely expected to the reader), that being the romance between them. And the last and perhaps most important to the plot is to kill King Leck. Leck has a extremely powerful Grace that I will not mention so I do not spoil anything.

My favorite part of Graceling was the connection with Katsa and Po. None of it was rushed, mainly because of Katsa's personality, and how she refuses to ever marry or have children. However, Po manages to bring her strong walls down with wit and charm, and also the power of knowing exactly what to say at the right moment. (which I am pointing out because I seem to never be able to do that..) On their journey to find King Leck, Katsa soon realizes that the friendship she thinks she has with Po is in truth, much more. Their romance is perfect because it is not overdone, however there it is just the perfect amount so that it doesn't leave you satisfied.

Now, the ENDING. Just when you think all is well, there is a HUGE twist in the story that leaves me shocked and mad. But not in the mad this-book-stinks way. Mad in the sense that just makes me love the book more. It is brilliant and heartbreaking at the same time. It makes me connect with each character to a deeper level, and adding to the intensity of the story. Graceling is a fantastic book that will leave your heart fluttering and your reading hunger satisfied.

4.5 Beasts

The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Title: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Author: Sherman Alexie

Publication Date: September 12, 2007

Hardcover, 230 pages

Sherman Alexie tells the story of Junior, a budding cartoonist growing up on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Determined to take his future into his own hands, Junior leaves his troubled school on the rez to attend and all-white farm town high school where the only other Indian is the school mascot. Heartbreaking, funny, and beautifully written, The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which is based on the authors own experiences, coupled with poignant drawings that reflect the character's art, chronicles the contemporary adolescence of one Native American boy as he attempts to break away from the life he thought he was destined to live. - Summary from Goodreads

Okay, Sherman Alexie, I doubt that this book is ABSOLUTELY true, but if it is, it may just be the best Absolutely True (or Absolutely slightly changed) teenager story I have ever read. I can definitely understand how The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian won the National Book Award. It has an amazing story about one boys adventure outside of his Indian Reservation, from where he was destined to be all his life to where he finally realizes he must leave the rez go to an all-white school. There, he learns who he truly is and realizes that he can be someone that he's never dreamed of being before. He understands that life on the rez doesn't have to be the only path of life he can take. Even that being an alcoholic is not the way he should live, despite the majority of the Indians he lives with are alcoholics.

I first was interested in this book not through seeing it on shelves or that nice shiny award on the cover, but rather, in a most peculiar way. In Massachusetts, starting from third grade every child in the public school systems must take an exam called MCAS (Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System) for all the basic curriculum topics, including reading and reading comprehension. One year, a reading comprehension story on the test was an excerpt from Sherman Alexie's book. It was a major basketball/life changing scene, where Junior takes on the huge, big bully, all-star, ex-best friend Rowdy in a match between his all-white team, Reardan, and his old rez team, Wellpinit. He creams them and humiliates them, and while basking in all his glory he turns around to see Rowdy and his old team. He knows that most of them haven't had anything to eat today. He imagines when Rowdy comes home to his drunken father, who will of course beat him to near-death for losing. He thinks about how none of them will go to college. None of them. He feels ashamed.

Junior is one of the most amazing characters of a story I have read in a long time. He had a fervid, strong voice from the start, and it only grew stronger through the story. Who knew a boy that was born with too much water in the brain, had constant seizures, ten extra teeth and "ugly, thick, black, plastic" glasses would soon be dating the most popular girl in Reardan, be close friends with Roger, the star of the football team, and join the varsity basketball team as a freshman? Who knew that those companions would deeply respect him for who he was, no matter how poor he was? But even more importantly, who knew that a boy so unimportant, so unnormal could be the strongest, most independent and brave person on an entire Indian Reservation? Junior had a lot of guts to leave Wellpinit High and go to an all-white school off the rez. He had alot of nerve to punch Roger in the face and give him a bloody nose. He had a lot of nerve to talk to Penelope, the pretty blonde. But what I loved most about him was his love/hate relationship with Rowdy, his best friend since birth. Rowdy started to hate him, swear and hit him after he left the rez. What I believe was the true reason behind the Rowdy's violence was not that he thought Junior was a trader, but more on the part that Rowdy loved Junior too much to see him leave. But I love the way Sherman describes their love for each other (no, not in that way) no matter what happened. I love how Sherman cleverly describes guy-love, how guys can love each other alot but since their boys they won't actually admit it. I find that extremely funny, but definitely one hundred percent true. And also most of the time, their way of showing love is by insulting each other, fighting or being rude. As Junior says, "Man, you gotta love someone that much to hate them that much, too." Rowdy and Junior's friendship was deeper than the crazy weird Turtle Lake, which according to Junior, " was, like, forever deep."

