The Raven Boy's by Maggie Stiefvater

It has been a while since I read this book, but it was captivating to say the least. I believe I read the whole series in about two weeks and they were read just in time too since the final installment “The Raven King” came out just as I finished reading the third novel. Talk about good timing hey? Here’s the synopsis.

  

“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 is a young adult novel for sure and it is truly a great read. I fell in love with each of the characters. They’re all so easy to love. Maggie Stiefvater is a very talented author. She writes so that you are able to get to know all five teens, experience life through their eyes. It is almost as if you are the unseen sixth member of the group. We get to see all of them battle with themselves to accept or change their circumstances, attitudes and beliefs.

This book is very descriptive and includes lots of needed detail. For this reason, it is easy to imagine yourself with them on their self-discovering journey. You can picture what is taking place so vividly, it is truly amazing. The plot keeps you guessing, as there are a lot of things that happen that you wouldn’t expect as much as other things. Such as the ending, which is not how you would have imagined it when you start the novel.

I was absolutely enthralled with this book. The Raven Boys is full of magical happenings. The magic each teen hold adds and compliments each other’s. Experience the adventure of magical forests, ghosts, tarot cards, murder and five questioning teens in search for the magical Raven King.

CheersXX

EsquireCat

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/ca/en/ebook/the-raven-boys

Kindle: https://www.amazon.ca/Raven-Boys-Cycle-ebook/dp/B0096T5P7O/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1488851279&sr=1-1&keywords=the+raven+boys

Google Play Books: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Maggie_Stiefvater_The_Raven_Boys?id=2qLUMpq3bzIC&hl=en

London From My Window by Mary Carter

Among all the novels that I have read, the ones that deal with hidden disabilities have always been one that has interested me. As someone who lives with a hidden illness, I like to see how the author depicts them. Sometimes they’re spot on, other times they’re a little off and on occasion they are so out to lunch you don’t know what is happening. Mary Carter gives the reader an illness to look at that many don’t really consider. Some haven’t even heard of it and others don’t understand it or what can cause it. London From My Window discusses the life of a girl who is living with severe agoraphobia. Here is the synopsis:

“Ava Wilder’s home in small-town Iowa is her sanctuary. A talented sketch artist with severe agoraphobia, Ava spends her days drawing a far more adventurous life than her invisible disability allows. Until she receives a package from London, explaining that she has inherited her Aunt Beverly’s entire estate—on condition that she lives in Bev’s West End flat for a year.
Once overseas, Ava wonders if she’s simply swapped one prison for another. The streets and shops are intimidating, and Bev’s home appears to be a drop-in center for local eccentrics. Worst of all, Bev left a list of impossible provisos to be overseen by her quirky, attractive solicitor. Ava is expected to go out—to experience clubs, pubs, and culture; to visit Big Ben, Hyde Park, and the London Eye. After years of viewing the world through a pane of glass, she’s at the messy, complicated center of it. As exhilarated as she is terrified, will she be able to step up, step out, and claim the life she was meant for?
In an insightful, poignant novel, Mary Carter delves deep into self-discovery and the meaning of courage, exploring the fears that serve to protect us—until life calls us to connect at last.”

So, this novel had a few aspects I’ve never had in the novels that I’ve read so far. For a start, there is Queenie, who is a middle-aged drag queen and his other drag friends. He was one character that I was not expecting to come across in this novel. But I grew to love this guy and his quirky friends. There was also Diana, the therapist who I found to be excessively inappropriate. At one point, she takes off her top for no good reason and then comments on her breasts. I don’t understand nor do I like Diana the therapist. Also, there were 2 other people, Vic and Deven who just were like random people who didn’t serve much purpose. They weren’t nice Ava, but just kept appearing claiming to be her friend. But it doesn’t go anywhere. They’re purposeless.

The plot was quite cliché. Ava is an agoraphobic, but other than that the story is basic. It’s a very basic novel. Girl is damaged, meets boy, angry ex trying to sabotage things, must complete challenging task, they fall in love, everything is happily ever after. Ava’s illness is the only unique aspect of the novel. Somethings were just totally annoying and unrealistic. Again, touching on Diana, the therapist, but also Hillary the ex-girlfriend seemed to be completely overwritten. The things that she does seem to be quite unlikely. And there is an instance where a teacher lets Ava, a stranger, on the school bus to travel with the children on their field trip. Now I live in Canada; I have no idea how things are done in England and the United Kingdom but never would a teacher let a stranger on a bus of young students. That is asking for a catastrophe and a lawsuit. But that’s just me. It is fiction.

 I do totally respect Mary Cater for writing a novel based around an illness. It brings more awareness about them to people. It hopefully can ease the stigma that surround invisible illnesses. It does focus a bit on educating others on illnesses and disabilities that people can't see initially. There are multiple instances where Ava goes into a mini lecture about invisible illnesses to people who are ignorant about them. To be honest I don’t know that much about agoraphobia. Somethings in the novel seemed a bit unlikely, such as being miraculously cured. But again, I don’t know that much about the illness.

