Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

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Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1
Published by: Scholastic
Release Date: August 1, 2009
Format: Kindle Book
Pages: 402
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal, Paranormal Romance
Potential Triggers: View Spoiler »flashback to parental abuse « Hide Spoiler
Reading Challenges: Lenoreo's 2022 Backlist Reader Challenge, Lenoreo's 2022 Bookish Resolutions DTTH, Lenoreo's 2022 COYER Winter
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My rating:

Blurb:

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 Review:

3.5 stars — Strangely, there was actually a lot to love in this book.  But if I’m being honest, I wasn’t as compelled by the story as I wanted to be.  It’s my first book by Ms. Stiefvater, and I have a feeling I might have enjoyed it more if I’d read it a decade ago…though it probably still wouldn’t have been a wow book.

The problem is that, for me, there were a lot of loose threads and unanswered questions that just kept poking at me.  I found that I was confused a lot, and as a reader who loves knowing EVERYTHING, and not interpreting ANYTHING, it just didn’t make for an ideal read.  It felt a little dry at times — or maybe that was just Grace.

Grace was…cold.  And kind of blank.  And strangely unfeeling.  I can’t say that I really liked her, even by the end of the book.  In some ways I guess she was a typical teenager, in that she was pretty wrapped up in herself.  And I get that the whole wolf kidnapping thing in her childhood really affected her, and no one else seemed to understand, but she was very indifferent to basically all the people in her life.  Which, given her parents neglect, was somewhat understandable.  But I guess I expected to feel more for her on that front than I actually did.  And then there’s her so-called friends.  I really don’t get the purpose of those relationships at all, she’d have been better off being the tried and true loner she actually was.

I definitely got some teeny tiny Twilight vibes from this story now that I think about it, but I think it’s hard to find many YAs that came out around this time that didn’t have those vibes.

So, while I basically didn’t connect with Grace AT ALL, I did fall completely in love with Sam.  He wasn’t flawless by any means, but he was just completely unlike what I was expecting.  Like, COMPLETELY.  He was sweet, sensitive, damaged.  I felt a lot of what he was going through trying to hang on to his humanity.  And wow, he definitely dealt with some awful shit in his past.  He was kind of dorky, but adorably so.  I will admit that it was hard dealing with his guilty emotions sometimes — especially about the relationship developing with Grace.  I wasn’t completely down with some of that.

I’m not sure I get them as a couple necessarily.  I wish there had been more to their connection than just years of staring at each other.  But I did enjoy some of their couple moments.

As for secondary characters?  A huge mixed bag.  Olivia and Rachel were pointless (Rachel moreso).  Isabel does NOT come across well, but maybe that will get better…I did enjoy her spunk.  Beck was intriguing.  Even silent Paul was.  Hated Shelby.  Not a fan of Jack.  Grace’s parents confused me — I kept waiting for some of the things to turn into some plot point (like who they were always hanging out with), but it never materialized.

I am now at a crossroads about continuing the series.  It definitely ramped up at the end, and I loved that ending.  But…I…don’t know if I want more.  And I’m not sure the style of these stories is right for me (though I will give a different Stiefvater series a shot).