Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books I Read Because Of Another Blogger

Top Ten Tuesday

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Top Ten Books I Read Because of Another Blogger

    

    

1. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

          - Found this from numerous blogs giving it high ratings; and since Faeries are one of my weaknesses, I just had to read it.

2. Graceling by Kristin Cashore

          - I saw it on one of my friends on GoodReads and when I managed to find a copy at a nearby bookstore, I read it greedily.

3. Wicked Lovely by Melissa Marr

          - I first caught sight of it from Kristi of The Story Siren. I fell in love with the entire series since then.

4. XVI by Julia Karr

          - Maria of Bookchilla: Reading is the Ultimate Aphrodisiac and a friend of mine from Goodreads put this on her TBR, and so did I.

5. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

          - I didn't bother to check this book out when I saw tons of copies of it on every bookstore I go to. But entering The Young Adult Book Club and other GoodReads groups that have a ton of girls giggling and ogling over Jace made me want to see what the fuss was all about.

6. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

          - There was a rave about this book all over the net so I decided to check it out too.

7. Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

          - The same with Wicked Lovely, I saw this on Kristi's site. Basically, her blog was the first one I followed so most of the books I started reading were those that I saw there.

8. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

          - It had gone viral... and I got infected.

9. Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

          - Definitely eye-catching so I understand why I saw it all over different blogs, sadly it didn't capture my heart.

10. Matched by Ally Condie

          - This had positive feedback from my Goodreads friends so I decided to read it too. I'm still bummed that I didn't feel the same about it as they did.

Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie by Maggie Stiefvater

         

Ballad: A Gathering of Faerie
(Books of Faerie #2)
by Maggie Stiefvater

Summary from Goodreads:

"In this mesmerizing sequel to Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception, music prodigy James Morgan and his best friend, Deirdre, join a private conservatory for musicians. James' musical talent attracts Nuala, a soul-snatching faerie muse who fosters and feeds on the creative energies of exceptional humans until they die. Composing beautiful music together unexpectedly leads to mutual admiration and love. Haunted by fiery visions of death, James realizes that Deirdre and Nuala are being hunted by the Fey and plunges into a soul-scorching battle with the Queen of the Fey to save their lives."

Rating:

This was way better than Lament! 

I love James! He was goofy, cocky and really such an interesting character. I enjoyed reading the book in his point of view as well as Nuala’s. Both had such amazing personalities that made you laugh and cry the same time they felt it throughout the story. 

The first few chapters was a bit slow but enough to let the reader settle into the atmosphere of the story. Then every other chapter just kept me flipping and flipping, eager to know what would happen next. I loved James and Nuala’s story. It was funny and romantic and just plain great! 


Although, there were a bit of details left unanswered. I’m still wondering what happened to Luke? I’d expected to see a bit of him in Ballad since Lament showed no doubt how much it pained Dee and Luke to be apart. Brendan and Una happened to be significant but Luke wasn’t? It’s was just too big of a deal to leave him out. Still, if it was just to focus on James, this was really, really, and I mean REALLY good to read and I’d read it over again and again. 

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

        

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

Summary from Goodreads:

"the cold. 

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. 

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

Rating:

One word that best describes Shiver for me is: DRAMA. I felt like I was watching a mythological soap opera. Don't get me wrong, I love Maggie's novels, her writing is magnificent, but I didn't like Shiver as much as I loved Maggie's other novel, Ballad. 

The new twist of this werewolf tale was the reason I bought this book. However, I wasn't that fascinated with how it turned out. I guess I was expecting some action when books involve mythological creatures, sort of a little hack and slash, some ripping and fighting, something like that. But it was mainly focused on the love interest between Sam and Grace. I like Grace's character. She's simple yet distinctive, pretty much a real person. Sam on the other hand was too fictional. He sounds way too emo, and was obviously created in a girl's wishful mind of an "Ideal Man". He was too perfect to be taken seriously as a guy. 

Overall, this book was okay for me. Good writing, nice plot, simple main characters - it's okay. 
I'm looking forward to reading Linger though, because there is one spunky little character I loved in Shiver and she'll be tousling our minds as she expresses her thoughts in Linger (Yes, Isabelle, I'm talking about you).

Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception by Maggie Stiefvater

        

Lament: The Faerie Queen's
Deception (Books of Faerie #1)
by Maggie Stiefvater

Summary from Goodreads:

"Sixteen-year-old Deirdre Monaghan is a painfully shy but prodigiously gifted musician. She's about to find out she's also a cloverhand—one who can see faeries. Deirdre finds herself infatuated with a mysterious boy who enters her ordinary suburban life, seemingly out of thin air. Trouble is, the enigmatic and gorgeous Luke turns out to be a gallowglass—a soulless faerie assassin. An equally hunky—and equally dangerous—dark faerie soldier named Aodhan is also stalking Deirdre. Sworn enemies, Luke and Aodhan each have a deadly assignment from the Faerie Queen. Namely, kill Deirdre before her music captures the attention of the Fae and threatens the Queen's sovereignty. Caught in the crossfire with Deirdre is James, her wisecracking but loyal best friend. Deirdre had been wishing her life weren't so dull, but getting trapped in the middle of a centuries-old faerie war isn't exactly what she had in mind . . . 

Lament is a dark faerie fantasy that features authentic Celtic faerie lore, plus cover art and interior illustrations by acclaimed faerie artist Julia Jeffrey."

Rating:

Finally! It's nice finding a book about faeries where the protagonist isn’t a half-fey or princess. Deirdre being a cloverhand spiced things up and I found Maggie Stiefvater creating a new approach to the faerie world. 

The writing style was very insightful and the plot was quite unique compared to other faerie books. Although, I expected a little more action when Deirdre came face-to-face with the Faerie Queen near the ending but instead it lacked of thrill and excitement that I just heard myself say, “That was it?” 

Nevertheless, I enjoyed reading this book.