#luke dillon

[puckconnolly]

Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception by @maggie-stiefvater

“What about us? Can i see you again? You can say no. You'd crush all my hopes and dreams, but it's an option.” 

[bramblrose]

♬ books of faerie duology by maggie stiefvater ⟶ luke dillon & deirdre monaghan “I keep waiting for you to tell me to leave you alone. To tell me I'm creepy.”

[the-bookworms-blog]

One of my favourite books! ❤️ ‘Lament’, by @maggie-stiefvater

Check out my personal blog: @liv-nikolis

[actualwizardbillykaplan]

Ravenclaw James Morgan has been in love with his best friend, Hufflepuff Deirdre Monaghan since even before Hogwarts. But he never says anything out of fear she won’t fell the same way. Everything changes the year Hogwarts hosts the Triwzard Tournament. James watches as Deirdre falls head over heels for Beauxbatons boy Luke Dillon. But James’ own world is thrown for a loop when he makes friends with Durmstrang girl Nuala.

[nomeutenteerrato]

La fragilità non era un'immagine che mi piaceva indossare.

Whisper, Maggie Stiefvater

[getpiped-blog1]

Luke Dillon

[theliterarygeek]

Lament: The Faerie Queen's Deception

By Maggie Stiefvater

"It struck me that we'd come to a strange unspoken agreement. He pretended to be normal, and I pretended I believed him. I wanted to believe him. But I couldn't. What brand of abnormal, I wasn't sure yet." -Dee

The story of Lament follows sixteen-year-old Deidre "Dee" Monaghan, a talented harpist. Musical genius aside, Dee is a shy girl who sees herself as ordinarily plain. With the exception of her outgoing, bagpipe-playing best friend, James, Dee is socially awkward and has no other friends. In comes Luke Dillon, a handsome and mysterious flutist, who she meets and becomes infatuated with at a music competition. The catch? He's a gallowglass, a soulless faerie assassin sent by the Faerie Queen to kill Dee because her musical talent threatens the Queen's sovereignty. But there is more to Luke than meets the eye, and assassin or not, Dee can't help but seek out his true intentions. Unfortunately for Dee, seeing Luke is just the beginning of things to come as other evil faeries appear and she's thrown into a centuries old faerie war.

Lament is a YA romance novel mixed with Celtic Faerie lore. What enticed me to pick up this book was not the romance, but the promise of evil faeries. Given it's a young adult book, I shrugged off the average prose and gave the story the benefit of the doubt. I wasn't expecting an amazing story, but I was still hoping to be entertained. However, I would be disappointed by Lament both as a romance novel and a supernatural one.

Lets first discuss the romance aspect. I do not hate romances. I get giddy about romances just like any other girl. I just prefer romances to be a side story, like in Harry Potter or The Hunger Games. The problem with Lament is that it's a pure romance novel, yet I found the side romances in HP and HG more addicting and relatable. The characters of Dee and Luke fall flat. I found Dee to be an annoying, whiny girl. At times I think she can be a strong character, but she'll revert back to bad decisions because of her infatuation with Luke. And for someone who hates people judging her and not seeing her for who she is, she's narrow-minded and judgmental herself. Though I will admit she's a step up from Bella Swan from Twilight, who is intolerable (I read the first book to see what the fuss was about). As for Luke, I do not see the appeal at all. Frankly he's creepy and sketchy, always showing up out of nowhere. I don't care how gorgeous he is. His evasiveness and  the forced mystery surrounding him is a turnoff. If you won't tell me who you really are, then go away. I also don't understand why he's so enamored with Dee. The book never clearly explains and so I don't really care what happens between them. What they share is NOT love.

Overall, the book has a lot of loopholes and lacks depth. The romance is weak and the supernatural action sequences are nonexistent. The only thing holding my attention was the mystery of why the Faerie Queen wanted to kill Dee so badly. However it was more of a "Tell me already!" feeling rather than a "I can't wait to figure this out!". The ending was confusing and left many unanswered questions. I felt Stiefvater had built up potentially interesting characters, but she never followed through. For example, I kept waiting to figure out what the deal was with Dee's mom and her Aunt Delia, but the explanation never came. It's like their role in the story didn't even matter, but she made them sound crucial. The only character I loved was James, and even then, Stiefvater makes him so minor and useless. If anything, his existence made Dee appear to be a horrible friend. Seriously, she's the worst friend ever.

At the end of the book, I found out there was a sequel. I was relieved because I thought it might answer my questions. I looked it up and the story has nothing to do with Dee at all. Very disappointing. I won't be reading it. I give this book a 2/5 because it was still interesting enough to at least hold my attention. Despite this bad review, I want to look into Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, which she is better known for.

[surfinglifeuk]

Lifestyle shots from the Quiksilver Team trip to Hawaii - featuring Nathan Phillips, Luke Dillon, Toby Donachie and team manager Spencer Hargraves produced by Will Bailey!