Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

This is a good book.

I could leave it at that. But, I like rambling, so I won't.

I got this book for Christmas of '09. I read it. I liked it. But it got pushed to the back of my bookshelf and forgotten about. Flashforward to Christmas '10 and guess what was under the Christmas tree? The sequel! So I said, okay, I guess I'm going to have to reread Shiver to read Linger because I don't remember what happened.

But then life got in the way and writing got in the way... and I forgot. And I kept meaning to reread it but I never did.

So then last week, when I was home sick for the 2 1/2 day in a row, I decided to read because my mom decided that I was no longer allowed to watch TV when I was home sick so I couldn't watch any of the stupid reality shows that I'd become addicted to. Anyway, my point was I said, "Oh! I guess I'll read Shiver now."

I opened Shiver. And I read. And I read. And I read. And I read. Until about 2 o'clock when I finished the book. And it was freaking amazing. The language, the story, the characters, the ending... wow. I ran upstairs, grabbed Linger, and read until 9 o'clock.

Yup. I read both books in one day. It was actually a really cool experience. I spent the entire day with Grace and Sam.

To try and sum it up, these books are about a girl named Grace who lives in this little woodsy town and a pack of wolves live in the woods behind her house. When she was younger, the wolves attacked her, but this one wolf with yellow eyes saved her. She's totally obsessed with these wolves. They're all she thinks about and she dreads the summer because that's the only time that they mysteriously disappear from the woods.

So what's she going to do when a boy from her school is attacked by the wolves and a group of men, including her father, decide to go into the woods and hunt the wolves? And how will she react when she discovers the wolves' secret? (Which is pretty obvious so I might as well tell you: they're werewolves. Shhhh.)

Now... Favorite parts:

• Grace. I think Grace is me in disguise. There were just so many things about her that I could totally relate to. She's quiet, she's obsessive, she's totally in love with Sam. Which brings me to my next point.
• Sam. He's a musician with yellow eyes. And he turns into a wolf. What more could a girl want?
• The ending. It was amazing.
• The language. There were just random lines that just astounded me.
• The cover art.

Things I didn't like:

• There was something about the pace that didn't seem right. Maybe it was a little slow. I'm not sure. It was that kind of thing where someone asks you, "What's the book about?" and you say that's a hard question.
• The ending. Why did she do that?
• The fact that I went online and found this video of Maggie Stiefvater reading the first chapter of the next book Forever that comes out in July and it was the biggest cliffhanger and I have to wait until July until I get to read it. Grrrrrrrr.

So, there were things that I would have changed, but overall, I loved these books. And I think you should read them.

BTW, I was thinking of posting a few paragraphs of my WIP sometime this week to get some feedback. Would anyone be up to helping me? It would be very much appreciated.