Juniors adventures are, strangely, very philosophical. He is hilarious, with his descriptions of people, places and events along with the fantastic comics that go along with his story. I love his drawings of his teachers and tribe-members, the two of whom are compared to volcanoes and chickens. But apart from all the silliness and hysterical-ness of it all, the deeper meaning is what I found was the best part. Junior has lived a particularly sad life. Being an Indian is not what most people think it is. They receive barely any money from the government, and a majority of adults in the reservations have developed a habit of spending that money on drugs and alcohol. Because of this, lots of members of his tribe die in car accidents, shootings or fights with each other while being intoxicated. These deaths cause grief for Junior, and he stays out of school for very long periods of time. He is rejected by everyone in his tribe on the rez except for his family, for being a trader and transferring schools. At one point, Junior even has to get stitches from angry rez members throwing things at him. Yet he manages to stick through it, persevere, let life go on, and stay passionate to his goal of finding success, (and himself!) in leaving his safe-zone and going to an all-white public school.

Sherman Alexie reveals a culture in America that has been widely forgotten. The ever changing lifestyle of American Indians is something that most Americans are unaware of. Alexie points out that many of the rich, cultural traditions, customs and rituals are fading, and the newer generations are becoming less and less aware of their what was once a deep, thriving way of life. However, there are still those, such as Junior, who are aware of the changes, and instead of following that main road, decide to go down the one less traveled by. The road that can make all the difference, the one that shows them who they really are, and who they can be when they know not to be pulled down by who they are expected to be. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian is a fantastic book filled with humor, wit, character, sadness, coolness (yes!) and pretty much just about anything a young adult reader would love.

4.5 Beasts

Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Title: Beautiful Creatures

Author: Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Publication Date: December 1, 2009

hardcover, 563 pages

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she' struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations, But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything. -Summary from Goodreads

Casters. The word is so simple, and it is an original paranormal creature that I have not read or heard about in a paranormal book before. That, on it's own, was a major plus of this book. The introduction was entrancing, starting the story off with dreams. Ethan Wate, a high-school aged boy from Gatlin, South Carolina, starts to have heart-thumping, blood-rushing dreams-or more like nightmares. He dreams that he is falling, tumbling through air, and there is a girl falling with him, screaming for help. But there is nothing he can do, for every time he tries to reach for her all he grabs is air. It is at this part in the dream when he usually wakes up, hot and sweaty. This beginning is quite the introduction, and now I know that there is a special girl out there he will be searching for.

The southern setting is important to the story in a way such that there is quite a bit of the book that has to do with historical references to the civil war, and it also includes a group of women called the Daughters of the Revolution - DAR. Two of the minor antagonists in the story, Emily, Savannah and their mothers as well are part of the club.

Ethan and Lena's meeting is not too cliche, rushed of forced. - Many small sections of the meeting may have seemed fake, such as the thunderstorm and high winds, but I later realized that it was truly not a pathetic attempt at making the "love at first sight" situation more tense than it was. It was just a relation to Lena and her powers, which include the ability to control the weather depending on her emotions.

But now the good, positive review stops here.

