Rainy Day Reads

I usually really enjoy Stiefvater's writing, although it often takes me a little while to get into. This book was no different and while it was a little slow at first I really enjoyed it in the end. The book takes place on the island of Thisby around the beginning of the 20th century (I assume. Its never really stated out loud when exactly it is). This island is visited by waterhorses every fall, and the locals catch them, train them and race them once a year in the Scorpio races. This year our main protagonist Kate, Puck to friends, decides to race in order to keep her older brother from leaving the island for the mainland. However, the waterhorses are too wild for her and she decides to race her own horse, born and raised on land. Throughout the book we follow her struggles with family and race officials that think a girl and her land horse does not belong in the races. The book also has a second narrator, Sean Kendrick, who is a master horseman and who has won the races ...

This is the long-awaited last book of “The Raven Cycle” and I finally got around to reading it. Absolutely everyone hauled it when it first came out, but it took a little while for me to get my hands on it and then it took another good while for me to actually read it. Do you know that feeling of not wanting to read a book because you are afraid it won’t live up to the rest of the series? Well, have no fear, because this one does. We follow Blue and the Raven Boys as their adventures comes to and end. I can’t really say too much about the plot without spoiling the rest of the series, if you haven’t read that yet, but just know that this book is everything the other books are and more. We get closure on pretty much everything, there’s drama, action and love and all of it is well-written and realistic. Plus there is one love story that I for sure thought was fan-made or what you call it but it turned out to be canon!! Woop!  Sometimes I was a bit confused, because it h...

This book takes place during the siege of Leningrad in World War II. Lev, a 17 year old boy is caught looting from a German soldier. He is taken into custody and expects to be shot, but instead he is sent on a crazy journey to find a dozen eggs for an NKVD general’s daughter’s wedding cake. He is joined on this quest by Kolja, a young soldier in the Red Army, who was caught allegedly deserting his unit. Their quest seems impossible, as the people of Leningrad are starving and some have even turned to cannibalism. Finding a dozen eggs in these conditions seems like an impossible feat. But if they don’t return with the eggs, they will be shot, so there is nothing for it but to set off and try and find some eggs.   During their hunt they encounter many people and end up in a number of dangerous situations. The quest seems impossible but you can’t help rooting for them anyway. I thought the action was well written and it was well paced too. There are a few quieter moments in...