Review: Sinner by Maggie Stiefvater

If you haven't heard of Maggie Stiefvater, welcome out from under the rock where you've been living.

While I love Maggie and I'm ALWAYS recommending her as a go-to fantasy/YA author, I'm not her biggest fan. Don't get me wrong: all her books are good. However, Lament and The Dream Thieves were a little TOO "teen" and fantastical for my taste. I was also more than a little disappointed with Linger when *** SPOILER ALERT *** Grace turned into a wolf. So when I say that Sinner is riveting, addictive, and beautifully written, you know that I'm genuinely praising this novel and Maggie for the exceptional author she is.

SUMMARY:
Cole St. Clair has come to California for one reason: to get Isabel Culpeper back. She fled from his damaged, drained life, and damaged and drained it even more. He doesn't just want her. He needs her. 

Isabel is trying to build herself a life in Los Angeles. It's not really working. She can play the game as well as all the other fakes. But what's the point? What is there to win? 

Cole and Isabel share a past that never seemed to have a future. They have the power to love each other and the power to tear each other apart. The only thing for certain is that they cannot let go.

While it is a companion novel to the Shiver trilogy, Sinner is strictly about Cole and Isabel. This is a love story about falling for the bad boy, about overcoming life's obstacles, and taking risks for love—and when you're in love with a rock star like Cole, who turns into a werewolf to escape his human problems, there are many risks. 

Sinner is the perfect summer novel for fans of supernatural romance. New readers can step into the series here as you don't have to have read Shiver to enjoy Sinner. Cole is unpredictable, funny, and sexy, with an undeniable magnetism, complete with fatal flaws and irresistible heartbreaker charm. 

Cole and Isabel each have their own personal obstacles to face, along with everything it is to be a teenager in love. Isabel and Cole are like fire and ice, but together, they balance each other. There's several make out scenes and sex is mentioned, but the book is aimed at readers ages 13 & up and therefore it is certainly not graphic (no more than Twilight: Breaking Dawn). 

Sinner is everything I wanted in a companion novel and more. I really like the Shiver trilogy, but I love Sinner. It offers exactly the kind of sexy, addictive, and exciting story the reader has craved since meeting Cole St. Clair in the Shiver trilogy. Maggie Stiefvater continues to deliver YA books that are gripping, full of danger, magic, and mystery, and that are populated by characters who continue to exist long after you've closed the book. 

This must-read novel is available now!

4 Stars

Review: The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Maggie Stiefvater is a must-read author for this generation. Not only is she charming and a down-to-earth in person, but she's a talented writer. Stiefvater's words flow across the pages, constructing an addictive story that will have you reading late into the night.

Although the subject matter isn't really my thing (witches, psychics, ghosts), The Raven Boys is a thrilling story and I enjoyed reading it very much. The premise of the story is this: the daughter of a psychic befriends attractive group of boys from elite prep school and follow clues on a supernatural treasure hunt of sorts. Murder, mystery, and danger surround a ghostly legend, along with the supernatural, tarot cards, psychic readings, and black magic rituals.

Stiefvater impresses me not only with her ability with words, but also with her ability to create very different stories. Lament sounds very different from the darker and more sophisticated-sounding The Scorpio Races. I liked The Raven Boys not only because it's not as pre-teen-ish sounding as Lament nor does it use overdone tropes like werewolves as she does in her Shiver trilogy. There's just more to this book than Lament or Shiver.

This story has a small romance component, but the story largely focuses on murder and the mystery. There's twists and turns, violence and social issues, ghosts and other spooky stuff. This is a great teen read for people who love a good supernatural story. I enjoyed it more than the supernatural drama in Beautiful Creatures and it's written much better than the ultimate teen supernatural book: Twilight. All in all, a great teen book and a good choice to get young people reading something of substance.