Lena is an odd girl. She owns a hearse, which she drives regularly. I would have been more than creeped out if I saw a boy or girl driving a hearse to school. Of course, the loving boyfriend Ethan doesn't seem to mind. However, I find this slightly contradicting because Ethan is a popular, jock-style teenager. Perhaps I am being too confident here, but I know as a fact that popular sporty boys have no interest whatsoever in the dead and deceased, and would immediately judge a girl driving a hearse in a bad way. So, how Ethan doesn't even complain once about the hearse seems all too unrealistic. Also, Ethan is curiously over committed to Lena. He is so obsessed with her that he is completely undevoted to himself and his values he treasured before he met Lena. After the two of them meet, he loses all his friends and he doesn't show the slightest hint that he misses them or would like to be friends with them again. He is so entranced that he even quits the basketball team, along with his potential college scholarship that may have come if he stayed true to the team. There were numerous accounts of the normal, repetitive components of the average teenage/paranormal book:

1)The meeting of the main characters. Of course C1 meets C2 and starts creeping on them. C2 tries to avoid C1 at all costs, and usually refers to calling them bad names and giving them the silent treatment.

2) The beater. Link's- Ethan's best friend- car. Of course, it's the typical old terrible car that always rattles and coughs and wheezes and just barely manages to start the engine. Every teenager in every story seems to have one of those.

3) Link is the classic best friend. Of course, when all of Ethan's other friends ditch him because he starts hanging out with Lena, Link is still there. It's not that I don't appreciate Link for doing that, but why is it always just one friend? And what makes that friend want to stick with Ethan? It is never mentioned in the story.

4) When C1 or C2 realizes that the other is a paranormal, there is chapters and chapters of explanations about their abilities. TMI!!!

The plot itself is not awful. In fact, it is, to say the least, entertaining and mysterious. There is only one main problem. Ethan Wate. Man, do I have a problem with this boy. He is an all around nuisance. He is shallow, lacks description, and is underdeveloped. He has little to no voice, which results in why I do not feel the strong connection between him and Lena. Yes, there is lots of romance, but never can I place myself in their situation and understand their love. Their personalities, thoughts and feelings are almost completely absent. I suppose I slightly understand the decent writing because it is two women writing from the perspective of a teenage boy, but there were most definitely several parts they could have polished or cut out. For example, on page 223:

" I was sure I wanted to kiss her again, but it would have to wait. If Marian had the answers we needed, I'd have a lot more chances to kiss her.

I ran through my playbook again. Pick 'n' Roll."

Tell me thats not tacky. Isn't it just wrong for Ethan, such a charming boy, to think of life and girls as basketball plays? No, I'm sorry, but I don't understand how a Pick 'n' Roll metaphorically would help them find the answers or allow more kissing time.

I wouldn't say Beautiful Creatures was a waste of time, however, I also would not say it is a good use of time either. I do plan on reading Beautiful Darkness when it comes out, but I intend to place it near the bottom of my to-read list.

3.5 Beasts

The Dark Divine by Bree Despain

Title: The Dark Divine

Author: Bree Despain

Publication Date: December 22, 2009

hardcover, 372 pages

A Prodigal Son

A Dangerous Love

A Deadly Secret

Grace Divine—daughter of the local pastor—always knew something terrible happened the night Daniel Kalbi disappeared and her brother Jude came home covered in his own blood.

Now that Daniel's returned, Grace must choose between her growing attraction to him and her loyalty to her brother.

As Grace gets closer to Daniel, she learns the truth about that mysterious night and how to save the ones she loves, but it might cost her the one thing she cherishes most: her soul. - Summary from Goodreads

Bleh. The Dark Divine was a disappointingly typical paranormal story. It included all the classic components: girl meets mysterious boy, they try to avoid each other but are still pulled closer by love. Then the boy turns out to be a paranormal character- a werewolf, vampire, or in this case, a hound of heaven. Boy still has secrets that girl must find out on her own. Girl gets mad. Doesn't talk to boy. Boy still loves her. They get back together and save someones life. Sound familiar? This storyline makes me sick to my stomach, I've read it so many times. The Dark Divine was not an exception. I found the narrative of the story to be awfully amateur, juvenile and simple. Grace, the narrator, was a girl with a lack of sophistication. She was dull and mundane with nothing stark in her personality that made her truly stand out above all other girlfriends-of-paranormals. She had an abundance of lines where she would talk to herself with cliche thoughts such as the one when Pete was flirting with her.

