Blue Lily, Lily Blue, the third book in the Raven Boys series, is a fantastical story filled with action, mystery, and a buttload of suspense. As expected, Blue Lily, Lily Blue is a unique and surprising as its predecessors. This series can be described as a lot of things, cliche is not one of them. 
"Humans were so circular; they lived the same slow cycles of joy and misery over and over, never learning. Every lesson in the universe had to be taught billions go times, and it never stuck."
If you have yet to read the Raven Boys, I highly recommend that you do. I've been plowing through all the books-- at the moment I happen to be half way done the fourth one. It was very hard, but I was eventually able to tear my eyes from its pages to get this review out. (I wanted to write it before I finished the fourth book.) It also helped that I had to make a hundred or so cupcakes and didn't want to get the book messy, therefore I took a break. And now I'm extending that break to write my thoughts about the third book. Ah. It's so sad that the series is almost over. I kind of just want it to go on forever, but at the same time I don't. I want to see how it ends. 
"How arrogant we are to deliver babies who can't walk or talk or feed themselves. How sure we are that nothing will destroy them before they before they can take care of themselves. How fragile they were, how easily abandoned and neglected and beaten and hated. Prey animals were born afraid. He had not known to be born afraid, but he'd learned." 
​While the Dream Thieves was mainly concerning Ronan, I noticed that Blue Lily, Lily Blue had a lot of Adam in it. Maybe Adam didn't have anymore page POV time than anyone else, but it felt like he did. Blue Lily, Lily Blue did show Adam as a changed/changing character. This series is great because it takes place in a year, and yet it shows all of its characters going through monumental character arcs, pretty believable ones as well. Then again, a lot of things are believable when your story is set in a fantasy-ish world where basically anything can happen.
"Pain was a wondrous thing that way; it always worked." 
Like all the other books, I was entranced by this novel's uniqueness and wording. It almost feels as if I'm in a dream when I'm reading these books-- thinking about it now, one of the (many) reasons these books are so different is because the basic set up of them are kind of different. There are many lives entwined in these books, which is not uncommon, but the way the story is told and the way it comes to the climax of the story is utterly unique. I can't really describe how, but if you read the books, I hope you know what I mean. (It's funny, actually. My mind works kind of like it's telling a story, and when I read the same writing style for a continuous period of time, my brain sometimes starts to think in the writing style of the book I'm reading. For the last couple of days I've been thinking in Maggie Steifvater's verbose writing style. It will eventually fade away, but when I realize it's happening, I find the thought process very amusing.)
One thing that I've noticed that disappoints me and that has happened throughout the last three books is that there is are parts where the character's do something and then the chapter ends. And does not show how the characters do it and how their peers react. I'll talk more about this later in the spoilery section. 
Gansey. Lovable as always. It's like I'm one of the characters in the book-- unable to resist the magnetic pull of Gansey. Not that I'd want to, anyway. Who wouldn't want a Gansey? He's so... there are too many words and too little words to describe him. Sweet isn't exactly right, that's more Noah's word. Gansey is sweet, I love how sometimes he says things that offends people without meaning to, or even realizing it for a while, then he'll ponder it, ashamed and confused later. It's so cute. 
Then there's Blue, it was established in the last book that both Blue and Gansey had feelings for each other and acknowledged it. But they couldn't/wouldn't act on it because of Adam. Ah. Gansey, being a selfless, loyal friend. I LOVE HIM. Sorry. If you couldn't tell, I feel very strongly towards Richard Campbell Gansey III. Obviously, after establishing feelings, there has to some acting on them. While it isn't outwardly really overly romantic as some of the books I read, there are some very cute moments and things going on between Blue and Gansey in this books. I loved them. It made me squeal and my stomach clench at the cuteness of the situation(s). 
I still have the same opinion on all the characters as I did in the last two reviews. I like them all. If I had to chose a least favorite of the gang, it would have to be Adam. Sorry, Adam. I do really like him, just sometimes he has thoughts and actions that I can't help but get aggravated by. 
This book, like the previous books, has some things that happen so quickly it takes me a minute to register what happened. And then I have to ponder the thought. Why? Some things I really do not understand why they are happening. Hopefully by the time I'm done the fourth book, that'll all be cleared up. In another review, the reviewer described this book series as a puzzle. I agree with that analogy.  While some pieces of the puzzle are able to be put together during the duration of one book, and others are able to be pieced together after getting more information from the next book, each book throws in many more puzzle pieces-- making it harder to put together than it was before. I'm very intrigued to see how this giant puzzle fits together after I finish the fourth book. 
I don't really have much else to say. I really enjoyed Blue Lily, Lily Blue. There were parts that pulled at my heartstrings and parts that made me feel sad or overjoyed. It's a very serious book, but there were some times where I couldn't help but laugh because of something funny said in a dark situation or just because something amusing was said or done. 
"Two is a terrible number. Two is for rivalry and fighting and murder." 
"Or marriage." 
"Same thing." 
New characters were introduced in this book. Some of them were rather annoying and I seriously just got irritable after reading about them, and others were more endearing, though, a little poignant. And then there are those new characters that I immediately disliked and the ones that I really liked and fond amusing that betrayed my liking and went and did something annoying. 
"It takes longer than a weekend to undo centuries of damage." 
"Centuries of damage are being incurred in just a weekend." 
All in all, I quite enjoyed Blue Lily, Lily Blue and am giving it 9/10 stars. It was a great book. 
Here's the synopsis: 

There is danger in dreaming. But there is even more danger in waking up. 

Blue Sargent has found things. For the first time in her life, she has friends she can trust, a group to which she can belong. The Raven Boys have taken her in as one of their own. Their problems have become hers, and her problems have become theirs. 

The trick with found things though, is how easily they can be lost. 

