Where There's a Wolf, There's a Way (Monster High #3) by Lisi Harrison

The newest edition of the Monster High series focuses on Clawdeen, as well as our usual narrators (Frankie and Melody). The monster documentary was released, but yet no faces were blurred. The RADs identities have been discovered and many of them are forced to leave town. This is basically the aftermath and what happens next, while developing some interesting relationships and putting twists into the plot line.

I liked the overall plot, yet I found it to be a little bit boring compared to the last two books. I liked Clawdeen's character and Melody's discovery. I also liked how Billy has become a regular and is growing more interesting. I have to say that he's my favorite character by far! I hope he'll get his own book at some point... The usual pop culture references were enjoyable and the writing is simple and fun.

I didn't find this one as good as the first two, but I'm still looking forward to reading the fourth book, where Lala gets her time in the spotlight. 3.5 out of 5 stars.

Forever (Wolves of Mercy Falls #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

Hey guess what? I have a follower lol. I just thought I would announce that. Anyway, on to the review!

Ahh the conclusion. I really wanted to give this book 5 stars, but I couldn't sadly. Shall we go over the things I liked and disliked?

What I Disliked:

How slow the story was. Honestly, I just couldn't get into the story. Maybe it was that I didn't want to read it because I knew it was going to end, or that it just didn't draw me in the same way. In Shiver, I was absolutely addicted. For Forever, I can't say as much. It took me about a week to read this, even though on average a book will take about 3 days. It just seemed so slow and sad at parts that it was hard to be totally absorbed. I felt like the conclusion and action-ey part was only in the last 30 pages, which is kinda ridiculous because the book is almost 400 pages.

The ending. I guess it had to end somehow, but it was so... unfulfilling. I don't want to give too much away, but I just wanted to know more. And I was still a little confused about what had happened in the aftermath haha.

The cure. I still felt like I was missing something, and the cure or whatever it was wasn't totally explained. I just felt that the part about the whole technicalities could have been described better so it felt more scientific.

Isabel and Cole. I wanted romance between them... and yeah that just didn't seem to happen. I wanted them to be happy :(

What I Liked:

The writing. Maggie's writing is amazing. It's so thoughtful, magical, and optimistic. There are just lines you read and you're like "Wow" because they're that thought-provoking. All the moods are captured perfectly. There's sadness, happiness, love, loss, betrayal, laughter, and anger. It can be totally serious at one moment, but then you find yourself smiling on the next page because of something Cole said.

The characters. I just love them all! Sam is just too adorable. I like how he's described as scrawny and lanky instead of being all buff and stuff haha. And he's like emo and feminine too. Aww... How cute. I love Cole and all of his sarcastic, smartass-edness. I love Isabel and how snarky and bitchy she can is, but really she has good intentions.

The love. I love what Sam and Grace have together. It's so sweet, and its so real. Their chemistry is so perfect.

The font color. It was just pretty awesome haha. She should write a book in purple.:D

So, In Conclusion:

The series in all was amazing. I would definitely recommend it! Forever had an ending that disappointed me, but I still think it deserves my 4 out of 5 stars .

The Ghoul Next Door (Monster High #2) by Lisi Harrison

**If you haven’t read the first book in the series, I would recommend you do so before reading this review, because it contains spoilers**

In Monster High, we were left with a terrible cliffhanger with Melody trying to protect Jackson, while trying to save Frankie too. In The Ghoul Next Door, they create a plan and put it into action. It doesn’t work out quite the way they want it to, and before they know it, with the help of Brett they are making a documentary about teenage monsters to try to convince the public that they aren’t dangerous. It’s going to air on Channel 2, but of course they are going to blur out everyone’s faces, so they can’t be identified.

This part I disagree with, because wouldn’t they be able to recognize the monster’s voices or clothes with someone they sat next to in school? They could probably still be identified, but nice idea Frankie!

In the first book, the story shifts between Melody’s story and Frankie’s story. In the sequel, Melody and Frankie’s part is still told, but there is also Cleo’s side.

Cleo is spoiled, stuck up, arrogant, and selfish. But what else could you expect from a queen? Her dad returns from a trip to Egypt and brings home ancient jewels from Aunt Nefertiti. Before they know it, Cleo is going to be in a Teen Vogue photo shoot with the jewels. She’s so excited about it, and wants to share it with her friends. But her friends aren’t really interested in her at the moment, because they’re caught up with the documentary (it airs on the same day as the photo shoot, what a coincidence!). So she has to plot what to do so that her friends will stop focusing on the documentary, and more on HER!

