As soon as I finished Lament, I asked the library to order Shiver. And almost as soon as I got Shiver, I started reading it. It took me a few days to get going, but then I couldn't stop. (It was not the book's fault - I was too busy.)

Shiver is a wonderful book. Stiefvater is an excellent writer who doesn't write down to her audience. When Sam needs to quote Rilke to Grace, Stiefvater just uses what works for the story. She knows that YA readers are smart and will figure out what they don't know.

The basic storyline is that Grace's and Sam's lives are intertwined and are meant to be that way. The fact that Sam is a werewolf and Grace is not, does not mean they don't belong together. It just means that the path of their love will not be smooth. But no good love story is easy - on the protagonists or the reader.

There is another series out there that is popular right now. I won't knock the vampire story, because it has its audience and I will never knock a book that gets kids to read. But I hope that most of those readers will find Shiver and the Wolves of Mercy Falls books because these books will be around for a long while.

Stiefvater can hold the reader's interest because her story is good, but also because her writing is excellent.