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Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1)

Maggie Stiefvater

Start date: June 1, 2010

Finish date: June 30, 2010

Discussion: Not on the list book club

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Not on the list book club

* Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
By MJ , Idiot's Top libriarian · 5 posts · 51 views

last updated Jul 04, 2010 09:35AM

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
By MJ , Idiot's Top libriarian · 6 posts · 71 views

last updated May 13, 2011 07:55AM

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What Members Thought

Feb 11, 2010 Gaijinmama rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, purchased

A sweet story of young star-crossed love that also manages to be creepy as hell.
Seriously, where were the YA books like this when I was in high school!!
Aside from graphic depictions of what it must be like to be chewed on by wolves, what upset me the most was the main character's parents. They were just awful! Not abusive, just criminally selfish, immature and neglectful. Not that I am a perfect parent myself, but I like to think I would at least know if my daughter were...you know...doing it wi ...more

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Nov 06, 2009 Sarah rated it did not like it

Shelves: read-in-2010, ebooks

Judging by all the hype surrounding this book, I was eager to pick it up and see what all the excitement's about. "Anticlimax" is an understatement for what reading this book felt like. I kept waiting for some incredible burst of wonder to overcome me at some point; it didn't. This book was such a drag. Honestly, I wish I hadn't bothered. At first it seemed to be exactly what many who have reviewed this book have claimed it to be- a Team Jacob version of Twilight. But it didn't even meet that me Judging by all the hype surrounding this book, I was eager to pick it up and see what all the excitement's about. "Anticlimax" is an understatement for what reading this book felt like. I kept waiting for some incredible burst of wonder to overcome me at some point; it didn't. This book was such a drag. Honestly, I wish I hadn't bothered. At first it seemed to be exactly what many who have reviewed this book have claimed it to be- a Team Jacob version of Twilight. But it didn't even meet that mediocre standard.

Clare is saved from a wolf attack by another wolf, a yellow-eyed one, about six years before her present age in the book. Everyone in town knows about it and it is the only time her scatter-brained mother was shaken out of her self-centred haze long enough to be concerned about her daughter's safety. Her mother soon goes back to being the irresponsible, uncaring and dependent child-in-an-adult's body once she's assured that everything in her world has been set to rights and her daughter hasn't been harmed. Clare's parents are almost never around and barely check up on her when they are home, so she cooks the meals once she gets home from school and pretty much takes care of her parents and the house (this parent-child role reversal sound familiar to you?). Of course, this lack of parental supervision just makes it easier for her to hide her strange obsession with the wolves that live in the woods surrounding her house (particularly, her obsession with a certain yellow-eyed one) and then makes it all the more possible for her to take in a yellow-eyed boy, Sam (who turns out be her yellow-eyed wolf and is actually a werewolf), and house him under her roof, in her room and on her bed, for weeks without her parent's knowledge (I don't know about you, but this reminds me of Twilight- Bella's dad not having the slightest clue of Edward's presence in her room at night and of her being fetched for school in the morning by Edward).

The fact that her parents were so preoccupied and clueless, and yet not being really bad people, got to me. I also found it odd and frustrating that Sam would just randomly shoot off reciting lyrics in his head of songs he'd make up on the spur of the moment. The short chapters and the, at times, stilted dialogue between the characters, as well as the overall lack of flow in the writing style just killed any appreciation I had any hope of ever having for Clare and Sam's story. The idea that Meningitis could be injected into the bloodstreams as a possible cure for Sam's transformation into a werewolf was just preposterous. The end of the book did, however, leave me with a few questions. I have a feeling that, despite not really liking this book, I'm probably going to cave in to peer pressure at some point and pick up the next book just so I don't feel left out of the loop. ...more

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Nov 16, 2009 Dyanna rated it really liked it

Shelves: young-adult

I like teenage love stories involving the supernatural. This is a great one, and the writing is better than Twilight. My only suggestion is waiting until the summer because that's when the sequel comes out and you will die (like me) until then. ...more

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