Friends can betray. 
Mothers can disappear. 
Visions can mislead. 
Certainties can unravel.

​SPOILERS BELOW FOR BLUE LILY, LILY BLUE

AH. Ronan and Blue's relationship maybe didn't develop more in this book, but we did get to see a bit more of it. I thought it was sweet when Ronan caught Blue in the cave-- and you could see that he actually did care for her when he gave her his dream light in the cave towards the end of the book. I honestly was really touched by that action-- it made me love Ronan even more... I didn't even realize that was possible. 
Okay. Was I the only one who was freaking out when Gansey and Blue went into the cave for the first time? Because I was seriously freaking out. I mean seriously, I thought Gansey was about to die. It was raining out and he was wearing his sweater. Um, well, he didn't die, which is good. Though, since he didn't die at the end of this book (I was either expecting him to die or them to find Glendower), I'm a little nervous. What if he does actually truly die? While reading this I always thought there'd be a loophole, but with only one book left... Well, that's not a lot of time for a loophole and also it would be something a cruel author would do-- kill off the most lovable character, even after slightly taunting the readers with the slight idea of him being saved throughout the books. Ah. Authors, I wonder if evil comes in the profession description. 
When Gansey fell into the hole and then was paralyzed by fear, I couldn't help but be more endeared to him. Showing his weaknesses makes him feel more human, more relatable, and therefore, more lovable. One thing I wish we could see more of in this series is just Ronan and Gansey's friendship. Sure, we see them a lot-- sometimes bickering like brothers-- but as I've established in many a review, friendships are important to me, and there's something about Ronan and Gansey's friendship that feels even more special than the rest of them. I just love seeing all the scenes that they share. Back to the fear thing, it annoyed me that Adam seemed to partially revel in the idea that yes, Gansey had been paralyzed by fear. He kept thinking back to it and IT ANNOYED ME SO MUCH. He's his best friend, for goodness shake. 
Now let's just talk about Blue and Gansey. (Sorry for the weird choppy review. I'm going to look back and hate myself for writing such a bad review, but here's the thing, my nails are wet and I got very little sleep last night and did a lot of work today. It's just hard to actually think straight (and type) at the moment. And I have to post this review now because I'm leaving on a camping trip tomorrow.) I loved their relationship in this book. I especially loved seeing it from Gansey's end of it. He literally started to wait up at night just to see if she might call. And he was really looking forward to the calls-- like counting the hours until the call. Seriously. That's just freaking adorable. It gave me all the feels. And then the mountain drive? It was amazing, even having me feeling slightly wild and free as I read the part. Though, when they fought at the end of it, it made me sad. I literally wrote in my notes "Don't fight, baes." It actually did make me sad they were arguing. 
Is RonanxAdam turning into a thing? It definitely kind of (those seem to contradict each other) seems like Ronan had a thing for Adam-- I MEAN HE MADE HIM HAND LOTION, and also just seemed to chose to hang around Adam the most in this book. (Oh, it also annoyed me that Adam was pleased when he noticed that Ronan seemed interested in him. And the pleasure came from it being him, not Gansey.) Also I was just getting that vibe that they were growing closer-- and not in a purely platonic way. Though, I may have been reading everything wrong and this was actually just the actions of two close friends growing to become better friends... but I don't think so. I don't really know how I feel about that pairing. I can see how it fits-- while they both come fro different worlds, they're more similar than they originally thought. For one thing, they both felt extremely lonesome. But I also don't think they fit together very well that way. I don't know. I just can't really picture them together happily in my head. Though, when is Ronan really ever truly happy these days? 
Ugh. If you couldn't tell earlier, the character that aggravated me from the beginning of meeting her was Gwellian. She's so aggravating!!! Hmph. I didn't like Greenmantle from the beginning, though I did like Piper. She amused me. And then she betrayed my trust by being annoying at the end-- I saw where she was coming from, I just didn't like it. Especially not after she killed Jesse. Sure, I knew he was going to die, but it still hurt when he did. It's going to be a hundred times worse when Gansey bites the dust. Though, it is really strange reading a character, and getting to know him, just knowing that he will, in fact, die soon. I mentioned that earlier, but I can't stress how weird that feeling is. 
An example of where I wished I saw a scene I didn't was the court scene. Maybe it felt to Maggie as if it were obvious what the outcome would be, but I really would've liked to see that scene-- I was actually excited to read it. And then started the next chapter and realized that I would not get to see it. Another example is where I wanted to a. see what exactly was happening with Gansey and Adam when Ronan and Blue went on and they couldn't get there. I wanted to see what they were thinking (panic? worry?) and what they were doing to try and fix it. b. their reactions to Ronan coming back and coming back alone c. Blue's return/ their reunion/ how did they get reunited. But no. I did not get to see any of that. Instead I got Blue's (interesting) journey, and then them already reunited. WHY? I really just think these books are missing some vital scenes that would add so much more to them. 
I'm just going to quickly say it annoys me how quickly they push Noah and his opinions aside-- like even though he's dead, he has a valuable opinion, too! 
Okay. Now let's talk about Persephone. WHAT THE FUDGE HAPPENED THERE?! I was so confused at what had happened. Thinking back on it, had she been scrying herself into a conversation with Adam? Because the seat was cold, so she was never really there. But why was she up between the mirrors, yeah to find Maura, but why did it have to be between the mirrors? I don't understand. Maybe  brief POV from Persephone beforehand would've been really helpful. Honestly, I was too confused by the situation to actually be that sad. I was sad, but I was more confused. 
I was very confused what was up with the squash song. Is it a real song? Can I listen to it? Why does everyone but Ronan and Noah despise it so much? 
"Henry ran with the Vancouver crowd, and Gansey ran with the dead Welsh Kings." 
MATTHEW IS A DREAM? WHAT? I was not expecting that. Again, I would've liked to see Declan telling Ronan there. 
My last few thoughts before I have to go pack are these-- I loved how epic the elk riding part was, and NEEVE IS BACK. I couldn't help but think some very rude things towards her and the way she returned-- and what she returned for. 
I'm nervous about this third sleeper being awake.
Oh, last thing. I do not understand the relevance of Malory and his dog's presence  in this book. They really did nothing to push the plot along, they were simply there. '
Thanks for actually sticking by and reading this choppy and poorly written review by a very tired teenaged girl. (I love you for it!) 
-Anj

