Huiver

The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1

by Maggie Stiefvater, Lia Belt (Translator)

En toen opende ik mijn ogen en waren alleen Grace en ik er nog – helemaal niets behalve Grace en ik – en drukte ze haar lippen op elkaar alsof ze mijn kus binnen in zich wilde houden, terwijl ik dit moment vasthield dat zo kwetsbaar was als een vogel in mijn handen.

Al jaren doet Grace niets liever dan de wolven in het bos achter haar huis observeren. Er is één wolf met goudkleurige ogen – haar wolf – die haar hart sneller doet kloppen. Maar elk jaar verdwijnt hij bij het aanbreken van de zomer, om pas bij de eerste vorst weer tevoorschijn te komen.
Die zomer ontmoet Grace Sam, een jongen met goudkleurige ogen die haar direct de adem beneemt. Hij is haar wolf, ze weet het, ze voelt het. Als de winter nadert moet Sam vechten omdat hij de wolf in hem voelt groeien, maar de liefde van Grace niet wil verliezen…

Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Paranormal, Werewolves, Fiction, Paranormal Romance

335 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2009

About the author

New York Times bestselling author of The Shiver Trilogy, The Raven Cycle, and The Scorpio Races. Artist. Driver of things with wheels. Avid reader.

Maggie Stiefvater plays several musical instruments (most infamously, the bagpipes) and makes art in several media (most generally, colored pencils).

She lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia with her husband, their two children, many dogs, a bunch of fainting goats, and a mating pair of growly tuner cars.

Reviews

[Kat Kennedy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I started reading this book and a curious thing happened. Suddenly my house was sparkling clean, my bills were filed away, I started playing Farm Story and reached level 13 in one day, I did my tax, I spent two hours chatting to the chatbott, Jabberwocky...Anything, and I mean ANYTHING to avoid the boredom of reading Shiver. Shiver, the story of a girl drastically into beastiality, only to find out her wolf lover was really a boy. As I read this book I had the strange urge to lock up my German sheppard should Grace ever decide to visit my home because she really does fall in love with a dog... for YEARS before she ever finds out it's a boy or that things like werewolves exist. I can't even begin to express how creepy her obsession with a wolf is.

I get the whole eternal love thing. Perhaps Stiefvater was trying to show that Sam and Grace's connection transcends all the things love actually isn't supposed to transcend. Maybe I'm just weird and completely unromantic, but I've never looked at Fido and found a kindred spirit. I never passed a dog down the street and found that I couldn't be attracted to men because they just weren't going to cut it for me anymore.

So, other than the fact that this book disturbed the fucking hell out of me, bored me to death and dragged on like a visit to the old folk's home, it was also poorly edited. The writing wasn't TOO bad. Some of the poems were down right rubbish, and some of the others were alright.

Grace and Sam's voices were near identical. Oh, and another thing, Sam was annoyingly chaste for way too long. Where were all of these careful, thoughtful boys when I was in high school? It's a disturbing trend, really. Edward Cullen, Sam Roth, Daniel Gregori... they all came pre-pussy whipped and I'm kind of wondering what the attraction is.

Maybe I'm just a sucker for bad boys. Maybe I like boys that I COULDN'T imagine comfortably playing bridge with my 80 year old grandma (not to mention enjoying it!) What is with the sudden need to keep us women in line? If I read one more paranormal, male hunk refuse the supposed love of his life, who is literally flinging her naked body onto him, then I think I'm going to start a convention... a Ball Replacement Convention.

C'mon, Stiefvater! Give the boy his balls back, please! He complained that a jacket made him look bulky! He wrote a poem about a leaking womb! What teenage boy doesn't shudder at the thought of menstrual blood? What next? Chipped nail, PMS cramps? Is he going to stamp his foot and mutter, "Drat! I can't believe Jennifer is wearing the same dress as me! I think I might just die!"

Look, I know I'm being incredibly sexist. After all, it was kind of nice to read about a "stoic" female character and an emotional, gentle male character. But Sam felt and read far too much like a middle aged woman and not like a teenage boy. I didn't feel like he was well characterized or fleshed out enough.

So all in all, I can't muster the energy to rant about this book. It was REALLY boring. It was average on the writing scale. It's secondary characterization was pretty good but the main characters didn't do it for me. The plot was SLOW.

Her parents were stupid. I could complain that they were unrealistic - but I've met some fucked up parents over my life, so I'll buy that they really could be that moronic. What I will complain about is where they get this amazing and varied social life in a small town. It never explains why Sam's fate is mysteriously different to Jack's. Maybe I'm just stupid... No. I don't buy that. Was it because he was out in the freezing cold so it kept his temperature reasonable? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose of giving him a crazy-ass fever? Was it actually because he processed it as a wolf? Well that doesn't make sense because Grace never changed.

And what's with the dramatic ending? Really? He gets cured and goes home and gets dressed and reads a few books, checks his mail, gives himself a mani and a pedi, goes on a diet, waits for his skin to clear up, buys the perfect set of shoes and THEN tracks down the love of his life who he thought he'd never see again? I DON'T FUCKING THINK SO! How about stumbling through the forest naked and desperately arriving in Grace's backyard because he can't believe the complete miracle of his cure and can't wait to have the love of his life back in his arms? Yeah, that ending makes so much more sense.

I don't get why this is popular. But then, I don't get why Fallen is popular either. It's just all beyond me. Now I'm off to see if I can cram the word "balls" into this review anymore.

Balls, balls, balls. Oh my goodness she fell in love with a dog! Balls.

Balls.


This review can also be found on my blog, Cuddlebuggery Book Blog.

[Heather · Rating 1 out of 5]

I read this book to the end so you don’t have to. Shiver should come with a Surgeon General’s Warning. I think all the purple prose has blacked out my eyes! Too bad the swelling didn’t prevent me from noticing the ginormous plot holes. And I need some aspirin because my head aches from clenching my jaw as I am certain all the sappy sweetness contained in this adverb infested book was injected straight into my molars. I am very much at a loss as to how this book has received so many glowing reviews. Am I missing something?

Allow me to recount the story (for mood purposes, you need to know that the setting of this book is frigid, so, well, feel cold okay?) Moving on, Grace is 17 and in love with a golden eyed wolf that saved her when she was 11 and too weak and insipid to fight back for herself as wolves were attempting to consume her flesh. Unable to think of anything but her love for a wild dog, Grace is forever seeking out her wolf, trying to catch a glimpse of him or possibly make friends with him a la White Fang, only in a romantic way. Sounds disturbing right? Well brace yourself cause this wild dog is equally obsessed and in love with Grace, either due to the fact that she looked like an angel while lying in the snow, nearly catatonic and helpless or because his wolf self likes the stink of fear and uselessness. What follows is a story about how these two characters defy lame and dare I say “borrowed” werewolf lore, meet, cuddle, spout lame poetry and construct sad song lyrics.

The best part of this book is the cover and the font, which sadly, had nothing to do with the author. There was one well done scene, and the description was able to establish the temperature of the setting which was pertinent to the plot. But the very thing that the author was good at, description, was one of the very worst things about Shiver. I have yet to meet, and I pray that I never will, a guy that describes himself as a “leaky womb”. I don’t even know what that means, I guess he felt like a menstruating uterus which seems very strange. I have never eaten in a kitchen that smells like easy survival, nor liked the smell of armpit, or heard a guy call anything “horribly cute”, much less a pom pom hat, call me crazy.

Also, I am sure this author doesn’t like having her book compared to Twilight, but it seems as though she was attempting to cash in on its success. Aside from the whole temperature angle, the werewolf lore in this book reeked of Stephanie Meyer’s werewolf lore, which was ludicrous, not to mention a major bore fest. Grace might as well have been a Bella cutout, though somehow not as interesting, which is a whole new low that I never would have thought possible. And Sam, well he is the werewolf version of Edward, only lacking in confidence, swoonworthiness, and talent.

I’m not going to lie, I had some aww moments, I’ve already mentioned there being one very well done scene, and sometimes I would catch myself nearing a teary eyed state when Sam would talk about his dread of the impending winter. But those moments were usually massacred by extreme ridiculousness, childishness, pretentious poetry, and random outbursts of nonsensical song lyrics that were impossible to ignore.

So YA readers, do yourself a favor, and avoid this book like the plague otherwise you may experience bruising of the retinas, sore teeth, and burnt fingers from turning all those frosty pages. Other side effects may include side stitches from laughing at extreme ridiculousness, random eye twitching and scratchy throat from asking WTH? more times than I can count.

[Joe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Here's how I imagine Stiefvater's meeting with the publishing house.

Stiefvater: I want to write a book about a girl who falls in love with a vampire!
Publisher: Sorry, Maggie. That's been done before. Read Twilight. It's terrible!
Stiefvater: Oh. I want to write a book about a girl who falls in love with a zombie!
Publisher: Sorry, Maggie. That's been done before. Read Generation Dead. It's terrible!
Stiefvater: Oh. I want to write a book about a girl who falls in love with a werewolf!
Publisher: Bingo!

Months later...
Stiefvater: I wrote a book about a girl who falls in love with a werewolf!
Publisher: (reads a couple pages) Maggie, this is terrible! We'll take it!

In what's becoming a distressing theme in young adult literature aimed at females, Stiefvater's Shiver follows a teenage girl who falls in love with a supernatural creature, and risks life and limb to be with him - oftentimes forgetting herself along the way. Love, after all, is something every girl needs.

