Ashley Stoyanoff Reviews: Shiver by Maggie Steifvater

★ASHLEY STOYNAOFF'S REVIEW★
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1)

Author: Maggie Stiefvater

Number of Pages: 400

Publication Info: Scholastic Paperbacks (June 2010)

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Werewolves

Shelf: Books I Bought

Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads: Here

Author Website: Here

Purchase: Here

Summary from Goodreads:

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:

I’ve never really like werewolves, but lately, they’ve been growing on me.  A few weeks ago, I was in Chapters searching for a werewolf book.  I ended up calling my Mom, and while I was on the phone, asking her to google popular werewolf books, a girl overheard me and recommended this trilogy.  I’m so glad she did, because this book has converted me, and I can now say that I’m a werewolf fan.

What I loved: I absolutely loved Grace and Sam together.  Their relationship, although strange at first, was in the end, the prefect teenage falling in love for the first time romance.  I was literally transported back to high school watching them together.  I could remember the nervous twist in my stomach and the heated blush in my cheeks as I watched them get to know each other.  They were a perfect match.

What I liked: I really liked the idea behind what makes werewolves shift.  I’m not going to say much here, because I don’t want to give anything away, but it was definitely original and interesting.

What drove me crazy:  The slow spots.  I found that as I was reading I’d be on the edge of my seat, completely absorbed and then something would happen and the story would just … stall.  I can’t even say what happened, or why I felt like I was jerked out of this fascinating world, but I was, and it took a bit for me to get back into it.

My final thoughts:  I really enjoyed this story.  It left me dying to read the next book and fulfilled all at the same time.  If you haven’t read it yet, then you should.