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The Raven King

Blog Tour

5 Reasons to Read… The Raven Cycle by Maggie Stiefvater

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To celebrate the release of The Raven King, the final book in the Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater, I was asked to be a part of the blog tour, run by Scholastic. Of course, I jumped at the chance because I’m a MASSIVE fan of the books, so here are my five reasons to read the series!

1. The Characters Will Feel Like Your Best Friends

The whole series is driven by the characters and the roles they play in the plot. In fact, you could take the whole plot of the series away and still have amazing characters left behind, who don’t feel fictional but instead feel like you’ve known them your whole life.

I love Gansey to within an inch of my life, Ronan grew to become one of my favourite characters over the course of the series and I want to live in 300 Fox Way with Blue, Maura and the other members.

2. The Lyrical Words

I almost feel as if I could fall into each sentence and swim around in the world that Maggie has created. Each word feels calculated to either break or melt your heart and I felt so affected by all of it together that I took me so long to read The Raven King because I had to take my time to absorb everything.

It’s been a pleasure to see Maggie evolve as a writer throughout the series.

3. The Journey and Experience

I loved the series from the moment I read the first page of The Raven Boys and since then I’ve waited years to finish the series. I have fond memories of reading each of the books and that enhances the reading experience so much. It’s the best feeling in the world to revisit them and bring all of those memories back!

4. CARS (but mainly the passion)

Even though my knowledge of cars is zero, I love seeing Maggie’s passion for them come through in the series. Take out the cars, though, and there is still passion. The passion the characters have for finding Glendower, for each other, and the passion the readers have for the books. Which leads me nicely on to…

5. The Fandom

Even after you’ve finished reading the series, it isn’t over because the fandom is there to welcome you into its arms. I’ve loved scrolling through the tag on Tumblr since I finished The Raven King, relating to comments left by other people and seeing different thoughts on the events that happened. I love the community aspect, which I definitely didn’t expect when I started the series!

The Raven King is out now!

Have you read The Raven Cycle series? Share your love for it in the comments below!

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April in YA : Top Picks

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April is an exciting month for new book releases, with new titles by big author names, as well as debut authors too. Here are some of my top picks that I think everyone should read this month:

What I Thought Was True by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Huntley Fitzpatrick is the author of My Life Next Door, which was published in the UK earlier this year, and What I Thought Was True is a contemporary companion novel to it. Huntley’s books are perfect to get you in the mood for summer, have great romances and are incredibly cute.

I love Huntley’s books, so What I Thought Was True is highly recommended from me. It has everything I look for in a great contemporary!

Love Song by Sophia Bennett

If you love listening to One Direction or 5 Seconds of Summer, you’ll love reading Love Song. It tells the story of a teenage girl called Nina who goes on tour with a band called The Point, as assistant to the lead singer’s fiancée. There’s the expected drama that comes along with looking after a diva, but it also offers friendship, self-discovery and adventure.

I read Love Song so quickly because I couldn’t wait to see what happened next and it’s definitely my favourite of Sophia Bennett’s books so far. Sophia Bennett is an incredibly talented UKYA writer who I love, so Love Song is a must-read recommendation from me!

When We Collided by Emery Lord

Emery Lord is another amazing contemporary writer, who also wrote Open Road Summer. When We Collided is her first novel to be published in the UK and it sounds like an emotional coming-of-age tale about mental health, as well as romance thrown in. Perfect!

 

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Passenger by Alexandra Bracken

Alexandra Bracken is the author of the best-selling The Darkest Minds trilogy, and Passenger is her latest release post-publication of the final The Darkest Minds book. Passenger tells the story of a hunt through time; I love time travel novels so this sounds perfect for me. I can’t wait!

Chasing the Stars by Malorie Blackman

Described as an Othello retelling in outer space, Children’s Laureate Malorie Blackman returns with Chasing the Stars this month, the first YA book published since her time as Children’s Laureate. Malorie is the Queen of YA so of course Chasing the Stars is going to be phenomenal.

The Art of Not Breathing by Sarah Alexander

The Art of Not Breathing is Sarah Alexander’s debut novel and has one of the most breath-taking covers I’ve seen all year. I think the description sums it up best:

“Since her twin brother, Eddie, drowned five years ago, sixteen-year-old Elsie Main has tried to make sense of what happened – one minute he was there, the next he was gone. Eddie’s body was never found and her parents and older brother refuse to talk about it. Fed up with school and disintegrating family relationships at home, Elsie escapes to her secret hiding place – an disused boathouse – where she can eat as many Mars bars as she wants and listen to the rain. There she meets seventeen-year-old Tay McKenzie – cool, mysterious and addicted to freediving. When Tay introduces Elsie to the underwater world, she wonders if the answers she seeks are at the bottom of the sea, and she’s determined to discover the truth about that tragic day.”

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

The Raven King is the conclusion to Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven Cycle series and is highly anticipated by readers all over the world. The characters feel like best friends and the plot is reaching a dramatic crescendo, so I know a lot of hearts will be broken to see it finish at the end of this month.

I’ve fallen head over heels in love with this and know I’ll be reading it as soon as I can get my hands on a copy. I do, however, know it will completely destroy me and I’m not sure what I’ll do with myself once I’ve finished it. Cry for a very long time, probably?

What books are you looking forward to reading this month? Are there any on my list that you’ve already read and loved?