I liked the book I suppose. At least I like the idea of the book. I’m heavy into educating people about hidden illnesses. But I’m not sure I would every be inclined to sit down and read it again. Or even recommend it to a friend. It took me a while to finish it because I did lose interest in reading it about half way through. Have you read the book? Let me know your thoughts below.

CheersXX

EsquireCat  

      

The Shadow Queen: A Remake

The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine was an unenthusiastic buy for me. I was flipping through the Kobo store on my phone and I was looking for a book to buy. But nothing was popping out at me like normal, nothing was catching my eye. I kept coming across this novel probably every time I went to buy a new book for the last month. I had read the synopsis, it seemed ok, but not to the point that I was inclined to purchase it. But, this time I seriously couldn’t find any other book that I was interested in, so I bought it. I read it mostly on my lunches at college, and on the drive home (I get a ride with my dad who works in that area). Overall I think it took me about a week and a half to read the thing. That screams how unenthusiastic I was to read it. Now don’t get me wrong, C.J. Redwine is an amazing writer. She has skills and I think some people will like this book. Here is the synopsis:

 “Lorelai Diederich, crown princess and fugitive at large, has one mission: kill the wicked queen who took both the Ravenspire throne and the life of her father. To do that, Lorelai needs to use the one weapon she and Queen Irina have in common—magic. She’ll have to be stronger, faster, and more powerful than Irina, the most dangerous sorceress Ravenspire has ever seen.
In the neighboring kingdom of Eldr, when Prince Kol’s father and older brother are killed by an invading army of magic-wielding ogres, the second-born prince is suddenly given the responsibility of saving his kingdom. To do that, Kol needs magic—and the only way to get it is to make a deal with the queen of Ravenspire, promise to become her personal huntsman…and bring her Lorelai’s heart.
But Lorelai is nothing like Kol expected—beautiful, fierce, and unstoppable—and despite dark magic, Lorelai is drawn in by the passionate and troubled king. Fighting to stay one step ahead of the dragon huntsman—who she likes far more than she should—Lorelai does everything in her power to ruin the wicked queen. But Irina isn’t going down without a fight, and her final move may cost the princess the one thing she still has left to lose.”

I kind of feel this synopsis is missing some important elements. Like the fact that it’s a Snow-White remake really. There’s the wicked queen stepmom, beautiful princess that was treated unfair, huntsmen who doesn’t want to bring the queen the princesses heart, the mirror, apples etc. Though I do like how the princess Lorelai is a lot more badass that any Snow White I know. The book is missing some explanations or at least needed a little more attention to the explanations so you could recognize that it was an explanation. It was explained where the magic came from but it wasn’t explained why its all dark magic. Why the hell can’t it be light magic? It just isn’t explained. The dragons, which would be Kol and his friends, aren’t explained. There is a chapter or two in the beginning of the novel that explains his reasoning on why he goes to the queen. But there is nothing else about why they can shapeshift, why they have the two hearts, or the origin of the dragons. There are a few more chapters in the novel that have Kol’s POV. And the Ogres, where the hell do they even come from?

It is possible that I missed some of those things just from my lack of enthusiasm in reading it. But I don’t think that’s the case. I kind of feel like this book was just thrown together haphazardly. There is no character development, poor plot-development that is quite frankly cliché. You know where the book is going when you start it. I literally had the end of the book guessed by the time I was halfway through. There was no twist and turns to keep me guessing. The characters are skin deep. You don’t get to know who they are. All you know is that Lorelai is brave and serious. She is as dull as a spoon. Gabriel, her caregiver? I’m not real sure what he is there for. All he does is threaten Kol and complain that Lorelai shouldn’t use her magic so freely. There is no plot development for him, he is flat, as paper.

I didn’t hate the book, but I would never read it again. Ever. Maybe it was because I didn’t really want to buy it. But it is lacking so much. Maybe you’ll like it? Who knows. Everyone has different tastes, right? I’ve had some people tell me they absolutely loved it. Leave your thoughts below, did you like it? Was there something you hated? Let me know.

CheersXX

EsquireCat 

Omens by Kelley Armstrong - The Start Of an Amazing Series

This book! This book turned me back on to reading series again. Very plainly, I hate reading series. I'm a very impatient person, so having to wait an entire year to get the next book is hell to me. But this book just completely made the exception. I've always loved Kelley Armstrong. I think the first time I ever encountered her was in grade 8, I read her Darkest Powers series. I fell in love with the characters. But Omens just completely surpassed my expectations. If you haven't read it here is the synopsis:

