Novel Review: The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle, #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Release Date: September 2013

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday. Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

The second installment in the all-new series from the masterful, #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Maggie Stiefvater!

Now that the ley lines around Cabeswater have been woken, nothing for Ronan, Gansey, Blue, and Adam will be the same. Ronan, for one, is falling more and more deeply into his dreams, and his dreams are intruding more and more into waking life. Meanwhile, some very sinister people are looking for some of the same pieces of the Cabeswater puzzle that Gansey is after...

The Cover:

I love the cover. It's pretty, the artwork is really nice, and I love how well it portrays the book. It's clearly showing that this book is focusing on Ronan, and it's emphasizing his dreams, along with the raven theme. The colors work great for the feel of the books, too. It's a really good cover.

Quotes:

•  "Gansey had been excited; he was the sort of boy who didn’t necessarily believe everything, but wanted to.” (Pg. 9)
• "'When does the potential start being a real thing?’ […] ‘I just want to know when it stops being potential and starts being something more.’” (Pg. 44-45)
• "If you never saw the stars, candles were enough.” (Pg. 60)
• "It hadn’t been joy, but instead, the absence of pain. He couldn’t forget that lightness. The freedom.” (Pg. 78)
• "Ronan didn’t reply. Silence was never a wrong answer.” (Pg. 167)
• "If he had no one to wrap their arms around him when he was sad, could he be forgiven for letting his anger lead him?” (Pg. 372)

Review:

"Every day, thousands of confessions are kept from their would-be confessors, none of these people knowing that their never-admitted secrets all boil down to the same three words:  I am afraid.” (Hardback, pg. 1)

I am in love with this book. I really enjoyed the first book, but I wasn’t expecting this one to be even better, to such an extent. But my god, I love it. And this makes me so, so excited for the next one.

I absolutely love the characters in this series. So much happened with them in this book, there were a lot of surprises, and I love it. I’m glad that I have no real idea of where the story is going. And that each book has only given me more questions.

Ronan is just surprising me at every turn. A lot happened with him in this book, he was given a lot of attention, and now I’m just intrigued by him. I don’t want to spoil anything, but I have so many questions about him. His whole dream thing is really neat, if also a little destructive. I like his bird, Chainsaw. I am really looking forward to seeing what happens with him next. There's also some possible sexual tension (and fan shipping) that I'm wondering, or hoping, if will be explored later.

Adam I am a little unsure about. I’m not really sure what’s going on with him. I liked what happened with him and Blue in this book. Adam could go in any direction from here, and I think I’m just waiting to see where that it.

I like Gansey a lot. A lot. I’m enjoying seeing him develop, grow. We haven’t actually seen a lot of him, I don’t think. He hasn’t got as much of the spotlight as some of the others. But I like him.

I like Blue a lot, as well. She’s great, and I relate to her in some ways. I like her and her family a whole lot. I also like her and Gansey together quite a lot, and look forward to seeing that develop. We really only saw the beginnings of it in this book, and I look forward to more. And I like how she handled Adam.

I love Blue’s family, the psychics she lives with. Her mother is great. And I was surprised by it, but her mother even has a romance in this book. It was surprising, and I was really wary of him at first, but I honestly love how it all worked out. I wasn’t expecting there to be an actual romance for the adults, but I loved it. I look forward to seeing their relationship grow in the next book. And just getting to know him better, because he's such an interesting character.

I loved everything about this book. The writing is gorgeous and quirky and makes me want to keep reading. Stiefvater writes exactly the way that I want to write. The characters are great, and I’m really enjoying seeing each of them develop and grow into new, sometimes better, people. So much happened in this book, but I won’t spoil anything, so I’m not going to go into detail. I have no idea where the story is going next, and I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book.

Novel Review: Sweet Temptation (Sweet, #4) by Maya Banks

Rating (Out of 5): ~4

Genre: Erotica

Publisher: Heat (Penguin)

Release Date: 2010

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Goodreads Synopsis:

He was a by-the-book cop who broke the rules in the bedroom...
Micah Hudson has painful secrets he's run hard from. He has new friends, a new life, but he's about to be confronted with the one person who reminds him of all he's tried to forget--Angelina, the sister of his oldest friend David. She knows everything about his past, including how he and David fell in love with the same woman, and how they decided the best way to prevent her from tearing them apart was to share her between them. But then a terrible accident left Micah alone...
She was willing to do anything to make him see the woman she'd become...
Micah lost the two people who meant the most in the world to him. Angelina lost her only family. And she kept her deepest secret close to her heart. Her love for Micah. No longer willing to wait, she decides it's time to go after him and bring him to his knees. She knows his secrets, his desires, his kinks and fetishes, and she'll use whatever it takes to reel him in. Behind the easygoing, loves women exterior lies a man with dark needs and passions. She can give him what he wants. But will he decide she's what he needs?

The Cover:

I really like this cover. It's sexy, it's sweet, it clearly shows that this is an erotica novel. i like it. There's also a fruit cover for this book, of an wet apple, and it's all right, too. It's one of the more appealing food covers for this type of book, although I still don't think it really has anything to do with the book.

Review:

I really enjoyed this one. I’ve liked most of Banks’ books that I’ve read, and especially the ones in this series. I was really looking forward to this one, both because I was intrigued by Micah and because it sounded particularly kinky. And I was not disappointed.

I liked Angelina a lot. I got why she wanted Micah, I saw her attraction to him (and him to her) clearly. I liked that she want after what she wanted, was persistent, but I also understood why she was conflicted. Micah was a bit frustrating a few times, but I did like him. I felt bad for what had happened to him, and I liked how good Angelina was for him.

The sex was a little extreme, with some sadomasochism stuff, some BDSM, spanking, threesomes and more, and the like. It was hot. Some people I know didn’t enjoy it much, but I rather liked it. It was well done, and hot. I also liked when they switched places, and the release that gave Micah.

I really liked the ending, how everything worked out. The stalker plotline was even exciting to me, and I really liked that, since often times they aren’t.

This was definitely another very good book of Banks’. I’m excited to read more. I especially look forward to going back and reading Julie and Nathan's story, as well as reading Cole’s book.