That part reminds me of Mean Girls, because the queen is being dethroned and tries to get back on top. Classic chick-lit plot basically :)

One part I personally enjoyed was on page 23:

Just as Melody lifted her index finger over the touch screen, her phone was lifted from her hand.

“What are you doing?” she squealed at Candace.

“Trying to have a little family fun,” her sister teased, taunt-waving the phone. “You’ve been a total text maniac all night, and I want to know what’s going on.”

“Melody!” Beau said sternly. “Have you been sexting?”

That part actually made me laugh, like a parent would just automatically assume that!!!

I love how this book also has text message conversations, a poster, and a “missing” chapter. It makes for a unique read :)

I enjoyed chapter 14, which was written in Billy’s point of view. Billy is a ghost (which btw, they just kinda threw in the story! Lol) and so his picture doesn’t appear on the top of the page. And the writing fades at the end of the chapter. Nice effect!

I enjoyed all the pop culture references and how the book “explained” itself. I love books where sometimes you get the feel that it’s real, and there was a reason the book was written. At one part in the story, the characters get excited and say that someday maybe an author will write a teen series about them, and that Jackson drew doll versions of them. I like books that do this, and you feel like its real, even when you know its not.

Of course, there was another cliffhanger, which means that I’ll be reading the third book lol.

I would recommend this book to anyone who liked the first, or someone who wants a quick, light, fun read. It’s a guilty pleasure, and can be a bit dramatic, but if you aren’t bothered by the cheerleader-esque cattiness of it, you’ll enjoy it! 4 out of 5 stars for me :)

Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

Alright so before I get into the review, let me note that the font in this book is green!!! It's kinda a strange concept, because you're so used to seeing black font. But the ink is green!! o_O Like the color I'm using now, or a shade darker. And then I went back to Shiver, and guess what?! The font is blue! And now I'm trying to remember if I had noticed that before... Lol. So does this mean that the font in Forever is red? I can't wait because that would be epic :) So anyway, it was fun reading a book in a different colored font. More publishers should do this right? And use other fonts besides our typical, everyday ones. I think that Maggie Stiefvater should write another book in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series and have it be purple, so I can read a book with purple print (It’s my favorite color)!! Haha but anyway, on to the review…

**If you haven’t read Shiver, you might want to read that book first, because this review contains a few spoilers about the first book**

Shiver is about Grace fighting for Sam to be with her. The book ends with Sam mysteriously turning human, and then Grace and Sam get to be together. The “cure” isn’t foolproof (someone died trying it), and I was left wondering more about it. Grace and Sam don’t really think about it at all, for them it’s basically “How did it work?” “I don’t know” “Oh well, we’re together now. Let’s not get into the specifics”.

Linger is about their relationship now, but there are a few complications. Something is wrong with Grace, she’s coming down with a mysterious sickness. Okay, it’s not that hard to guess, she’s turning into a wolf. But why? Well I don’t know! This whole “science” thing is making no sense to me! Haha. Sam knows there’s something wrong, but he doesn’t really do anything about it because he doesn’t want to ruin the perfect moments they have together. Argh you Sam! You should have figured out what was wrong with her earlier!

And then there’s Cole, the mental one (I say that with love). He wants to be a wolf, but for some reason, he can’t stay a wolf. He has a complicated background, and he’s just trying to figure out who he is and what he wants.

Something I did like was how the author put in two different character’s point of view, so we got more of the story instead of just Sam and Grace. Plus, I like Cole and Isabel, so it’s just another good thing :)

I love Sam, he reminds me of my boyfriend so much. Like, so much it’s insane. Well not really like the music and the books, because my bf likes neither, but his personality and how he’s sensitive and caring and wants her... and yes. I’ll just stop now. xD

I think that I was more “into” Shiver, because it was more exciting and this one is just…. well, lingering. Lol. And now there’s Forever, which I will be reading soon!

But the cliffhanger! It’s really not that bad for me, mostly because I know the book is already out and I don’t have to wait a year to read it, but also because it was pretty predictable what was going to happen.

The one thing that bugs me about this series is just not knowing about the whole technical transformation of werewolves. The characters have stated that “it’s not magical, it’s science”. And there has to be some science behind it, we’re just given bits and pieces of it, some of which is misleading. I know it’s to make it suspenseful, and the author is probably saving it for Forever, but I don’t like surprises :( lol. So I hope that everything will be explained in book number 3.