"Why am I such a dumb girl? I mean, seriously, get it together."

Sometimes it befuddles me as to how such shallow-minded girls always seem to get the charming boys.

There was lack in Jude and Grace's relationship as brother and sister. It was just barely there. Jude always seemed more interested in taking April out on dates than seriously discussing the dangers of Daniel to Grace. And Grace was much closer to Daniel than Jude in my opinion. Whenever she had to choose between them, it was clear that she did not put much thought into the decision. The beginning was terribly slow, and although Daniel was introduced early on, his presence was never heated to the point of intensity. In fact, I found the beginning to be so bland

that at one point I put it down and didn't pick it up for another week.

Grace is most definitely not the sharpest tool in the shed. Her lack of intelligence therefore results in her obliviousness to everything. She is too simple-minded and ignorant to even question Daniel's crazy inhuman abilities. Like the time during one of Grace's flashbacks to several years ago, Daniel had randomly shown up one day with major damage done to his skull. He went to the hospital, but the next day his skull was perfect, as if nothing had ever happened to it. Unconcerned, Grace never questioned the miracle. If I knew someone who was in the same scenario, of course I would have immediately realized something was not right. But no, while most normal people would have asked or sleuthed around for the truth, instead, it took Grace several years to remember the odd incidents in which Daniel proved to heal miraculously. And even then, only when Daniel confessed to her his capabilities, did she put the two and two together.

There were quite a number of unnecessary headers in the story. For example, on page 101:

Wednesday Afternoon, At the Funeral

"A somber shadow cast over the parish, touching the hearts of all those who shuffled into the sanctuary for Maryanna Duke's funeral."

No need for repetitiveness...

One Heartbeat Later

Instead of starting a whole new section with that unnecessary header, you could just start a new paragraph?

Into The Woods

The next several pages are describing Daniel and Grace dashing off into the woods. We get the picture.

Also, many of those headers were right under the start of a new chapter, with the chapter already titled. The headers were extraneous.

The one thing that kept me holding onto this book was Grace and Daniel's relationship. They're addictive love for each other always made me swoon. They Divinely (ha-ha) loved each other, and truly stopped at nothing to be together. When Grace discovered Daniel's past and was so shocked and outraged that she refused to talk to him for months, it made me ache for Daniel to somehow in any way he could, come back for her and ask for forgiveness. Those two made made me totally hooked. All in all, The Dark Divine was not particularly special, although it was also not a book that I was appalled to read.

3.5 Beasts

The Cardturner by Louis Sachar

Title: The Cardturner

Author: Louis Sachar

Publication Date: May 11, 2010

hardcover, 352 pages

When Alton's ageing, blind uncle asks him to attend bridge games with him, he agrees. After all, it's better than a crappy summer job in the local shopping mall, and Alton's mother thinks it might secure their way to a good inheritance sometime in the future. But, like all apparently casual choices in any of Louis Sachar's wonderful books, this choice soon turns out to be a lot more complex than Alton could ever have imagined. As his relationship with his uncle develops, and he meets the very attractive Toni, deeply buried secrets are uncovered and a romance that spans decades is finally brought to a conclusion. Alton's mother is in for a surprise! - Summary from Goodreads

When I first heard/realized that this book was about bridge, I instantly thought about how it was definitely going to have boring, slow parts wherever bridge was involved, so I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about picking it up. However, Louis Sachar is one of my all time favorite authors, ever since I read his genious mastermind book, Holes. The Cardturner turned out to be hilarious from the start. Alton Richards, the main character, pretty much had the average personality of a teenager. But I found his life story to be much more interesting than that of a normal teen, especially because it was largely effected by his grumpy, bridge loving rich uncle, and his wacky-crazy-not-rich parents. Both those components concocted the multiple humorous moments in the story. One of my favorite family moments is in the beginning, when Alton is on the phone with Uncle Lester for a attempt at a friendly conversation that fails because of Lester's reclusive personality. His mom continuously pesters Alton to tell Uncle Lester that he loves him, and he's his favorite uncle. Alton describes his mothers tone: "Her voice infused with the same forced enthusiasm she used to describe the deliciousness of canned peas." Anyways, even if i'm the only one who's still here right now, I thought it was pretty clever. When Uncle Lester's health made a turn for the worse, it enticed me to go deeper into the book.