Truth is, though, I think Maggie Stiefvater might be a worse writer than Stephenie Meyer. Sure, Shiver lacks anything as truly awful as a vampire baseball game, but it does have a brooding protagonist (werewolf Sam) who writes unfathomably insipid lyrics to songs in his head. Check out this masterful sequence:

She draws patterns on my face / These lines make shapes that can't replace / the version of me that I hold inside/ when lying with you, lying with you, lying with you. "I like your hair," she said. (p. 157)

Here's the deal, everyone. I'm going to write my own teenage supernatural love story. It will be sexy! And scary! And totally realistic! And I'm going to write it RIGHT NOW.

'CABRA
by Joe

Jessa woke up with a start. The pale sunlight filtered through the linen curtains, casting a soft glow on the chupacabra's skin, highlighting the sick, putty-colored spine. How had it gotten into her room? No matter. The glances that had passed between them in the desert earlier that day hadn't been in vain. Jessa swooned, casting a sultry look at the chupacabra. Her chupacabra. She reached out to it, and it ripped her fucking arm off.

THE END

[Tatiana · Rating 2 out of 5]

To sum it up, this book should have been called "Twilight: Team Jacob Version." Why? Well, while I understand that the author wrote her first draft of "Shiver" before "Twilight" came out, still, the similarities are striking. A boring girl whose only personality traits are obsessing about her supernatural boyfriend, doing homework and cooking dinner for her parents - check; an emo supernatural boyfriend whose life revolves around his human flame, who plays an instrument and writes songs for his girl - check; a boy and a girl sleeping in the same bed night after night and no matter how much this girl asks for "it," the hero says "no," because it's not "right" - check; parents, who are oblivious to the fact that their daughter practically has a live-in boyfriend - check. I can go on, but I am sure you get the picture.

Why 2 stars and not less then? Well, the writing is not bad. It is a little "purplish," but at least we are spared numerous "chagrins" and endless "Edward is a beautiful god-like creature" rants. I have to note here however, that although the writing and author's vocabulary are much better than Stephenie Meyer’s, this book lacks that signature Twilight addictive quality (I can’t believe I just wrote this because I am not even a Twilight fan!), the middle of the book is especially slow moving. The werewolf mythology, although very little explored, is based on a moderately novel idea of the transformation caused by changes in temperature. And finally, the main scorer is that Stiefvater manages to create in her book an atmosphere of coldness. You literally feel cold reading this book all the time. I have to give her some credit for this, I am sure it takes skill.

Overall, it is an OK romance paranormal story (emphasis on “romance” here). I expect if you love "Twilight," you'll like this book too. I personally didn't care for it much. There are 2 more books in this series, but I doubt I'll be reading them.

Reading challenge: #1 - S

[Miranda Reads · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stuck at home? Got some time on your hands? Want to start a long series? But you don't want a dud?

Check out this booktube video all about which series are worth your time (and which ones aren't)!

Here's the Written Review!

2.5 Stars

To summarize: Boy loves girl. Girl loves wolf. Possible bestiality (new edgy YA twist?)

Wolf is actually boy who loves girl.

Wolf turns into boy. Girl loves boy.

Kisses. Many kisses.

I stood on my toes and stole a soft kiss from his lips. "Surprise attack," I said.
Sam leaned down and kissed me back, his mouth lingering on mine, teeth grazing my lower lip, making me shiver. "Surprise attack back."
"Sneaky," I said, my voice breathier than I intended.

This book wasn't bad per se...it was just very, very, very, very, VERY heavy on the insta-love.

His lips tasted cool and sharp, peppermint, winter, but his hands, soft on the back of my neck, promised long days and summer and forever.

It wasn't even the totally terrible lovey-dovey levels...it was just a lot to cram into one book and 25-year-old me did get a little eye-rolly over this:

It is possible to be in love with you just because of who you are.

Yes, believe it or not young teenagers, you can love a person for their personality.

And as someone who prefers SOME sort of plot, I did get a little bored of all the cutesy moments of their relationship.

So much of the page-space was absolutely devoted to Girl protecting Boy from secrets or Boy protecting Girl from secrets.

Sigh.

It's a huge pet peeve of mine whenever the plot of the entire book could disappear merely if the two main characters talk to each other.

And the book did get a little fake-philosophical, which induced further eye-rolling.

I'd found heaven and grabbed it as tightly as I could, but it was unraveling, an insubstantial thread sliding between my fingers, too fine to hold.

It's like...I get that Girl's been pining over Wolf for six years...but jeez louise...that's a lot of kisses.

“Grace,” I said, very softly. “Say something.”
Sam,” she said, and I crushed her to me.

And let's not even get into the reason behind the werewolfism. Suffice to say that there were more holes than a fishnet.

Ultimately, I did enjoy parts of the book but good lawd. These kids need a cold shower.

Though, I did love their love for books!

Books are more real when you read them outside.

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[Wendy Darling · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely, lyrical, and achingly sad. Shiver is more introspective than most YA books and is sometimes criticized for being too slow or wordy, but I found it to be beautifully written, tragic, and a gorgeous take on werewolf lore. Sam's desperate struggle to hold onto his humanity is incredibly poignant, and his heartrending relationship with Grace is deeply emotional and sweet. It's a book that makes me cry every time I read it.

Sam cupped my face in his hands and looked me in the eyes. His eyes were yellow, sad, wolf, mine.

"These stay the same. Remember that when you look at me. Remember it's me. Please."

PS--this book is NOTHING like Twilight, despite the inevitable comparisons because of the subject matter. It's in a class all its own.

[Virginia Ronan ♥ Herondale ♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

”I saw it. I saw her, in a way I’d never seen anything before.
And I stopped it.

I really liked this one, I really did and considering the many negative reviews I read I can’t help but wonder if I’m truly that easy to please. *lol* I guess the answer is “yes” because I definitely would read every single book Maggie ever wrote and if possible I’d even read her grocery list! I just love her writing style, the way she always manages to create an amazing atmosphere, how she weaves a mystery around it all and adds so beautifully broken characters into her plot line. I don’t know how she does it, but I’m addicted to her books and no matter if other readers think that she disappointed them with "Shiver", all I can say is: Maggie you made me very happy with this book!! <333

”Beck made perfect eggs. More than that. Beck kept me Sam. Back then, with the scars on my wrists still so fresh, I’d been so dangerously close to fracturing into something that was neither human nor wolf.”

Aww Sam!! I swear Sam is such a special snowflake and I loved him right from the start! This boy is precious, so damn precious I can’t even!! I loved that he was always so shy around Grace and that he tried to keep his distance even though he was in love with her. Beck was right; Sam really is the best of them all. And don’t even get me started about his yellow eyes! How cool is that?! A boy that turns into a wolf and has yellow eyes! XD Also his past, oh my! Maggie you have a talent to write the best broken characters and Sam is no exception to the rule. Poor boy and what he had to go through! I just wanted to wrap him into a blanket and keep him warm!!

”I wondered what Grace saw in me, why I fascinated her. What was I without my wolf skin? A boy stuffed so full of words that they spilled out of me.”

And no matter how many people think this is a typical YA story with werewolves. Well, you’re not wrong but you’re definitely not right either. I mean yes we have the insta-love trope and it’s pretty strong in that one, but if you think about it Grace and Sam kinda knew each other for years. *lol* PLUS Sam isn’t the super strong alpha male who’s a tease and tries to get into Grace’s pants! Nope, quite the contrary, he is shy, he’s super sweet, he’s decent, he’s vulnerable and he’s not strong! At least not physically. His mind?! Well, that’s an entirely different story because this boy definitely has a more than just strong will! <3

”Dull orange-brown leaves, dry and dead, clung to the branches and fluttered in the wind, waiting for the gust of wind that would knock them to the ground. That was what Sam was: transient. A summer leaf clinging to a frozen branch for as long as possible.”

He fought against his change and boy how hard he fought! In fact both of them did. Grace tried her best to help him, but with the temperatures dropping so low this was a real struggle. And this kind of brings me to the next thing I loved about the book: The temperature information at the beginning of every chapter! This was a really cool detail and it really helped me to get a feel for the story! =)

”I felt like things were getting away from me. I’d found heaven and grabbed it as tightly as I could, but it was unravelling, an insubstantial thread sliding between my fingers, too fine to hold.”

As for the side characters: I loved Isabel and I was intrigued with Beck. They both were interesting characters and I’m pretty curious if they will make an appearance in the next book. I can’t really say that I want to see Shelby, but I’m afraid she’ll make an appearance no matter if I want her to or not. *lol* Also can I have more of Paul?! He seemed to be a fun character and he’s the wolf pack leader so I hope there will be more time with him in “Linger”?! XD

All told I enjoyed this immensely and because the ending was so abrupt I feel like I need to dive into the next book soon! I’m afraid I was once again left with thousands of questions and I’m in dire need of some answers, so we better start to read this soon! ;-)
(Werewolves are perfect for October, right?! *lol*)

Last but not least I want to thank my awesome Sugar Bun for reading this book with me. As always our buddy read was rather spontaneous but I really enjoyed it and I loved that we tried to guess the ending. =) And in my defence: What would you do without me? You’d never read all those amazing yucky love romances! *lol* ;-P So are you ready for book two? *grins innocently* Haha!

[Penny · Rating 1 out of 5]

Who is publishing these horribly written YA novels? Who? (every publisher, ever) And more importantly, why? (for tons of cash)

First off, I didn't finish this book. I couldn't finish this book. I couldn't get 1/4 of the way through, even though I have the audiobook. Actually not only is this book boring as hell but the audiobook was poorly cast (more on that later). This is another book I picked up because of the pretty cover. *kicking self, a lot*

I have to admit the premise sounded interesting--not long before this book crossed my path I'd finished reading Blood and Chocolate, which is, overall, somewhat enjoyable even if it is a little weird--so I just had to read it. But guess what? Not an interesting story. Not even kind of.

