Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Release Date: August 1, 2009

Source: Purchased

Buy the Book: Amazon / Book Depository / Indigo

the cold.

Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. On yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn’t know why.

the heat.

Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace...until now.

the shiver.

For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it’s spoken, it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human--and Grace must fight to keep him--even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.

Until the past week I was probably one of the rare people who hadn’t yet jumped on the Shiver train. I can now say that I have absolutely no idea what I was waiting for. I finally decided to pick up the book and absolutely loved it. I am now eagerly awaiting my return to civilization in order to go buy Linger.

When she was eleven years old, Grace was attacked by the pack of wolves that lives in the woods behind her house. A yellow-eyed wolf saved her from what would have been death and since then she has considered him her wolf. Sam has two lives: during the cold of the winter he spends his time with the pack of wolves and during the heat of the summer he gets to be a regular teenager, observing Grace from afar. But one year everything changes and Grace and Sam get to be together...for as long as it will last.

Other than the whole obsession with wolves, I could totally relate to Grace. I found that she was a really believable character and could often understand where she was coming from. I loved her as a character and I think she is now among my favorites. Not only could I totally relate to her but at times I literally wanted to be her...might have had something to do with Sam. I also liked being able to read parts of the story from her point of view, having the alternating narrators really made me love the story that much more.

Lately, I have been going a lot for the bad boy types but I am officially in love with Sam. I don’t even know how to begin describing his awesomeness. There’s just something about him that I couldn’t help but love. Beyond my love for him, Sam was a great character; the way he was with Grace and even when he was a wolf you couldn’t help but love him. Let’s just leave at this: Sam was an extremely lovable character.

I also loved the story. Werewolves were a refreshing change from vampires. And even then, they weren’t your typical werewolves who changed according to the moon. Having them depending on the temperature made it more interesting because it was less predictable when they were going to change. And the end was amazing too, it kept me going until the very last page and even then I wasn’t sure if I wanted to believe what I was reading. I just loved it.

Shiver was just amazing, I honestly don’t know why I waited so long to read it (in my defense, until this year I wasn’t in North America). I can’t wait until I get back home and can go to out to buy Linger. Maybe I’ll just order it online so it’s already there when I get home...