Lament by Maggie Stiefvater

Aside from being a total musical prodigy, Deirdre is your typical teenage girl: She clams up before performing in front of anyone, works at a local ice cream shop, and she's often texting her best friend James when she's not hanging out with him. But then something strange happens: While in the bathroom before a big musical performance, a boy suddenly appears. And this isn't just any boy: His name is Luke Dillon, and Deirdre could swear that she had a dream about him the night before. He's stunningly beautiful, is a gifted musician, and he seems to bring out the best in Deirdre. So it's no wonder that soon her heart is fluttering for this boy, despite knowing that somehow he's very different, and possibly very not-safe.

But Deirdre isn't so typical as she thought either. After meeting Luke, she begins to discover some disturbing facts about herself, the strangest of them being that she is a Cloverhand, or a person who can see faeries. These faeries know that Deirdre is special, and their queen is out to get her.

Honestly, it took me a little while to get into this book because I was so. utterly. confused. during the first part of it. There was so little explanation, and the author simply catapulted into the story without any hesitation. It was interesting, but I found myself very lost and unsure of what each character's motivation was.

Once I got my bearings and was able to figure everything out, I ended up enjoying the book. I loved that while it was a YA paranormal romance, it was different because it was about faeries and not something overdone like vampires. I'm always interested in reading something "trendy" but with a variation of some sort. This story was unique (with the exception of a love triangle, but I doubt I'm giving much away here since a girl with a male best friend means there's ALWAYS a love triangle), and when it ended I was really excited about reading the sequel, Ballad.

But here is where the big issue comes. I actually started Ballad, and I am ashamed to say that I could not finish it! It was completely not what I was expecting, and it was a big disappointment after enjoying Lament. Bummer. But regardless, I'm still desperately excited for Stiefvater's latest book Linger to come out this summer.