The coupling in this book? Bizarre. Boring--I mean, really boring.

Sam doesn't think like a guy. Not even a little. Sam thinks like a woman. A really boring older woman. No guy throws on a puffy coat and thinks "I look like a blimp in this thing." No heterosexual guy. No way. Not ever. I can't help but wonder if Sam ever gets around to asking Grace if his pants make his butt look fat. But I digress.

Grace is Boring. Not only that but she's also insipid, and irritating. Did I mention mind-numbingly boring? So just to review: Grace: She's Bella Swan's evil, but oh-so-very-boring twin.

And the character named Isabella (I think that's her name), that, like, pisses herself? WTF??? WHY? Seriously, WHY? It's because of the pissing scene that I stopped paying attention to the audio book. Sure, every once in a while I caught snippets of the story. But none of it was interesting. So eventually I turned it off and cursed Audible for having a no return policy--sure, it totally makes sense. But still.

Tangent: Look, I wasted one of my audible credits on this piece of trash. I can't resell it, or even trade it for something better. I'm pissed.

Speaking of the audio book: like I said earlier it was horribly cast. The female narrator sounds like a fourteen-year-old girl. And the male narrator sounds like my old elementary school gym coach. The one that sorta looked like a child molester--you know what I'm talking about, everyone had a coach like that. Everyone.

Needless to say, the audio book gave me heebies from the get go. I couldn't help but picture some ninth grade girl--because, like I said, she sounds quite young--flirting with her disgusting teacher (who has a mustache and wears tiny gym shorts). I'm still traumatized.

So yeah, I advise you don't read this book. And definitely don't buy the audio book. If you do, don't say I didn't warn you.

That is all.

[Cory · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trolls: You are welcome to comment on my review. I won't delete your comments. Curse my name, curse my mother, I don't care. But please, don't forget to leave a comment. And make sure to send my review to all of your friends.

And the award for worst book of 2009 goes to: Shiver

What makes this book so bad, you may ask? Well, in layman's terms, I'm going to give a logical, detailed explanation as to why Shiver sucks--alliteration unintentional.

1. Grace

Grace has to be the worse heroine ever. Excuse this comparison, but she's worse than Bella Swan. Grace treats her friends, her parents, and her schoolmates like dirt. This isn't true, you say. Grace is caring, wholesome, and ever so devoted to Sam. Keyword here: Sam. She cares for no-one but her wolf. Excuse me while I gag.

She treats Rachel and Olivia like they're pets. She never spends time with them. She has to remind herself that they're her friends. She ignores them in favor of a wolf. A wolf that tried to eat her. I know that many girls are offended when their best friend ignores them to spend time with a guy. How would you feel if they ignored you for an animal? Keep in mind that for the first 1/3rd of Shiver, Grace doesn't know that Sam is a werewolf.

Grace is unable to empathize with anyone. Let me give you an example.

Not because the attention bothered me, but because every time someone remembered I was dragged from my tire swing, they remembered it could happen to anyone. And I wondered how many someones it would take before they decided to go after the wolves.

To go after my wolf.

I knew this was the real reason why I couldn’t forgive Jack for dying.

You can say that this quote is taken out of context. It doesn't matter. The fact that she thinks like this is disgusting. This girl was attacked by wolves when she was six. Yet, for whatever reason, she's in love with one of the wolves who tried to eat her. Does this make any sense? No.

Here's Sam's thoughts, straight from the book.

I could smell her blood, a warm, bright scent in this dead, cold world. I saw Salem jerk and tremble as he ripped at her clothing.

My stomach twisted, painful—it had been so long since I’d eaten. I wanted to push through the wolves to stand next to Salem and pretend that I couldn’t smell her humanness or hear her soft moans. She was so little underneath our wildness, the pack pressing against her, wanting to trade her life for ours.

Very romantic. He wanted to eat his true love the first time he saw her. And Grace, for whatever reason, loves him. It's not like he saved her from being eaten.

Trolls: You want to know the reason why Shiver gets compared to Twilight so frequently? Because it pales in comparison to Twilight. Make no mistake: I hate Twilight. But this is worse.

Back to Grace. She feels no sympathy for the boy who was killed by the wolves. He might have been a jerk, but that is no excuse. Grace, out of everyone in that town, should know what it's like to nearly die. She should be consoling Isabelle, and Isabelle's parents. Instead, she continues to think about her wolf. If Sam had saved her, that would be something else entirely. But in the land of YA, preventing yourself from eating someone, or killing someone-- Edward and Patch--is the first sign of true love. How romantic.

Grace is also a jerk to Isabelle--my favorite character in the god awful book. Keep in my that:

1. Isabelle loved her brother.

2. She doesn't want to think he's dead.

3. Everyone knows that Grace has a special connection with the wolves.

4. Jack's body is missing and the wolves attacked him.

Isn't it reasonable to assume that Grace knows something? Instead, Grace tries to keep her out of the know to protect her wolf. Apparently, a wolf is more important than a human being. Don't get me wrong. I love dogs. But if it came down to my dog or someone's brother, that dog would be gone in a millisecond. Even if Grace knew that her wolf was a werewolf, it doesn't matter. She's known Jack and Isabelle her entire life. She's known Sam for a few days. Not even Bella Swan is that selfish.

2. Sam

Sam is worse. I hate him. You want to know why? His existence as a boy is illogical. He's not supposed to remember his time as a wolf right? Yet he remembers Grace.

I believe I started hating him the first time he appeared as a boy. He's rude to Rachel and Olivia. He's supposed to be a cashier. He's supposed to be helpful and nice. Instead, he ignores his customers and proceeds to ogle Grace. He continues his bad customer service into book two. He's rude to Isabelle, even though her brother just died. And he survived!

He's worse than Sam Uley. At least Sam Uley had no choice. He had to imprint on Emily. It was fate. Whatever he does isn't his fault.

Sam, on the other hand, is a whiny emo. He writes horrible poetry. He writes horrible songs. He sounds like the kind of boyfriend a sixteen year old girl would write into her self-insert fan fictions. Oh, and he does have a Leah. Shelby.

I know they aren't involved. I know Shelby is kind of crazy. But that's no excuse to treat her the way Sam does. He ignores her. Much like Damon does Drina in Evermore, an equally bad book.

3. The Purple Prose

Cool air bit my cheeks and pinched at the tops of my ears, reminding me that summer was officially over. My stocking cap was stuffed in the pocket of my coat, but I knew my wolf didn’t always recognize me when I was wearing it, so I left it off. I squinted at the edge of the yard and stepped off the deck, trying to look nonchalant as I did. The piece of beef in my hand felt cold and slick.

I crunched out across the brittle, colorless grass into the middle of the yard and stopped, momentarily dazzled by the violent pink of the sunset through the fluttering black leaves of the trees. This stark landscape was a world away from the small, warm kitchen with its comforting smells of easy survival. Where I was supposed to belong. Where I should’ve wanted to be. But the trees called to me, urging me to abandon what I knew and vanish into the oncoming night. It was a desire that had been tugging me with disconcerting frequency these days.

4. The Pacing

This story is slow and boring. Nothing happens. What's the plot? Where's the conflict?

5. The Romance

Sam and Grace have no chemistry. None. If you find some, please tell me. I'm not finding any. Sam, our resident leaky womb, and Grace, our insensitive twit, share no hobbies. Heck, Sam has more chemistry with her mother. Why do they love each other? I don't know.

6. The Characterization

What characterization?

7. The Conclusion

Apparently, Jack dies so Sam can live. What sort of sick shit is this? Our moral? True love is better than family.

0.5 stars, because I liked Rachel, Olivia, Isabelle, and Grace's mom.

If you liked this book, you'll like The Time Traveler's Wife. It's an equally stupid, vapid piece of crap for women. And it has some child grooming action.

[jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

that fact that you guys (aka my GR friends) have given this book a collective average rating of 2.98 made me believe i was in for a pretty disappointing experience. so it feels strange to be on the other side of a minority opinion - to enjoy a book most seem to not like - as its usually the other way around.

although this isnt a perfect book by any means, i honestly think its entertaining enough. if you dont read too much into it (that a girl falls in love with a wolf before she finds out hes also human), its actually a pretty decent story. the characters are well developed, the writing is great, the flow and pacing of everything is very cohesive. overall, i cant really find any fault other than the fact that im not in love the story. its nowhere near as terrible as i originally thought it would be, its just doesnt have that ‘wow’ factor i have experienced with some other series (ie. i dont feel the overwhelming need to pick up the next book to find out what happens next).

i will most likely continue the series at some point, but my track record with stiefvater isnt the best. i tend to get easily bored with her stories as they progress, so my fingers are crossed this series changes that!

↠ 3.5 stars

[Miss Kim · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a different take on werewolves, and I really liked it. Grace and Sam first meet when she is eleven, and attacked by his pack of wolves. He was a wolf and for some reason he didn’t understand, he saved her and took her away from the attack. Grace has been fascinated by this yellowed eyed wolf ever since. Her backyard touches the forest, so she is able to observe the wolves all winter.

These wolves shapeshift based on the temperature changes of the seasons. During summer, they are human and during winter they are wolves. Unlike other ‘were’ stores I’ve read, when these are in wolf form, they do not continue to have human thoughts and emotions--they are all animal. As a wolf, Sam doesn’t remember his human life.

The first time he meets Grace as a human, (he is 18, she is 17) she finds him shot and bleeding on her back deck. He’s a naked boy, and it’s freezing outside. She brings him in, and helps him out and quickly realizes that this is her wolf. His yellow eyes give him away. We just have to go with the flow that this is a story and she just immediately believes in werewolves. Her parents are pretty much absentees, so she is able to keep Sam in her room for quite a while before they even know he has been there.

