Any Red-Blooded Girl - Maggie Bloom

The last thing fifteen- year- old Flora wants to do is spend her summer vacation stuck in a tent with her overprotective parents and angst- ridden brother, especially when she should be in Europe with her best friend Jessie.                                                                                      
But since her parents trust her as much as they trust a cat burglar at the moment, Flora has no choice but to suffer through the boyfriend- less summer of her discontent from the back of a rented SUV, until ...              

Fate tosses a sexy, sophisticated gypsy boy into her path, making Flora wonder if destiny might know best.Because just as Flora falls head over heels, an unexpected turn of events threatens to land her in the slammer - or worse separate her from the man of her dreams.  



Any Red-Blooded Girl is a fun, feisty story; automatically you're introduced to Flora who's a quirky and hot tempered girl. She never wanted to go on a trip to the wilderness with her family, especially when hot European boys are available in a completely different trip. Expectations are shattered when Flora meets an adorable boy, who makes her forget any potential European boys. This leading to one of Flora's best trips in her life...

Laugh out loud comedy, this story was simple and sweet. Maggie Bloom creates interesting characters and portrays a believable teenage voice throughout the novel.   

However, the relationship between Flora and Mick (whilst sweet and caring) it bordered onto obsession and crazy stalker love. They loved each other tremendously and that was only after 2/3 days of meeting, so it was close to instant love. Also, Flora's relationship with her brother could of being developed more, to help improve the family set up.

Simple flaws shouldn't put anybody off this book as it is a good read.
I read it in one sitting and thoroughly enjoyed it. Memorable characters with a fabulous plot, favourite lines from Any Red-Blooded Girl including:

' "I love you." What?! Did I really just say that out loud? Did he hear me? "I mean, I'd love to." '

' my father suddenly shouted, in his just-hit-the-lottery voice. "Hot diggity! Put your party pants on people!" '

3 stars out of 5


                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Lament - Maggie Stiefvater

Sixteen-year-old Dee is a cloverhand - someone who can see faeries. When she finds herself irresistibly drawn to beautiful, mysterious Luke, Dee senses that he wants something more dangerous than a summer romance.                          

 

 But Dee doesn't realize that Luke is an assassin from the faerie world.

 

And she is his next target.

 

 

Lament (noun)

1)      Phrase of grief or sorrow

2)      Phrase of regret, disappointment, annoyance

3)      Lamenting death – poem/song of mourning

 

Expectations of the book Lament are summed, upon my reading of it, in number 2. Disappointment. An intriguing blurb caught my attention, along with the promise of once again reading an excellent faerie book (the best faerie book being Wings – Aprilynne Pike). Maggie Stiefvater is the author of the fabulous Shiver, a book I immensely enjoyed, and kept me on watch for another Maggie Stiefvater book.

Admittedly, the plot was interesting, and I read out of curiosity of what would come next. However, description in the book was lacking and I was constantly re-reading unsure what had happened since parts of the plot raced by leaving me confused.

Characters helped to keep me interested. Luke and James were both characters that had been cleverly developed, both with intriguing pasts and loveable personalities.  Dee however was a character that should have been developed more, I found her character annoying; upon receiving news that would make anybody hyperventilate with shock, she reacted with no more concern or alarm than as if friendly dog was licking her hand. She did have good qualities that made her seem interesting; but she seemed to fall in love with Luke after about two meetings.

The romance was good though, and was why I kept reading to see how the romance would plan out. Unfortunately, the ending was saddening and left me with several unanswered questions.

To an extent I enjoyed the book, but it was overshadowed by obvious flaws. Book two in the series is out and curiosity gets the better of all of us so I will read it, perhaps book two is better and answers my questions. Maggie Stiefvater is a good writer and I can partially understand the allure of the book from faerie book fans. Maybe I'd been in the wrong sort of mood for this type of book, since the blurb had sounded brilliant.

2 stars out of 5