Review: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Maggie Stiefvater's second novel in the Shiver trilogy continues with the love story between Grace and Sam--human and werewolf. Starting out, it was pretty obvious the direction of the book was going--back into werewolf territory and I wasn't sure I wanted that to happen. For one thing, it made the book and its conclusion slightly predictable and for another, it was going to throw a wrench into Sam and Grace's already tortured relationship. Bah. Teen romances!

I have to say that I did like Shiver better than Linger. Shiver had me hooked onto every word. This book had a different kind of suspense that was more akin to dread than suspense. I dreaded what I knew was coming in the end and it was just a matter of pages before the inevitable happened (no spoilers here). I'm not really a fan of books like that. I like to suspect, but not KNOW. I never flip to the end or peek. I like to suspect or think that I know, and then I like to have the world ripped out from under me. Okay, that's a little dramatic, but I hate being right about a plot point that's painfully obvious to me. Especially when Shiver seemed like it was going to be obvious and then did a fantastic job with building up to a fantastic cliffhanger. Linger had fewer twists and turns and that was a slight disappointment. 

I do appreciate Stiefvater's development of the adult characters in this book. At one point, Grace's parents catch Sam sleeping in their daughter's bed and they throw him out, ground her--do the whole parental thing. I couldn't help but applauding the parents in this teen romance novel. Thank you for finally being aware that your child is doing something wrong (no matter how sad we are that the sexy supernatural love interest has been booted out and we get less of the couple being together and adorable). This was a surprisingly refreshing decision on Stiefvater's part.

A new character, Cole St. Clair, is thrown into the mix, but do not despair, Stiefvater is not feeding us a a typical, boring love triangle! Cole is complicated, tortured, and not necessarily likeable. Even better, he does not harbour an all-consuming love for Sam's girl. He has his own role to play in the plot and his own set of problems to deal with.

Drugs, sex, psychological trauma, violence, illness, parental/family drama, and more are all woven into the plot. Stiefvater writes a refreshing amount of realism into her characters. The fact that this is a story about teens who turn into werewolves is only one aspect of a larger story. 

While I was a bit disappointed into the overall "WOW" factor of the book, Stiefvater's writing is a breath of fresh air in teen romance. She writes believable characters--with real problems like post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, and addiction, with a dash of the supernatural world that makes this series even more addictive.

I'd give this book 3.5/5, but Shiver gets a 4/5 from me. I do suspect that like most trilogies or short series, the middle book lays the ground work that will make Forever (the final book) finish off the series with a bang.

Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

If you have not yet ever picked up a book by Maggie Stiefvater, shame on you. She is quickly becoming one of the biggest YA authors today and she has a talent for turning out one fantastic book after another. The Scorpio Races and The Raven Boys are two other popular titles by Stiefvater, if you've never heard her name. Shiver is the first book of her werewolves of Mercy Falls series. Who will like this book? Girls who have weaknesses for super sweet, sensitive, attractive boys with a dark side, Twihards who are Team Jacob, fans of supernatural romance, ...or people like me who misread "Mercy Falls" as "Mystic Falls" and did a double take, you will LOVE this book. Note to self: be wary of all towns that have "Falls" in the name.

Maggie Stiefvater adds her brilliance to the werewolf mythology and gives the world another supernatural heart throb to dream about. This tale of "doomed love" between a human and a werewolf was exhilarating, sweet, full of suspense, and of dangerous things that lurk in the woods.

The violence, adrenaline, and fear built around the werewolves is woven into this romantic and slightly tragic love story. There were some graphic scenes--and very dark subjects of abuse, psychological trauma, animal violence, etc., but they are so well-written and are crucial to the narrative. Stiefvater writes with a purpose, not for shock value. As I got to the last fifty pages or so, I couldn't put the book down. The story is captivating, thrilling, and beautiful, even in its darkest moments.

