Anyone Else In Love With Lament and Ballad Like I Am?

[Leana]

I even mentioned in my review of Lament how much I was glad to have a main female character that didn't drive me crazy. And then to my surprise in Ballad, I wanted to smack some sense into her more than once. But I didn't feel the annoyance like you did Lani towards her even at the end of Lament. I was too busy being obsessed with Luke though, I think :D.

I was sad when I first realized that James was the main character in Ballad. I didn't like him as much as a lot of others did in Lament. But once I got into Ballad, I ended up loving him and his story! And I loved Nuala with him. She is a great character.

I am excited for Maggie to start writing the series again some day, although I know it will be quite some time, because I read that she just gave her publisher the manuscript for the book following Linger.

On the bright side, Linger is almost out!! :D

[Lani]

Yay for Linger!!!!

[Chachic]

Oh and I've heard that the Shiver paperback is already out and it also has blue ink! Linger is going to have green ink. I wonder what's the font color for the last one?

[Lani]

My vote's for red, it would make a nice trio of color

[Chachic]

I think red would look nice.

[Leana]

Ooh, I love that! That would be so cool!

I think Shiver was sort of wrapped up in a pretty little package at the end. So when I read it, I didn't know or expect that it was actually the first book of the series. So I am really looking forward to this next installment coming out and to see where it leads.

[Chachic]

I know, me too, I thought that I really liked where Shiver ended so I wasn't really looking forward to Linger but then I saw reviews from book bloggers who felt the same way but they ended up liking Linger when they read ARCs of it.

[Jackie]

Dee didn't annoy me at all in Ballad. I think she is just broken. She lost the (first) love of her life... But the most stupid thing she could do was pushing James to a kiss and afterwards telling him that she was thinking about Luke... I just felt so sorry, when she realized that James really meant to kiss.

[Kait]

I really kind of felt like Maggie must have liked James more than Dee. I really enjoyed Lament and then I didn't really like Dee in Ballad (and generally got the sense that you weren't supposed to). I really loved both of them (as I tend to love anything by Maggie Stiefvater), but I just really heart James.

[Chachic]

I hope Maggie can get back to this story right after the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy because I want to know what happens with Dee and Luke. Hopefully, Dee will be more likable in that story.

[Kait]

Chachic wrote: "I hope Maggie can get back to this story right after the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy because I want to know what happens with Dee and Luke. Hopefully, Dee will be more likable in that story."

So there IS supposed to be more in this series? Because I totally felt like Dee got gyped.

[Chachic]

I forgot who first mentioned it here but I saw from someone that Maggie intends to write more about these characters.

[Jackie]

I am still NOT thinking, that Dee was annyoing in Ballad. Of course she hurted James a lot because of her behaviour but with the knowledge what has happend to her and Luke in Lament... Well I feel for her! She lost the biggest love of her life!

[Lani]

I guess what bothered me about Dee is Ballad is how she treated James, knowing he liked her more than she liked him. I just felt like she was really selfish when it came to James. I can understand loosing the love of your life, but it doesn't give you an excuse to use someone. I hope the story continues, I would love to see Dee happy with Luke.

[Chachic]

I would have to agree with Lani. I felt like Dee was using James even though she knows how he feels about her. I wanted her to make an effort to be James' friend and not just be a huge burden to him. I just felt like she was really selfish in Ballad.

[Leana]

I agree Chachic. I felt like like you said that she was so wrapped up in her own sorrow, not that I didn't think it was valid for her to be upset and hurting, but it was like she never really saw James as a real person. I really didn't like James in Lament only because I didn't think he was in the story enough to get an attachment until close to the end. And by then I was just loving Luke. So in Ballad when I did get to know James and realize what a really cool character he was, I knew I was a James fan. It didn't mean I didn't like Dee less, but I saw that she never really was there for James, even before Luke. For Dee, he was the easy choice and relationship. But she depended on him for that friendship and nothing more. Where as James saw Dee a lot more for who she was and loved her anyway and maybe because of who she was.

Oh, Maggie, I love your writing :D. You write complicated relationships so eloquently!

Ok, so I say it all the time, but totally looking forward to Linger next month!

[Jackie]

Of course you are all right with saying Dee did use James and I felt so sorry for him when he found out at the balcony BUT was he really that naive to believe that suddenly her feelings would have changed? And I also think that Dee didn't do the kiss on purpose to hurt James - she just wanted to feel somebody again. And of course that is a lame excuse but love is going strange ways!

[Leana]

Jackie wrote: "Of course you are all right with saying Dee did use James and I felt so sorry for him when he found out at the balcony BUT was he really that naive to believe that suddenly her feelings would have ..."

I pretty much agree Jackie. Don't get me wrong, this was quite some time ago for me - but I remember being in high school and just wishing that someone I was crushing on would realize they liked me back. That didn't turn out quite so well for me. I had my heart broken more than one time because I was a geek like that :D. But I can totally buy James hoping just that very thing. And don't worry about me. I got over my dweebiness, for the most part anyway, and have been married for quite some time now :D. But I brought it up to show though I can relate to why he would have tried what he did with Dee, even over and over.

And I 100% agree with you that Dee didn't do what she did to hurt James. And I completely agree that it was because she was trying to get over Luke or to feel some kind of connection again. I think it was something that was very human of her to do.

I think for me, I mostly was frustrated with Dee inspite of these things and other things she did through out Ballad mostly as a reaction to how much she seemed to have changed from Lament.

She was reacting to situations badly because she felt broken. But I had a hard time with her not bugging me.

In a lot of ways, she reminded me of Bella in New Moon and Eclipse. She was trying to get through bad situations with poor judgement. I love Bella, but I can't tell you how many times I wanted to reach through the pages of the books and strangle her!

The frustration though with characters is really what I kind of like about books. If a book can get up upset or annoyed, it's a story that is told really well. At least in my opinion.

So although Dee drove me crazy, I still love her for sure!!!!