There's a lot riding on the second book in a series-- especially when the first book was nothing less than magnificent. It can either makes the series even better, or completely ruin it. The Dream Thieves is the former of the two options. 
The Dream Thieves delves even further into the world of the Raven Boys, and opening the reader's eyes to even more of the well thought out world, and to see even deeper into the already loved characters from the previous novel. 
If you have yet to read the Raven Boys, I have a review for it that I posted rather recently. I highly recommend that you read it (the book) as it is a truly different and unique reading experience. However, if you have yet to read book one, you should probably not read further-- there won't be spoilers for The Dream Thieves, but there will be some for The Raven Boys. 
"A secret is a strange thing. There are three kinds of secrets. One is the sort everyone knows about, the sort you need at least two people for. One to keep it. One to never know. The second is a harder kind of secret: one you keep from yourself. Every day, thousands of concessions are kept from their would-be confessors, none of these people knowing their never-admitted secrets all boil down to the same three words: I am afraid. And then there is the third kind of secret, the most hidden kind. A secret no one knows about. Perhaps it was known ones, but was taken to the grave. Or maybe it is a useless mystery, arcane and lonely, unfound because no one ever looked for it." 
As expected, The Dream Thieves is a lot about Ronan Lynch, a character who I already fell in love with in the duration of the first book. Ronan is an aggravating character-- that's how he was written to be. The reason he's so aggravating is because you can't help but like him, but sometimes he just makes bad and annoying choices that leaves one wondering what in the world was that boy thinking? The answer is that he wasn't. While I found myself getting a little irritated at Ronan during this book, I still couldn't help but love him even more than I already had. Why? Because in this book, we get to see into Ronan's mind and Ronan's backstory. My definite favorite thing about Ronan is how he doesn't show his emotions outwardly, which makes when he does those little things that shows he cares seem even greater (and even more cute.) An example of this from the first book is when Ronan angrily kills that wasp/hornet in Gansey's room. It shows his underlying love for his best friend/ brother, and the action, though small, is very endearing. While reading this book, I couldn't stay too annoyed at Ronan for too long, because whenever I started to feel annoyed, he did something endearing. It's the small things that count. 
"All of us have secrets in out lives. We're keepers or kept-from, players or played. Secrets and cockroaches-- that's what will be left at the end of it all." 
As I expected, the plot of this book was just as intriguing, unique and riveting as the first. I suspect the next book will be the same. Even though it seems with these books the plot is a little all over the place, by the end of the book everything ties together in a perfect little knot, leaving the reader wondering how they didn't connect the dots beforehand. I love trying to unravel mysteries in my mind before they are unraveled completely in the book, which is partially why I love these books so much. Since they are so different, half the time I don't know what to expect. It's fantastic. 
"A tiny part of Gansey's brain said: You have been staring for too long.
The larger part of his brain said: ORANGE." 
Gansey, as usual, is lovely and always endearing. He doesn't need little actions to make him endearing, he just is. I love his character, how he cares immensely for his friends and how dedicated he is. He's just-- ugh. I cannot put my feelings about him into words. Let's just say they're positive and I love him. 
Adam, Adam I was feeling a little less go Adam in this book than I had in the last one. He has a lot of pent up anger, which is probably why I wasn't quite as sympathetic towards him at times. I still have a sneaking suspicion he may do something in an effort to climb to the top. Like I said in my last review-- Adam has a lot of darkness in him, and in this book you get to see it more clearly. Don't get me wrong, I still like Adam very much, but I'm just saying that he has a dark side, and I'm not totally sure what to expect from that. 
Then there's Noah, sweet Noah. During most of the first book I was unsure how I felt about Noah-- we didn't see a lot of him for the first half. Then he and Blue became friends and I saw how sweet and adorable his character is. I've loved him ever since. Noah struggles with his own mysterious problems in this book. They mostly stemmed from his being dead, but were interesting none the less. 
"They were a good pair. Both incapable of opening up without cutting someone." 
Blue is as strongly opinionated and passionate in this book as she is in the first. It's great to see how her relationship with all four of the Raven Boys has developed. I'd like to see her relationship with Ronan develop further sometime, but you can see in this book that they definitely like and trust each other more than they did in the last, so I guess I'll have to settle for that. For now. I especially loved seeing Blue and Gansey's friendship develop further. 
One of the things that I love about this series that might surprise you is that the romance takes a back seat. Like a way back seat. It's there, but it's hardly important. As some of you may know, I am a great lover of romance, being a hopeless romantic myself, but making a gigantic romance would unsettle the perfect balance of everything that this book has to offer. I actually have been enjoying the slow building romance between the characters. 
"Ronan ran a hand over his shaved head. "I didn't want to mess up my hair.'" 
New characters are introduced in this story-- the most prominent one being The Gray Man. Who shows up in the very beginning to beat up a certain character that some people may dislike, but I can't help but like. Apparently I have an affinity for liking characters that others don't. The Gray Man, like the rest of the characters in this story, has an intriguing personality and past. He's definitely not a flat character-- nor it seems, are any other characters in this series. 
Anyway, here's the synopsis:  

If you could steal things from dreams, what would you take?

Ronan Lynch has secrets. Some he keeps from others. Some he keeps from himself.

