Lament - Maggie Stiefvater

I won a copy of Maggie Stiefvater's Lament from Jessica's a few months back (ok, this post was originally started in September) and I had started this blog entry when I had finished, but I got a bit behind on posting so you'll be seeing a few "older" reads pop up on here.


Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind . . .

Lament is a dark faerie fantasy that features authentic Celtic faerie lore, plus cover art and interior illustrations by acclaimed faerie artist Julia Jeffrey.

I'm going to preface this by telling you that faeries aren't really my thing. The most I've read about faeries would be the small portion dealing with them in the Sookie Stackhouse books and that was too much for me. They just like to play with people way too much and that trait tends to irk me.

I think my biggest issue with the book was how some things just seemed to be known without talking about them. For instance, Dee and Luke were talking and all of a sudden she knows the person he's talking about is the faerie queen. Up until that point, there was absolutely no mention of a queen. There were other things like that that I just couldn't get over.

I also thought it was highly weird and slightly creepy that while Dee is getting sick in the bathroom, a boy just walks in and starts holding her hair and she never questions it.

The book itself wasn't bad though. I really enjoyed the relationship between James and Deirdre and really wish that was more prominent than hers and Luke's relationship, and that is the reason why I will read Ballad. Plus, I liked it enough to want to see where the story goes and I have to absolutely hate a series to quit it.

What's your least favorite creature?

In My Mailbox (17)

In My Mailbox was started by Kristi over at The Story Siren and all you have to do is post about what books you received that week by mail, library, or store.

This week I decided to do a vlog for IMM. You'll have to excuse me though, I had a terrible headache and wasn't feeling well when I made this. 

Linger Trailer by Maggie Stiefvater

A little over a week ago, Maggie Stiefvater shared with the world a stop motion trailer for her upcoming release, Linger. If there was any doubt that Maggie is a true artist, I think it's safe to say that after watching one of her trailers, that doubt vanishes. The stop motion is amazing in itself, but the music she did for this trailer is just so beautiful.

I loved this trailer so much that as soon as my husband got home from work I told him he just had to watch it and he agreed that it was fantastic.

Most of you know that I am waiting on pins and needles for Linger to make it to bookstore shelves and I'm so excited that the waiting is drawing to a close. So without further ado, I bring you Maggie Stiefvater's trailer for the newest book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series. Enjoy!

Linger Giveaway

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.

Waiting on Wednesday - Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating. I decided to do this because a few days ago I was making a list of books that I want to read this year and I noticed that half of them aren't even out yet. My first Waiting on Wednesday is book 2 of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series.

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater releases on July 20, 2010

From Goodreads:

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.

Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater

After hearing Becca, a fellow NBCer rave about this book called Shiver, I decided to add it to my Christmas wishlist. Then after seeing the author, Maggie Stiefvater, write on Becca's facebook wall I thought to myself that I really needed to read it now because the author just seemed so awesome. Christmas came and I didn't get the book but I did go to Books-A-Million's after Christmas sale and picked it up.

First I want to say that the writing was amazing and I loved how Maggie flipped back and forth between the two main characters point-of-view. This is also the first book that I've read recently that didn't have any misspellings. That gets major points in my book. If it did though, I was so captivated by the story that I didn't even notice.

Shiver takes place in Mercy Falls. Grace is a high school girl who was bitten by wolves six years earlier and has since become obsessed with the wolf that saved her. I mean, obsessed. She spends her winters waiting for a glimpse of him and even comes close enough to touch him at one point. Her obsession is a little..weird at first because she's so enamored with him that she takes to sleeping with the sweater she was wearing when she had contact with him because it smells like him.

Anyway, Grace soon finds out that her wolf, the one with the yellow eyes who saved her all those years ago, is actually a boy who is a shape-shifter. Sam's form depends solely on the temperature, turning into a wolf when it's cold outside. Even knowing his secret, Grace loves him, although it doesn't hurt that he's a hot, sweet, smart, emo, poetry loving, lyric writing, guitar playing guy.

Sam fears the cold because that means the change is coming, and this time it's different, this time it's his last change. He's loved Grace since the day he saved her and can't bear the thought of leaving her. Sam tries to prolong the time before he shifts and spends every moment possible with Grace. Shiver is a love story and a good one at that. It's so terribly sweet and it even made my eyes well with tears because of it.

If you're looking for a book to read, this is it. The story is great, the writing is wonderful, and I absolutely loved getting to know Sam and Grace. Even the weirdness didn't seem so weird to me after a while. I can already see myself reading this book over and over.

I cannot wait until Linger comes out in July.