Shiver - finally finished

I cannot believe I am about to tell you this, but...this book made me ball like a heartbroken sucker.

I was determined to not care for this book, and at first, I didn't.  The first two hundred pages went by slowly.  It wasn't as though I had to work for the book, but my reading didn't flow, like it usually does.  I sort of staggered through the pages, not even ending a session of reading along the parameters of chapters.  I would just set the book down and let it sit for twelve hours.

I may not have consumed the first half of the book, but the middle was like a meal I never wanted to end.  The action picked up and the incline of the plot drove me crazy.  This all came crashing down on me as I read the last fifty pages in a flurry, demanding to know the end, yet never really wanting to get there.

Maggie made me do something I don't like to do: care.

I did not expect her writing to be so powerful.  Not only is it forceful and cohesive, it is intimate and gentle.  She touches on all the right things and you feel whole afterward.

The ending of the book didn't surprise me, but it turned me into a Greek fountain pouring from the eyes, and that's impressive to me.


Edit: 1-22-2010
I forgot to mention that as I was reading the book, I thought the blue ink was pretentious. In fact, it drove me crazy for a bit, but as I logged in to my blog to write my thoughts on the book, my black and white 'portrait' was staring back at me.  Now who's pretentious?

Damn, now I have to wait for this:
 July 20...

EDIT:
I entered Steph Bowe's Win a Paranormal Book Pack contest, you should too, even if it lessens my chances.  See, I can be nice.  Her blog is super neat-o, anyway, so head on over there.