maggie stiefvater – Bookmarked!

Catching up: The Raven Cycle

Maggie Stiefvater is best known for her Shiver (“Shiver,” “Linger,” “Forever”) trilogy, but I do think her best work is showcased in her succeeding books, the standalone novel “The Scorpio Races” and the ongoing Raven Cycle, with three books out: “The Raven Boys,” “The Dream Thieves,” and “Blue Lily, Lily Blue.”

I loved “The Scorpio Races ,” and the Raven Cycle is growing more and more fascinating with each installment, with lots of characters to fall in love with and a strange and beautiful world to explore. The series is an unusual mix of paranormal and fantasy, with a dash of mystery, romance (of course), and all the awkwardness of growing up.

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The Raven Boys

I knew I’d definitely be reading more of Maggie Stiefvater’s work after The Scorpio Races, which was simply spectacular. I had read her Shiver trilogy earlier, and while I thought her prose was beautiful, I can’t say I’m a fan of the forsake-all-others teen romance (~~vampire~~, er, werewolf or no werewolf), so Maggie Stiefvater’s recent novels have been a welcome change.

From the fantasy of The Scorpio Races, Stiefvater returns to the paranormal realm with The Raven Boys. Nope, there are no werewolves in this one, but it ventures into the occult — my kind of paranormal. I do love a good ghost story!

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Winners: The Scorpio Races!

Finally, here are the winners of my Scorpio Races giveaway.

I apologize for the delay, I know you guys have been waiting for this, but I’ve had a lot to catch up on at work and I’ve resumed my tutoring (5 times a week) after the holidays, so before I knew it, January came, and is now nearly over!

Also, choosing the winners (for the non-raffle part) was tough. I don’t normally hold giveaways where I have to choose the winner because it’s never easy to pick out a winner out of all the entries. I usually get Randomizer to keep it well, random, but for this particular giveaway, I thought a thematic question was more significant given the themes of the novel.

So anyway, on to the winners!

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Sunday Giveaway: The Scorpio Races

As promised, my new giveaway is Maggie Stiefvater’s YA novel The Scorpio Races.

I loved The Scorpio Races (read my review here) and I’m happy to share this book with you. Thanks to Scholastic, not just one, not two, but THREE lucky readers get the chance to win a hardcover copy of this awesome book.

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The Scorpio Races

I can’t really say I’m all that fond of horses, although I’ve read my share of horses when I was younger, like Black Beauty and The Summer of the Dancing Horse. I also haven’t had a lot of exposure to equines, other than the requisite carriage rides in Vigan or Old Manila, and long-ago pony rides in the highlands. In fact, of late, the closest I’ve gotten to these four-legged creatures is My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, to keep up with my *ahem* brony friends.

I’ve read Maggie Stiefvater‘s werewolf novels Shiver and Linger, and while they did not make a paranormal romance fan out of me, I thought they were among the better-written books in the genre. But when I first saw her latest novel, I honestly did not know what to make of it. Mainly because of the nondescript brown cover — you all know I judge a book by the cover! — and well, you’ve got to admit there is something off-putting about a story featuring flesh-eating water horses! Nevertheless, I decided to give it a chance.

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