Without long descriptive passages or flowery language, Maggie Stiefvater
masterfully illustrates a world so vivid and real, you can't help but to be
pulled into it.
What impressed me most about her writing is the strength
of her characters. Puck and Sean, the two protagonists, are so well drawn. They
are believable and true and their story unfolds through alternating chapters
told in first person narrative. I loved the two points of view and the way they
moved the story seamlessly.
This is a story that lingers. The mood is
consistent throughout the entirety of the book, the story grows stronger with
each turned page, and the end does not disappoint.
Every now and then a
book comes along in which the language pulls you so far into the story that you
are no longer reading words but watching it play out in your mind. The Scorpio
Races is such a book.
Guilt-stricken seventeen-year-old Catherine, who feels
responsible for her best friend’s death, is sent away to her grandmother’s in
Pasadena for Christmas while her parents are away in Europe. While she is
there, she meets this boy, Noah, at church who says to her that he has talked
to her best friend and can get Catherine in touch with her. The strange thing
is is that no one else seems to see Noah when he is around. Stranger yet,
Catherine is approached by an elderly woman who warns her not to go back to the
church. And to make matters worse, an old diary and rumors of missing local
girls may just reveal what Noah is really up to.
"I'll go where ever
you go". 
In Robin Wasserman's Hacking Harvard, you have three geniuses who set out to hack the admissions system of one of America's highest ranking Ivy League Universities. Not only are these boys in it for the glory, but also a large sum of cash. They have the hack, the crew, the plan, and pretty soon, the prize. But the stakes might be much higher than they thought. In Wasserman's own words, "You don't need to be brilliant, you just need a plan."
