Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 400
Rating: 10/5

"For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever."

My thoughts:

Shiver is heart-achingly beautiful. It will have you flipping the pages in a constant midst of trying to grab for more of Sam and Grace. It will have you wanting more.

Grace, the main character, was mature and independent girl who was attacked by wolves. Only she remembers the wolf that saved her. The wolf’s golden eyes. Ever since then, she’s been sort of obsessed. She has watched her woods during the winter just watching. Watching the golden eyes that seemed so comforting, so safe. Her parents, unlike herself, I thought of were to be interested in their own lives rather than their daughter’s. That’s what irked me the most, but in comparison to the whole book…. It’s defiantly minor.

Sam is flawed and broken in ways that are made to fit perfectly. He too has been watching Grace. Making sure that she was okay. Inside he urged to actually meet her. And one day he does, and they automatically fall for each other. The relationship they had was chaste, which was used quiet a lot throughout the book, but sensual in ways Young Adult book’s can do. But it wasn't as, well, slutty. A perfect romance I’ve ever read.

Steifvater worded her novel in a way that makes you feel you’re in Grace’s and Sam’s world. What they’re feeling, what they’re thinking. All of it. It’s told in alternating point of views, from Grace’s to Sam’s. And from that you learned what it was like to be inside both of their minds. The plot flowed quickly, but fell together smoothly.

Overall this is a sweet, exciting, loveable, and amazing book that will leave you breathless. (Spoiler!)The ending was perfect because they found a cure, and Sam was human. A perfect ending that had tears in my eyes. (Spoiler over.) I can’t wait for the sequel, Linger, coming out next year.