Sam is running out of time because this is his last season as a human before he becomes a wolf for the rest of his life. He doesn’t tell this to Grace at first, and he just wants to spend as much time with her as he can. Oh yes--Grace was bitten by a wolf years ago, wasn’t she? Why has she not changed into a wolf? Is she going to? Meanwhile, some other kids have been bitten by wolves, and there is a really good subplot going on with good side characters.

Ok, I'm rambling and not really saying what I want to say. I will just stop now. Check out some of the other reviews on this one.
You can feel their sadness as the time ticks by. I really liked it, and I look forward to the second in this series.

[Emily May · Rating 2 out of 5]

I can sum this book up in one sentence: Beautiful writing that cannot make up for the Twilight-esque depiction of creepy love interest and boring main character.

I would, however, happily try out some of the author's other work and I just hope it doesn't focus so heavily on obsessive emo teen love.

[Nenia ✨ I yeet my books back and forth ✨ Campbell · Rating 1 out of 5]

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There's an old joke about TWILIGHT that you've probably heard: that it's the story of a teenage girl's struggle between necrophilia and bestiality, hurr hurr hurr. Well, here in TWILIGHT: Team Jacob Edition - *cough* - I mean, SHIVER, Maggie Stiefvater takes that a step further by writing about a girl named Grace who has romantic feelings for the wolf in her backyard. And when I say "wolf," that's not short for werewolf - before she even finds out that he can turn human (and oh, what rapturous joy that brings), she's fantasizing about the feeling of his fur under her fingers and dreaming about his eyes. She also won't ever shut up about wolves, and chats to her two friends about wolves constantly, and then is puzzled and irritated when they want to talk about other things that aren't wolves.



I might be the only person on the continental U.S. who hated THE RAVEN BOYS, but people kept telling me to give this author another chance, and I thought, "Well, okay, I did like TWILIGHT, and Jacob was cool, so maybe this will be okay." Superficially, it's a lot like TWILIGHT - it features a heroine who is wise beyond her years with absent-minded parents who she takes care of more than they take care of her; it features a supernatural love interest who likes the way the heroine smells and must fight against his nature in order to be with her, even if it results in his own death; it features an evil werewolf who is jealous of what the heroine represents and who decides to hunt, stalk, and attempt to kill her -



You can see where I'm going with this.



But comparing SHIVER to TWILIGHT is like comparing NIKE to ADIDAS or COKE to PEPSI or CHOCOLATE to VANILLA - there is only one clear winner. And spoiler, SHIVER is not that winner. First, the werewolf love interest is so lame. At least Edward had some of that Old World patriarchal charm, even if he could come across as controlling and creepy; it was obvious why he was so attractive - he was good looking and sophisticated and mature. Sam, on the other hand, is a droopy emo boy who composes poetry while they make love, and it is bad poetry, like the kind you see on Tumblr that doesn't make any sense but for some reason has thousands of reblogs. But the main reason this book gets one star is because of the heroine: Grace.



When she's not meditating on her favorite subject - wolf-lust - she's being a raging "See You Next Tuesday" to everyone in her life. The way she talks to her parents is absolutely disgusting; she is constantly snarking at them and disrespecting them and taking over their house and their things (do you pay for those things, girlfriend? is that why you feel free to take over your dad's study and then tell him he isn't getting it back?), but when they try to implement some actual parental control, she gets all bristly, like "how they try to do their job and be parents?" It's a real catch-22. But the disrespect doesn't stop there - when she brings Sam home to meet the folks, she gets angry that her mom is nice to her boyfriend, and slut-shames her own mom. OH MY GOD, CAN YOU NOT?!



I honestly don't understand why she has friends. When she's not talking about wolves, she's brushing off her friends or being rude. Everything that comes out of her mouth - that isn't some insipid drivel about how much she looooves Sam, that is - is either mean, rude, sarcastic, or brusque. She spends a great deal of time in this book looking at people coldly or speaking coldly, especially to her parents. She's even mean to Sam, telling him to shut up several times. OMG, can she die already, please? I think the only YA character I've hated more (that I wasn't actually supposed to hate) was CATH from FANGIRL. (Yet another book that is bewilderingly popular.)



The premise behind the werewolf transformations is also incredibly lame, so bear with me because ***SPOILERS*** werewolves transform based on temperature (so the temperature is always listed right below each chapter, so you know how cold it is, hence the title, SHIVER, because it's cold, get it?? so meta, wow), and when it's cold outside they turn into wolves, and when it's hot they turn into people - only after a certain number of years, they lose the ability to turn into people and just stay wolves. While reading this, I'm asking myself, "Why are they living somewhere so cold if this happens? Why not move to California where it basically never snows unless you live in the mountains?" But the author had an answer ready for this: moving to temperate places just makes you even more sensitive to small temperature changes, and you'll transform anyway. But ***SPOILERS*** Grace was bitten by wolves as a kid and didn't turn into a werewolf, because her neglectful parents "accidentally" (I think they were actually trying to murder this demon spawn) left her in the back of a car on a 100+-degree day while she was taking a nap, and she almost died, and apparently the heat + her fever cooked the werewolfiness right out of her. I AM NOT JOKING!!! So Grace & co. get the brilliant idea of infecting Sam and this other werewolf with meningitis, so they'll get high fevers that'll cook the werewolfiness out of them, too. I am shook with stupidity. How would this work, but moving somewhere temperate doesn't, Captain Cop-Out?



I can't with this series. I'll be the first to admit that TWILIGHT is not a great book, but it was fun and addictive and didn't have self-absorbed characters wallowing around in the pretentious prose of the narrative like it was some kind of smug, self-congratulatory swimming pool.



1 star

[Maja (The Nocturnal Library) · Rating 5 out of 5]

6.5 stars!

I don’t know how to review a book that took my breath away. Shiver left me with a feeling of complete satisfaction, joy spiced with sadness - as weird and paradoxical as that sounds. I’m so grateful to have read this book after all…

There aren’t many books on my 'books that changed me' shelf. In fact, there were only seven until today. But Shiver deserved its place, and now there are eight. What’s so special about it? I’ll try to be polite and refrain from gushing, but it won’t be easy.

Boy saves girl, girl falls for a boy and they end up living happily ever after. Only the boy isn’t a boy at all, and the happily ever after is meant for some other people, in some other story.
I was suddenly struck by how dissimilar we were. It occurred to me that if Grace and I were objects, she would be an elaborate digital clock, synced up with the World Clock in London with technical perfection, and I’d be a snow globe – shaken memories in a glass ball.

Grace is an amazing character! I love how strong and decisive she is, always scared but never really showing her fear. She reminds me of a girl I used to be know. After the way she surrendered to the wolves at the beginning, I was afraid she would be another one of those characters. But only a few chapters later, a huge white she-wolf showed up at her window, and instead of cowering in some corner, Grace snarled back at it! Not many authors can make you feel such pride at the very beginning of a novel!

When can you say for sure that you’ve fallen in love with someone’s writing? If your mind isn’t registering words at all, but sounds and colors and emotions so strong that you can feel them twirling inside of you, beautiful, agonizing and powerful.... that’s it – you’re in love! I know this because it happened to me with Maggie Stiefvater. Obviously not everyone feels the same way, and that’s ok. There are times when I too appreciate a very different writing style, more economical and crisp. But sometimes I just want to marvel at other people’s talent, and Stiefvater gave me that chance.

I’m pretty sure Shiver will become my comfort book, familiar and soothing like the blanket I wrap myself in when I’m not feeling well. There are only a few books I keep going back to: The Master and Margarita when I need to restore my faith in love, Dolores Claiborne when I need courage, Harry Potter when I need optimism, lately I’ve added The Reapers Are the Angels for when I need strength, and now I have Shiver to remind me that there’s beauty everywhere.

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book as much now as I did back in the day! And I still want to be a werewolf 😉🐺



Mel 🖤🐶🐺🐾

[Unknown Reviews · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5. It was really only alright.

A little fact about me is I’m not a vampire person, or a witch person, or a people person (I’m not entirely sure where this is going, but it sounds quite personal). The last paranormal romance series I read was the Twilight saga after my parents told me I couldn’t read it (I did anyway.) So, I genuinely cannot count the years since I’ve touched a book like this. And I’m not a werewolf person either, for that matter. I don’t tend to fantasise about a boy who may want to eat me while kissing me or being The Alpha, or whatever those books entail (these are such judgey stereotypes, I’m so sorry.)

So why did I pick up Shiver? Well, I’d better not go into the whirlwind of an affair I had with Steifvater this year, but I can say her writing has always stood out to me, and the plot line had my interest. Sam, an eighteen-year-old boy, shifts into a wolf each winter due to the cold. Every year his time as a human gets shorter until he’s certain this one will be his last. Grace was attacked by wolves as a child until he saved her, and since then she’s been longing to be with her wolf ever since…

Okay, okay, I know this sounds stupid, but I was honestly more intrigued by the concept of the wolves being completely isolated from humanity and how Grace/Sam’s relationship was affected by that. Did I get that? Eh, not really. There werewolf mythology was kind of murky which was disappointing to say the least. The supernatural aspect got pushed aside for the romance, and God, if there wasn’t a lot of it.

This book is Different From Other Books because this book doesn’t even contain instalove. Instead it has the equally unrealistic, probably creepier, prenatal love (even the name sounds weird) Since Sam saved Grace, she’s been in love with him. Like really in love with him. The kind of love that makes her wish she was a wolf and refer to a wolf as “her wolf”, in a soulmates way despite only thinking he was a wolf at the time. When it’s believed a wolf has killed another boy and the police go to hunt them down, Grace stops the hunt, because “her wolf”, y’know.