One secret: Ronan can bring things out of his dreams.

And sometimes he's not the only one who wants those things.

Ronan is one of the raven boys—a group of friends, practically brothers, searching for a dead king named Glendower, who they think is hidden somewhere in the hills by their elite private school, Aglionby Academy. The path to Glendower has long lived as an undercurrent beneath town. But now, like Ronan's secrets, it is beginning to rise to the surface—changing everything in its wake.

Of The Raven Boys, Entertainment Weekly wrote, "Maggie Stiefvater's can't-put-it-down paranormal adventure will leave you clamoring for book two." Now the second book is here, with the same wild imagination, dark romance, and heart-stopping twists that only Maggie Stiefvater can conjure.

SPOILERS BELOW 
If I could dream something and take it, I'd probably take a pet tiger. Who needs Ravens when there are tigers? 
My first reaction to Declan getting beaten up was that I didn't want him to die!! Why is that? Because I like his character-- he has a lot of pressure on him, taking care of his two younger brothers. Also, he was the only child who neither of his parents favorited, that must've been rough. I just can't help but like Declan, and not just because I pity him, but because I suspect that there's so much more of his character that we have yet to see. I also really want to see Ronan and Declan make up again. I want to see them be able to understand each other and be brothers again. Sure, Ronan has his surrogate brothers, but sometime I hope him and Declan can work through their issues-- it's evident that they care at least a little bit for each other. I wish I could've seen more of their interacting in this book, especially because it seemed to be mostly centered around Ronan. I wouldn't put it past Declan to die for his brothers later in the series.
I found it seriously cute and emotional that Declan called his brothers first before calling 911. 
Ronan was just great in this story-- I thought that it was adorable that he paid for Adam, and hilarious that he threw Noah out the window. It was also funny and slightly cute that Ronan felt warmed that his friends were burying a body for him. I loved seeing deeper into Ronan and Gansey's relationship-- especially from Ronan's point of view. He saw it kind of as the Ronan-and-Gansey show, and I found that rather endearing as well as the fact that Ronan was upset that Gansey was going to DC without him/ not upset, just didn't want him to leave. Then there's that interesting very obvious hinting at the idea that Ronan is gay. Well. Dang. Guess he can't be added to my (very long) book boyfriend list. He can go to the list of I-wish book boyfriends along with Alec Lightwood. 
Shall we quickly talk about Kavinsky? I don't like him. I didn't like him, and the more I got to know him, I disliked him more. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's how it was written to be, anyway. But still, I was not expecting him to die that way. It was all very quick and strange. Then again, this whole series is a little strange. I never would've guessed that Kavinsky was like Ronan, not until he actually told him. Maybe I was a little behind on that one, though, it wasn't really as gasp reveal for me. More of an, oh, I should've caught that. It was sad that Kavinsky felt so alone that he felt the need to make himself a friend as well as force Ronan into hanging out with him (by kidnapping Matthew.) Though, the second part might've been because Kavinsky liked Ronan a lot. 
Alright. Blue and Gansey. Since the first book, even though there was no romantic connection between the two, I SHIPPED THEM SO HARD. This book just made me ship them even more, their relationship was adorable and had me squealing (I can never think of Jane the same way again. It has completely removed my distaste of the name after reading Jane Eyre (Sorry Jane Eyre Lovers, it just wasn't for me.)) THE KISS? Hit me hard, right in the feels. Gansey is a good guy, though, and loyal to his friends. Which is why he won't really do anything with Blue. That makes me like him even more, because of how loyal and caring he is. It was also adorable when Gansey was watching Orla, but found Blue even more appealing. Haha the calves and 100% thing just had me squealing excitedly. (yeah, if you haven't guessed, it's weird being around in the house when I get excited or any kind of emotions while reading. My family has just learned to accept the weirdness.) 
They mentioned a Blue lily in this book 
Just briefly I want to talk about Maura and the Gray Man. I liked their relationship and enjoyed the teasing, cute nature of it. though, I thought they thought they were in love with each other a little quick. It was hilarious that the Gray Man was thinking of Maura while he was killing. Not like in a I-will-kill-you way, but thinking about their date and what not. 
Last time I can't remember if I mentioned how messed up I thought the dad's will was. Now I see why-- because everything was asleep and not working at home. I guessed that his dad had dreamed up his mom (his being Ronan), and I was very proud when I was right. 
For the last thing of this post before I get back to Blue Lily, Lily Blue. Noah. How creepy was it how he reenacted his death and then didn't even remember it? He's having some probably appearing and disappearing in this book, but that's not that big of an issue. I really hope he's able to stick around after the last book and stay with his friends-- he's really sweet and like basically everyone else, I LOVE HIM. I especially loved Noah and Blue's "girl's day" when Gansey and Adam were out at DC and Ronan was out. And then they kissed and I just couldn't help but laugh because it was so awkward. Though, it was rather poignant when Noah said he'd ask Blue out if he was alive, and she said she'd say okay. 
Just some quick mentions now-- Adam and Blue's breakup made me sad, even though I want GanseyxBlue, I care about the relationships in this book, and it just hurt me when they broke up. I hope their relationship is okay after that-- it wasn't really covered later, not that there was enough time to really cover it, anyway. Now I'm also just going to say if Persephone x Adam becomes a thing, I might have to throw something. No. Just No. 
Thanks for reading, 
​Anj