The cover is a mystery I still have yet to uncover. It's a mystery because I don't understand what it has to do with the book at all. There's a boy lying down on a couple benches at a subway station, with a book on his face. Alton, perhaps? I don't recall any scenes where that particular moment or setting for that matter is even in the story. If anyone has any guesses, I would love to hear them!

The parts of the book that were made up of Bridge explanations were definitely not as boring as I had expected. The way Sachar tried to make you accumulate knowledge about the game was EASY to understand. Squeezes, trumps, no-trumps, cardinal directions, doubling, re-doubling, Yarboroughs and bidding were only a few of the many parts of Bridge that I learned from reading The Cardturner. Every explanation was put in the simplest way possible, and even if you didn't bother to read those parts, there was always a section outlined by a black box that summed up the section's 'lesson'. There were still quite a few parts that I didn't follow, and even then, they weren't extremely important to know. It was interesting to learn that there was such a thing as a cardturner, who reads out loud the cards that their player has to them and plays the cards according to what the player tells them to play. To Alton, it turned out to be much more than a simple job for his blind uncle.

I grew fond of Uncle Lester after he grew blind, early on in the book. When Lester did talk (because he rarely did) , for the most part, he was inspiring. Sachar had a clever explanation of how to memorize cards, using the words b-o-y-g-i-r-l-c-a-t-d-o-g and simply mixing up the letters, and then putting that technique into Uncle Lester's hands.

My absolute most favorite part of the book is at page 144.

I learned something bewildering at that page.

Something life-startling.

Something called SYNCHRONICITY.

Okay, moving on from the dramatics. Synchronicity is by far the coolest word I have ever learned. "It's when two related things occur without any apparent cause-and-effect." "synchronicity was different from a mere coincidence. With synchronicity you feel that there's a difinite connection. You just don't know what that connection is."

Story Example: When Alton remembered that one day, years ago, he thought randomly thought about a kid who used to be his neighbor and was also in his grade named Doug. They were not friends, and all he remembered was that he asked Doug to be his buddy for a field trip because Doug looked lonely. The day after he had the flashback memory of the field trip, his dad told him that Doug died in a car crash the previous day. Does that seem like synchronicity to you? It does to me. I thought that was pretty amazing! Synchronicity is the coolest and most useful piece of information I have stumbled upon in a book.

The Bridge journey with blind Uncle Lester and the kid who dealt his cards, Alton, was more than just explaining a bunch of games they played together. It was about meeting inspiring and peculiar people, learning life lessons, solving personal problems, strong bonding, and falling in love. It wasn't just a book about bridge. It was also the story of the Richards-Castenada family mystery, which involved Alton's loony/crazy dead great-aunt, Annabel King, who Sachar writes about deceptively in a way to infer that, well, she may not be completely dead after all.

It was also the story of Toni Castenada, her love of the game Bridge, and her wacky explanation to why she was being so rude and said shut up loudly to Alton's face when they first met.

It was the story of Alton and his conscience, Uncle Lester, and how they worked together somehow, without actually physically being in the same room, to bring them to the biggest event of their lives.

From before the beginning, the reader is told by Louis Sachar that Bridge is a dying game. After reading The Cardturner, I hope to be one of the many young adults who have been inspired by Alton's story to bring the classic game back to life.

4.5 Beasts

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Linger

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Paranormal Romance

Publication Date: July 13, 2010

hardcover, 362 pages

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 into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabel, 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.