I did like this book, even if it took me about 50 pages to really get into it. I wouldn’t say it was disappointing or anything, just exciting. Read Shiver first, and if you like it, read this one. I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars , just like Shiver :)

Happy reading!

<3

Monster High (Monster High #1) by Lisi Harrison

I read this book a few weeks ago, but I wanted to review it before I had to return it to the library so here it goes! This will be a quick review because I've got caught up in a whole bunch of different stories since I read it, so you know how that goes.... :)

I honestly have no idea why I wanted to read this book lol. I knew that it was based off of dolls, TV show, etc, the whole thing! :P But the cover was pretty cute, and I had read books by Harrison, so I decided to give it a try.

I really liked the idea of this book,  having monsters living in Salem and attending secret meetings, trying to fit in, etc. It's quite cute, and some parts are easy to relate to, being a teenager myself.

Something about the plot I must disagree on is the romance between the Melody, Frankie, DJ, and Jackson. DJ and Jackson are the same person, but different personas because he's related to Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. LOL! Bipolar much? So when it gets too hot, Jackson changes to DJ. Melody and Jackson have a thing, and then Frankie and DJ have a thing. So basically, the guy is with both the girls. But he's not the same person! This just bugs me so much. And also, Frankie was in love with Brett like 10 seconds ago, so what's with the sudden interest in DJ? Goshh such fickle characters!!

It's a really fun, quick, light read, nothing too serious about it. Doesn't involve too much concentration, which is something I lack occasionally lol.

Another complaint is how the story ended. You know there's going to be a second book, but that doesn't mean that the author can just stop right in the middle of the action! >:( But she does, so we'll all just forced to wait for the sequel, The Ghoul Next Door , to figure out what happens.

Overall, it's a cute, creative story that's worth reading if you're in the mood. I would give it 3.5 out of 5 stars.

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

Soo first review!

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (The Wolves of Mercy Falls: Book #1) actually came out in 2009 and there is a sequel (Linger) and a new book coming out soon (Forever) and it's going to be made in to a movie! I remember hearing about Shiver two years ago, but I could never get my hands on it (or I never really made the effort to lol). I did, and I am so glad that I finally got the chance to read it :)

Let me just say that I am pretty much over vampires (I was pretty over any other mystical creature-teen novel- of the sort too :P). For some reason, I really did enjoy this book though. It was intriguing and interesting, and definitely hard to put down. I probably wouldn't read it again, but I would read the other books in the series. And I am definitely team-werewolves now! None of these silly undead vampires for me! Haha ;)

Something that I did find a little strange was how she and Sam have supposedly loved each other even when he was in his wolf form. Which means that she was in love with a wolf? And a wolf was in love with a human? I just didn't really understand that part of the story lol.

I also had some unanswered questions, such as the ENDING! The ending was way too mysterious for me, but at the same time I liked it because it gave me something to think about. I was left wondering what had happened and how it happened. But I was happy that the characters got their happy ending after all :) Even though I would like to know how exactly it had happened because the author was pretty cryptic haha. I would also like to find out more about the "cure" and the wolves and their stories, and what made Olivia so different, and Grace's human-with-a-little-wolf-in-her. Maybe the other books will go into more of the details about those topics and answer my questions.

Now, the characters. I didn't really find myself relating myself to anyone in this story, except for the romantic bits with Grace and Sam (and this is only because I have a boyfriend and all these little moments make me be like "awwww!" and then sad because I wasn't with my boyfriend lol). Grace and Sam's backgrounds should have been explained more and all the other characters' parts really aren't that big so it's almost like they aren't even there. In the beginning of the story, it talks about Grace's friends, but after talking to Sam, she gets lost in Sam-world and her friends basically are absent from the story.

Also, for a story with werewolves, it was pretty action-less. Like there wasn't any huge fighting scene or anything that was a little disappointing :/ But it was a little suspenseful when they were always fighting to keep Sam out of the cold.

I did like the overall story though, and the interesting take on werewolves and how they change due to temperatures and such. I also must say that I am a bit in love with Sam, possibly because he seems so sweet and tormented (and he writes songs!) and he reminds me of my boyfriend. <3 hehe **sigh**

I really did like this book, and I look forward to seeing what will happen to Grace and Sam in Linger and Forever. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wants a non-human romance and to Twilight fans (who aren't totally love struck for vampires so that they'll have some love for werewolves too!!)  I would give it a 4 out of 5 stars :)