Book Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater (1 ARC Tours)

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater





rating: 4.5/5.0






From Amazon.com:

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 wasn’t sure what to expect with this book. I signed up to read it with 1-ARC-Tours because I had heard wonderful things about it. I have read plenty of vampire paranormals but never really liked the werewolf angle, but decided to give it a shot due to the wonderful reviews. I am so glad I did. There is so much more to this book than the paranormal angle. It covers the female teen experience with friends and boys well, the first love aspect is sweet and touching and the history given behind Sam keeps you turning pages.

I especially enjoyed how this was told from both Sam and Grace’s point of view. It was nice to see both sides and how they felt about each other and about the things that were going on in the town and in the woods. I also liked the aspect of Grace’s parents, as unfortunate as Grace was to have them as her parents (they were self-absorbed), I think this is true of a lot of parents of this current generation. Not all (as I have children) but a lot. I think this speaks to the fact that we should pay attention to our children. You feel for Grace because of her family situation, but you never feel she is pathetic. She comes across as a fairly strong heroine who knows what she wants even though she has the typical teenage problems.

A wonderful storyline and back story of the wolves, plus great characters. I wanted this book to keep going when it ended. I want to know more about the characters. Shiver is a lovely young adult novel that will touch your heart.

Binding: Hardcover
On-sale Date: August 1, 2009
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Pages: 400