I've read all of Kasie West's books. Now I have come to expect a large level of cuteness and perfect romances from her stories. This book did not disappoint. 
If you're like me, and you like slightly cliche, heartwarming romances that you just can't help but grin at while reading, then this is the book for you. The biggest problem that I've seen with people's reviews of the story is that it's too predictable. I didn't have an issue with that. With almost all romance books you know how the story will end-- the couple will overcome whatever issue there is and end up together and it'll be happily ever after. It's cliche, it's predictable, but who cares? I don't read romance books to be on the edge of my seat in suspense. I read them to feel good and happy. This book definitely made me squeal in delight at times at just the sheer adorability of it. Since you usually know how a romance book will end, I always say that you read the book for the journey of the romance, not the end/destination. At least, that's why I read the romance books. The events that lead up to the romance. 
Anyway, P.S. I Like You follows this character named Lily. She's not exactly a hipster, but she's definitely not main stream. She likes uncommon bands and is aspiring to become a musician. That is, if she'll ever overcome her fears and be able to actually share some of her songs. This was where I connect with Lily the most-- she doesn't want to share her songs with other people because they're so precious and so close to her heart. She's afraid someone will dislike them, and disliking something that she basically put her soul into would really hurt. While I don't know much about music, and know even less about song writing, I feel the same way about my books. For those of you who didn't know, I really love writing, and I've finished several drafts (and rewrites) of one of my stories, but I don't let anyone read them because they're too close to me. They almost feel private. They're mine, they're something I put my love and care into... It's just... It's hard to explain about why I'm afraid/don't want to share it. It's not just because I don't want people to dislike it, but it's also so... me. I don't know. My point is that I understood where Lily was coming from. 
Back to the point. One day, while Lily is basically dying of boredom in Chemistry class, she scribbles some of the lyrics of one of her favorite songs. 
The next day someone has written the next line. 
This moves on into exchanging letters between the mystery writer. Lily connects with whoever it is on a deeper level, and soon enough, she realizes that she may be falling for her pen pal. That is, until she finds out who he is. 
There's a little mini synopsis. It's a basic summery of what the real synopsis is (which I'll put down below.) 
I have to admit, I knew who her "mystery" writer was from basically the start of the book. Like I said, it's predictable and cliche, but that doesn't make the story any less cute. In case you don't catch on to who her mystery writer is from the beginning, I'll keep it a secret, but I'll just tell you, he's my type. ;) (For those of you who read my blog often, you'll know what I'm talking about.) 
I don't really have much else to say about this book. It's cute, and if you like that kind of romance novel, I highly recommend this one. If that doesn't convince you, I'll just say that Miranda Kenneally reviewed-- aka the author of the Hundred Oaks series. One of my favorite contemporary romance series. This is an adorable story of two characters who never thought they'd fall in love... that is until they got to know each other. I'm giving P.S. I Like You 9/10 stars. It's a fantastic story and I LOVED IT. I can't wait to go back and reread it. This will definitely be one of my go to books for recommending to my friends who basically only read romances as well as a cure for book mourning. It's just so cute, you can't help but feel a little better while reading it. 
The connections and relationship in this book was also enjoyable. I liked seeing how closely bonded Lily's whole family was, as well as the relationship with Lily and her best friend, Isabel. You could tell the two genuinely cared for each other. And then there's that cute romance that this book is all about. That's a relationship to fall in love with as well. 
​
Anyway, here's the synopsis: 

What if the person you were falling for was a total mystery?

While Lily is spacing out in Chemistry one day, she picks up her pencil and scribbles a line from one of her favorite songs on the desk. The next day, someone else has written back to her on the desk! Soon enough Lily and the mystery student are exchanging notes, and lyrics, and even sharing secrets. When Lily finds out that her anonymous pen pal is a guy, she's flustered -- and kind of feels like she's falling for him. She and her best friend set out to unravel the identity of the letter writer -- but when the truth is revealed, the guy is the LAST person Lily could have ever imagined it to be. Now that Lily knows the truth, can she untangle her feelings and gather the courage to listen to her heart?

From beloved author Kasie West (The Distance Between Us) comes an utterly charming story about mixed messages, missed connections, and the magic of good old-fashioned secret admirer notes.

