Woman Reading

I think maybe I'm a push over.  I'm realizing that all of my reviews lately, or most anyway, have all been glowing.  I know the rule of thumb: All glowing reviews are suspect, all bad reviews are suspect, but a reviewer with both good and bad reviews is probably someone with objectivity.  Well, I promise that my rash of really great reviews has more to do with some of my favorite series releasing new books.  Of course I'm going to be overly happy with this book, The Raven Boys is one of my absolutely unadulterated loves.  Everything.  From the stunningly beautiful covers, to the magical prose, to the personalities of each special character, to the sweetly romantic, yet full of dread, plot.  It is enchanting.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue is where everything is going to change.  It's the installment where you can feel everything coming together, and yet unraveling at the same time.  With Maura missing and all the revelations from the previous books Blue Lily, Lily Blue starts off with everything in turmoil.  Gansey is hiding his feelings for Blue from Adam and Roland, Roland is wrapped up in the Graywaren, and Adam is realizing that sometime over the last 9 months he's somehow alienated himself from the rest of his friends.

There is no good word for the opposite of lonesome.

One might be tempted to suggest togetherness or contentment, but the fact that these two other words bear definitions unrelated to each other perfectly displays why lonesome cannot be properly mirrored.  It does not mean solitude, nor alone, nor lonely, although lonesome can contain all of those words in itself.

Lonesome means a state of being apart.  Of being other.  Alone-some.

Without giving away spoilers, I can say that everything I loved from the previous books was written into this one.  Mr Gray going toe to toe with Greenmantle and Piper.  I love Mr. Gray.  I love that even though he's a regular character we still call him Mr. Gray.  I loved the humor, and not just the funny moments between the characters but also just the way the author imbues her characters with what I imagine is a little glimpse of her own quirky type of humor.

Greenmantle had always liked the idea of being a mysterious hit man, but that career goal invariably paled in comparison with his enjoyment of going out on the town and having people admire his reputation and driving his Audi with its custom plate (GRNMNTL) and going on cheese holidays in countries that put little hats over their vowels like so: ê.

Such a small little joke, but it stood out to me and made me laugh out loud.

In addition to all the things that we loved, in Blue Lily, Lily Blue we also get new characters, like Jessie Dittley.  I adore Jessie Dittley.  He was so original and so sweet.  I can say, with 100% confidence, that there isn't any other book with a character like Jessie Dittley.  He popped right off the pages, and it wasn't just that he had a big booming voice that Stiefvater wrote in all caps.  It was also that he's a giant of a man with a very sweet personality.  I'd post another quote, because I've got a ton, but I'm trying to keep this review to three quotes only.

The readers got to see more of the friendship between Ronan and Adam, one that was separate from Gansey.  I love Ronan, and I love Adam.  (I love Gansey too.  I'm like Blue, in love with all of the Raven Boys.)  My heart breaks for both of them for different reasons, and I think that they're kindred spirits even if they carry themselves very differently.

Lastly, from the beginning we've known of Blue's curse; she will cause her true love to die.  In addition, from the beginning we've known that Gansey was foretold to die within the year.  Wondering if the two were connected has never been a stretch and the closer we get to the end of the series the more you feel the weight of those two curses.  I love Gansey, and more importantly they all love Gansey.  Gansey is, arguably, they most important character all around.  He, and his quest to find Glendower, was the tie that bound all of them together.  I'm terrified that this will end tragically.

And yet, I can't stop wanting more!  I want more moments between Gansey and Blue even though I'm afraid.  I yearn for each near kiss.  Their non-relationship is achingly beautiful.  Even now, knowing how I want them to stay away from each other, I marked my rating of this down .5% only because there weren't enough moments.

What was a kiss without a kiss?

It was a table cloth tugged from beneath a party service.  Everything jumbled against everything else in just a few chaotic moments.  Fingers in hair, hands cupping necks, mouths dragged on cheeks and chins in dangerous proximity.

They stopped, noses mashed against each other in the strange way that closeness required.  She could feel his breath in her mouth.

"Maybe it wouldn't hurt if I kiss you," he whispered.  "Maybe it's only if you kiss me."

They both swallowed at the same time...

What more can I say.  The Raven Cycle is magic.  It's all over the pages.  It's not action packed.  It won't get your adrenaline going.  It's slower and too intricate for that.  It's not Krump dancing, it's Lyrical Dancing.  It's Contemporary Dance.  It's meant for savoring.  I truly believe that those who aren't reading it are missing something so very very special.