-Summary from Goodreads

Once again, I just wanted to mention how cool it was that the font of this book is GREEN. Sadly, my copy was an ARC, so it wasn't. But the new, bookstore type are always green. On the cover, there is a green silhouette of a girl in the top right part, and a green silhouetted wolf in the bottom left part. In Shiver, there is a silhouetted blue wolf. I wonder what Forever, the third book in the series will have on the cover? My guess is two people, Sam and Grace? I hope so. And I've been hearing alot of questions about the next color scheme of the book. That would be cool if it was purple, but I really have no idea.

Moving on to the book, once again Stiefvater doesn't disappoint. Linger was filled with the same amount of excitement as in Shiver. The only major con of this book was that it had very slow moments in the first half of the book. My theory behind that is because since the Sam problem was resolved already in the first book, everything had to be calm and settled before Maggie could jump into another conflict. I think that is a smart and reasonable move.

I enjoyed how the point of view in this book added the characters Isabel, Jack's brother, and Cole, one of the new werewolves that Beck brought back with him from Canada. They added more depth and insight to the story. Cole especially, was an intriguing character who I suspected to have been the happiest and most care-free person in the world because of his fame. I was wrong. Cole was quite the opposite of that. I never fully understood why Beck chose Cole to become a werewolf , and it was pretty unclear in the story. Maybe Beck thought he would be useful, but Cole surely could not have expected the ending (sorry for the lack of information but i'm not doing spoilers), so in the end he was great help but his choosing is still a mystery to me.

The beginning of the book was medium-paced, the middle of the book heated up, and there was a major turning point in the story. Then, it got slow again, and then fast, slow, then the ending was just as adrenaline-rushing as the ending in Shiver. Linger's intensity level continuously fluctuated. The character development and each characters voice was absolutely fantastic. Every character had a different personality -finally a book like that!- and Maggie Stiefvater's skill in talent and writing made up more than half of the amazingness (not a word, too bad) of the book. Without the awe-striking characters and the fabulous writing, it wouldn't be anything close to as good as it is now. Maggie really knows exactly how, girls and boys alike, think. She knows how to develop a character, and she knows the person she's writing about more than from the inside-out.

The plot, I have to admit, was not as admirable as Shivers, probably once again noting that the situation of Sam being a werewolf was already resolved in the last part of Shiver. That forced the beginning of Linger to have to slow down the pace and get the storyline set up for the next plot. The Linger plot was just as clever and addicting, but it was spread out differently through the book so thats why I didn't enjoy it as much. I liked the gradual heating up of the story, even though there were many long, slow parts. Slowly the energy built and built, and the ending had so much fervor it wasn't even just like a balloon popping, it was as if the same amount of balloons that lift up the Carl Fredricksen's house in the movie UP popped all as a result of a chain reaction. The ending was similar to Shiver in many ways such as the excitement of it, yet it was also the complete opposite. There were more heart bursting moments. Linger is bewildering, nerve-wrecking and powerful.

WATCH OUT FOR THE THIRD BOOK IN THE SERIES OF THE WOLVES OF MERCY FALLS, CALLED FOREVER. COMING IN JULY 2011!

4 Beasts

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Paranormal, Romance

Publication Date: August, 2009

hardcover, 392 pages

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf - her wolf - is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human ... until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human-or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

-Summary from Goodreads

Now Before I start rambling, (kidding!) I must point out the blue font in the book. Sadly, I don't think library copies have the blue font. But anyways, it's so awesome! Definitely a cool first fad for books that I hope will continue.

I was enthralled into Shiver from the first page. The beginning was intense and mesmerizing. I instantly fell for the silent connection between Grace as a human and Sam as a wolf. The way they fell for each other was so captivating - Grace's bond to him was through his powerful yellow eyes. I came to love the two as much as they loved each other. I love how the point of view switches between them; I got a double dose of the story and must I not forget to mention the passion between Grace and Sam.

