Blue Lily, Lily Blue {Waiting on Wednesday}

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine that highlights upcoming releases we're excited about.

There are, as you know, books coming out left and right that we all want to read. One I am looking most forward to is...



I can't express my excitement enough. The moment she tweeted it was available for pre-order... this was me:



I went and pre-ordered immediately. I miss Blue and the boys. I'm excited to see what they're up to next, what's going on in their lives. :)

What are you looking forward to?

Smiles,
B

The Dream Thieves: A Review

The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after....

 

What feels like many moons ago, the lovely Maggie Stiefvater posted that you could pre-order a copy from The Fountain Bookstore (and it would come signed). So I did. Then I heard NetGalley had a copy, so I had to go request one. I may or may not have squealed and jumped up and down when I got the email I was approved (totally did). I nearly dropped everything to read it, but then I figured feeding my children *might* be a little more important. Might be. ;)

Giving up sleep, though, I plunged in and swam through amazing writing and interesting plot twists that I have come to associate with Stiefvater. Needless to say I'm screwed, though - I ended this one already wanting the third (and the fourth) book. But I can't rush dear Maggie, so I'll just have to (im)patiently wait. In other words, it was a great follow up to The Raven Boys (review).

I was going to summarize The Raven Boys for you, and actually I did. Then I deleted it. In her usual awesomeness, Maggie offered to do a recap for the Recaptains website. It can be found here. If you have read TRB and want to have a refresher before you read The Dream Thieves, or even if you have read both of them and want a refresher anyway, I strongly urge you to take a few minutes of your time and read the recap. She points out all the things you need to know before continuing on the journey.

If you don't want to go there, to quickly point out a few things: Adam and Blue have a "thing" going, Gansey is still on his search for Glendower - the lost Welsh King, Adam made a sacrifice to be Cabeswater's eyes and ears, and we discovered that Ronan takes things out of his dreams (such as his raven, Chainsaw).

All of that out of the way, on to the book at hand. :)

I was super excited to be around them all again - Blue, Gansey, Adam, Ronan, Noah... it was like being reunited with long lost friends. But, things are changing with Adam since the sacrifice he made at the end of book one. His friends are watching him carefully, noting the anger, the attitude differences. No one really knows what the sacrifice means, exactly, so they are left wondering, waiting to see what will happen to their Adam. He and Blue are teetering on the edge of something, and only time will tell which way their relationship will go.

Gansey... oh, Gansey. The focus isn't as much on him in this book, but he's definitely still the leader, the glue that holds the group together. He tries to save them all and it pains him when he can't, or they choose not to let him.

This book is mainly about Ronan, though. Ronan and his secrets, his family's secrets. We find out in TRB that he can take things out of dreams - such as Chainsaw. We get to experience some of those dreams, or nightmares, really, throughout the book. In doing so we learn so much about Ronan and we definitely get to see the Ronan that Gansey so desperately wants to save. 

I will be anxiously awaiting the next installment in the Raven Cycle. :)

He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Each week they provide a Top Ten topic for you to create your list, then you share it on their post so others can find you. :)

  ♥ Top Ten Characters I Would Crush On...

If I Were Also a Fictional Character ♥

Okay, I admit it. I fall in and out of love a lot. Seriously. But, in my defense, if the authors weren't so damn good at creating amazing stories and characters, that wouldn't happen. Just sayin'.

 

Oh, Sean Kendrick. How I loved your determination, your brokenness, your unconditional love for Corr... and how you were willing to throw it all away for Puck.

Augustus Waters... how you broke my heart in The Fault in the Stars. Not true. You shattered it into a million tiny pieces. You make me love you with your optimism, your honesty, your quirks, and then you leave me. Your spirit was contagious and will live on for years to come.

Peeta. It was always Peeta. It will always be Peeta. I mean, anyone who would give up their bread, risk their own well-being, make me believe in new beginnings? Yeah, my heart would belong to him.

Dash... he played the game. An ultimate risk taker, someone who took a chance on love, completely in the dark.

Ah, Noah Calhoun... anyone who can love like that, so completely, without reservation, would definitely have my heart, no matter how often we end up yelling at one another.

Gansey. I can't help but love him. He's so dedicated to what he wants, what he believes, that he'll just keep pushing and pushing. Never giving up. There's something about him that's so... intriguing.