Thanks for reading, 
Anj

The Raven Boys is a truly unique reading experience. It is the prefect blend of fantasy with modern day, containing fascinating characters with separate motivations and intriguing back stories. This book is truly different from any other book that I have ever read, and I loved every second of it. 
​Now, I should probably start this review off by saying I've heard about this book for lie, years. It's a big thing in the book community. I was never really interested in it because of the synopsis and the character names. I'm just going to say, the synopsis isn't all that compelling but this book is so much more. I was surprised about how quickly I was pulled into the story and fell in love with the characters. I started this book at one in the morning, thinking I'd read a few chapters just to get a feel for it-- I didn't think I'd be all that interested in the story for a few chapters. 
I was wrong. 
I was up rather late (or early?) reading. Just one more chapter. Just one more chapter. 
Tip: Never start a book at one in the morning. It almost never turns out well. 
There are four point of views this story is told from, Blue, Adam, Gansey and Whelk. It's mostly Blue and Gansey, occasionally Adam, and sometimes Whelk. 
Anyway, Blue lives in a house full of psychics. In fact, her entire family has psychic powers, everyone but her. Though, Blue does have a special ability, she acts basically as a battery to anything supernatural, enhancing things and powering them up when she is around. Every year, Blue goes to an abandoned church with her mother to watch the corpse road. Once a year, the spirits of who will die in the on coming year walk the corpse road. Blue isn't usually able to see these spirits, but her powers of enhancing things helps her mother to see and talk to them. This year is different, though. Blue sees someone, a boy. When she goes to speak with him, she's surprised to see he's wearing an Aglionby sweater, which means he goes to a school in her town. Blue asks him his name, it's Gansey. She later finds out that since she was able to see his spirit, either Gansey is her true love, or she was the one who killed him. 
I also forgot to mention that Blue has been told from multiple psychics that if she kisses her true love, he will die. Therefore, Blue has sworn off boys, and hasn't had any trouble with that... until now. 
The Aglionby boys are somewhat hated in Henrietta, the town Blue lives in. Aglionby is a private all boys school for the rich and privileged boys. Most of them are rather pretentious, driving their rich and fancy cars around town and doing basically whatever they wished. Therefore, Blue has double sworn off Aglionby boys. 
Gansey is an Aglionby boy. He's rich and charming, but he's also obsessed with finding an ancient Welsh King, Glendower. Gansey is convinced that Glendower is still alive, and that he is close to finding him. (He's been searching for years.) While Gansey is charismatic and could be friends with anyone he wished to, he has become friends with three boys that without him, probably would have no friends. 
Ronan Lynch is one of Gansey's oldest friends. And he's mean, like really, really mean. There's being a douche, and then there's Ronan Lynch. Even though Ronan is mean, you can't help but love his character. At least I couldn't. See, he has an honor code, doesn't understand the point of things like one night stands, and very clearly cares about his friends. Ronan has a dark past, and it's hard not to feel sympathetic for him. I'm very excited to see what more he has to bring to the table in future books. 
Adam Parrish doesn't quite fit in in Aglionby. He's a poor boy living amongst rich kids. He's rather prideful and wants to, one day, be at the top. It's interesting, seeing his character, because you can see that there is something very dark in him. Something simmering beneath the surface waiting to come out. Don't get me wrong, he is a good guy and a good character, he just doesn't have much to lose at this point. All the characters have hard lives, but in different ways. That's one of the great things about this book. No character is perfect, they all have their flaws. 
Noah is the last of Gansey's group. He's quiet-- you could go for hours not noticing that he is in the same room. Somehow Noah always seems to be a little dirty. 
All of Gansey's friends are loyal to him and I loved seeing their friendship and how they all worked together. Friendships are one of my favorite things to read about in books. They are also all helping him attempt to find this Welsh King. Somehow along the way, Blue gets entangled in their lives and in their mission, and that's when it really starts to get interesting. Like pulse racing, have to keep reading interesting. 
The first part of the book I just kept reading because I wanted to see Blue and Gansey meet-- it was all very interesting, but I said I'd go to sleep once they met. While it was interesting before they met, after Gansey and Blue meet, and Blue joins the gang, that's when everything becomes riveting, so riveting that it's almost impossible to tear one's eyes away from the pages. 
I can't really discuss the plot much, and I know it doesn't really sound all that interesting, but I promise it is. Maybe the idea of finding a King isn't that great, it's interesting, but nothing fantastic. What makes the book fantastic is what happens along the way and the relationships between these well thought out, well rounded characters. 
I'm giving the Raven Boys 8.9/10 stars. I really enjoyed it, and can't wait for the next three books to come in the mail. (They're on their way now.) 
Here's the synopsis: 

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them--until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.

His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.

But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can't entirely explain. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul whose emotions range from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher who notices many things but says very little.

For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She doesn't believe in true love, and never thought this would be a problem. But as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

Even if that doesn't sound particularly interesting to you (it didn't intrigue me), I encourage you to try this book out anyway. It's a brilliant read, and as I said before, utterly unique. I've never read anything quite like it-- and I read an awful lot.

Raven Boys? I think you mean Raven Baes. 

SPOILERS BELOW FOR RAVEN BOYS
I'm not going to lie. Going into this book, I totally thought it was in a fantasy world. That was until I read a reference to Walmart, that briefly confused me before I realized it was in modern day. (the walmart reference is on like the first page or second page) 
Also, maybe it's just me, but does anyone else think it's really hot when boys have to wear the preppy looking outfits for school? Like in Gossip Girl (TV show), they have to wear like ties and button up shirts. *Sigh* I imagine the Aglionby sweaters are just as attractive. Oh. Add southern accents? Definitely Raven Baes. 
I really appreciated how little romance was in this book, I feel like it's slow building, and I appreciate that. There actually was no or not much of a romantic connection between Gansey and Blue-- but I ship it. I really, really ship it. I liked Adam and Blue, but I feel like Gansey and Blue are end goals. It feels weird, reading it and knowing that Gansey is going to die. I don't really think he will... There must be some loophole. Maybe their favor will be to bring him back or something like that, we'll see, but I couldn't help but fall in love with all the characters. Especially Ronan and Gansey. Though, I did love all the characters, they just made the biggest impact on my soul, haha. I thought Noah's relationship with Blue was really sweet, though, it later made sense why he liked her so much-- she basically re-energized  him. I'm glad Noah's back and not gone for good. He's sweet. 
As much as I like Adam, I can't help but feel like he's going to betray them somehow. It's just at thing that happens when you're trying to climb to the top-- or at least one of these days he's going to have to chose between his friends or his goals, or something like that. 
The way Gansey and Blue met. Haha. The prostitute thing. I love them, they're great. I think it's hilarious when Gansey like insists on calling Blue Jane, in real life it might be seriously irritating, but in the book it was cute and funny. That scene where she's in his room  and they're talking to each other, and it's just so... FEELS. (loved Ronan's comment about the spit as well) I just loved watching Gansey and Blue get to know each other. 
Ronan. I don't know why, but I'm always attracted to the douchebag characters (with a soft underside) (Jace, Will Herondale, Daemon Black, Damon Salvatore, Draco Malfoy, Liam Court, Cole Stewart, Magnus Damora, Gabriel Lightwood, Aedion Ashv... Idk how to spell it, RHYSAND, Kaden, Raphael (Angelfall), shall I go on?) Ronan is definitely his own character, though. He's very mean, haha. I loved to see his softer side, though, and I can't wait to see more of him. (I suspect we will, since he's on the cover of the next book and it's titled the Dream Thieves.) But as mentioned before, I loved that he had an honor code and the he didn't believe in one night stands, it just made him all the better character. I also loved seeing the little ways he showed that yes, he did indeed care for his friends. Like when he killed that wasp for Gansey and was angry that Gansey hadn't killed it, or when he beat up Adam's dad for him. Okay, maybe the latter wasn't so small, but you get my point. It was also sweet seeing how he cared for Chainsaw. Seriously, he carried her to school with him. That's adorable. Even the tough ones can be turned by a cute animal, haha.  I'm very intrigued about his ability to pull things from dreams-- does it run in the family? Is that why his dad died? And really, I hope we find out what secret killed his father in the next book. 
I found it really amusing that they took latin-- of course a pretentious school like Aglionby would have to take latin. (I had to take latin last year. It was interesting, but not interesting enough to take it again.) I loved that Ronan was so interested in that class as well. It was actually funny, because I recognized all the word forms and understood most of the latin. 
Random note: I always just thought of 300 Fox Way as a kind of weasely type household. 
Arg. When they found Noah's body I was so confused. My first thought was that Noah must've come later and since the time was weird there, it was his future body that was dead. Then they revealed his last name was Czerny and I thought oh, he must be a relative of Whelk? Nope. Finally it dawned on me that Noah was a ghost. It's too bad Noah's ghost never got to run into Whelk and like, guilt him to death or something. I wonder if we'll ever see a Whelk ghost turn up-- he certainly wouldn't be as friendly as Noah. 
I'm wondering when Neeve will show up again, because I'm pretty sure she has to sometime. It's a loose end that will probably be tied up in a later book. 
There was a lot of thoughts from Gansey about how his friends always leave him and he's never able to leave them-- I wonder if that will come into play in the later books. Like one day he'll just break and leave, causing his friends to be the ones to have to win him back or something. Just a random idea. 
Anyway, thanks for reading. If you want to stay caught up on what I'm reading, your best bet is to friend me on goodreads-- Anji Cooper. I accept all friend requests. :) Also, if you don't have goodreads, you should get it. It's a fantastic app/site for readers. 
​-Anj

