Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, Book 3) by Maggie Stiefvater

So I finally sat down to finish this book over the weekend and boy did I love it.  I think it may have been my favorite of the three (although as me again when I re-read # 2 and that answer may change). 

The pace of this story was really interesting.  It was slow, although very engaging for most of the book, but then in the last 60 or so pages... BAM! Heart stopping action.  When I settled in the backyard yesterday to finish up, I tweeted the following:

"Just settling in to read the last pages of Forever.  I have a feeling it will be intense."

15 minutes later...

"Oh my gosh this book is so not good for my blood pressure."

A few minutes later....

"@mstiefvater -  you. are. amazing.

I guessed it was going to be intense and I was right.

I think Cole really stole the show with this installment.  You really get to know him as a character is his own right and learn that his strengths fill in the gaps that Sam's weaknesses leave, and vice versa.  And, he's a perfect compliment to Isabel who was another spotlight stealer.  I loved the chapters from their POVs.

The relationship between Sam and Grace changed a little for me this book.  They were both somehow more cautious with each other.  I think they really felt the fragility of their relationship and time together, and it showed in the way they interacted with each other.  It was no less intense, just different. I loved it.

Maggie's writing is truly knock-your-socks-off good.  There were so many lines in the book that I found myself saying "THAT'S how you describe that feeling out loud" having never been able to put it into words before reading Maggie's.  Her writing is just so beautiful and poetic.  In my opinion, she's one of the best writers inYA right now.

This is a 5 star read for sure.  A great ending to a really enjoyable and unique series.

While I'm sad that there will be no new stories of Mercy Falls to look forward to, I'm very excited to read some new material from Maggie, and really look forward to the release of Scorpio Races in the fall.  In the meantime, if you haven't read Shiver, Linger and Forever, go do it now! 

Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

I have big love for Maggie Stiefvater, so I was really excited to learn that I had won a signed copy of this book from my awesome friend Tameka through a giveaway held on her blog.

I will start by saying that I enjoyed it.  I was drawn in and definitely intrigued from the beginning. I didn't love it like I did Linger, but in my opinion they are totally and completely different books. Even the style of writing feels different to me and therefore you can't really compare them. 

Where I struggled a little with this was in trying to follow along. I felt a little lost for the first 1/2 (possibly more) of the book. I understand that not knowing Luke's history and identity is part of the story, but it just felt like something was missing and that sort of stayed with me for the rest of the book because even when it all came together, it didn't totally... well.... come together for me. Everything seemed to happen very quickly with little explanation and by the end I felt like there were a lot of loose ends that were never really tied up (I don't want to get into spoilers).

I did love Luke and his back story. I love the idea behind his history. Dee was a little frustrating for me but I could sympathize with her by the end. James was a great best friend character. I think I've come to realize that where I usually hate female best friends, I have a big soft spot for male best friends. There's just something genuine about them.

I was drawn in to this book though, and I was eager to find out what happened. I just can't say that I really loved it when I was left feeling slightly lost by the end of the book. I may pick up Ballad in a little while to see if it can answer any of my remaining questions.

Linger- Maggie Stiefvater

So … Linger has the opposite effect on me that Shiver did. I had been dying to read Shiver for months prior to its release, and then I started to hear a ton of hype about it, but one thing or another kept me from reading it until January of this year. I loved it, of course, but I couldn’t help by be a tiny-wee bit disappointed that it didn’t quite live up to all my expectations. If I’m really being honest here, I had built it up for so long in my head that it was probably impossible for it to do so. Then, when a few friends read ARCs of Linger I heard great things immediately, but also that it was “quieter” and a little slower, yet awesome in its own way. So, my expectations were lower. I knew it would be a great read, but I didn’t expect to be totally drawn into it.

Boy was I wrong. I got sucked in from page 1 and flew through it. The writing is gorgeous of course; the old characters and story lines are continued seamlessly and the new characters and their stories are introduced wonderfully. I LOVE the alternating POVs… oh and I love Cole.

