The Scorpio Races, by Maggie Stiefvater (October 2011)

It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die.

Life on Thisby Island, population 4,000 is quiet, except in November.  The closer it gets to November, the more capaill uisce - water horses - the sea spits out. 

These are not ordinary horses.  Drape them with charms, hide them from the sea, but today, on the beach: Do not turn your back.

During the month of October, until the first of November, the island becomes a map of safe areas and unsafe areas. 

Puck Connolly understands too well what the capaill uisce ("copple ooshka") are capable of.  Her parents were killed at sea.  Puck lives with her older brother, Gabe, and younger brother, Finn.  Gabe works at the hotel to keep the family together, and Puck and Finn work odd jobs to earn some money.

Suddenly Gabe tells Puck that he's leaving the island.  To make him change his mind, Puck tells him she's going to enter in the annual Scorpio Races - races with the unpredictable capaill uisce.  Gabe finally admits that he'll stay on the island until after the races.  To enter the races, though, Puck needs to find a capall uisce.  Forced to make a choice, she decides to ride her beloved horse, Dove.

Sean Kendrick has worked in Malvern Yard since he was 10 years old.  He has a way with the capaill uisce, he understands their magic.  The capaill uisce can play tricks on the rider, coaxing him to trust and to join the beast in the sea.  Sean knows how to tie knots in the horse's mane, use threes in sevens, track iron counterclockwise on the horse's withers, and make circles in the sand and spit in the center.  Sean and his favorite capall uisce, Corr, have won the Scorpio Races four times.  But Corr belongs to Mr. Malvern, and more than anything, Sean wants to own Corr.

Mr. Malvern is a powerful man on Thisby.  He owns most everything on the island, including Puck's house.  Equally as cold, his son, Mutt, hates Sean and will do anything to hurt him.

Both Sean and Puck must win the races to save what they love the most.  But can they survive?

Even if you don't know anything about horses, The Scorpio Races is an exciting read, full of lovely imagery and strong characters.  And there's even some romance in unexpected places.

Rating:  10 out of 10 stars
*mild language, some crude British humor, mild violence

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Forever, by Maggie Stiefvater (2011)

* Plot spoiler if you haven't read Shiver or Linger.

I can be so, so quiet.

Sam Roth has been cured.  He doesn't change into a wolf anymore, but the love of his life, Grace Brisbane, is lost to the woods.  Grace has been a wolf for two months and Sam is lost without her.  Former rock star Cole St. Clair lives with Sam and he wants to study the wolves more. 

"I'm only going to say this once, so you better believe me the first time.  I'm looking for a cure."

Isabel's father, Thomas Culpepper, wants revenge for the death of his son, Jack.  His influence and power in Minnesota is evident.

"My father is meeting with a congressman about getting the wolves taken off the protected list.  Think helicopers and sharpshooters."

The wolf pack in Mercy Falls is about 20 - 30 wolves and in two weeks aerial shooters will hunt and kill every single wolf.

Grace's dad is sure that Sam killed Grace.  And the police want some answers after Olivia's mutilated dead body appears on the Culpepper's property.

Grace, Cole and Sam need to move the pack to safety.  But how?  Beck holds the answers to this question and more.  But Beck is now a wolf and he can't shift anymore.  Sam needs to find Beck for answers, and he needs Cole's help.

Beck had decided to take me.  Long before my parents decided they didn't want me, he had planned to take me...I didn't understand how someone could be both God and the devil.  How the same person could destroy you and save you.



The last person Sam could ever expect for help comes up with a solution.  A location to move the wolves to avoid the aerial hunt.  But Sam and Cole have to make the most difficult decision of their lives.

If you like romantic stories that include humans and wolves, this is a good series for you.  This is the last one in the series, and I only wish I knew what happened with Cole and Isabel.

Rating:  6 out of 10 stars

* Some sexual references, language

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Linger, by Maggie Stiefvater (2010)

Mercy Falls, Minnesota, looked different when you knew you'd be human for the rest of your life.  Before, it has been a place that existed only in the heat of summer, concrete sidewalks and leaves curved up toward the sun, everything smelling of warm asphalt and dissipating truck exhaust.

*Plot spoiler if you have not read Shiver.

Isabel and Grace were able to save one and kill the other; Sam was saved and Jack was killed.  Not only was Sam saved, but he doesn't shift into being a wolf anymore.  And more than anything, he wants to believe in his cure.  He wants to spend his life with Grace.

Before Beck's final shift, he "recruited" three new members to add to the pack.  One of them is Cole St. Clair, a famous rock star in the band NARKOTIKA.  Cole is wild and dangerous, and could put the whole pack in jeopardy with his wrecklessness. 

Suddenly Grace begins to feel sick and has a recurring fever.  Doctors can't find anything wrong with her, but she continues to get sicker and sicker.  Sam knows something is wrong because he can smell a familiar wolf scent on her, one that reminds him of the wolf they found dead in the woods.

Why is Grace so ill?  Will she die?  Who is Cole and why would he choose this life?  Is Sam really cured?  Can Grace and Sam stay together forever?  The resolution to this book will leave you wondering about these characters and what will happen in the next book.

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

Rating:  6 out of 10 stars
*Some inappropriate language, sexual content, and drug use

Next:  Forever - out July 12, 2011

Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater (2009)

I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm going cold, surrounded by wolves.  They were licking me, biting me, worrying at my body, pressing in. 

Six years ago, Grace Brisbane was attacked by wolves while she was swinging on the tire swing in her backyard.  She was 11 years old.  She didn't struggle or fight.  She remembers one wolf, the one with yellow eyes.  And somehow, she survived.

Grace is now 17-years old, and she has never forgotten the wolf, her wolf.  She can't wait for each Minnesota winter, when the wolves return to the woods in back of her house.  Her wolf comes to watch her, too.  For six years, Grace watches her wolf, and her wolf watches her.

The people of Mercy Falls don't know that a pack of werewolves live in their woods.  But problems begin to happen when Jack Culpepper is killed and the citizens of Mercy Falls want to kill all of the wolves.  One wolf is shot, wounded.  Graces searches for her wolf and finds him on the deck in her back yard.  It's Sam Roth, a 17-year old boy.

Grace learns about Sam's pack.  She learns how they change from human into wolf form when the weather gets cold.  She learns that new ones change rapidly, without warning.  She also learns that this is the last time Sam will be human.  It is late fall, and the temperature is dropping.

How can Sam and Grace be together?  Why didn't Grace change into a wolf after she was bitten six years ago?  And what will happen with the pack as a result of Jack Culpepper's recklessness?

Maggie Stiefvater's love story between a girl and a wolf reads a lot like the Twilight series.  Each chapter is narrated by either Sam or Grace, and the temperature is indicated.  If you like romantic books, you'll enjoy Shiver.

Rating:  6 out of 10 stars
*Mild language, sexual inference

To check this book out at NOLS, click HERE!

The next book:

The newest book in the series will be released on July 12, 2011.