Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

Release Date - October 21, 2014

Publisher Website - Scholastic 
Publisher Social Media - Twitter
Pages - 391 pages
My Rating - 5/5
**received in exchange for an honest review**

Here is the Goodreads 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. 

Blue Lily, Lily Blue continues the deliciously written story of Blue Sargent, and the group of guys known as The Raven Boys. This is a story is filled with wishes, dreams, and excruciating not quite kisses. Things heat up as their search for Glendower is quickly approaching it's end.

It's no secret that Maggie Stiefvater's writing is stunning. It's been praised by many and with good reason. What I appreciate about her writing the most is how she captures her characters. Each of these characters is messed up and struggling with their own thing. They could have been characters that were solely their problems. Instead she's created these rich, complex characters and connections that make you ache and feel.

The characters that breath life into this series are what captivated me most. You'll have plenty of feelings about them, ship different couples, and this may be the only book in which you pray for a kiss not to happen. The relationships they forge between each other is the glue of the story, and the catalyst for everything that happens in the story. It's what drives the reader, and keeps you interested.

The romances, or potential ones, are excruciating and teasing. Blue and Gansey's continued tightrope walk between fighting and giving into their feelings is fraught with tension. Their best scenes happen in cars, and this installment is no exception. Those who already want them together will be obsessed at the end of this installment. Other highlights in the (potential/in my head) romance department is Ronan telling someone that 'maybe I dreamt you'. Those who swooned when Ronan revealed Adam was one of his secrets will secretly (or not so secretly) flail. Their friendship is expanded and deepened in this novel, and the connection they have is intriguing.

As torturous and enticing as the romance aspect is, it's the friendships that make this series as heart wrenching as it is. Blue's assessment that "they were all in love with one another" is accurate. Each of them cares about the other, and each of them would do anything for the others. It's a defining, obsessive friendship. The kind that changes you, and that is the heart of the story.

Gansey's foretold death is a looming, all encompassing thing that haunts the pages of the novel. Blue is haunted by it, as is the reader. This novel continuously makes you heartbreakingly aware that his death is coming. It feels inevitable, and like fate. You'll end this novel hoping that they find a way to defy fate because any other outcome is unfathomable at this point.

A complex, mystical tale that lets it's characters come to life. If you haven't started this series, I recommend catching up before the explosive finale. Glendower looms ever closer, and I can't wait to see what awaits Blue and her Raven Boys.