Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Dec 29, 2010 Sarah rated it did not like it · review of another edition

Shelves: romance, kindle, young-adult, hot-lit, magic-sci-fi-fantasy

I was so hoping to like this. I thought it might be a better-written kind of a Twilight story. Because really, how could the writing be worse? Well, it can. This story has more holes than Bella Swan's chest.

A little girl is attacked by a pack of wolves. One of the pack, a wolf with yellow eyes, saves her. For the next six years, she and the wolf sort of watch each other from afar until one day, the wolf with yellow eyes is shot and turns into a naked boy. The girl and boy are immediately a coup I was so hoping to like this. I thought it might be a better-written kind of a Twilight story. Because really, how could the writing be worse? Well, it can. This story has more holes than Bella Swan's chest.

A little girl is attacked by a pack of wolves. One of the pack, a wolf with yellow eyes, saves her. For the next six years, she and the wolf sort of watch each other from afar until one day, the wolf with yellow eyes is shot and turns into a naked boy. The girl and boy are immediately a couple because they have been in love with each other ever since he saved her. (That's right, for six years, she was in love with a WOLF. Not knowing he was human. Just dog. Bestiality much?) But they know their time is limited with each other because if the boy turns back into a wolf he may never be human again. Oh, and what turns the infected into wolves? Not the full moon. The cold. And they live in Minnesota.

First of all, all of the stuff at the beginning where the girl obsesses over "her" wolf is disgusting. I know it's supposed to be all romantic and love at first sight but HE WAS NOT HUMAN.

Second, if the cold is what turns them into wolves why in the world do they live in Minnesota? I kept wondering that. Finally, 70% of the way into the book, the author addresses that with some flimsy story about how one guy went to Florida and became so sensitive to changes in temperature, he turned into a wolf when he walked by an open door of an air conditioned building. Um, okay? That seemed really weak to me.

Third, according to Sam (the wolf-boy), being a wolf doesn't make you a monster. It just takes away your inhibitions so you're whatever you are as a human, only more. He also talks about how they don't attack unless they are provoked. So why did the wolves attack Grace when she was a little girl? That is never explained.

Another thing I absolutely hated about this book was the way Sam went around composing song lyrics about everything. And they're awful, awful song lyrics. Really horrid. The only time the writing was any good was when she was quoting Rilke. ...more

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Aug 25, 2013 Claire Fun rated it it was ok

Shelves: young-adult

I read this one on holiday, camping on the isle of wight, during a glorious summer. I might have done better to save it for winter, as reading 'cold descriptions while you're wondering how much you can take off and still be decent doesn't really gel, and for all I know might be the main reason I found this book to be...just okay. The other main thing I found is that it's very teenage - it read like someone had just discovered what real love is like - which is fine, I've been happily married to m I read this one on holiday, camping on the isle of wight, during a glorious summer. I might have done better to save it for winter, as reading 'cold descriptions while you're wondering how much you can take off and still be decent doesn't really gel, and for all I know might be the main reason I found this book to be...just okay. The other main thing I found is that it's very teenage - it read like someone had just discovered what real love is like - which is fine, I've been happily married to my best friend for 11 years and I asked him to marry me after we'd been together for 2 months, so I *do* understand - but it did it all in a teenage way rather than an adult way. While that's fine - this is a young adult book, after all - I read a lot of young adult books and don't always find myself inwardly rolling my eyes. Also all the 'my parent's don't understand me!' stuff was laid on a bit thick...as a parent I found myself thinking 'get over yourself' a few times. Yes, most of us have been screwed up by our parents in one way or another, that happens. Being taught to be independent when you're a teenager isn't really that big a deal. Worse things happen.

So yeah, those things annoyed me. The story was...well, nothing much really, now I think about it. Not really much plot. Boy meets girl, saves her life, boy and girl secretly love each other from afar for a while, then meet up and fall in twu luff for effar - except it can't be because supernatural reasons. Then some rubbish involving some other people who weren't very interesting either and then the end.

I think I'm persuading myself to give it less stars than I thought I would.

At least it tried to do something different with its weird flowery descriptions. Sadly, they made me think of those 'life-affirming' quotes you get with sunsets in the background. Naff bad poetry style rather than amazingly beautiful poetry-prose. The couple were okay but a bit dull and didn't seem that realistic, unless teens have changed an awful lot since I was one (which admittedly was, ooh, 17 years ago, so it's entirely possible. Teens are like an entirely different species to me now. God help me - I have a 9 year old son).

SO in all I guess this book was fine. I wouldn't re-read it, or suggest it to anyone except the most love-struck of young teen girls. Maybe those girls that wear long flowing skirts and have flowers braided into their hair. You know, like I used to be... ...more

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Jan 19, 2013 Nadine in NY Jones rated it it was amazing

Shelves: young-adult, werewolves, stayed-up-way-too-late, wolves, romance, paranormal-romance, paranormal, angst, wintery-snowy

This book was AMAZING. Go! Read!

The mixed reviews (so, yeah, okay, I guess this book isn't amazing for EVERYONE ... GO AND READ WITH CAUTION) and the boring blurb had my expectations set on "barely interested." I didn't even mean to start reading it last night. But it's been in my pile of library books for a few weeks now, so I thought I'd just read the first chapter, and whoops! before I knew it, it was 12:30 and I'd read 2/3 of the book!

I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm

...more

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Feb 17, 2012 Polly-Alida rated it really liked it

Surprisingly, I enjoyed this very much. Recommended by a good friend who is a YA librarian who suggested listening to the audio book version. The readers' voices drew me into the world of Grace and Sam which though populated by werewolves, has at its heart a love story.

Was disappointed that Sam had a different voice in the next book in the series, would have enjoyed listening to all 3 title in the series. ...more

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Mar 19, 2017 Rebecca rated it did not like it

Shelves: 2000s, young-adult, ultimate-teen-reading-list, paranormal-romance, female-author

This book was like watching paint dry... in subzero temperatures. Ugh. I almost didn't finish, but I already did that to a book before this one. I was only able to complete it by skimming. ...more

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Aug 21, 2023 Pam rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fiction, 2023-books-read, minnesota

1st in a trilogy or series -- will read on.

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Mar 06, 2010 Erin (NY) rated it really liked it

Shelves: books-i-own, read-in-2010

This book was quite good, writing-wise. I did not like the creepiness of girl and wolf. I don't enjoy paranormal, but I read it for the writing, which did not disappoint. I liked how it was not over-simplified for YA audience. Good read, looking forward to the next one. I would recomend this to anyone who liked Twilight or anyone who did not like twilight because of the horrific writing. ...more

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