A lot of readers love soulmates, but they just don’t work for me. I think love has to be earned before being given, and maybe people can grow into the role of soulmates, just not that fast. And one of the bigger downfalls of the book was when I realised exactly how much Grace thinks about her wolf, to the point she would clearly put it’s safety before her friends and family.

The characters…I didn’t entirely hate. They didn’t feel like teenagers, probably a more middle-aged couple, but I didn’t detest them as much as other reviewers. Grace, I liked less than Sam, probably because of how she treated others. Sam/ Her Wolf always came first to her, and even if Sam wasn’t involved, she was still quite rude to her friends and family, only using them when convenient. And her “woe is me” story revolved around her parents not paying her enough attention, even though they were still more involved than 90% of YA parents we see these days and back in those days. At one stage, Grace’s mother even offers to watch a movie together and Grace is like “nope, you could’ve done this five years ago. My boyfriend lives in my bedroom now, so I am removed from this family. ”Luckily, Grace’s parents don’t seem to take notice of her attitude, so I was happy for them, at least.

Sam equally sappy, but he wasn’t awful either. A weird number of reviews seem to think it’s strange that Sam has “feminine” qualities (He reads poetry, he plays guitar, can cook a little) and honestly I think it’s a product of the time. I’d like to believe in 2020 that we’re past cornering men and women into stereotypes, though we’re probably nowhere near it. If Sam’s boring? Then he’s boring. But I wouldn’t mark a character down just because they’re more open with their emotions and their interests don’t adhere to tradition.

(What will never stop being funny to me is if a main character who reads poetry, they must make up their own. I laughed every time Sam like looked at Grace and would think “here’s a totally weird, unrelated poem I just wrote.” And he wrote riffs too! Like he’d actually think of jazzy little tunes when they were feeling each other up. What made it worse was I couldn’t stop thinking of a specific Nirvana riff which made me laugh even harder. Note to authors: Please stop making your characters write poetry. Theirs/yours, isn’t even good.)

As usual, the supporting cast stood out more. Jack, the angry boy who’s been turned, Isabel his snappy sister, Beck, Sam’s leader who’s also into his final year. I probably would’ve been more interested in one of their stories, but it’s fine, guys, we got prenatal love! (shud shivers)

That’s by far the biggest downfall. Since this book focused on Love….it was pretty boring and dragged for about seventy percent. The first hundred pages I was like “wow, things are being done quickly.” Then the next two hundred pages were Sam and Grace talking, driving places, you don’t need me to elaborate. I’m either very lucky, or unlucky, that I don’t get bothered by books that drag. No matter the book, I will be fine floating along, even if it’s mind-numbing. But I could see this being a DNF for a lot of people, especially if you hate instalove/prenatal/ love in general. People who might like the wolf aspect….I wouldn’t recommend it. When the wolf stuff was on the page, it was interesting. But the wolf stuff wasn’t on the page most of the book, so = not interesting!

(I can say I liked some of the ideas though, especially that it was the cold that caused them to change, and one year, they just won't be able to return to human form and will live as a wolf forever.)

So, it it has a glacial pace, iffy romance, “old soul leads” and lack of plot/wolves, why did I give it three stars? Well, the writing and the ending were quite beautiful to be honest. Number one, well it’s Maggie Stiefvater, so that’s not a surprise. But, and I may be a hypocrite in saying this, when you’re compressed in a relationship with some characters over a long span of time, you grow attached to them. And this book was only about Grace and Sam, so there was nothing else to cling to. Despite my earlier criticisms, maybe Maggie was aware of what she was doing and knew I’d maybe care for them somewhat in the end. The conclusions for Olive and Beck left me staring at the page with a strange feeling for several minutes. The same with Jack, who like I said, I would’ve read more about. And the last few pages – can I say I understand exactly why this book had so many fans, other than the Twilight craze? It was actually quite sweet. It gave me that otherworldly feeling that only reading contains, that I'm living a life outside myself, and I can't describe how nice that is when it happens, especially in a book you don't expect.

So, yes, this book is mostly cloying and uninteresting. If you like instalove, you will love this. If you don’t, you’d best give it a miss. But I don’t think any book I’ve ever read has been a waste of time. And, with the last one hundred pages, I can say I’ll take a little bit of this one with me too.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I probably should wait a little bit to write this review, but I can't! I guess I will start out with saying that this book drew me in from the moment I laid eyes upon it. The book cover is breathtaking. Even when I opened the first page of the book I was still taken back by how simple and beautiful it was. Yet, I can not judge a book just by its cover. I am not sure I can even find the words to describe how much I loved this book. It gave me an amazing feeling throughout the whole entire book. From the first page to the last page. It put me in a trance, and I felt so much emotion from all the characters. I think the love between Sam and Grace is so beautiful and pure. It probably is one of the best young adult couples I've ever had the pleasure of reading about. When I read about them I found myself saying "Edward and Bella who?"! This book wrapped me up in it's love! I could go on forever and a day about how this novel blew me away, but I suppose that I will end with this: Linger is now the book I am most excited for in 2010.

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[Meredith Holley · Rating 2 out of 5]

The bestiality was definitely the most beautiful part of this story. It may seem obvious to you that such would be the case, but it was not obvious to me. I am not typically a fan of falling in love with dogs. There was truly something surreal and creepy about that part of this story that grabbed me, though. If only this had been a short story about one girl’s creepy obsession with wolves, I think I could have really liked it. It starts out with a ghostly beauty that is legitimately respectable. And it ends with the same stark, Midwestern haunting feeling. But, the middle of this story is really, really douchey. It’s like when your friend falls in love, and it’s fun to talk about the boy she likes for a little while; and then your eyes glaze over, and she’s still talking; and then you get a little uncomfortable about the obscene level of detail she’s giving you (about what they ate for breakfast and how their elbows touched like fifty times, nothing exciting), and she’s still talking; and then you realize that both she and her boyfriend are morons, and you were wrong to have been friends with her to begin with. But didn’t she say something pretty about trees once?

I just wanted these kids to get a room, and then they did get a room, but kept telling me about everything. Gag. It was like being the third wheel in a makeout session that lasted foooooreeeeveeeer. One of the most boring, boring, boring stories ever. And, man, the guy is such a douchebag. He’s, like, composing douchey poetry while they’re making out and stuff. Like, just make out if you’re going to make out. I don’t want to know about any of these things. And I certainly don't want to hear your douchey poetry. Talk about a Shelley complex.

And, I listened to it on audio, so I couldn’t skim. The audio wasn’t bad, other than how boring this story was. I mean, I wanted to read my administrative law cases sometimes while I was listening to this. That’s how boring it was. Then there was a really douchey interview with the author at the end of the CDs. Oh, man. She was talking about how she wrote this book to make her audience cry. Fail. For me, at least.

So, the narrative in the book goes back and forth between the boyfriend perspective and the girlfriend perspective. That kind of makes sense to me as a device, but I always get caught up in thinking about narrative voices. Like, in first-person narratives, I have to create a background story in my mind for how the characters decided to write the book. It just seems like such a douchey thing for a boyfriend and girlfriend to impose their sappy story in the world and think it’s a good idea. Also, in this case it doesn’t really make sense because they make it out like the girl practically doesn’t speak English and only understands numbers, but her narrative has the more beautifully written moments in the book. That’s a petty complaint, but it’s true.

There is a thing about evil parents in here that I like, though. I liked how the kids reacted to the horror of their parents but didn’t seem to hold it against them. All of the parents were interesting to me, and they actually came off as nuanced. They were very villainous, but I think I like villainous, unreliable parents in stories. They are interesting to read about. If only this whole book had been about the parents. Because, as it was, this experience was like only reading about the pastoral couple in Anna Karenina. So. Boring.

Did I mention that this is a boring book? That is your takeaway message.

[Lisa · Rating 1 out of 5]

Note: After rereading this review, I decided to make some changes. While I stand by my opinions, I was unhappy with some of the ways in which I chose to voice them. The language of this review has been edited, however, the opinions are unchanged.

I read Shiver because it was recommended to me by someone who wasn't impressed with Twilight and insisted this was better. Well, it's not, although I wouldn't go as far as to say it's worse. Mostly, I was bored to tears by the lack of a solid plot and superfluous descriptions.

Sam(antha)

There were so many problems with this novel but the most egregious one was the fact that a boy, Sam, not short for Samantha, sounded like a woman. Here are a couple examples of Sam's girlish thoughts:

1) "I found a puffy, bright blue jacket that made me look like a blimp..."

2) " 'I don't even know what they are. Probably a million calories.' "

Guys do not have the same preoccupation with weight that girls do and if they were to complain about their weight they would never use the language Sam uses to describe themselves. I might have bought the second quote if Sam were extremely overweight and counting calories but he'd not and he isn't.

3) "synonym for the word intercourse"

No guy in his own head would ever use the word intercourse to describe sex. No way, no how.

Teenspeak

The teenage characters in this novel sound much older than they actually are. That said, I'm also not a fan of books like Marked by P.C. Cast and Kristin Cast that make all teenagers sound like airhead valley girls. However, it is possible to polish a teenager's grammar a bit without making them sound more than a decade older than they are, or like they're from a different century. Some examples from Sam:

1) "It was a terribly cute noise."/" 'It's horribly cute.' "

Not only does he not sound like a teenager, but it's another example of how he sounds feminine.

2) " 'Did he slather a lot when he was in school?' "

Who uses the word slather in that context? Even worse, what teenager uses the word slather? And it's bad enough that Sam uses the word, but it's worse that Grace a) knows what it means, and b) doesn't think it's odd that he's using the word.

