The Raven Boys ~ Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I seem to have a love hate relationship with Maggie Stiefvater.

On the one hand I absolutely loved her Wolves of Mercy Falls series. And on the other I was completely confused and turned off by her book The Scorpio Races. I was hoping that my experience reading TSR was a fluke. But, unfortunately I had a similar experience reading her latest book, The Raven Boys.

Granted, Stiefvater's trademark beautiful writing style is still very much on display. But this story was confusing and disjointed from the first page. I had a very hard time trying to keep track of which character was which, and what their cloudy backstory was...to the point of actually giving myself a headache trying to process everything.

When I began this book, I felt like I had been dropped off in the middle of the story, and I kept waiting for things to become clearer as the book went on. Yes, i had some of my questions answered and some of the murkiness of the characters resolved themselves, but overall this book felt like a jumbled mess.

I am not yet ready to give up hope that Stiefvater will once again write a book that captivates me the way that her Mercy Falls trilogy once did. But, I hope it happens sooner rather than later.

Quickie #8

Broken Hart by Ella Fox
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

It's pretty sad that within a few days of finishing this book I actually had very little memory of what the story was about, apart from there being a lot....A LOT...of sex scenes. Now, I am all for a quick smutty read once in a while, but I usually prefer there to be some kind of plot that doesn't involve the main characters having wild monkey sex.



The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Having been a HUGE fan of the Percy Jackson books, i was of course super excited to read the first book in the spin series, Heroes Of Olympus. For the most part, this book didn't let me down.

Riordan has a knack for writing wonderfully quirky characters that i grow to love very quickly. And while I can't say that i didn't miss the presence of my beloved Percy (because I did. A lot.), i had a blast reading this book. In fact, I honestly think that it is impossible for me not to enjoy a Riordan book. They are always a fun, action-packed escape from reality that is much needed in my day to day life.

And even though the new set of misfit children born of the gods and goddesses of Olympus were engaging, I have to say I am thrilled that the next book is much more focused on Mr Jackson.

Painted Faces ~ L.H. Cosway

Painted Faces by L.H. Cosway
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I would give this book 10 stars if I could.



I don't think I have ever been left speechless by a book before...but I honestly don't know if I have the words to express how much I adored this book and how much this story, and these characters meant to me.

I tend to be very picky with books lately. No matter how much I end up enjoying them, I can usually find at least 1 or 2 things to nit-pick about. I guess I just spend so much of my time reading that it takes a lot to impress me these days. Well, L.H. Cosway, color me impressed. Color me mind-blowingly, heart-warmingly, never-want-the-story-to-end impressed.



Others far more eloquent then myself have already written glowing reviews detailing how beautifully written this book was...how unique and special this love story turned out to be. All I can add to their praise is to say that this book was about as close to perfection as you can possibly get. I wouldn't change a thing about Fred & Viv's story. Other than making it much....much...longer.