Tracks me down after I send him a million mixed signals and leave him? Spends the entire night with me despite it all? Yeah, I'll take that.

Henry... a love that transcends time? Someone that dedicated could definitely win my heart.

Jeb, someone who would follow me down the rabbit hole, no questions asked?  Or would it be the mysterious, broken one? Nope. I'd go with the one that falls with me.








 Alex... Alex... Alex. (I haven't read Requiem yet, so this is based entirely on this first book.)  Any guy who could get me to fall in love despite it being a 'disease', who would teach me what it means to feel, who helps me escape not only the controlling arm of society but the constraints I set on myself... yeah. My heart's his.

I imagine I could go one, but I will actually stop at ten this week. I could give some honorable mentions, and I even had them, but I'm good with this one. 

What about you? Who are your book boyfriends?

Smiles, 

B

~Follow Friday~

Hosted by Parajunkee's View & Alison Can Read, the goal is to gain new followers and to follow new people yourself! :)

RULES

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

(Taken straight from the hosts)

• (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
• (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
• Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
• Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say “hi” in your comments and that they are now following you.
• If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn’t have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
• Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don’t just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don’t say “HI”
• If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love…and the followers.
• If you’re new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

Happy Follow Friday!

This week's question:

What is the last book that kept you up late into the night just to finish it?

I don't do this very often as I have to young children that will likely get up at the crack of dawn if I do, but Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys made me do it. It was taunting me, I swear. I tried putting it down and I am pretty sure it called me names and bullied me into finishing it. And Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein? My goodness I couldn't put it down for anything. Kids schmids. Really. Who cares how tired I would be the next day when they decided 5 am was an acceptable wake up time. It was Code Name Verity for goodness sake! Okay. So maybe lately I have done it more than I thought. Dang them. :)  (If you're interested, my reviews are here - The Raven Boys, Code Name Verity)

Thanks for visiting! What books have kept you up late? ;)  Leave a comment below and if you have your own Follow Friday post leave a link to it and I'll visit! :)

Smiles,
B

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesdays was started by MizB over at Should Be Reading,

To play along, simply answer the following three (3) Questions:
     1. What are you currently reading?
     2. What did you recently finish reading?
     3. What do you think you'll read next?

Currently Reading

 

I am loving both of these, for very different reasons. The Curiosities are great for work - short stories make it easier to stop when I have to go back from lunch. Plus I love the side notes from the authors.  Code Name Verity is engrossing, beautifully written, and I'm so looking forward to more of the story every time I'm forced to put it down.

Recently Finished

 

I recent finished The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater. You can read my review here if you want. I absolutely loved it. Amazing writing, story... the whole package. Can't wait to see how the story continues.

Read Next

        

I've wanted to read Let it Snow for some time now. My best friend, Malissa, bought it for me not too long ago so I'm excited to read it now. :)  Name of the Star has been on my to-read list for some time and I've owned it for some time (by some time, I mean nearly a year since I've owned it... sad, but true). I received a Net Galley copy of The Madness Underneath (the sequel to The Name of the Star), so I figure to review that one I must read the first one soon. ;)

What about you? Leave a comment with a link or just your answers. :)

Smiles,

B

 

Follow Friday!

RULES

To join the fun and make new book blogger friends, just follow these simple rules:

(Taken straight from the hosts)

• (Required) Follow the Follow My Book Blog Friday Hosts {Parajunkee & Alison Can Read}
• (Required) Follow our Featured Bloggers
• Put your Blog name & URL in the Linky thing. You can also grab the code if you would like to insert it into your posts.
• Grab the button up there and place it in a post, this post is for people to find a place to say “hi” in your comments and that they are now following you.
• If you are using WordPress or another CMS that doesn’t have GFC (Google Friends Connect) state in your posts how you would like to be followed
• Follow Follow Follow as many as you can, as many as you want, or just follow a few. The whole point is to make new friends and find new blogs. Also, don’t just follow, comment and say hi. Another blogger might not know you are a new follower if you don’t say “HI”
• If someone comments and says they are following you, be a dear and follow back. Spread the Love…and the followers.
• If you’re new to the follow Friday hop, comment and let me know, so I can stop by and check out your blog!

Happy Follow Friday!

 

 

This week's question:

Who do you want to be? If you could choose any character from a book. What do you think that character looks like and what do you have in common?

