Review: Linger

Title: Linger
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 360
Series: Wolves of Mercy Falls #2
Rating: 4.5 stars
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 Isabel, 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 certainly set the standards high for the rest of the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, and I was pleased to discover that Linger more than meets those standards. Sam and Grace are such wonderful characters, and the addition of Isabel and Cole just makes it better. I was a little concerned at the beginning about having four different characters narrating, but I shouldn't have worried. Stiefvater pulls it off flawlessly. The characters are so real, and the story just keeps getting better. Stiefvater's way with words is just amazing.


As in Shiver, there is a lot of romance, and it is done well. But in Linger, there's a lot more extra stuff to it. The development of the individual characters and their backstories is just as if not more important than the development of the romantic relationships between the characters, and the platonic relationships between the other characters are also explored thoroughly. Everything about these characters is real and wonderful, and even if the story concluded in this book, I'd want another one just to spend more time with Sam, Grace, Cole, and Isabel.


And then, of course, there's the mystery of the werewolves. Why are they what they are? What does it mean to become one? And is there a way to stay human? It draws you in and keeps you there. And I really cannot wait for book three, because I need to know what happens.


There is just so much to this story. Absolutely everyone should read them, no exaggeration. My only complaint about Linger was that it was less self-sufficient than Shiver; in places, it felt more like it was building up to the next book rather than telling its own story. But that hardly counts, because I am so ready for book three already. I absolutely adore this series. Linger officially releases two weeks from today, and some formats are already available - this is one you should make sure you get a copy of as soon as you can.


Links: 
Maggie Stiefvater's website
Maggie Stiefvater's blog
Wolves of Mercy Falls website

Review: Shiver

Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic
Pages: 390
Series: Wolves of Mercy Falls #1
Rating: 5 stars
From the jacket flap: 
the cold.
Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf - her wolf - watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn't know why.


the heat.
Same has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace...until now.


the shiver.
For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it's spoken, it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human - and Grace must fight to keep him - even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.


My first thought when I finished this book was, "Wow." It was absolutely phenomenal. The romance (because that's what this is - a romance) was very well-done; I know I, for one, have totally fallen for Sam Roth. Both of the lead characters - and the side characters as well - fell completely real. Stiefvater's writing is beautiful. Even if the plot were terrible - which it most certainly isn't - it would be worth reading just for the way the author tells the story. She even manages to make both first-person narrators feel like separate, real characters; their personalities are not the same and their voices are inherently different. It's not one person telling both stories as someone else - it's two different characters telling their own stories.

The romance between Sam and Grace is developed thoroughly and beautifully; all I have to say is: candy shop scene, and bookstore scene. It just makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And the twist on the werewolf mythology is excellent. None of that about full moons and silver bullets; it's about temperature. And there's just enough mystery and non-romance-based plot that it doesn't feel obnoxiously sappy. Yes, there are sappy parts. It is a romance novel. There are supposed to be sappy parts. But there's so much more than that. It was so amazing. Personally, I also really enjoyed the importance of literature and musicality to the story. There is so much good stuff in this book. Everyone should read it. Yes, everyone.

I also have to mention the cover. I adore the cover of this book. It's beautiful. The blue-and-white gives it that wintery sort of feel that's so important, and the wolf - just watching - so subtle you might miss it. And then the one splash of red...it's perfect.

Definitely, definitely read Shiver if you get the chance.

Links:
Maggie Stiefvater's website
Maggie Stiefvater's blog
Wolves of Mercy Falls website

Review: If I Stay

Title: If I Stay
Author: Gayle Forman
Publisher: Dutton Books
Pages: 196
Rating: 4.5 stars
From the jacket flap:

"Just listen," Adam says with a voice that sounds like shrapnel. I open my eyes wide now. I sit up as much as I can. And I listen.

 "Stay," he says.


Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love - music - even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind?


Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it's the only one that matters.


If I Stay is a heartachingly beautiful book about the power of love, the true meaning of family, and the choices we all make.


First off, I have to say how much I love this cover of this book. I love the texture of the font that makes it look so handwritten, I love the simplicity, I just love it. That said, the paperback cover is beautiful too, but I think I like this one better.

And the story is just beautiful. The narrative is nonlinear; a series of flashbacks is intercut with the story in the present, and it's not broken into chapters but rather divided by time stamps. Not everyone can pull off such a complex structure, but Forman certainly does. And the characters are so beautifully, wonderfully real. The choices Mia is forced to make are very real ones, and her reactions to them are so starkly human and so well-tied to her personality that she could very easily come to life. And even the smaller characters - Adam, Kim, Mia's family, Henry, Willow, everyone - are well-developed. Readers see them through the filter of Mia's narration, but we are shown (not told: important distinction) enough that we really get a sense of who these people are and what Mia's life is like.

