***BOOK REVIEW*** The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater

“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”

This story had me hooked from the first paragraph. Unfortunately the main protagonist is the usual YA plain yet gorgeous girl meeting the handsome but haunted boy. LUCKILY this didn’t diminish my love for the story. Besides falling into that YA trope this was brilliantly written. The plot and the scenery descriptions are cleverly and subtly explained. My imagination was engaged from the moment I started. I was able to connect with each of the main characters my heart aching for them all at different times. I’ve only read the first book in this four book series but I can guarantee you that I will be reading them all, and soon. This is my first Maggie Stiefvater book and I am impressed.

★★★★.5

See below for synopsis:

It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive.

Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.

His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is 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 has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, 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 never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.