An interesting thing to note about the book is the changing colours of the text. The pages fade from a chilly dark blue to black, hinting at greater themes like transformation of something cold to something dark and dangerous. Or else, the transformation of the cold, blue, abnormal to normalcy, as black is the (normal). A very unique stylistic choice that was a little distracting at first, but as I quickly got hooked into the story, I barely noticed.

I'm excited to start the next book in the series, Linger. The ending of Shiver was intense and I was on edge, waiting for the ending to leave me hanging as each chapter at the end is very, very short and I was in despair of the ending just being dropped over my head. The final sentences did not let me down--in fact they ensured that I would be anxious to get my hands on a copy of Linger ASAP.

I'm not a huge fan of supernatural romance, though I recognize its prominence and its ability to sell books in the post-Twilight era. I did always like the vampire mythology better, though its more because the history of vampires in literature (not myths, real poems, stories that are studied by scholars) goes WAY back and its long history fascinates me. Shiver makes werewolf mythology more interesting to me.

What I'm say is do not judge or roll your eyes to hear that this book is about werewolves. Maggie Stiefvater is a powerful writer and she does not need the popularity of the vampire/werewolf mythology to sell books. She does it on pure talent. Stiefvater's Shiver will take your breath away.

Review: Awaken (Abandon #3) by Meg Cabot

I accidentally read Underworld (Abandon #2) first, before reading Abandon, but luckily Meg Cabot makes it easy for readers to jump into the series without being totally lost on the plot. Funnily enough, I then somehow got confused and then read this book next, when I fully intended to read the first book. Sleep deprivation was really going against me this week...

Awaken is the third book in the Abandon series and is the exciting, action-packed conclusion to this story inspired by the Persephone and Hades mythology. The atmosphere throughout is dark and dangerous as a hurricane sweeps through the mortal realm and things in the underworld have turned chaotic.

The beginning of the novel opens with a shocking turn of events as John "dies." Common sense dictates that there's no way he's ACTUALLY dead and I don't think Pierce really actually believes he won't come back because her grief wasn't all that real to me. More than that, there's no way in hell (or the underworld haha) that Cabot would kill off her leading man in the beginning of the novel. So even though we know that John will come back, it was an interesting change in the pace of the book as we get to see Pierce become stronger, more independent, and her character development allows her to become really ready to take her place as Queen of the Underworld. She carries a whip as a weapon and leads a group of people into the mortal world to find and destroy Thanatos and to wage war on the Furies. Pierce is empowered, and these days, it's all about the strong female heroine. It was a good change of pace to see Pierce handle the chaos for once.

That being said, Pierce is still very emotional (hey, she's 17, I don't hold it against her). Her emotions (specifically her temper) are pointed out by supporting characters as being dangerous to her overall mission to save John. While it's not expressed outright, her anger is her tragic flaw, which is a VERY ancient-Greek-story way to spin things. I loved this. If she can't control her anger, bad things will happen--and John will die.

Having Thanatos as an important new character was an interesting choice. I'm all for using more mythology in YA books because whether teens know they're learning or not, the Greek myths are there for readers to take in and learn from. Thanatos was quickly defeated though and I was a bit put out by this. Minor Greek deity or not... he was basically defeated at the seduction of a 17-year-old girl. I don't know if I'm still too excited from reading House of Hades by Rick Riordan. Perhaps 500 pages from Riordan of his main characters roaming the underworld made me expect a bigger battle between Thanatos and Pierce, but oh well. Pierce has 99 other problems to take care of after Thanatos.

The book is filled with obstacles and challenges--it's just one problem after another for Pierce to solve, but it keeps the action moving and keeps the reader on the edge of their seat. The book is suspenseful from the first few pages when we learn that things in the underworld are chaotic and out of whack, then John dies, then Thanatos throws a wrench into things, there's family issues, her parents hate John, the Furies, Alex is annoying, and so on.

