Book Review: Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Summary:

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.

Review:

Shiver...a great choice for Twilight's Team Jacob fans.  If you liked reading about the werewolves in The Twilight Series, then Shiver is for you.  This book made me cold while reading it---I had to drink hot chocolate to warm up because Stiefvater focuses so much on the temperature!

This was a good story, a little simple, but still good. All of the elements of a good YA story are included here:  absentee parents, willful female protagonist, emotional/over-protective love interest, danger, and little bit of self-discovery along the way.  There are some definite rip-off scenes from Twilight in my opinion, namely the woods/meadow scene.  If you can get past that, you'll enjoy Shiver.

Just One Gripe:

The "cure" is pretty implausible if you ask me.  I won't say more because you know I HATE spoilers!

The Best Thing About This Book:

We don't have to wait for thousands of pages and multiple books (I'm talking about you, Stephenie Meyer) for the relationship to move "to the next level", if you know what I mean...it's decided and done with no regrets or hemming and hawing.  Go Grace!

Appropriate for a younger audience:

Doubtful, see above.

Score:
Characters:  3/5
Plot:  3/5
Setting/Imagery:  4/5
Originality:  2/5
Ending:  3/5
Total Score: 15/25

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