3) " 'Did you tell that man you went potty on yourself?' "

What teenager, male or female, would say "went potty"? More likely, a teenage boy would say "Did you tell that guy you pissed yourself?" Later on Sam tells Grace that he's going to "wet himself" which is slightly better except that Sam tells this to Grace as a way of saying he is nervous to meet her parents. I can't imagine a situation in which any person, male or female, teen or adult, would whisper that in someone's ear unless they really had to go to the bathroom and needed that person's assistance in getting there.

Of the same mind

Another issue I had with this novel was that although it was written from two different perspectives both characters sounded exactly the same. I'm a firm believer that if an author uses first person narration and switches between different characters' points of view, then each character should each have a distinctive voice (especially if they're two different genders). If I didn't look at the chapter headings—and sometimes I would forget—I didn't know whose point of view I was reading. Sometimes, I was so bored, I'd drift away and when I returned back to the book I couldn't remember if it was Sam or Grace speaking.

Purple Prose

A final note about the writing style. The prose was very purple. Although there were some nice descriptions, there were far more instances where they were overwrought and bogged down the story. I would put an example but there are just too many parts to choose from. I will say that the writing in this novel was superior to the writing in the Twilight Saga. The sentence structure was generally correct and the inappropriate words were used in grammatically correct ways for the most part.

Grace

In addition to my dislike for the writing style, I also had a lot of problems with the characterization. I found Grace to be extremely unlikable and unsympathetic. Her lack of empathy for anyone other than herself and Sam was appalling. In one example, Grace says:

"Mercy Falls was all about rumors, and the rumor on Jack was that he got his short fuse from his dad. I didn’t know about that. It seemed like you ought to pick the sort of person you would be, no matter what your parents were like."

Grace hears rumors that Jack was being abused by his father and she shows no empathy for him. The only way for Jack to have acquired anger management issues from his father is if he were on the receiving end of it or if he had witnessed it, both of which would be very traumatic to a child. Anger management problems tend to be pervasive so it's very likely that if Jack's father has a short fuse in public, he probably also has a short fuse with his family. While people need to be held accountable for their own actions, Grace's lack of concern is overly callous. Let's not forget that Grace also can't forgive Jack for dying because his death threatens her precious wolves. Never mind the fact that her wolves were actually the cause of his supposed death. No matter how awful a person Jack was, it hardly justifies being savaged by wild animals.

Grace is also a terrible friend. At least Bella didn't have any good friends to ignore for Edward. Bella only ditched her friends of a couple months, who she never liked that much to begin with, to hang out with her stalker boyfriend and his beautiful wealthy friends. Grace has been friends with Olivia and Rachel for years and still she puts her wolf ahead of them. Then she completely abandons them once Sam becomes human.

Her failure as a friend really comes out in the end when she learns that Olivia has been bitten and is going to change into a werewolf because of Grace no less. Yet all Grace can think about is Sam. There is a two second thought of Olivia and then it's Sam Sam Sam. Well rounded people who care about more than just themselves and their significant others can be concerned about more than one person at a time.

Olivia then remains absent from Grace's thoughts for a while, and when Grace finally does remember her, she's selfishly lamenting that Olivia isn't there to help her deal with her grief over losing Sam. She's not the least bit concerned about Olivia turning into a werewolf. Once again, Grace only thinks about herself and Sam.

Sam

Sam was no better than Grace in terms of his treatment of others. Here's my favorite example: "I thought—vaguely hoped—that [Jack] died too, and ceased to be a problem."

He actually hopes that Jack has died so he won't have to deal with him. At this point, Jack's only crimes are being a bully at school, showing up at the school in wolf form, and being hated by Grace. There was absolutely no reason to wish he were dead.

Sam also lacks proper empathy for Shelby in the same way that Grace lacks proper empathy for Jack. He knows about her past and yet he doesn't seem to really care. He only brings it up when he's trying to explain why she prefers being a wolf. This attitude is much more understandable once she attacks Grace later on in the book.

Shelby is the Rosalie/Leah character of Shiver, only less sympathetic despite having a more traumatic past because she tries to kill Grace for no good reason. If Shelby's relationship with Sam had been more fleshed out and her past better explored, then it would have seemed more understandable and Shelby would have been a more complex character. Instead, she's a simplistically evil werewolf.

Parenting

This book is full of unrealistically terrible parents. Without some sort of mental illness, developmental delay, or drug habit, no parents are as neglectful as Grace's parents are. My issue is not that Grace's parents are absent (I've seen worse parenting, unfortunately), but that there was no reason given for their neglect. Having worked with neglectful parents I can tell you there is always a reason. How is it possible that Grace's father could have left her in a hot car and forgotten about her while she was sick? I know that people do sometimes leave their infants and young children in the car and forget about them, usually when they're sleep deprived from being kept awake all night or because they're on drugs, but I have never heard it happening with an older child when the parent is sober. It was especially unrealistic because Grace was sick and her parents were preoccupied with her.

And where was Child Protective Services (CPS)? The hospital staff are mandated reporters and would've had to have reported this neglect to social services. I'd say Grace's parents' neglect/flightiness is about as realistic as Bella's clumsiness. What's worse is that child abuse and neglect are very serious issues and shouldn't be handled as carelessly as it is in this book.

Description

I also had a problem with lack of description in this novel. Although there were plenty of useless descriptions in all of the purple prose, some very important ones were left out, particularly with regard to the characters. Often times characters weren't described in a timely manner if they were described at all. For example, I thought the members of the wolf pack were closer in age to Sam than they actually were for a large part of the book because there was no indication given of their ages until halfway through the book.

Grace is never fully described, making it hard to get a clear picture of what she looks like, and Beck isn't described until the very end despite being mentioned numerous times throughout the novel. We also never get a good description of the other wolves. Paul is simply described as "dark". What does that mean? I need more than that to picture a character.

There are several other instances where non-descriptive words are used to describe people. At one point, Sam thinks while he's watching Jack, "Something about the way he carried himself suggested overconfidence." "Something" is not descriptive. I want to know what it is about Jack that makes him seem arrogant. His saunter, his cocky smile, etc. Another example of this is when Sam is described as having an "interesting-shaped nose". Again, I don't know what that means or how it looks. And those are just three examples taken from many.

As far as description goes I have two parting words: "Leaky womb"

Romance

The romance is terribly contrived and unoriginal. There is no build-up. Grace and Sam love each other from the moment they meet (while he's a wolf) and they stay in love with each other until the very last page. Their love doesn't grow because there's now where for it to grow to. The only growth in their relationship is in terms of physical contact.

Plot, or lack thereof

This review is already too long but I will briefly say that the plot of this book, much like Twilight, takes a backseat to the romance. Finding a cure for being a werewolf should have been an integral part of the story, yet it isn't explored until the second half of the novel. Most of the book is spent describing Sam and Grace's love which I had a hard time buying into because there was no build up.

Lyrics

Lastly, the song lyrics were really bad. Poetry and song lyrics are difficult to add to a novel and unless a writer is very skilled at that sort of writing, they should be left out. Stiefvater is definitely not a song writer.

[emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'M SO TIRED OF READING BOOKS WHERE THE LOVE INTEREST GUY IS BETTER THAN THE FEMALE PROTAGONIST!

i don't know what evil entity is out there encouraging this stephenie meyer, twilight-esque phenomenon of writing female characters with NO DEFINING FEATURES so that you can "feel like the main character" but it's stupid! go read a choose your own adventure book if that's what you're into, nameless nightmare being! i want my badass female characters back and that shouldn't be a specific genre i have to search for! or if not badass at least actual characters!

okay. mini-rant over.

this book wasn't even that bad. just kind of dry. the writing and the concept were really good, but it was slooooow.

2.5 stars and not a morsel more!

this is part of a project i am doing where i review books i read a long time ago. i actually already reviewed this, in a way, so. easiest entry into this ever.

[Heather K (dentist in my spare time) · Rating 1 out of 5]

**1.5 stars**

I'm just going to come right out and say it:

This book is emo bullshit.

I listened to 8 hours of this story on audiobook before DNFing this at 75%. That is 8 hours of my life that I will never get back.

I know I'm in the minority here. I'm accepting it. However, I just can't see why people are so enamored with this book. I'll get all of my frustration out now by explaining a few of my main issues with this book. **Some minor spoilers ahead**

1) The whole "I shift when it's cold" premise. Okay, so let me get this straight: Sam automatically changes into wolf form when it gets to be "cold" outside (how cold I guess depends on the year- it seems to vary). He can avoid shifting by layering T-shirts and wearing warmer clothes or staying inside where it is warm (This is fact). It is also true that Sam doesn't seem to want to shift, he would prefer to stay as a human. Okay, I don't mean to be captain obvious here but why has no one suggested that SAM MOVE WHERE IT IS ALWAYS WARM???? For GOD's sake! Move to freaking Miami! Move near the equator!? Don't freaking live in Minnesota!?! Pick one of the coldest freaking states why don't you?! Maybe this was brought up after I stopped listening, but from the start of this book I wanted to smack all of the werewolves for not realizing this very, very simple solution.

2) The insta-love. For Christ's sake, come on. I can't handle this anymore. I seriously want to cry. It was redonkulously stupid. It was all, "I've watched you from afar and now that we've met in person I just magically loooooove you."

3) The emo-ness. Sam was so "in touch with his feelings" that as he being attacked or running from danger he repeatedly thinks up awesome phrases to use in his melancholy poetry or decides that it is the perfect time to plan out some lyrics to his next romantic song. He is a drippy, sappy mushball of a man-boy, and it was distracting to hear that in the face of trouble he would be more likely to recite a passage from his favorite poetry book than use his brain.

