Calendar Girls January 2020

Welcome to the new month, new year, new decade, and a new set of Calendar Girls posts!

Earlier this month, Adrienne and Katie decided to take a little hiatus from this event. I like many other posters was sad to see it go but understood. HOWEVER, Flavia the Bibliophile and Dani at mousaibooks had swooped in at the last moment and saved us. So we have a theme this month and I am thrilled to talk about it!

This month’s theme is:

New Beginnings: Favourite first book in a new series (no sequels published yet)

Is my answer going to be cheating? Probably. Am I going to spend this blog post talking about how much I love Ronan Lynch? Yes.

My favorite new series is Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater. This isn’t the first set of books to feature some of this series main characters, but it is the first of the Dreamer Trilogy and the second book hasn’t been announced yet, but I cannot wait to get my hands all over it.

In the now five books that feature important fictional person Ronan Lynch, we as readers have gotten to watch him grow and–I don’t want to say blossom, but it feels like the right word. The Ronan we meet in The Raven Boys is angry– this Ronan is still angry, but we understand what’s underneath that anger and have seen how he’s worked over the year and a half, two years that transpire over the course of the first series and then this book. He sits with someone and talks about his dreams and says the words “My boyfriend Adam.” We’ve come so far since “Ronan was not a fan of lamps” to “My boyfriend Adam.” Character development at it’s finest.

I loved this book so much. I loved it because it was a chance to get back into that weird world Maggie Stiefvater created and visit with a character we didn’t really get to hear much from. I think only The Dream Thieves has a Ronan POV, so this book was only the second to really delve into him and his family. The Lynches felt like a huge side story in The Raven Cycle, and with this, we’re getting that side story.

I also enjoy the new world we’re introduced to. There was a part of me that missed the rest of the Gangsy, but without them around, it gave Ronan space to grow, and I think he needed it. Also, it gave us a chance to really meet Declan and I personally was not expecting to come out of this book with feelings about Declan Lynch, and yet, here we are.

This series is already an adventure and I have so many questions about what’s going to happen. How runs this organization that’s trying to get to the dreamers. How many more dreamers are there? Who was that man that hugged Declan in the park? Does Matthew have internal organs? Is Adam okay? (seriously, Maggie, is Adam okay?) I can’t wait to read the next book in this series.

I got to The Raven Cycle later than most– I read it over the summer for the first time– so I didn’t have the wait between The Raven King and Call Down the Hawk that most fans of this series did, but seeing how much my friends love these books and getting to talk to them in our group chats has been a true blessing. I can’t wait to see what’s happening with Ronan, Hennessy, and all the other amazing characters we’ve met in this book.

Goodreads says expected publishing date 2020, so hopefully this fall I can get my hands on this next book.

What is your favorite new series? Leave a comment or create your own Calendar Girls post to let us know!

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Calendar Girls is a monthly blog event created by Melanie at MNBernard Books and Flavia the Bibliophile and now be hosted by Katie at Never Not Reading and Adrienne at Darque Dreamer Reads.  It is designed to ignite bookish discussions among readers and was inspired by the 1961 Neil Sedaka song Calendar Girl.

Until next time Internet,

Deanna