The relationship between Sam and Grace is so super intense that I ached with them and really, really believed it. I loved getting to see the flaws each character had and just enjoyed reading about their relationship as they grow-up together. Some of my favorite parts of the book are just of Sam and Grace “being” together.

And Cole. Did I mention that I love him? I did? But seriously… for some reason I really wanted to hate him, but in the end I just loved him too much. And I just felt really, really bad for him the whole way through. Yet again, I fall for the tortured bad guy.

The book did end up in the direction I kind of assumed it would, but it was still great to go along for the ride and see how it ended up there. And I’m definitely looking forward to Forever. I want some closure for all the characters that I’ve grown to love.

All-in-all, a great story that was everything I wanted for this sequal…. and then some.

On why I love book nerds, authors and the internet

So apparently things like THIS also make a book nerd squee.   Oh... oh, HI John Green.  S'up?  Ya- we're like totally BFF's now IRL.

Okay, maybe not.... so why does this make happy dance in my office chair?  Let me try to explain.

One of the awesome things about Twitter, Facebook and social networking in general is that it gives you the opportunity to connect with some of your favorite people instsantly and in real-time.  Whether it's personally, professionally or fangirly.... these people are at your fingertips.  My IRL friends ask me why I spend so much time online, or tell me that they don't "get" Twitter... or ask "why don't you join a real book club"??? yadda yadda yadda.... well here's why.  I have a lot of online friends thanks to a book forum I belong to and I would never have "met" any of these people if it wasn't for the wonderful world of the interwebz.  These are people who I talk to on a daily basis about my favorite topic... BOOKS.  But beyond that, we have a comfort level established that has led to much more than just a book club and I look forward to really meeting these people in the future (damn geography keeping me from nestie gtg's).  So, those friends alone make it worth the while... but they're not the only reason I love the e-world so much.

Now it's true that I follow a lot of people on Twitter and true many of them are celebrities who wouldn't respond to me to save their lives (not that I send messages to most of them), but it's cool to see their updates and know what they're up to, working on, getting charged with etc.  Maybe I should follow LiLo?  I'm sure it would be entertaining to say the least... but I digress. Where Twitter becomes especially cool is with some of my favorite authors that I have the pleasure of following through their days.  I love getting updates on how their next book is coming,  teasers about sequels and just funny little insights into their lives, or what they like to read... etc etc etc.  Authors are my ultimate celebrities because I read a whole heck of a lot more than I watch TV or movies, and what's super cool is that a lot of these totally awesome authors actually respond to your Tweets.

What's that you say? You want examples? 

I tweeted yesterday about going through vlogbrothers withdrawls and wondered where John and Hank Green were... and got the above linked response directly from John. 

I read and LOVED Sisters Red, posted a Tweet about how awesome it was and got an almost immediate response from from Jackson Pearce saying that she was so happy that I liked it. 

I've exchanged random tweets about the fabulous Hex Hall and life in general with Rachel Hawkins.

Although I've never reached out to her personally, I know several of my NBCer's have had coversations via Twitter with Maggie Stiefvater (author of Shiver, Linger and some other awesome books) about her books and other randomness.

I think the best example of this involved my NBC girls, a Jessical Darling/Marcus Flutie'd Christmas poem and Megan McCafferty. Lets just say it was hilarious, Megan loved it, sent signed books and hashtagged the crap out of the key term in the poem. FAN- FREAKIN'- TASTIC.

They run contests on Twitter, ask for feedback, opinions, random trivia, post pictures etc. And they are actually there reading and responding.  It's so freakin' cool to interact regularily with the people you admire most (and ok... in the case of John Green, fangirl over).  There's something genuine about a lot of these authors because they're truly grateful that you read and buy there books and they really want you to enjoy them.  I'm sure it's also pretty cool for them to see people trending about their books... something they put so much time into. And lastly, many (if not all) of them are book nerds to, so you have that in common to connect you and I love it.

You rarely get that kind of interaction with movie/television/music industry stars... but I get it on a daily basis with some of my favorite authors who are, in the end, just really cool people.  How awesome is that?