4) The sexual tension. I am so sick of YA books where the girl is practically humping the guy and the guy holds back so they can "do it right". It is utter crap. There is a way to do YA where there is no sex on page and even no sex at all and make it feel electric. Here, it vaguely read as "sexuality is bad" to me.

5) It was boring. This book was so dull. I forced myself to listen to hours of nothing really happening. It lacked that addictive quality that I need to listen to an audiobook.

6) The narration. Now, I want to talk about this a little. The narrator for Grace's voice was pretty spot on. She sounded age appropriate and I think she did a good job with all of the dialogue. The Sam voice on the other hand... The actor is not a kid and he didn't sound like one. It sounded like a 40 year old, which is disturbing in a YA book. It creeped me out, more than a little bit.

It pains me to give this book 1.5 stars because I love this author in her The Raven Boys series. They were some of my FAVORITE books of last year. That is partly why this book being a failure is such a crushing blow. The actual language of this book wasn't terrible and I know the author can write her ass off, but this book just failed on a lot of fronts for me.

Find this review and other like it at My Fiction Nook

[Ahmad Sharabiani · Rating 4 out of 5]

Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1), Maggie Stiefvater

The Wolves of Mercy Falls is a series of four novels, located in the genres of romance, fantasy and young adult (YA) fiction, written by Maggie Stiefvater.

Shiver begins against the backdrop of winter, with the character of Grace Brisbane at age 11, who has been pulled from her backyard tyre swing by a pack of wolves. Saved from their attack by a yellow-eyed wolf, the 6 years following consist of Grace routinely watching the edge of the woods behind her house in search of her savior – he returns her gaze every winter. The perspective of the novel alternates between Grace and the yellow-eyed werewolf, Samuel K. “Sam” Roth, who only transforms over the duration of winter.

The death of Jack Culpeper, a student at Grace's school, spreads terror throughout the small community of Mercy Falls, as it is suspected that he has been killed by the wolves. This leads to the decision to hunt them, with Grace's attempt to deter the shooters resulting in her discovery of Sam, except now in human form. Having been shot, he had unwillingly transformed into his human state, recognizable to Grace only from his eyes.

Sam is taken to the hospital by Grace, receiving surgery to remove the bullet. As the two are finally left alone in the recovery unit, Sam awakens from the aesthetic much earlier than anticipated, eventually recognizing Grace. Sam explains to her that his healing abilities are a side-effect of being a werewolf, prompting them to escape, before the doctors discover him awake and with no visible wound.

Grace invites Sam to stay at her house following these events, who reluctantly agrees to sleep in her room, as they decide to hide his presence from her parents. Back at school, Grace's close friend Olivia Marx reveals that a wolf had been sighted outside the school the day prior. Its description matches that of the suspected newly transformed werewolf, Jack Culpeper. ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: روز یازده ماه ژانویه سال 2020 میلادی

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 20/04/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

[megs_bookrack · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ahhhh, young love. Isn't it grand?



You know the story, the tale as old as time:

Girl meets wolf.
Wolf and girl fall in love.
Angsty things happen.



Wait, is that not how the story usually goes?

In Shiver, we follow two perspectives, Grace, a girl low-key obsessed with the wolves in the woods behind her house, and Sam, a werewolf. Sam has golden eyes and beautiful fur that Grace is instantly drawn too because...gold.



Seriously though, this is a love story between a girl and the werewolf who once saved her life. It was full of teenage drama and I must admit, had 14-to-20 year-old Meg read this book, she would have been swooning from now till next year, honey!

Needless to say, old Meg, not as thoroughly blown away by the plot.



The first half was difficult for me. More romance than an actual plot.

Once I got towards the middle however, I felt myself getting sucked into this bizarre storyline in an oddly addictive way.



Then finally, at the end, I'm like, Thank all that is holy that I have the entire series!!!

Yep. You read that right, I am now officially a sucker for teenage werewolf love and I am not even upset about it. I am sure the fact that Maggie Stiefvater happens to be a truly good writer definitely boosted my new found addiction.

[Kai Spellmeier · Rating 4 out of 5]

“The world needs more love at first sight.”

When I first read this (years and years ago) I totally fell in love with Maggie Stiefvater. I don't know what did it for me, but this just made me feel good. It's a perfect snuggle-up-on-a-rainy-autumn-day book.
The plot wasn't overly exciting, but I think it was the writing and the characters that I enjoyed (especially Isabel).
This series is so completely different from The Raven Boys . You can clearly see how much experience and skill Maggie gained through the years of writing, but nevertheless, Shiver definitely has her Siefvater magic.


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[Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shiver is narrated by the alternating points of view of Sam and Grace, two unbelievably different people drawn together by the power of love and devotion. When Grace was little, she was attacked by a pack of wolves but miraculously survived due to a certain yellow-eyed wolf's protection. Now her growing fascination is fixated on the wolves of Mercy Falls.

Sam isn't a human for as long as he would like to be. When the temperature drops and winter arises, he painfully transforms into a wolf. However, it was he that saved Grace from the onslaught of the pack, he is her yellow-eyed wolf. They find each other in their human form and blissfully fall in love. Unfortunately, fate seems to have other plans; and the now inseparable duo find themselves fighting a dreadful opposition in order to remain together.

Stiefvater writes so beautifully, it hurts. The way she manages to weave together the simplest of words into an awe-inspiring sentence or paragraph is just... painful (in a good way, of course). I was completely addicted by the end of Shiver. Also, Stiefvater writes teen dialogue better than most YA authors - it flows so naturally, and sometimes I could imagine my friends and I having the same discussion as her characters, or using the same words they used.

The plot and characters were great too. The story might have dragged a little bit in the beginning, but by the middle of the book all the werewolf phenomenon and Grace and Sam's relationship had me hooked. I'm not a werewolf fan, but Stiefvater made the concept original and intriguing. The characters were well-developed and really had me caring about what happened to them. Now I just can't wait to read Linger, book two of the series.

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[Jeff · Rating 3 out of 5]

So the story goes with Grace, a simple girl, who is protected by wolves that hang out around the woods near her backyard.

First of all:


you have wolves near your house?
YOU BETTER RUN

I don't know what kind of idea the author's trying to pull but trying to create a bold main character by saying she ain't afraid of wolves is pretty darn unimpressive to me.
See, the normal human wouldn't stay at a house like that, much less live there.
Unafraid.
By a freaking pack of wolves.

A message to you, Grace:THESE AREN'T YOUR FELLOW PEEPS, GRAB YOUR STILL EXISTENT HIDE AND LEAVE


But nah...of course, she'll stay cause she's the stubborn fricking main character.

Then there's that yellow eyed wolf that she can't seem to deny her attraction to.
Here's the thing...
when I think of a yellow eyed wolf...I think of...a carnivorous, insane beast that hasn't eaten in days with white foam near his mouth and will chomp of her head in seconds if she comes close to him.

But noooo, no no no, this girl will, and i mean WILL, come up to him, pet him like a dog, and then slowly fall in love.

-_-


I AM DONE.

[Lora · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I made the decision to reread Shiver and its successor, Linger, in preparation for this trilogy's conclusion, Forever, I honestly got little butterflies in my stomach just thinking about it.
I originally read Shiver back in October of '09, and it hit me like nothing had before — and nothing has matched it since. Shiver mixes some of the sweetest, most realistic and heartwarming characters with a wonderfully chilly and melancholy atmosphere and it is written with stunningly lyrical prose. If every author wrote like Stiefvater, I dare say I'd get nothing else done save for reading.

What is there to say about Grace? I feel like if I call her strong it will seem unoriginal, but that is just what she is; there is really no other way to describe Grace. She holds it together even when Sam is emotionally in shambles. Even when hope seems as far away as ten light-years, she keeps her wits about her. I can't help but love Grace any more than Sam can.

And there really is no other male character quite like Sam Roth; he is one of a kind. No other boy would turn away out of respect when a girl is scantily clad; no other boy would unabashedly sing to the mother of said girl; no other boy would treat a girl with as much respect as Sam shows for Grace.
As I said, Sam is one of a kind. And he's definitely my kind of guy, if you know what I mean. (Oh! how I wish there were boys/men/male specimens like him in real life! But if wishes were horses, then beggars would ride. *sigh*)

Moving on . . .

Just as with anything that is popular, not all people will enjoy Shiver. I think some people read the synopsis and expect a werewolf blockbuster — but that isn't what Shiver is; at its core, Shiver is a love story. The meat of the plot is simply Sam and Grace constantly fighting this physical transformation that is hell-bent on keeping them apart and stealing Sam's humanity.
The only complexity in Shiver is the mystery behind what makes the humans turn into wolves - Stiefvater leaves the old-fashioned lore to the dogs and creates her own mythology — I, personally, have never read any "werewolf" story like Stiefvater's, and that's a large portion of why I love this series so much. Rather than



you get



In the old days werewolves were men that were forever ruining their clothes and having to buy new ones — and all because of that blasted full moon. Stiefvater reimagines what makes these bitten but, in truth, innocent humans change form. And, to top that off, they don't get to keep changing. Eventually, they will stay in their wolf forms for the rest of their lives, thereby unwillingly having to give up their human life, loves, and wishes — forever. By writing it this way, Stiefvater has taken what was once a horror story and made it something beautiful and sad. And this reader can't help but love that.