The Beauty of Darkness is the third book in Mary E. Pearson's riveting Remnant Chronicles. There's a lot of pressure usually on the third books in Trilogies, because usually the third book in a trilogy is always the worst. (Mockingly, Allegiant)  I had high hopes for this novel because the second book, The Heart of Betrayal, was even better than the first one. Unfortunately, The Beauty of Darkness fell into the bad luck of Trilogies. It was a bit of a disappointment. 
Throughout the first two books, all the main characters were strong and you could see their motivations and really understand them. While, in this book Lia really grows into her own person and into a spectacular character, Rafe and Kaden seem to have been thrown to the side. That is probably my biggest complaint about the book, while there were other, smaller issues, the thing that most upset me was that Rafe and (especially) Kaden's characters just... weren't nearly as strong and compelling as they were in the first two books. They just seemed a bit like empty shells of themselves, which was (obviously) disappointing, especially since Kaden happens to be my favorite character. 
Warning, this part of the review is spoiler free for the Beauty of Darkness, but it is certainly not for the previous two books. If you have yet to read The Kiss of Deception, and the Heart of Betrayal, I recommend you don't read any further until after you pick up the first two! (Which I highly recommend that you do.) 
I'm sorry in advance for any of you not Kaden lovers out here (how could you?). For the first two book reviews, I'm fairly sure my reviews basically revolved around Kaden. This one probably won't be too different. 
The plot in this book was not nearly as exciting and intriguing as the first two books'. The final battle-- the thing that the whole book had been leading up to, was rather disappointing (more on that in the spoiler section), and everything just felt all too convenient for the characters. Still, I'm not over how some of the main characters were just cast aside. Also, the relationships were just kind of thrown off in the wind as well. Some of the best parts about this series were the complicated relationships between all the characters-- while, for the first little bit of the book it was a good as expected, it just kept get worse and worse after that. 
The saddest part is that this book had so much potential, and there were so many things in it that could've gone in great directions, but ending falling flat. By the end, I was just glad the book was over. I noticed in another review it mentioned that there was a lack of character interactions and reactions to things. I also noticed that during the story. Actually, I was just waiting for Lia to talk to Kaden or to Rafe or to anyone, really, about what she was feeling or whatever. Or maybe even just think about it? But no, sadly most of the book was just about the actions, not the interactions or reactions. Seriously, in the last third or so of the book, there was hardly any interacting between Lia and Kaden-- like they were together a lot, but it never actually showed any interaction between them. Actually, there wasn't much interaction between Lia and Rafe either. It was all rather disappointing. 
Though, Pauline did become a strong character. I guess this book was more for the female empowerment or whatever, which of course I enjoy reading about, but it was too much. And it just made me miss Kaden more. 
The four point of views this book is told from are Lia (mostly), Rafe, Kaden and Pauline. Literally all Kaden's point of views are just about the events going on and there is almost no reactions of emotions about them. They're just things that are happening. 
Also, it basically ignored the fact that Kaden had the gift. Actually, that just circles back around to Kaden's character being tossed out the window, and him being an empty shell of himself in this book. *Sigh* I had such high hopes for that darling boy. 
While most of the review so far has been ranting, I can tell you that it's not all bad. I just usually have a tendency to point out the negatives and not bother to mention the positives. I did enjoy some of the book, I don't want you to think it was all bad. There were some very satisfying and exciting moments in it, they're just mostly overshadowed in my mind by the negative parts. 
There were also some relationship things that really aggravated me, but I will talk more about that in the spoiler section. 
Something I did really enjoy reading about were Rafe's friends, Tavish, Orrin and Jeb. They each had such interesting characters and they were loyal friends to the Prince. I wish we got to see more of them, who they are apart from Rafe's friends and apart from their own separate skills. 
This book also seemed to toy a lot with my emotions. There were parts where I actually began to feel hopeful about things that I'd given up on, only to feel crushed later. Then there were parts that I cheered about and yet still felt a pang of sadness for how it affected the characters. 
Even though it is a rather long book (688 pages) and yet sometimes it felt like things were happening too quickly. It's rather confusing how much time is actually passing by. Sometimes I felt like a few weeks had passed by in between a few paragraphs, but other times it felt like it was the same day for several chapters. All in all the time aspect of the book had me very confused. 
I would give The Beauty of Darkness 7/10 stars. I enjoyed parts of it, but ended up being pretty disappointed. I had such high hopes for this book and was very much anticipating it, which I guess makes it all the more disappointing. Like I said before, it did have some good parts, but they just got overshadowed in my mind. The ending of the book actually left me feeling rather empty and sad. It seemed like it wrapped up too quickly, as is the case with many trilogies. It's very hard to fit everything into three books-- sometimes it works out, but usually the ending of trilogies feels hasty and just all crammed together. That's how the ending of this book felt. 
I'm sorry again for the less than positive review, I really did love the first two books, this book just wasn't as great as its predecessors. 
(If you're wondering why I had the book a couple of days early, I'm just going to thank Barnes and Noble for never actually putting books out on the right release day :) 
Here's the synopsis: 

