From the Bookshelf of Never Too Old For Y.A. & N.A. Books…

Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1)

Maggie Stiefvater

Start date: February 1, 2012

Finish date: February 29, 2012

Discussion leader: Sylvia

Why we're reading this: Ok guys you voted for Shiver to be the book of the month so go ahead and start reading it!!! And just thi…more
[close] Ok guys you voted for Shiver to be the book of the month so go ahead and start reading it!!! And just think it will go towards your Book Challenge cause it's on werewolves :)

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What Members Thought

Oct 13, 2009 Written Word Review rated it really liked it

The Good: This story had a unique chilling twist from the typical werewolf stories filling bookstore bookshelves today.
I really enjoyed the way the author used two voices to tell this story. You got to glimpse both characters minds in away most authors don’t do. Also how she used poetry and lyrics to describe the feelings zinging through Sam. I liked the love between Sam and Grace. The way they acted around each other was reminiscent of real life soul mates. It wasn’t a corny kind of romance.

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Oct 18, 2009 Michelle rated it it was amazing

She is such an amazing writer. It's not the same old werewolf story. ...more

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Jan 22, 2010 Tynga rated it it was amazing

Grace has always been a lonely and shy girl. Pretty much raising herself because even though her parents technically lives with her, they don’t really take care of her. She’s the parent figure of the household and I think it kind of describes her well. She is caring, responsible and independent. Ever since she’s been attacked by wolves at a younger age, Grace has been fascinated by the wolves roaming the woods behind her house, and one of them is returning the favor. An epic love story, where im Grace has always been a lonely and shy girl. Pretty much raising herself because even though her parents technically lives with her, they don’t really take care of her. She’s the parent figure of the household and I think it kind of describes her well. She is caring, responsible and independent. Ever since she’s been attacked by wolves at a younger age, Grace has been fascinated by the wolves roaming the woods behind her house, and one of them is returning the favor. An epic love story, where impossible has a whole new meaning, awaits you within the pages of Shiver, and trust me, you don’t wanna miss out.

I’d like to start by saying, Shame on me for not picking this book earlier. It. Was. Amazing. Maggie created a very unique werewolf lore, and I’m actually uncomfortable using the word werewolf because it’s not really what they are. In this world, humans infected are either humans or wolves and they have no to very little control over their changes. I think the key element to this special lore is that when the “werewolf” is in wolf form, they are an animal with the instinct that goes with it and none of the human consciousness. And I don’t want to ruin the punch, so I won’t tell you what triggers the changes =)

Maggie knitted awesome characters and I will talk to you about Sam first because surprisingly, I connected more with him than with Grace. Sam is a boy with strong moral and is a pure gentleman, determined to do the right thing at all cost, it will sometime lead to some lovely awkward moments between him and Grace. He also got a very hard past and memories and nightmares are hunting him. His biggest torture is to loose himself when he is a wolf, and he fights it as hard as he can. While Sam is very artistic, Grace is very pragmatic and lives in an organized world. She always tries to find logic behind everything, and of course her logic fails her in a world where boys can turn into wolves. Secondary characters will also take an important role in the plot and while I enjoyed their personality, I kind of wanted to know a bit more about their past, they were all very rooted in the present.

Narration switches back and forth between Grace and Sam along the way (and it’s always clearly stated at the beginning of every chapter who the narrator is), which reveal a lot more depth to the plot. As you can guess my favorites part were the ones from Sam’s point of view, because he is such a sweet-heart, but Grace’s parts were equally good if you are not prejudiced. I also appreciated the little flashbacks encountered here and there along the way.

Under every chapter’s titles the temperature is noted, I thought it was very thoughtfully of Maggie to add this bit of detail as it is so meaningful to the story.

Maggie did an awesome job keeping us in unbearable suspense the entire book, not knowing if we’ll be granted a happy ending or not (and no I won’t tell you!), and I loved her writing. There was this scene in a candy shop when she described it by scent and I could totally picture myself there. Kudos for creating a world so tangible.

Shiver is a remarkably well-written epic love story, wrapped in a mysterious and magical lore. Sam & Grace will submerge you by their intensity and I’m sure you will never think of werewolves the same way again.

Lucky for me, Linger, the second book in the series, is about to hit the shelves, so I won’t have to wait for too long before I can dive in this world again!
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Jan 07, 2010 Victoria rated it it was amazing

LOVED. THIS. BOOK. No book has truly captivated me like this since Twilight (ashamed, I know.) This book was so descriptive, I actually felt cold while I was reading the descriptions of the weather. This is one of those books that you will want to own so you can reread it in the future. And yes, my eyes did start to water at the end.

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Jan 31, 2010 Wendalyn Peterson rated it it was amazing

I really enjoyed this novel. Again I didn't realize it was a trilogy. I always hate trilogy's cause it takes too long between books. But I really like this author. A story of Grace and Sam which I listened to the audio book on this and the narrators are both real good. ...more

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