Book Review: Shiver

Book: Shiver

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

My rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

Brief synopsis:

Grace and Sam share a kinship so close they could be lovers or siblings. But they also share a problem. When the temperature slips towards freezing, Sam reverts to his wolf identity and must retreat into the woods to protect his pack. He worries that eventually his human side will fade away and he will be left howling alone at the lonely moon. A stirring supernatural teen romance.

 My review: 


I really liked this book. Really liked this book. Didn't love this book, but really liked it. It's like a relationship. It's good enough for a second date (Linger), and I'm sure a third (Forever). It's a fun, light, romance. It has the elements that make for a good, light-hearted young adult, science fiction romance. Now, this may be the Team Jacob coming out in me, but I loved these main characters together. I liked that Grace and Sam felt mature, likeable and fun. I like that they seemed to have some beyond-this-world connection to each other. I liked that they had a friendship as much as they had a relationship. And, best I can tell, and granted, I haven't read the second and third books yet, I'm fairly certain Grace isn't so stupid as to jump off any damn cliffs for Sam. 


In short, read it. It's fun. It's quick (I read it in a day). It's what I think makes young adult a great genre... even for old, young adults like me. 


I'm currently working on more Evanovich and Blindness for BYOB's March Gathering. And, to date, 10 books toward the 50 I'm shooting for in 2012.

Happy reading, friends!

Book Review: A Faithful Place

Book: Faithful Place

Author: Tana French

My rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Brief synopsis:

Back in 1985, Frank Mackey was nineteen, growing up poor in Dublin's inner city, and living crammed into a small flat with his family on Faithful Place. But he had his sights set on a lot more. He and Rosie Daly were all ready to run away to London together, get married, get good jobs, break away from factory work and poverty and their old lives.

But on the winter night when they were supposed to leave, Rosie didn't show. Frank took it for granted that she'd dumped him-probably because of his alcoholic father, nutcase mother, and generally dysfunctional family. He never went home again.

Neither did Rosie. Everyone thought she had gone to England on her own and was over there living a shiny new life. Then, twenty-two years later, Rosie's suitcase shows up behind a fireplace in a derelict house on Faithful Place, and Frank is going home whether he likes it or not.

Getting sucked in is a lot easier than getting out again. Frank finds himself straight back in the dark tangle of relationships he left behind. The cops working the case want him out of the way, in case loyalty to his family and community makes him a liability. Faithful Place wants him out because he's a detective now, and the Place has never liked cops. Frank just wants to find out what happened to Rosie Daly-and he's willing to do whatever it takes, to himself or anyone else, to get the job done.

My review:


This is Tana French's third book. Having read her first two, In the Woods and The Likeness, (and thoroughly loved both),  I was really excited to read Faithful Place. While Faithful Place was as well written as her first two, I didn't find that I loved it. 


There were several reasons. First, this one held less of a psychological suspense thriller element than her other books. The focus was more on Frank and his relationship with his family. While it gave a nice background into the character, this also led the mystery to become fairly predictable. The ending seemed a bit too easy. Now having read three French novels, I'm starting to find that may be the one weakness in her writing... if it seems to obvious, well, it may just be the answer. (Although, I will say in the first two, I didn't figure it out, but left feeling like I should have done so!) 


There were a few plot twists I was predicting along the way that didn't happen and in a lot of ways, I wish something more twisty would have happened toward the end. 


I will say, if you like Tana French, it's a good, solid and well-written novel and worth reading. But if you haven't read her, then absolutely read her first two books before tackling Faithful Place. 

My year of fifty books

This year I've set a goal for myself to read fifty books. Some will be for book club (next up is "Blindness," by Jose Sargamo* which I haven't started yet.)

I also just started reading Janet Evanovich's Stephanie Plumb series. I read the first two in the series in January and just borrowed books three and four from the library. As these have been out for some time, I'm not going to review them, but I will say, so far, I love them. Super fast reads! It will be my mystery series investment of the year. Next year maybe I'll try Sue Grafton's alphabet series?

In January, I'm proud to say I stayed on track reading four books.

1) One for the Money, Janet Evanovich
2) Two for the Dough, Janet Evanovich
3) Heaven is for Real, Todd Burpo
4) Faithful Place, Tana French*

In February, to date, I've read one book so far. Albeit, it was a short one, Mitch Albom's "For One More Day."

Additionally, in January I started "Women, Food and God," by Geneen Roth which I'm about halfway through.

I am tracking my book challenge in Goodreads, where I'll give each a rating when I'm done.

Don't worry, I'm not intending to fill my blog with a running list of all the books I have read, but I will continue to review some of them on here. In the mean time, I think I need to watch a bit of TV, too!

*I will write a review on this one.