Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

MY RATING: 4/5

BLURB: 

the cold. 

Grace has spend years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf - her wolf - watched back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn't know why, 

the heat. 

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. 

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 and fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future. 

REVIEW: 

If I had to describe Shiver in one word I would probably use cute, or adorable. Shiver is a sweet love story with lovable characters. 

Grace has watched the wolf with the yellow eyes for the last six years. When Sam and Grace finally meet in person they can't deny their feelings for each other. Sam and Grace try to spend all the time that they can together in their limited time as they try to keep Sam from the cold and staying human. 

I really liked Sam and Grace as characters. Sam was just adorable. He was so sweet and just all round wonderful. Grace was a very strong character, she seemed to be the more dominant one in their relationship. Sam was always being gentlemanly and wouldn't even kiss her, but she was the one to just jump straight into things. 

The only thing that brings this book down for me is the love at first sight sort of thing. Maggie Stiefvater seems to like writing it. I have read Lament and Ballad and it was the same sort of deal. I don't personally like the whole love at first sight. But Sam and Grace had the sweetest relationship the book made me smile and even cry for them at times. I really enjoyed this book. 

Jammie the Book Nerd 
xxoo

Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

MY RATING: 5/5

BLURB: 

Francesca is at the beginning of her second term in Year Eleven at an all boys' school that has just started accepting girls. She still misses her old friends, and, to make things worse, her mother has had a breakdown and can barely move from her bed. But Francesca had not counted on the fierce loyalty of her new friends, or falling in love, or finding that it's within her power to bring her family back together. 

From the best-selling, multi-award-winning author of Looking for Alibrandi, comes a memorable story told with humor compassion and joy. 

REVIEW: 

As always Marchetta creates a wonderful world of fantastic characters that you can't help but love. 

Francesca is trying to deal with fitting in at a new school, an all boys school that has started accepting girls, she feels like she has enough to deal with without her mother's problems too, who suddenly won't get out of bed. Francesca's mum is suffering from depression. The story follows Francesca as she tries to blend in at a new school, falls in love and tries to cope with her depressed mother, when in the end she learns that she can help bring them back together again, and decides to save herself. 

Francesca is a very real character, she's easy to connect and relate to. She's just a normal teenage girl, trying to fit in at a new school and deal with her family problems. I think everyone can relate to in some way or another. Will Trombal, where do I start. I love Will Trombal. He's sweet, and smart and sometimes just seems like a confusing arse hole, but, as with all of Marchetta's wonderful characters, you just can't help but love him. All of Francesca's friends were wonderful. They're all so opposite, but exactly the same and fit together so well. 

As with the other two books that I have read by Melina Marchetta I really liked Saving Francesca, I didn't find it as sad as the other two, but I still loved it. 

Jammie the Book Nerd

xxoo

My Book Boyfriend #1: Will Trombal

My Book Boyfriend is a weekly Meme that is hosted by Missie over at The Unread Reader, where bloggers get together and post all about their literary crush of the week :) Including stats and quotes from or about him that you love. If you're interested check out the intro post at The Unread Reader. 

So I know that this is a weekly Meme, but I probably won't be able to post it weekly, I will try as hard as I can. But Uni is getting into the exam periods at the moment so I am not having a lot of time for blogging. But anyway, onto my very first My Book Boyfriend post :) 

So for my first My Book Boyfriend I have decided on Will Trombal from Saving Francesca. 

STATS:  

"He has a strange face. It's all sharpness and angles and incredibly fair skin. But then he's got this thatch of black hair that's such a contrast. It's like two cultures has a massive fight over his face and neither one."

• Possibly half Italian 
• Voice has been described as the voice of a sex god
• He has a small scar between his eyes 

QUOTES: 

"I can't get the Will Trombal kiss out of my mind. No. "kiss" is not the word to describe it. The Will Trombal experience. The Will Trombal extravaganza." 

"'I'm sorry,' he says, 'for that time I kissed you at the party and for that time at the wedding and more than anything for the thousand times that I wanted to and didn't have the guts to." 

"'Kind of interested in you,' he laughs, as if he can't believe what he's hearing. 'I'm kind of interested in calculus and Ancient Roman warfare. You don't use words kind of interested to describe how I feel about you.'" 

