Shiver

Shiver is a book I once read when I lived in Florida. I find it funny that the book’s setting is based in Minnesota where I now live. I’ve recently reread it and now that I’m in MN it is easier to picture the setting in my mind.

Shiver is a unique love story. It starts off from a girl’s point of view named Grace. She lives in a small town in Minnesota. Her house is surrounded by a beautiful, penetrating forest. Within that forest lies a pack of wolves (don’t worry it’s not similar to Twilight). As a little girl Grace watched the wolves and heard them howling at night. However there was one wolf in particular with yellow eyes that Grace had a soft spot for.

Grace’s parents are very aloof and detached from her life, so Grace is home alone a lot during her lifetime. Flash forward and Grace is in high school still admiring the wolves from afar. After a boring day at school she comes home to find a man in her house staring up at her with the same yellow eyes.

His name is Sam and they become close throughout the book. Grace learns the secrets about the wolf pack and why Sam is the way he is. This is not your typical werewolf book. I was shocked when I found out the secret explanation as to why they shift. Sam doesn’t shift into some magical werewolf with powers. That’s why I was attracted to this book, because it’s different and not cheesy. Sam longs to remain himself were he can be with Grace, but is constricted beyond his control. Find out if Sam can overcome his condition and continue in their engaging relationship.

Shiver is a trilogy. Linger is the second book and Forever is the third book. If you fall in love with Shiver I definitely recommend getting the second and third.

Also I’ve heard the author Maggie Stiefvater has come out with a four book called Litter! I haven’t read it yet, but I definitely will and I’ll let you guys know how it is J I guess the series isn’t a trilogy anymore…

Insurgent

Insurgent is the sequel to the fabulous book called Divergent (in case you didn’t know). My best friend Laura also gave me this book to read over the weekend. I spent most of my time reading, as always.

In this book Tris’s battle against Erudite (the intelligent faction) continues. She is faced with the biggest struggles of her life. She struggles to maintain her relationship with Four.  Also to keep her friends and loved ones alive, and to overpower Erudite which would restore peace among her world. Tris is tough and courageous, but in this book she is tested. She starts to lose her edge and ends up acting on impulse only. She throws herself into dangerous situations, willing to kill herself in order to save Four and her friends from the Erudite and Dauntless traitors.

Before I go any further I would like to clarify what insurgent even means. If you don't know what insurgent means, than here is the definition: a person who rises in forcible opposition to lawful authority, especially a person who engages in armed resistance to a government or to the execution of its laws; rebel. (This describes Tris perfectly in the second book.)

Insurgent was very entraining, but confusing. I found myself having to go back and reread a page or two. There were a lot of complex battle scenes. Also there are a lot unexpected surprises. Without giving too much away I will say that a lot happens within the personalities of the characters. This had me turning the pages to fast and yearning to read ahead.

Veronica Roth did an amazing job with the ending. She plans on writing a third book so the ending was a cliff hanger, but very suspenseful and exciting cliff hanger. The third book is coming out fall 2013. Can’t wait!

I recommend this book if you like suspense, battles sequences and thrilling twists and turns, especially if you read the first book Divergent.

The Lucky One

The Lucky One is by far one of the best novels Nicholas Sparks has written. I seriously read it in a total of two days. It was that captivating. The beginning was a little slow, if anything, but overall it was a great storyline.

The story is about a marine named Logan Thibault who found a photograph of a woman while serving his time in the Iraq war. He had assumed another solider had lost it, but weeks went by and no one claimed it. So, Logan decided to keep it and with that one decision things changed for the best. He suddenly had a streak of luck, surviving through all of the horrible combat in Iraq. He believed the photograph was the cause. That it was his lucky charm.  

Once Logan returned home in Colorado he decided to find this girl in the photograph and thank her for saving his life. It was a mission he was determined  to complete. He walked all the way from Colorado to North Carolina with his German Sheppard Zeus by his side.

Once he meets the girl from the photograph, Logan is unsure how to tell her the truth. So he plans on taking life as it comes and getting a job at her family’s kennel. Over time Beth (the girl in the picture) and Logan become close and end up falling for each other. Now that Logan and Beth have fallen for each other Logan still can’t work up the nerve to tell her why he truly came. Will Beth find out on her own through others sources? If she does find out, will this hurt their relationship?

Read the book and find out before seeing the motion picture. Nicholas Sparks has a tendency to write sad endings, but don’t worry this one has a happy one. I promise.

Matched

If you’ve ever read the classic book called The Giver then you pretty much have a general idea about the storyline of Matched. They are both very similar. They each have a totalitarian government, but Matched has much more romance. Matched is the modernized version of The Giver.

Matched is a story about a seventeen year-old girl named Cassia. In her Society every seventeen year-old is thrown into a matching pool. It’s a system that decides who you’ll spend the rest of your life with. In my opinion I thought that sounded nice. A system that finds you the perfect partner within your Society, who wouldn’t love that? But as I continued reading my opinion changed.  

At the matching ceremony Cassia receives the results that her best friend Xander is her match. She is thrilled at first. However things take a turn for the worse when Cassia, by mistake, also receives another matched result. And this result does not say Xander is her match. Cassia is overwhelmed by this, because the Society does not make mistakes. Or at least they didn’t. And now she has a choice, which isn’t something Cassia or anyone else in the Society is faced with often. And this is only the beginning of her journey.

Cassia realizes that being in a “perfect” Society isn’t so perfect. They decide everything. Who you love, where you work and when you die. Cassie can never love someone the Society doesn’t approve of regardless of her feelings. Cassie becomes angry and rebellious towards her Society, so she keeps her choice a secret.

So, if you want to know the answer whether her choice stays a secret or the society gets involved, then I would suggest you read this book. If you liked The Giver then you will definitely love this book.  And if you enjoy Matched the author Ally Condle has a sequel called Crossed which is currently out in bookstores.