Mia's relationships to her family and her boyfriend were refreshing, too. Her love life isn't perfect; far from the I-have-the-perfect-boyfriend or I-have-the-perfect-secret-lover relationships shown in a lot of books, Mia's relationship with Adam has the same ups and downs that any normal relationship has. They are in love, but their relationship is flawed. They fight and argue, but it's something they can work through. And it's wonderful to see a teen who doesn't totally hate her parents. Mia experiences the same feelings of loneliness and misunderstanding that most teens experience, but she still loves her parents, they are very present in her life, and she has a very protective and sisterly instinct toward her younger brother.

My only complaint was that it seemed to take a very long time to get to the heart of the major choice Mia was facing, but the story is absolutely worth reading in spite of that. It's beautifully written, heartbreaking and hopeful at the same time. I have to confess to crying like a baby at parts of it. Definitely read this book if you get the chance.

Links:
Gayle Forman's website
If I Stay book website

Review: Crashed

Title: Crashed
Author: Robin Wasserman
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Pages: 440
Series: Skinned trilogy #2
Rating: 4 stars
From the jacket flap:
Everyone has something to lose.


Before the accident, Lia Kahn was happy.
Before the accident, Lia Kahn was loved.
Before, Lia was a lot of things: Normal. Alive.
Human.


Lia no longer believes in before. Six months after the crash that killed her, six months after being reborn, Lia has finally accepted her new reality. She is a machine, a mech, and she belongs with her own kind. It's a wild, carefree life, without rules and without fear. Because there's nothing to fear when you have nothing left to lose.


But when a voice from her past cries out for revenge, everything changes. Lia is forced to choose between her old life and her new one. Between humans and mechs. Between sacrificing the girl she used to be and saving the boy she used to love.


Even if it means he'll hate her forever.


After I finished Skinned, the first book in the series, I was looking forward to the second book but wasn't really sure what to expect. Now, having read Crashed, I can say that I am seriously excited about the upcoming release of book three (Wired, due out in September). The characters are wonderful, the plot just keeps getting more intense, and the themes just sort of worm their way into your head and refuse to let go.

Lia's interactions with Jude, Riley, Ani, Auden, and her family are all very well-written. Her thoughts, actions, and reactions are all so starkly human, even as she debates just how human she really is. She's a wonderfully developed character, and she's constantly changing in response to the world around her. That said, at the beginning, I really didn't like her; I thought she was a snobby brat and she whined too much. But as the story went on, I liked her more and more, and she really is the perfect character for this story. She'll never be my favorite, though; I think that award has gone to Riley now.

The story is very well-done too; I love that Crashed shows us cities and corp-towns, changes in scenery from the luxurious world that Lia is used to, and the piece-by-piece revelation of Riley and Jude's backstory is excellent. While the actual storyline is fairly archetypal and there were a lot of bits and pieces I was able to predict, it's the details and the characters that make this story absolutely worth reading.

On the whole, though, I think what really kept me engaged in Crashed was the way it made me question so much. What does it really mean to be a human? Is there any such thing as "human," or is there only what we are programmed to believe?

Crashed is definitely a book that I would recommend, although it's not a stand-alone sequel; read Skinned first. A little strange, maybe, but worth your time.

Links:
Robin Wasserman's website

EDIT: I apologize for starting with a review of book two instead of book one; it's been a long time since I read Skinned and I don't have a copy on hand right now, so I couldn't give a thorough and complete review of it. However, you can read my thoughts on it from an earlier date on a different site here.

Welcome!

Hello, fellow bookworms!

Bookworm Boulevard is soon to be home to book reviews and book news and, as the site grows, I hope to be able to share some author interviews and maybe even some giveaways. We'll see what happens.

Most of what I review is going to be YA fiction. You're particularly likely to see science fiction, fantasy, and paranormal romance, although I do read a fair amount of chick lit, and I'm willing to try just about anything. I'm not going to go into a list of my favorite books, because, I'll be honest, we'd be here all night. Recommendations are always welcome, so if you have a book you think I'd like or something you've been wondering about and would like to see a review of, leave me a comment and I'll look into it.

The first review should be up sometime later this evening. Until then, a contest! See how many of the books on the shelf in the title graphic you can identify. Unfortunately, the only prize I can offer you right now is bragging rights, but it might be entertaining anyway.

~Becky