Maggie Stiefvater's inventiveness was definitely an A+ when it came to the werewolves. Their relation to temperature, how they shift into werewolves when it's cold and shift into humans when it's hot is the best reasoning behind werewolves that I have ever read so far in a book with them. In addition to the temperature, I am partial to how each chapter started with the temperature of the setting. That sometimes led to foreshadowing about what would happen in the chapter, *hint Sams shifting hint* and/or the conflicts and problems that would happen because they are related to wolves and the temperature of the moment.

The whole book was extremely well written. The meeting point of Sam and Grace, when Sam gets shot was terribly fervid, and at that point adrenaline rushed through my body with fear. I will admit that their relationship after meeting was a bit rush, but I disregarded that thought and accepted it because, after all, they had "known" or at least had a silent longing for each other for six years. One of the final scenes with them in Grace's car, on a cold cold night penetrated my heart. It was so emotional, so powerful, so intense. After reading the page all I could do was sit still, frozen, close the book and stare into space in shock and awe.

No character was underdeveloped, and I have to point out Sam in particular. He is humorous, witty, adorable and talented. But at the same time, he is not the perfect boy. Perfect boy books bother me so much because there rarely is such a thing. I am fond of how Sam loves poetry and music. whenever he related a situation he was in with lyrics, the lyrics he sang or thought of were beautiful and always flowed well with the moment.

Grace's friends Rachel, Olivia and Isabel were great support - Olivia's photography in the woods and her absence in existence added the perfect amount to the suspense of the story. Werewolves Jack and Shelby's pain and love for who they truly were kept the storyline moving at a heart-racing pace. The ending, which I can't explain for fear of spoiling, was bewildering, striking, and magnificent. Shiver now has my highest rating of a paranormal book, and I do expect this one to stay at the top of my charts for a long, long time. Maggie Stiefvater did an exceptional job pulling off paranormal, and her story certainly won my heart.

4.5 Beasts

Review: The Body Finder by Kimberly Derting

Title: The Body Finder

Author: Kimberly Derting

Genre: Paranormal and Romance

harcover, 329 pages

"Violet Ambrose is grappling with two major issues: Jay Heaton and her morbid secret ability. While the sixteen-year-old is confused by her new feelings for her best friend since childhood, she is more disturbed by her “power” to sense dead bodies—or at least those that have been murdered. Since she was a little girl, she has felt the echoes the dead leave behind in the world . . . and the imprints that attach to their killers.

Violet has never considered her strange talent to be a gift; it mostly just led her to find dead birds her cat had tired of playing with. But now that a serial killer has begun terrorizing her small town, and the echoes of the local girls he’s claimed haunt her daily, she realizes she might be the only person who can stop him.

Despite his fierce protectiveness over her, Jay reluctantly agrees to help Violet on her quest to find the murderer—and Violet is unnerved to find herself hoping that Jay’s intentions are much more than friendly. But even as she’s falling intensely in love, Violet is getting closer and closer to discovering a killer . . . and becoming his prey herself." - Summary from Goodreads

The Body Finder is a luring, addictive book that caught my attention right from the short description in the front cover flap. When I was first introduced to this book, my friend was consuming it at the time and kept blabbing about how good it was. It caught my attention, and I promised myself to investigate the book further.

Violet's special ability was astonishingly creative. I really liked the idea -not in a creepy way, though- of a girl who could find murdered bodies. Not only was it clever, but it was also executed particularly well. Violet didn't find bodies just through one certain sense. Instead, she found them through a number of senses, all creative and enchanting.

They would omit an energy - a sensory echo - in the wake of their murder, like a beacon that only she could find, letting her know where they'd been discarded. it could be anything . . . a smell, a burst of color, a taste in the back of her mouth, or a combination of several sensations at once.

She didn't know how . . . or why . . . It just happened.

Violet and Jay were an addictive combination. I have always had a soft spot for books with boy/girl best friend relationships, I love reading about them when their together, and how they just weave with each other so easily. However, some parts of Jay and Violets friends-only relationship confused me. One moment they would be holding hands across school, and the next they would be completely ignoring each other for a week. One day they would be lying together in their beds, and the slightest provocation would cause them to cast the silent treatment towards the other for days. Their relationship was like a crouching tiger. The slightest move in the scene would cause it to pounce. For the first half of the book I knew that something was missing, something needed to happen to them because they were simply meant to be together. Finally, midway they confessed and poured out their love to each other and picked up the pace. They became inseparable.

