Book Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Paranormal/ Romance/ Young Adult Fiction

I absolutely loved Shiver and read it within a day.

The book is told from a first person account, each chapter alternating from Sam or Grace’s point of view. Sam is a werewolf and once saved Grace from an attack from a pack of wolves that he is attached to. Since the incident both Grace and Sam have had a special relationship. Sam visits Grace in his wolf form every year from the edge of the forest and Grace waits for her yellow-eyed wolf to come and visit every winter. An unfortunate incident in the woods allowed Sam to approach Grace in his human form and thus their romance begins.

I have to say that there were some parts of the book which I didn’t like but I’m a sucker for YA Romance so this is a biased review and I’m willing to overlook the flaws. In the beginning I found Grace’s obsession with the yellow-eyed wolf to be a bit weird. Plus the first few chapters of the book felt a bit long winded but once Sam reveals his human-self to Grace, the romance begins and so does the drama and the action. 

This is a great book; filled with action, mystery and undying teenage romance. Basically, if you’re a Twilight fan, I suspect you’ll love this book too though Grace is the complete opposite of Bella- thank God!

I quite enjoyed reading Shiver and I can’t wait to read Linger, the second book for the series. Read it!  

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Young Adult Reading Challenge

Friday Finds: June 25, 2010

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What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! This is a weekly blog event hosted by Should Be Reading.

Here are my finds for this week: 

Numbers- Rachel Ward

Hex Hall- Rachel Hawkins

The Day I Shot Cupid- Jennifer Love Hewitt

The Behaviour of Moths-  Poppy Adams

Chasing Brooklyn- Lisa Schroeder

Howl’s Moving Castle- Diana Wynne Jones

Among the six books listed, I’m quite keen to read Howl’s Moving Castle. I've FINALLY managed to get my hands on a copy of the book from Kinokuniya this week... yippee! I've been wanting to read the book since I saw the movie version produced by Studio Ghibli. Hopefully, I'll be able to start reading it next week.

Have a good weekend everybody!

Book Review: The Soloist by Steve Lopez

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Author: Steve Lopez

Genre: Biography

When Steve Lopez encounters a homeless man playing beautiful music on a battered violin, he finds the meeting impossible to forget. Any other person would probably not question how such a talented musician such as Nathaniel Ayers could end up as a homeless man on Skid Row, Los Angeles but Steve Lopez’s inquisitive nature leads him to find out more about Nathaniel’s true talent and his musical background. What began as a chance encounter turns into a unique relationship, one that has helped a homeless musician suffering from schizophrenia to explore and grow his talent and possibly lead him to a road of recovery.

This book tells of their friendship and their journey together and the challenges they face in battling schizophrenia.

Steve Lopez’s style of writing is something I am not accustomed to (because obviously I don’t read a lot of non-fiction) but I felt that it presented the frustrations faced by Steve Lopez with Nathaniel’s condition truthfully. Though I did not enjoy Lopez’s style of writing, I did find this book insightful and it provided a brief understanding of schizophrenia as a mental condition. I was also very much interested to find out how this condition had affected Nathaniel Ayers in his youth leading him to now lead a street life on Skid Row.

Well worth the read.

Book Review: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz

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Author: Junot Diaz

Genre: Literary Fiction

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao is a not-so-brief recollection of Oscar’s life as well as his family’s, narrated by his friend, Yunior and his sister, Lola. In his youth, ‘Oscar was something of a Casanova’ but as he grew older, he became a social outcast; overweight, nerdy, obsessed with science fiction and fantasy and always on a mission looking for love.

This book was, for me, a difficult book to read. One, because there was a lot of Spanish used and I consistently had to go online to check what they meant. Two, because there was a lot of Dominican Republic history that I didn’t know about that I constantly need to find references of. Regardless, I also found this book quite an interesting read. What I liked was that this book brought about a lot of mixed reaction whilst I was reading it; sad, happy, funny, hate, love- all rolled into one.

The only thing I was really annoyed with in the book was the damn footnotes!

Anyway, this is a highly recommended read and an eye opener for those who are not privy to Dominican Republic’s culture and history. Oscar’s story is sad and the ending is... bitter sweet... but his journey is epic and his search for love, sincere. Definitely, a must read.

Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge

It's Monday! What are you reading?

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It's Monday! What are you reading is a weekly blog event hosted by Sheila from One Persons Journey through a World of Books.

Last week I managed to read: The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Woa. I haven't had a chance to review it yet but hopefully I'll come around to the task before the end of the week. In a nutshell, The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Woa was quite an interesting read for me.  

Currently, I am reading: The Soloist by Steve Lopez. If I can finish reading this before the end of the week, I have set my mind to pick up either The Little Giant of Abderdeen County by Tiffany Baker or possibly Daughter of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts which has been in my TBR pile for the longest time. 

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I haven't taken part in a blog event for a long time, so am looking forward to see what everyone else is reading out there. Well, I guess that's all folks... off to visit some blogs now. Have a good week ahead!

Friday Finds: June 18, 2010

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What great books did you hear about/discover this past week? Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS! This is a weekly blog event hosted by Should Be Reading.

Here are my finds for this week: 

Unholy Ghost- Stacia Kane

The Dead Tossed Wave- Carrie Ryan

The Girl with Glass Feet- Ali Shaw

The Adoration of Jenna Fox- Mary E. Pearson
Wintercraft- Jenna Burtenshaw
The Iron Man: A Children's Story in Five Nights- Ted Hughes

I’ve read a couple of positive reviews about Unholy Ghost and I can’t wait to get myself a copy of the book. I especially love Book Chick City’s recent review on the title; please click here if you’d like to check it out.

I’ve also been wanting to read The Dead Tossed Wave by Carrie Ryan. I read the Forest of Hands and Teeth last year and absolutely love it, hopefully the second book is as good as the first.

Anyway, have a happy reading week ahead everybody!