My TBR Pile

I haven’t been able to do a lot of reading in the past week and a bit- actually I’ve done a ton of reading, but it was for school so that doesn’t count- and I’m falling way behind on my TBR pile. I thought I'd do a post about what’s coming up because I’m excited to get to them.

Right now I’m about 100 pages into Through the Fire by Shawn Grady. I won this book on GoodReads ages ago (I think back in November) but I didn’t actually receive it until the end of March. I’m finally getting around to reading it now. It’s ok so far. I’m about 100 pages in and it hasn’t grabbed me yet, but it’s not bad.

Next-up… Hex Hall by Rachel Hawkins! My friend Crystal over at Crystal Clear Reading had an awesome giveaway for a signed copy of this much talked about book… and I won! I originally planned to put down Through the Fire and spend a night flying through Hex Hall, but the guilt got to me and I decided to wait and finish one before I pickup another. I can’t wait though!

Also sitting waiting patiently for me is Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green. I have mixed feelings about this book. I had no desire to read it for the longest time until I discovered vlogbrothers and thought “I have to read anything and everything John Green has ever written” and immediately ordered my own copy of WGWG. I anxiously awaited its arrival and squee’d when it hit my mailbox… and it’s still sitting there. My husband even picked it up and read it (and loved it) but for some reason, I just haven’t felt like starting it. Strange right? So, I’ve decided for sure that it will follow Hex Hall.

Counting the books I have on hold at the library along with the stacks of unread books on my shelves at home, the last thing I needed to do was place a Book Depository order. But I did. Because my birthday is coming up and so I made my husband pay for the order as my birthday gift

On there way to my house as we speak are:

Deadly Little Lies by Laurie Faria Stolarz- the sequel to Deadly Little Secret. Although I thought the first was just “good” I wanted to continue with the series to find out what happens.

The Line by Teri Hall- I LOVE dystopian novels (think Hunger Games, The Giver, Unwind etc) so I’ve been dying to get my hands on this book. Unfortunately, my library doesn’t have a copy, nor do the have intentions to get a copy. So I finally broke down and ordered it.

I also pre-ordered:

Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce- I don’t know what it is about this book, but I’m dying to read it.

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater- I really enjoyed Shiver and have heard raves about the Linger ARC’s being passed around so I’m pretty excited about this one too.

So that’s it. With our plans cancelled for this coming long-weekend, I’m taking the Friday off any way to get caught up with school (yes… I’m already behind). So hopefully that will leave 3 days where I can get through a couple of these books. Can’t wait!

The Giant LINGER Giveaway (so excited)

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 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.

Comes out in stores everywhere July 20th. Pre-order here.

Enter to win an advanced review copies of LINGER, Sisters Red, The Dead-Tossed Waves, and The Replacement on Maggie's blog.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

I've been dying to get my hands on this book since I came across a summary of it before it was released. Long reserve lists for my library's single copy kept me waiting for months, so I was more than excited to get my own copy as a Christmas gift.


I have to say that when the story started out, I was a little disappointed. I think it was one of those situations where the hype and anticipation had built to breaking point before I read it and my expectations were too high. I was really enjoying it, but I wasn't IN LOVE with it like I had expected (or hoped) to be. However, by the end of the story I was totally hooked. I was completely attached to the characters and loving the story.

The writing style is absolutely beautiful. The use of Sam's lyrics are haunting and somehow make his character so much deeper and yet easier to understand.

I think one of my favorite parts of the story is the idea of the Wolves.... and that they are a more "realistic" kind of werewolf. There is no magic or ancient battles... it's simply a boy who becomes a wolf, a real wolf, in the winter. No magic powers, no super human strength or immortality, just a boy and the wolf he becomes.

The final pages made me physically ache and were, in my opinion, the best writing of the entire book. The last paragraph was stunning. I can't wait to get my hands on Linger so I can revist Mercy Falls, Sam & Grace and Stiefvater's fabulous writing.

Definitely an all time favorite.