"'We haven't even started going out together and you're thinking of breaking up.' 

'But that's it. When I think of you, I think future stuff. I think of this is it and I'm not supposed to think this is it at my age. I don't look at you and think nice. I look at you and think, oh my God, I want to hold her and never let her go. I think sex-right here, right now-'" 

Just writing the quotes out is making me swoon. Don't you just love him already? 

So what do you think of Will Trombal? Have you read Saving Francesca? 

Jammie the Book Nerd 

xxoo

White Cat by Holly Black

MY RATING: 4/5

BLURB: 

CASSEL IS CURSED

Cursed by the memory of the fourteen year old girl he murdered. Life at school is a constant trial. Life at home even worse. No-one at home is ever going to forget that Cassel is a killer. No-one at home is ever going to forget that he isn't a magic worker. And now he is being haunted by a white cat. . . 

Cassel's family are magic workers. Ever since magic was prohibited in 1929 magic workers have been driven underground and into crime. And while people still need their touch, their luck, their curses, their magical killings, their transformations, times have been hard. His grand-dad is a black-fingered death-dealer, his mother is in prison and his brothers detest him as the only one of their family who can't do magic. 

But there is a secret at the center of Cassel's family and he's about to inherit it. It's terrifying and that's the truth. 

The White Cat is the sensational new novel of a changed world and the price we have to pay for magic from the internationally bestselling author of The Spiderwick Chronicles. 

REVIEW: 

I had no idea what to expect from this book. I hadn't heard anything about it, only some people on a The Mortal Instruments group that I am a part of telling me that's it's good and that I should read it. I am actually really glad that I did. It was good :) Full of lots of twists. And that ending! Those of you who have read the book will know what I'm talking about. You think that all is well everything is finally happy, he's got everything he ever wanted. And then BAM!! They throw that at you. 

Cassel is a killer. Nobody but his family members know about what he did to poor Lila. When Cassel begins to learn some of the secrets about his family and himself that they have all kept so well from him, his whole world is turned upside down. Cassel is the youngest in a family of course workers. His mother is an Emotion Worker, his Grand Father a Death worker. Cassel is the only one in his family not able to do Curse Work. This and the girl that he killed always make him feel like the odd one out in his family. Everyone is always excluding him from their "secret worker business" and his brother hasn't looked him in the eye for three years. All Cassel wants is to be normal, or to be perceived as normal anyway. He just wants to be like the rest of his family, be included. 

Cassel annoyed me a little to begin with. It just seemed so much that he just did whatever anyone told him to. He didn't fight for what he wanted, he just went a long with anything. But closer to the end of the book you see that that isn't really the case. He sort of has to do what he is told. And he does fight for what he wants. And he is very smart :P So by the end of the book I really did like Cassel's character. Cassel's brothers were very interesting. I can't say too much without it being spoilers. But I didn't like Phillip very much, and Barron I'm a bit unsure about. Zacharov was pretty awsome for a powerful criminal, and I loved Cassel's Grandfather. 

I knew from about half way through the book that I was going to have a hard time reviewing this book. I don't know what I can say about it. I just want to gush about all the twists. At first the story was a little confusing. When it comes to stories like these, set in different worlds, you have to first wrap your head around how they work. There wasn't much explanation behind a lot of things, you have to sort of pick things up as you go along, which I really enjoy. There is a lot of twists and surprises all through the book, there is not really any major ones, but a lot of small things that Cassel learns and you never would have expected (well I didn't anyway). So all in all, I really enjoyed this book. I definitely want to go out and get my hands on a copy for myself (I borrowed it out from the library), as well as a copy of the sequel Red Glove. 

Jammie the Book Nerd 
xxoo

Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton

MY RATING: 4/5

BLURB: 

My whole body shivered. I was about to find out if magic was real. The electric thrill of terror was sharp on my tongue. I cut deep. 

Silla is damaged and lost since the death of her parents. 

Nick is the new boy in town with a chilling past of his own.

A mysterious spell book steeped in blood magic will bind Silla and Nick together. 

But at what cost?