John is very protective and while I love when he's all macho and devoted to his girlfriend, sometimes it's too much. When Edward John refuses to let Bella Pierce do something/go somewhere that's even a little bit dangerous, I'm like: calm down, buddy. His demeanour sometimes is unhealthy when it comes to protecting Pierce, but I'm quicker to forgive this because Cabot makes it clear John isn't always logical because of his childhood and his history with his father. I'm always quicker to forgive if there's a legitimate psychological reason for his behaviour.

This book is darker and has an exciting climax and conclusion to the book with an all-out battle between the Furies and Pierce/John. Pierce kicks ass and takes names--maybe even going a little bit overboard by choking her Fury-possessed grandmother and then shoving her Persephone Diamond into her. Whoa.

Christianity also plays a large role in the plot (hello ancient pagan Greece...what religion happened to you again?). I loved this quote about why a Fury was able to possess Grandma and why she was so easily corrupted into believing that John, a pagan death deity would have needed destroying:

"As a religious woman...the discovery that there exists a world beyond ours that isn't the traditionally taught heaven and hell must have been deeply disturbing to her... and so that world would have needed destroying" (Cabot 304)

Overall, Awaken is an epic conclusion to an exciting teen paranormal romance series. It's thrilling, dark, and full of danger--and sexy men from Greek mythology. It's good versus evil on an grander and mythological scale. It's sex, drugs and death deities.

It's a great teen/paranormal romance series and you should read it.

Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

As much as I wanted to love this series, I have it admit I struggled with this book: length-wise and plot-wise. There's a lot of acclaim for this novel and a huge fan base. I expect a lot of the love for the series comes from the YA audience it's aimed at-- teens who are desperate to find the next "Edward Cullen and Bella Swan"-type of love story. This book definitely gives readers the type of romance that today's best YA novels feature. Lena and Ethan really love each other and teens are definitely looking for their type of devotion and adoration in a romantic partner. In spite of their differences (these lovers struggle with the differences of a mortal and a witch) and the dark powers at work to ruin the world, Lena and Ethan have found real happiness.

The romance is great for the age-group, but the book is long and it drags. In my opinion, this book could have used an editor with a firmer hand. I found myself getting annoyed at a lot of text that felt like filler. There was a LOT of back-and-forth of indecisiveness and worrying on the part of Lena and Ethan. There were also many, many scenes of Lena whining about how they shouldn't be together. We get it: she has a terrible fate, her sixteenth birthday puts Ethan at great risk, her life sucks. There's no need to beat the reader senseless with it.

There's also a lot of waiting around for the ultimate dark event: her sixteenth birthday. A lot of wandering and aimlessness with the characters. Some tightening up of the plot and tweaking would have given the book a better rating from me. The book has so much potential, power, mystery and danger-- I don't feel like it gave us as much as it could. Or maybe, the authors planned to use the other three books to give us that oomph. Personally, I think the first book needs an amazing kick-off to pull me into the sequel. There was far too much build-up to Lena's 16th birthday and not enough of a pay-off in the drama and danger of the scene.
I love the Southern-spin on this love story, and I love that this supernatural romance is about witches. Thank you for stepping away from the vampire-love story (although revealing Macon and Hunting's secret lost the book a few more points from me).
As for the narrative style, the authors use the same open-ended, vague narrator as Stephanie Meyer, developing the other characters more than the main character. The open-ended, vagueness of the first-person p.o.v. allows the readers to submerge themselves into this ultimate love affair. While it is an effective device to hook readers, I still feel like I know Bella better than I know Ethan.
Overall, the book is edgy and has an exciting conclusion. There's no shortage powerful mythical things. It's a decent read and has good twist and turns. If you're a YA fan or a movie fan, give this book a go. It's a breath of fresh air in the YA section to have a book about witches. It's no Harry Potter and it really could have used a firm-handed editor, but young teens who enjoy the supernatural/romance/YA genre will enjoy it. As for me, I won't be reading the other books in the series. I'm glad I read it, but this is definitely not going on the favourites' shelf.