Art by Christopher Boffoli

This pic is by Christopher Boffoli, a guy from Seattle. I love this miniature art. Enjoy!

Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls Series #1), by Maggie Stiefvater

• Pub. Date: June 2010
• Publisher: Scholastic, Inc.
• Pages: 400

• Series: Wolves of Mercy Falls Series #1

Rating: 4/5

Synopsis

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. Sam 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. For Grace and Sam, love has always been at a distance. But once spoken, it cannot be denied.

Review
A new twist on a worn out subject - but don't pass it up just because everyone and their dog has a story about monsters and romance. Grace is charming and interesting, and obsessed with wolves since a dangerous incident from her childhood (Why are there always obsessed people in the books I read?!). Sam has loved Grace a long time...what will become of the two? The story has original inserts as well. It's tragic and moving and warm and filled with all sorts of longings and dreams that we all had in high school. I really like the emotion that naturally comes with this genre - it has the ability to transport any reader, no matter the age or circumstance, to our past (or future) with style. Feelings have that way about them I guess, kind of like aroma: the instant you smell something again, even if it's presence has lapsed into years, will flood you with past memories of that smell. 

This book is great, and I'm somewhat glad to hear that it is a trilogy piece. When a reader likes the setting and characters that are built for them, it's sometimes hard to close that last page and move on to the next story. It makes me happy I get the chance to hear 'what happened then was....'   

The White Darkness, by Geraldine McCaughrean

• Pub. Date: December 2008
• Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
• Pages: 400

Rating: 5/5

 

Synopsis

Sym is not your average teenage girl. She is obsessed with the Antarctic and the brave, romantic figure of Captain Oates from Scott's doomed expedition to the South Pole. In fact, Oates is the secret confidant to whom she spills all her hopes and fears.
But Sym's uncle Victor is even more obsessed--and when he takes her on a dream trip into the bleak Antarctic wilderness, it turns into a nightmarish struggle for survival that will challenge everything she knows and loves.

Review 

I don't know what it is about this book, but I really, really, really enjoyed it. It was sad and horrifying on a level that I could never have imagined when I picked it up. I thought it would be light and fluffy reading but it was everything BUT that. 

Sym, to start with, is an interesting lead character, and it truly makes the story. No other teenage girl would have been able to take this journey and go as far as she did. Not to mention, her imaginary boyfriend is a freaking dead guy. AND just about everything else in her life is screwed up (oh, don't we all miss our teens???), even more so than most teenagers. You think all of this would make a deafeningly sad book, but that isn't the case at all! I described it as sad because of the human instinct that is portrayed in the extreme circumstances the author presents. That's also where the 'horrifying' comes from. I'm pretty sure the last 50 pages (or was it 100?) I was slack-jawed by the storyline. Don't pass this one up!!! It is definitely worth the read. 

Happy 4th!

Yay! Happy July 4th everyone. Here's a cat in a bag for you.