"Olivia Taylor Jones, 24, seems to have the perfect life. The only daughter of a wealthy Chicago family, she has an Ivy League education, pursues volunteerism and philanthropy, and is engaged to a handsome young tech-firm CEO with political ambitions. But Olivia's world is shattered when she finds out that she's adopted. Her real parents? Todd and Pamela Larsen, notorious serial killers, each still serving a life sentence.
The news brings a maelstrom of unwanted publicity to her adopted family and fiancé, and Olivia thinks the best thing she can do for herself and for them is run away from it all. She ends up in the small town of Cainsville, Illinois, an old and cloistered community that takes a particular interest in both Olivia and her decision to uncover the truth about her birth parents. Olivia decides to focus on the Larsens' last crime, the one Pamela Larsen swears will prove their innocence. But as she and Gabriel Walsh, Pamela's former lawyer, start investigating, Olivia finds herself drawing on abilities that have remained hidden since her childhood, gifts that make her both a valuable addition to Cainsville and deeply vulnerable to unknown enemies. There are dark secrets behind her new home, and powers lurking in the shadows that have their own plans for her."

The way Armstrong describes Cainsville is phenomenal. I was able to picture it quite easily. I swear almost nothing is worse than not being able to picture the setting where the majority of the book is taking place. I love the character dynamics throughout the novel. The way that Olivia, Gabriel, and Pamela change throughout the novel and the series is huge. Both Gabriel and Olivia have a lot of childhood trauma. We see how it affects their lives and their relationships with others. We also get to see how they work to get through that trauma and make the effort for each other. Kelley describes them primarily with their personality and it's so easy to fall in love with them. I'm trying not to talk about the rest of the series too much. I don’t want to spoil much.
In the book we follow Olivia and Gabriel as they investigate one of the crimes that the Larsens are accused of committing. Armstrong takes you through many expected yet unexpected turns. After about 1/3 through the book you expect to be surprised by what is discovered and done.

If you ever go into Chapters, Indigo or whatever your bookstore chain is, this book is categorized under horror. I, however, disagree with this genre categorization. This book would be more a suspense/mystery/thriller and also Sci-fi. It really isn't scary, at all. There are a few moments where you're completely on edge, but that’s just the suspense of "what are they going to do?"

 Like most of Kelley Armstrong's novels it has a supernatural theme in it, but in the first book it's just undertones. Supernatural becomes more prevalent in the following novels in the series. Romance is an attention thief as well, of course. Boy, Girl, what else is going to happen. But it isn't who you expect and that really got me. I'm a huge romantic and I thrive on it in my novels. So of course having it incorporated into this novel is a definite bonus.

Overall I think Kelley did a good job. I mean it was great enough for me to read the rest of the series and actively wait for the next book to be released. There are some elements to it I wish were different and there are some things that aren't explained in this book but in the following ones. It's thrilling and entertaining, and it keeps you coming back for more whether it's for an explanation, a dose of sexy and cool Gabriel, or curious and loyal Olivia. You'll fall in love with this duo.

The book is roughly around 400 pages and should take around 10 hours to read. I read it in one night, granted I didn’t sleep at all. You can purchase it at your local bookstore. I bought the e-book from Kobo, which is a few bucks cheaper. I'll post some links below for it.
Have you read it? Comment your thought on it below. I'd love to hear what you think!

Cheers!XX
EsquireCat

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-ca/ebook/omens-1

Indigo/Chapters: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/omens-the-cainsville-series/9780307360533-item.html

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Omens-Cainsville-Kelley-Armstrong-ebook/dp/B00BRUQ2KO

Google Play Books: https://play.google.com/store/books/details/Kelley_Armstrong_Omens?id=YInFP5CekK4C&hl=en

What I Plan To Do With This Blog

"What do you do for fun? What's your hobby?" These are the questions that regularly get asked when you meet someone new. My answer is always the same. I read. It's more than a hobby to me now. It a way of life, a source of complete relaxation, a lifeline, an escape. It dominates my entire day.

It really started in grade 5. I had always read before but it was never with enthusiasm or real joy. I had read because the teachers told us too. We had our 15 minutes every morning of quiet time where we were expected to pick a short little novel and read it over the course of a couple weeks. But then I read "the book." It was the novel that changed everything for me. I looked forward to reading it every chance I got. Do you want to know what this book was? It was Coming Home by Lauren Brooke (aka Linda Chapman). The first book in the 25 book series, Heartland. I loved this book. I loved the characters, the horses, the dynamics. This series became everything to me. I read every Heartland book my teacher had on her shelf. And then I looked for more. This started a whole new life for me.

By the end of grade 6 I was reading novels like Crank by Ellen Hopkins. (I still don't know why that book was in the library at the elementary school). I'm not going to lie I was a die hard Twilight fan too. I grew out of it when I saw the movies, but to this day i have the series right up there on my shelf. Basically after that, reading was a huge part of my day. I never let a day go by where I don't read.

So that's where this blog come in. I've been dying to write about the books I read. To express what I liked about them, what I didn't like about them, rate them, give recommendations and just let my opinion out there. Id love to hear some of your opinions too! Its a discussion where we all can like what we like and dislike what we dislike. I'd love to hear some feed back from you guys and even some novel recommendations.


Cheers!XX

EsquireCat