 

Sheesh... this one's harder than one might think. There's so many characters out there that I've loved and connected with, that I've admired and wish I could be more like. 

 

My choice, as of right now, would be Blue from Maggie Stiefvater's The Raven Boys. Not that I'm full of energy or make things "louder" in the psychic sense (maybe in the literal sense sometimes, but not psychic). I felt connected in the way that interacted with people, with the fact that she tried to be different but at the same time she cared what others what to some extent. 

 

So what does she look like? I received a signed (this picture is from the internet, not my own personal one) book plate from Maggie with artwork she had done for The Raven Boys. Since the author herself drew it, I am inclined to say this is what Blue looks like. However, I will admit I pictured her with a bit of a softer face than this and with hair sticking up more. But otherwise, I'll go with this. :)

Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: The Raven Boys
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Raven Cycle
Publication Date: September 2012
Website: The Raven Boys
Read: November 2012
Rating: 5 stars



Initial reaction to reading the last page:
"Whoa." Seriously. I was upset... but not in a bad way. That was it? It's over? No more Blue, no more Gansey, no more Adam, Ronan, or Noah? For nearly an entire year?

I love when an author makes me feel that way. Like my best friends have left me (which happened to me earlier this year, but at least I still get to talk to her daily... granted, I could re-read The Raven Boys, but it won't be quite the same...).

Here's the scoop from Goodreads:

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.

From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of the Shiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.

~

This does not, and I repeat does not, do this story justice. In the sense that it tells you nothing yet it tells you just enough to pick it up. Well, the author alone did it for me (I bought it before I even read the jacket flap or the Goodreads or Amazon summary), but the synopsis clenched it. 

~

"Today, Blue thought, is the day I stop listening to the future and start living it instead."

~ 

Why did I love this?  So many reasons, really. 

I was sucked into this world, from the very first page. I wanted to be sitting on the stone wall with Blue and Neeve, trying to keep my own hands warm, watching the future dead walk the corpse road.

The characters felt real to me, I felt like I knew them. Moreover, I wanted to know them, to hang out with them. They were human - flawed and imperfect in all their glory. I want to continue knowing them. I felt deeply when things happened to them, good and bad. I was excited for Gansey, shaken for Adam, impressed with Ronan, sad for Noah. I want to say so much more about The Boys, but I am trying really hard to not have spoilers here. :)

I could envision nearly everything, every action, every setting, and it felt as if I was there with them, experiencing the search, the excitement. I could smell the gasoline emanating from The Pig, feel the shudder when it would die. I felt the fear, the intensity, during certain exchanges. There were laugh-out-loud lines (seriously, my dog thought I was nuts sitting in a room, alone, with the tv off, reading, and laughing... so much so she came over to see what was up... she even licked the book... maybe she wanted a taste of the laughter as well) and there were profound lines.

~

"There was nothing particularly intimate about the way they sat, but something about the scene made Gansey feel strange, like he'd heard an unpleasant statement and later forgotten everything about the words but the way they had made him feel."

~

"You know how you sometimes don't remember everything right? Ronan says that memories are like dreams. You never remember how you got to the front of the classroom with no clothes on."

~

I was sad when it ended. The adventure was over (for now), and reality bites.

 

Future Fun

Creating readers within my family is not only a goal of mine, but a passion as well.  I'm documenting how quickly they are advancing, as evidenced here.

Madison loves reading just as much as we do.

Zoe is trying really really hard to hold it up.

Eli, already has his nose in a good book.  I assume given who the author is, it's going to be good; I'll read it as soon as I finish my current read.

I think he's trying to understand the lack of pictures.  Or he's a speed reader.  ;)

And me.  I would have added my husband, too, but he wasn't home.

Obviously, unless you really think my three-year-old is quite advanced, they aren't really reading Raven Boys.  I do hope someday, though, they will be interested in reading it, or any book for that matter.  I'll be honest, I took the pictures for a giveaway Maggie Stiefvater, author of Raven Boys and one of my favorite books, The Scorpio Races, was doing.  But then I thought, there's more to this than that.  They turned in a glimpse of what I hope for my children's future, and Madison's, if she had the capability.  I do think she enjoys listening to stories being read, though.  She will come into Eli's room at bedtime with us.  I like to think it's for the story; allow me that delusion, please.

Smiles,
B