The mystery of the killer caught on to me as if it were a fishing hook. Several chapters were introduced by his point of view, which added to the mystery and suspense of the plot. He himself includes a HUGE dangerous twist that made me feel overprotective for Violet and Jay. I felt the need, as the avid reader, to protect them from harm, whether or not there was the fact that I actually couldn't help them. The killer made me emotionally attached.

One of my favorite things about this book was the laconic foreshadowing. Often they were just phrases or a simple sentence that seemed unimportant at the moment to the scene. But they had that effect on me to seem as if they were telling me that something unexpected was going to happen, I just didn't know when or where. The foreshadowing was amusing, and it was a great addition to the story line. Every mysterious sentence kept the gears in my brain turning as I was trying to predict what would happen next.

The Body Finder is a unique, fantastic story that will drag you in like a narcotic. I stayed up until around three in the morning to finish it, as it was impossible for me to put it down. A potpourri of romance, action, murder mystery all topped with the paranormal touch, this book was a highly enjoyable read. Recommended for any young adult who wants a page turning and addictive book.

4.5 Beasts

The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer

Title: The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner: An Eclipse Novella

Author: Stephenie Meyer

Genre: Paranormal Romance

hardcover, 178 pages

Bree Tanner can barely remember life before she had uncannily powerful senses, superhuman reflexes and unstoppable physical strength. Life before she had a relentless thirst for blood...life before she became a vampire. All Bree knows is that living with her fellow newborns has a few certainties and even fewer rules: watch your back, don't draw attention to yourself and. above all, make it home by sunrise or die. What she doesn't know: her time as an immortal is quickly running out.

Then Bree finds an unexpected friend in Diego, a newborn just as curious as Bree about their mysterious creator, whom they know only as "her". As they come to realize that the newborns are pawns in a game larger than anything they could have imagined, Bree and Diego must choose sides and decide whom to trust. But when everything you know about vampires is based on a life, how do you find the truth?

-Summary from Goodreads

I'm not a Twilight fan. I stopped reading the series after New Moon, and I found that book so boring I never actually finished it. I skimmed through most of Twilight. But this book, compared to the ones in the saga, was not bad, and I would say it was definitely better than the two books that I did read by Stephenie Meyer. It was a well paced story. It wasn't a page turner, but it also wasn't a "I-have-more-important-things-to-do" books either.

The head of the coven, Riley, and his head-honcho, only referred to as "She" or "her", were able to leave me to try to fill in the mystery of who they were, exactly. Bree and Diego were a good match. When the separated after spying on Riley and "She", I was excited to see what would happen with they planned to meet again. I had a gut feeling I knew. It was a little predictable.

There were some very unclear parts, such as Freaky Fred's power. Apparently he was a special vampire, but I never figured out his special abilities until the last event in the book, even though there were multiple scenes mentioning him and his special power, which apparently caused constant revulsions.I finally realized that he could be invisible, but at that point i was too confused to care. What did revulsions have to do with being invisible?

Stephenie Meyer ruined the ending before the book even began. She indirectly says Bree dies. What if the reader has never read Eclipse? She should have let the readers find out for themselves. Also, I found that several times, Meyer contradicted herself. For example, on page 71 Bree describes lips of kisses. She says "Lips like stone, no give." Eleven pages later, Bree is kissing Diego, describing it: "His smooth lips". Okay, so how is it that lips are like stone one page, and then smooth the next? Don't confuse and contradict.

Lastly, Bree's character development was...underdeveloped. Just like Bella in Twilight, she had no voice. She was a very bland character who I didn't understand or find myself relating to in any way. Overall, I think this was just an average book, and I would only suggest it to readers if they want an average, short read.

3 Beasts