A fiery, intoxicating and pulse-pounding debut novel. 

REVIEW: 

I really liked this book. I've never really read anything like it before, so it was a very refreshing change. The only other book that I have read about magic is Beautiful Creatures, but Blood Magic was still really different from that. 

Nick and Silla are special, they can do magic. Blood Magic. Silla came home one day and discovered her parents in a pool of their own blood. They told her that her father shot her mother and then shot himself. Nick is the new guy in town who we learn had a disturbing childhood with the magic. When their paths cross and Nick finds Silla in the cemetery doing magic he is instantly worried and partly intrigued. Nick, Silla and Silla's brother Reese all work together to try and learn what really happened to their parents and stumble across someone who uses the blood magic for evil. 

The story was really well written. I like stories that switch between the guy and the girl, it gives you more of an insight to both of their stories and feelings. The journal entries were an interesting way to get some of the background story of the characters. I enjoyed reading about Silla and Nick's relationship. It was very real. There was no, they see each other for the first time and know that they're meant for each other, it's just normal. They're two teenagers, they develop crushes on each other, they're full of regular teenage desires. 

I liked all of the characters in the story. Nick calling Silla babe so much, and so early in their relationship was a little annoying, but other than that I really liked Nick. Silla was interesting. The Silla we see in the book is very opposite from the person she used to be. The Silla we meet is broken and very damaged from what she has gone through. I found it interesting how she used the idea of masks to keep her emotions hidden from people. Gram Judy was sweet. Reese was a really good brother. Josephine was a really well written and developed character. She was fun and really interesting to read about. 

I really enjoyed this book. It was really different, I have never really read anything like it before.  There was a lot of blood and dead bodies in this story. So some of it would be a little scary and disturbing for some people. I would probably recommend of 14 or 15 +

I love the cover of this book. The copy that I read had a plain white cover. I personally like the black better. The white seemed too pure and good, where I felt the blood magic was a little bad and maybe even a little evil. So the black cover with the forest looming in the back ground suits the story much more for me. I love the chipped nail polish, very nice touch. It makes me think of Silla. Going through such a traumatizing experience, just trying to go with the flow and just get through the days, neglecting something as mundane as repainting your fingernails. 

Jammie the Book Nerd 
xxoo

Devilish by Maureen Johnson

MY RATING: 3/5

BLURB: 

Jane Jarvis and Allison Concord, seniors at Saint Teresa's Preparatory School for Girls, have always been too quirky to be popular, but at least they'll always have each other, right? Not so much. After a hideously embarrassing disaster, Allison comes to school transformed. Suddenly she has cute hair and clothes, speaks fluent Latin, and won't even look at Jane. With the help of a strangely wise freshman boy, Jane discovers the incredible truth: Allison has sold her soul to the devil. Now Jane will have to save Allison before the bizarrely exclusive Poodle Prom, a party of biblical proportions that just might blow apart the world as Jane knows it. 

REVIEW: 

This was the first book that I have ever read by Maureen Johnson. I have been wanting to get my hands on one for quite a while. I am really glad that I liked it. I have been following Maureen Johnson on Twitter for quite a while, and the kind of fun and quirky person that she is really shows through in her writing. I really enjoyed this book, and I definitely want to read more by her. 

Jane Jarvis and Allison Concord are just two normal girls at high school.They've never really been the popular type, but they have always had each other. Until one day when Allison comes to school a completely different person; suddenly she has new hair, new clothes and a new phone that she can't work. Jane soon learns that Allison has made a deal with the devil, like any good best friend would, Jane tries to help Allison get out of the deal in anyway  that she can. 

Johnson has developed a set of extremely interesting characters. Jane is very intelligent and a wonderful friend. Even after Allison practically ditches her and turns on her she still tries to do everything she can to get her out of the deal that she's made. I didn't like Allison very much at the beginning of the book, but by the end I did. She's an interesting character. Just as good a friend to Jane as she is to her. 

I really enjoyed this book. I was a little worried at first, because I didn't know what to expect. But it was a pleasant surprise and I really enjoyed it. I will definitely be on the prowl for more Maureen Johnson books to try :) 

Jammie the Book Nerd 

xxoo