Lia and Rafe have escaped Venda and the path before them is winding and dangerous - what will happen now? This third and final book in The Remnant Chronicles is not to be missed.

Bestselling author Mary E. Pearson's combination of intrigue, suspense, romance and action make this a riveting page turner for teens.

Wow. They  changed the synopsis online from where it is in the book. The book synopsis spoils that yes, Kaden is indeed alive... This one doesn't. Sorry if I upset y'all greatly! 

SPOILERS BELOW FOR THE BEAUTY OF DARKNESS
Okay. This is going to turn into a venting therapy for me in a second, but let me just talk about the Komizar for a minute before I start on the venting. He was just this fantastic antagonist, and a great and looming threat throughout the second and third book. I was expecting him to be more of an issue, but instead he actually died off very quickly after you see him again-- it was a very quick and rushed feeling death. As was the battle. I already knew the battle would be a little rushed because it only had about 100 pages left when it began. Arg. The whole book worked its way up towards that battle and it hardly took any time for Lia and the gang to overcome the Vendans. Sure, Jeb died and that made me sad, but no one actually important died (like Lia, Rafe, Kaden or Pauline.) I know, I'd be complaining if one died as well. There's no real great way to please a readers. I had actually come to terms with Lia dying, and thought it was actually a good idea for the ending. Yeah. Lia didn't die. 
Also just quick laugh for me. As an avid ACOTAR fan, I was rather amused by Rafe becoming Tamlin-y for a minute there (not nearly as bad, though) and then the baby was named Rhys. Hehe. That baby has a bright future. 
A lot of the beginning of the book was dedicated to showing how loyal Rafe was to his country and how he'd choose it over basically anything else. I actually enjoyed that part, and not just because it caused problems between Lia and Rafe. I appreciated seeing how both Rafe and Lia were willing (reluctantly) to sacrifice their love for each other for their love of their countries. But then Rafe literally just goes back home, and basically just turns around to find Lia again. UGh. If he was going to do that, he may as well have just gone with Lia in the first place. 
Now let's move into the ranting/venting shall we? KADEN. KADEN AND PAULINE. No, just no. From the very first book I knew that Pauline and Kaden got along well. While reading it I remember actually being a little suspicious of that, but then everything else happened and I wasn't worried about it. Then in this book as Pauline and Kaden got closer, I just started going NO NO NO NO. I knew they were becoming a thing when he helped her give birth to her baby. It all just went downhill from there. It's not even that I'm made that Kaden and Lia didn't end up together, Pauline and Kaden's romance just felt forced and wasn't something that I really fell in love with like Kaden and Lia. It just wasn't a very convincing romance is the point I am trying to get to. It just felt like a little bit of a cop out since Kaden and Lia weren't going to end up together. Oh, about that. By the end of Heart of Betrayal I accepted that Kaden and Lia weren't going to be a thing, but the beginning of this book got my hopes up. Only to turn into no interactions between Lia and Kaden and them just to suddenly feel like their relationship was purely platonic. WHEN THE FUDGE DID THAT HAPPEN. It was made pretty clear in the beginning that Kaden was still in love with her... So that just faded away, I guess BUT WE NEVER GOT TO SEE IT SINCE ALL KADEN'S CHAPTERS WERE BASICALLY EMOTIONLESS. That kind of made me want to punch something. Also, at the beginning of the book I got the impression that Kaden was determined to kill Lia-- I thought he was just maybe pulling a bit of a con on her like she had on him in the beginning. But no. As soon as he saw her or something he changed his mind. But we didn't really get to see that mind changing because you know, we didn't actually get to see Kaden's thoughts. 
Okay, I could go on forever on my Kaden rant, so let's end it there before I start just typing gibberish. My last thing to comment on is the ending. I don't know about how it made you feel, but The ending just seemed to wrap up all too quickly and it seemed a little too perfect. Like it never really explained what was going on in Dalbreck and while it did give the message that everything was going pretty well, not many details were given. Like Lia and Rafe, are they going to have a long distance relationship or something? Who knows. 
I'd just like to close off this slightly (very) ranty review by saying I loved this series-- the world, the plot, the characters etc. I am very grateful to Mary for writing such a riveting and intriguing story, and I'm glad to have read it-- all of it. Even though I was disappointed in the last book, I would just like to say this is a good series. It's unique, well written and just a fun read. My point here is, I still greatly appreciate the author and the fantastic story she has created. 
Anyway, thanks for reading, I'll be having a lot more reviews popping up soon, so keep an eye out. :) 
-Anj