Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

        

Shiver
(The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1)
by Maggie Stiefvater

Summary from Goodreads:

"the cold. 

Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn't know why. 

the heat. 
Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace...until now. 

the shiver. For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it's spoken, it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human—and Grace must fight to keep him—even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future."

Rating:

One word that best describes Shiver for me is: DRAMA. I felt like I was watching a mythological soap opera. Don't get me wrong, I love Maggie's novels, her writing is magnificent, but I didn't like Shiver as much as I loved Maggie's other novel, Ballad. 

The new twist of this werewolf tale was the reason I bought this book. However, I wasn't that fascinated with how it turned out. I guess I was expecting some action when books involve mythological creatures, sort of a little hack and slash, some ripping and fighting, something like that. But it was mainly focused on the love interest between Sam and Grace. I like Grace's character. She's simple yet distinctive, pretty much a real person. Sam on the other hand was too fictional. He sounds way too emo, and was obviously created in a girl's wishful mind of an "Ideal Man". He was too perfect to be taken seriously as a guy. 

Overall, this book was okay for me. Good writing, nice plot, simple main characters - it's okay. 
I'm looking forward to reading Linger though, because there is one spunky little character I loved in Shiver and she'll be tousling our minds as she expresses her thoughts in Linger (Yes, Isabelle, I'm talking about you).