romance

Review: Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

~ megs14malloy

Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1)Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

3.5-stars!!!

Ahhhh, young love. Isn’t it grand? You know the story, the tale as old as time: girl meets wolf, wolf and girl fall in love, angsty things happen…wait, is that not how the story usually goes?

This story follows two perspectives, Grace, a girl low-key obsessed with the wolves in the woods behind her house, and Sam, a werewolf. Sam has golden eyes and beautiful fur that Grace is instantly drawn too because…gold.

Seriously though, this is a love story between a girl and the werewolf who once saved her life. It was full of teenage drama and I must admit that had 14-to-20 year-old Meg read this book she would have been swooning from now till next year, honey! Needless to say, old Meg, not as thoroughly blown away by the plot.

The first half was difficult for me. More romance than an actual plot. Once I got towards the middle however I felt myself getting sucked into this bizarre storyline in an oddly addictive way…

Then finally, at the end, I’m like, Thank all that is holy that I have the entire series!!! Yep. You read that right, I am now officially a sucker for teenage werewolf love and I am not even upset about it. I am sure the fact that Maggie Stiefvater happens to be a truly good writer definitely aides along my new found addiction. So, thank you Ms. Stiefvater, for that!

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Review: My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows & Brodi Ashton

~ megs14malloy

My Lady JaneMy Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Continuous fun the whole way through! I loved this. 💖🐎💖

My Lady Jane is a fantastical romance loosely based around the life of Lady Jane Grey. Who was Lady Jane Grey?

I mean, I really don’t know. All I can tell you is she was Queen of England for a shockingly short 9-days; hence her nickname the ‘the Nine Days Queen’. As to the circumstances surrounding that = a complete mystery to me. I am choosing from this day forward to believe this amazingly hysterical version of events put forth in these pages by the Lady Janies (Cynthia Hand, Jodi Meadows & Brodi Ashton).

We get to follow multiple perspectives in this book: Jane, her cousin King Edward and Gifford (“call me G”). There is a really fun and unique ‘narrator directly addressing the reader’ format to this which I found absolutely charming. The fantastical elements were so far out there but again so much fun. That’s pretty much my largest take from this book – reading can be so much fun. I was transported by this story and could see the events playing out in my mind. I loved the different perspectives and felt the characters were well fleshed out with their own very distinct voices.

I always find collaborations like this so impressive. It is surprising to me that a group of three individuals could work so well together that they could create such a seamless narrative. I am excited to see what else these authors put out. I do have a copy of My Plain Jane but I haven’t gotten to it yet. In short, if you are looking for a fast-paced, heart-warming, ton-of-fun book, you should definitely give this one a shot!

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Review: Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon

~ megs14malloy

Publication Date: September 1, 2015

Rating: 3-stars!!

What that means in my parlance for rating is, this was a good book. I enjoyed it but wasn’t blown away by it and didn’t have too many strong feelings on it once it was over. This book was released in 2015 and is pretty popular in the YA-contemporary genre. They even turned it into a movie! (which I have not seen). I really did not know too much about it going in besides that fact that it was ‘boy-meets-girl’ where one of the characters was sick. I figured it would be short and sweet and I would cry. It did give me two of those things: it was short, it was sweet but I did not cry. In fact, my feelings upon the ending were more of anger and frustration for the MCs than anything else, but I am getting ahead of myself…
If you haven’t heard much about this story, like I hadn’t, it follows our MC, Madeline Whittier, who is a teenager with a compromised immune system. Due to this, she has been unable to leave her house her entire life and isn’t allowed visitors without very strict protocols being followed prior to letting them in their house. Mainly, her entire life revolves around her Mother (who coincidentally is a doctor) and her nurse, Carla. One day, a new family moves in next door, who have a son, Olly, about Maddy’s age. Well, you will have to read it to find out what happens after that but keep in mind this is a love story. The romance was super cute. Olly is as sugary sweet as teenage boys can be in this type of book and their interactions were fun and witty. The nurse, Carla, was my favorite character – a real gem and a very important part of Maddy’s life.
I was quite impressed with Nicola Yoon’s writing style and definitely plan to read more of her work. The dialogue was clever and I felt the format was really unique and fun as well. So, yeah, overall a good book. It did not go where I thought it was going to go. I can say by the time that I got to the conclusion, I wasn’t surprised, but I was certainly super frustrated for Maddy. I’m glad I read this, now I know what the hype is all about as far as Nicola Yoon goes and I plan to pick up, The Sun is Also a Star very soon!

Leave a comment below if you have read this book, what were your thoughts? Do you like Nicola Yoon’s writing? Who are some of your favorite YA-contemporary authors? Leave them some love below!