This review would simply be too long if I added all of my favorite quotes (although you can read them all below), but if I had to choose just one it would be this:

FAVORITE QUOTE:
"I fell for her in summer, my lovely summer girl
From summer she is made, my lovely summer girl
I'd love to spend a winter with my lovely summer girl
But I'm never warm enough for my lovely summer girl

It's summer when she smiles, I'm laughing like a child
It's the summer of our lives; we'll contain it for a while
She holds the heat, the breeze of summer in the circle of
her hand
I'd be happy with this summer if it's all we ever had.

Between reading this and watching Becoming Jane the other night, my tear ducts are like dried sponges. And since I'll be reading Linger and Forever next, I felt that I should prepare myself; I had this sent to my house yesterday:



Never let it be said that I was unprepared in life.

I hear people say things about their favorites like, I've read this so many times I know all of the lines by heart. But I don't ever want it to be that way for me and this book; it is such a special read that I never want to read it and feel as if I've gotten all I can out of it. I want to start Shiver each time with the sense that it is both new and old to me, but always a favorite.

___________________________________________

My reviews of other titles in this series:

Linger

[Julie Kagawa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked up a copy of Shiver last night, sat down to read it, and did not get up until 2am, when I finished it. I went in expecting an eerie, bittersweet love story and that's exactly what I got. Shiver is told from alternating viewpoints, and you will easily fall in love with the characters of Grace and Sam. The writing is lyrical, the descriptions are breathtaking, and you can acutely feel the longing between the two teens, and their desperate struggle to keep Sam from changing. The ending was pitch perfect, and left me with a deep feeling of satisfaction.

Amazing book. Amazing author. Will definately be putting Shiver on my "favorite books of all time" shelf.

[Fuzaila · Rating 2 out of 5]

Someone please tell me The Raven Boys is nothing like this book. Or else Stiefvater and I are done.

When you pick up your first book by an insanely popular author, you naturally have some expectations. Or at least expect a good story. But this was bizarre and so Twilight-esque, I could hardly try convincing myself that it would end better.

The only redeemable quality was the writing. And the only reason I picked up this book in the first place was Sam, the male lead. He’s apparently my fictional boyfriend according to some Book Matchmaker challenge I took part in. Safe to say we’ve broken up. Or rather, I ditched him.

There are going to be **MINOR SPOILERS** ahead, but that shouldn’t matter because you aren’t going to read this book anyway amiright?

Let me give you a few reasons not to pick up this book –

1. The Plot

Grace was bitten by some wolves in the woods near her house when she was six. One of them supposedly saved her, and she has been in love with him ever since. Turns out, the wolf is not merely a wolf, but a werewolf. A boy in Grace’s class was murdered by the wolves, which puts them in imminent danger. Grace is overcome with a fiery need to protect them, especially her wolf, and find a way to stay with him forever.

• For some reason, I had a really uncomfortable time reading this book. At first I thought, it was because I wasn’t a fan of werewolves, but then I realized I had read and loved books on these shape shifters. Then I thought about the plot and it dawned on me how insanely unrealistic and gross it actually was.
For six years, Grace is intrigued by a damn WOLF, even before she realized it was a werewolf. OMG I’m puking.

• Also, near to the end of the book, the plot takes this stupid turn, where the main characters search for a cure for werewolves to stop turning into wolves. The thing is, the werewolves in this book aren’t affected by moonlight, but rather by temperature changes. Cold temperature means wolf, warm means human. And the cure they come up with is THIS – inject the blood of a meningitis infected person to induce fever, and therefore - high temperature to the werewolf while they’re human. YOU DON’T EVEN NEED ME TO TELL YOU JUST HOW SICK AND GROSS AND STUPID AND DOWNRIGHT CRAZY THAT IS!!! Meningitis is very dangerous. Not to mention, contagious. And just transfusing some random blood from a stranger to three people.?? You should at least know some basic science kids! BIG PLOTHOLE THERE.

• Like I said, the werewolves, while human, cannot stand cold temperatures without changing. Most of the book takes place in winter, or at night, while the temperature is low, so Sam and other werewolves are usually inside – rooms, cars, and the like. What felt weird to me was the way Sam ran back and forth the cars and shops and houses. Like, they would open the window slightly and he would start shivering, indicating change. But then, he would also open the door and run to the house, and even go on night excursions this way. It’s hard to explain, but that looks utterly stupid in my imagination. Like, open the door – run to the car – open door again – run to the shop. How cool is that?

• Everything said, this book is once again, a version of Twilight. Minus the vampires. I would actually go ahead and say that Twilight was better. Because, Edward vs. Sam? Edward. He’s hotter. Bella vs. Grace? Bella. She’s tolerable at least. Edward-Bella vs. Sam-Grace? Edward-Bella. Better chemistry.
Also, Twilight is better crafted than Shiver, because heck, where was the plot here? Even then, the similarities are uncanny.

2. The Characters

Eek. Firstly, I think even the humans here are inhuman. And the werewolves are just fine. There is just something NOT-Normal about these characters. They are all one-dimensional, in the truest sense of the word. Like, one person is assigned a certain trait which they carry off throughout the book. It is one of the factors that make this book flat and unfelt.

• GRACE

One of the narrators, Grace is very unlikeable. She is hardcore obsessed by the wolves in the woods near her house, even when they become the reasons for one of her classmates death! Heck, she even blames that guy for dying, because it put her dear wolves in danger of being hunted down by the police. WT*?

She is also rude to her parents, her best friends, and to just about everyone in general except Sam. For an instance, Isabel was so friendly to her, but she never ever considered her the same way. She never says SORRY, even when she’s wrong. And her love-at-first-sight is just creepy and sick. She also wants to turn into a werewolf, she regrets not changing. Huh, seriously? Why not let Sam or someone else bite you then?

• SAM
The second narrator, Sam is a confusing character. I mean, he is not unbearable. Certainly not as much as Grace. And his creepy obsession with Grace seems far more reasonable. But his characterization was pathetic. His tone felt like a girl’s. He could have been Samantha for all I know. And the attempt to make him Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes didn’t work with me either.

• ISABEL
The only likeable character for me. She was quirky, witty, charming at times, and her keen nature made me like her instantly. But she too suffers from the one-dimensional plague that has infected all our characters. And yet, Isabel makes you root for her.
The rest of the characters aren’t even that developed that I can write about. For example, Jack and Beck were mentioned so many times but we got to see them very rarely it makes you feel like they’re not even there. At least, they are spared from my critics. Good for them.

3. The Romance

Not worth it. Just not worth it. Haven’t read of such a creepy disturbing romance in recent times. Oh yes, they made a cute pair, probably. But their insta-love and romance weren’t droolworthy or anything romantic, only disgusting.
I don’t know what my problem with it is. I was even okay with Bella and Jacob, but here the context is different, the world id different, the werewolves are different. It just makes me sick to think of a girl romancing a boy who was essentially destined to turn into and die a wolf. Oh no. NO.

4. The Writing

It’s witty and sarcastic. And pleasant to read. Also, fitting for the atmospheric setup of the book. Not exceptional by any means, though you can feel the potential. But even the generic writing style couldn’t save the non-existent plot.


Even after all this, you still want to read this book, I say go for it. If you’re a die-hard fan of Twilight, I say go for it. Else if you’re any bit like me and cannot tolerate any form of bestiality, I say, don’t approach this book at all. Stay 10 feet away from it ALWAYS. Yeah? Yeah.

[Kristen "Kirby" · Rating 2 out of 5]

Shiver I did not.

Oh, another alluring, romantic-sounding novel about the relationship of a school girl and the wolf that has always protected her. Sounds soo good to all us teen girls and older women who loved Twilight. And yet, the equation is this: Appealing storyline + a gorgeous, mysterious cover = disappointed reader.

To be frank, reading Shiver was like labor outside on a hot day, with beads of sweat stinging my eyes, and a strong urge to just give up and quit. I was oh-so bored, suffering from can't-help-but-be-spacey-itis, a condition in which you simply can't focus on a shredded storyline, thus unable to become absorbed. I mean, I laid down Shiver at least a thousand of times to watch TV. I’d stare at the same page for 5 minutes, spacing out over trivial things such as what I’d buy when I went out. I like to be interested in what I’m reading and Maggie lacked the skill of capturing my attention.

As for this author Maggie, I can say she was a stingy girl when it came to sharing details. Scenes and events were impossible to mentally act out and understand. Does she not know readers like to be absorbed in what they read? I don’t want to be told how the characters felt or what they did. I want to be along for the ride. I bet she wasn't beloved in kindergarten show and tell; she was a true believer of telling, not showing what was happening.

Blah. Did I mention the werewolf love interest?? I wasn’t no fan of Jacob, but Sam made him look like the coolest, most interesting, masculine thing out there. Sam was no guy I'd ever want to dream about or wish upon the stars to meet in my real life. He talked like an old lady, not a hunky 17, 18, 19 year old guy I'd want to know. Heck, I once thought Grace and her mother were chitchatting about the weather when I mistakenly realized it was actually good ole' Sam, not her mother, she was talking to. *wrinkles nose* Ick.

The author didn’t invest much time in the dialog of any of the characters. They all lacked personality. They all talked the same. They all were all faceless. I mean, we did have the photographer best bud Olivia and the other best friend, obnoxious whatever-her-name-was, but they were so boring and difficult to picture! And, reading about them was like listening to someone drone on in on in monotone about something you don't give a flying fig about. Maggie should have sat in the mall food court for 5 minutes to get the sense of how teens act and talk among their peers. It would have added a realistic sense to Shiver.

Fine. I'll quit ripping this book to pieces. I'll drudge up a good thing or two, I guess. I liked how the temperature forced the change of human to wolf. *sits for forty minutes and wracks brain for another good thing. is stumped*
Whelp, that's it.

*sighs at the money that could have been spent on a cute top or earrings or something*