Shiver
From a dazzlingly talented young writer, a haunting and original supernatural romance in the vein of TWILIGHT.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.;Maggie Stiefvater is the #1 NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author of the novels SHIVER, LINGER, and FOREVER. Her novel THE SCORPIO RACES was named a Michael L. Printz Honor Book by the American Library Association, while PUBLISHERS WEEKLY selected Maggie's THE RAVEN BOYS as a Best Book of the Year. She is also the author of LAMENT and BALLAD. Maggie lives in Virginia with her husband and their two children. You can visit her online at maggiestiefvater.com.
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Community Reviews
Twisted
The romance between Grace and Sam is completely twisted. There are numerous signs of this being a dangerous, messed up relationship. Tack on the unrealistic nature of many of their interactions (or lack thereof), and it becomes just impossible to be interested in, much less ship. I personally would never condone the form Sam and Graceâs relationship takes.
Super Slow
*sigh* I spent most of the book just waiting for something to happen. Honestly. I get that itâs a romance, but come on. There was so little going on and it was like the entire book just came down to little âadorableâ moments between Grace and Sam (which were ineffectual and creepy when you take the above paragraph into account.) It isnât until the last 50 pages of the book that something interesting actually happens and by then I just donât even care. Itâs too little, too late.
Underdeveloped
God. The relationships in this book were so underdeveloped and so were many of the characters. The characters were all stereotypes of high school students thrown into a book together and told to âplay nice.â Thus, this story ensued. Yet, what hurts the most about this is that Sam and Grace never actually have meaningful conversations, making their âloveâ for each other literally just lust and infatuation, which is SUPER clear if you pay any attention while reading.
Not only are the characters and their relationships underdeveloped, but so is the world. All the rules and regulations of the paranormal phenomena that occur in this book have absolutely zero explanation or basis. Even if they do in this fictional world, they are never explained. Or worse, the explanations are half-assed and literally do nothing to explain why the rules exist and how they work. So many questions and literally no answers because the book is written to not make to ask any questions. Ugh.
Blow a Hole in that Ship
As I stated above, the relationship between Sam and Grace was AWFUL. Absolutely awful. First off, Grace basically has Stockholm syndrome (which they literally elude to in the book, but then never come back to it at all!) because she is love with someone who saved her from being eaten alive by him and his pack. And the worst part about all this is that she is in love with a WOLF! I donât give a flying fuck that heâs a werewolf. She literally was obsessed and pined for a wolf and itâs only by stroke of luck that he turns into a dude.
Second, Grace and Sam never actually have a meaningful conversation. Ever! They spend pretty much the entire book going: âI want to fuck you.â âokay.â âNo, I canât!â And thereâs a couple âIâm turning into a werewolfâs in there, but this is just a story about two horny-ass teens being excessively melodramatic.
The Cure!
Iâm sorry. Meningitis cures lycanthropy??? What kind of answer is that? Literally you couldnât come up with any other answer to âinternal heatingâ than to infect people with a deadly bacterium? How about scaling hot tea? Or better yet, since weâre not worrying about any of the characters surviving, just throw some hot coals down their throat. Thatâll warm them right up. I mean, you need your stomach lining a lot less than you need your BRAIN! Good God. I donât even know with this anymore. There are a DOZEN of other ways to heat the body internally and many of them are far less deadly, like⦠I dunno, the flu. Or just throw the person in a scalding hot bath and force scalding liquid down their throat. And why did Sam survive the infection but Jack did not? Anyone want to give an explanation there? No. Yeah, didnât think so. >.>
The romance between Grace and Sam is completely twisted. There are numerous signs of this being a dangerous, messed up relationship. Tack on the unrealistic nature of many of their interactions (or lack thereof), and it becomes just impossible to be interested in, much less ship. I personally would never condone the form Sam and Graceâs relationship takes.
Super Slow
*sigh* I spent most of the book just waiting for something to happen. Honestly. I get that itâs a romance, but come on. There was so little going on and it was like the entire book just came down to little âadorableâ moments between Grace and Sam (which were ineffectual and creepy when you take the above paragraph into account.) It isnât until the last 50 pages of the book that something interesting actually happens and by then I just donât even care. Itâs too little, too late.
Underdeveloped
God. The relationships in this book were so underdeveloped and so were many of the characters. The characters were all stereotypes of high school students thrown into a book together and told to âplay nice.â Thus, this story ensued. Yet, what hurts the most about this is that Sam and Grace never actually have meaningful conversations, making their âloveâ for each other literally just lust and infatuation, which is SUPER clear if you pay any attention while reading.
Not only are the characters and their relationships underdeveloped, but so is the world. All the rules and regulations of the paranormal phenomena that occur in this book have absolutely zero explanation or basis. Even if they do in this fictional world, they are never explained. Or worse, the explanations are half-assed and literally do nothing to explain why the rules exist and how they work. So many questions and literally no answers because the book is written to not make to ask any questions. Ugh.
Blow a Hole in that Ship
As I stated above, the relationship between Sam and Grace was AWFUL. Absolutely awful. First off, Grace basically has Stockholm syndrome (which they literally elude to in the book, but then never come back to it at all!) because she is love with someone who saved her from being eaten alive by him and his pack. And the worst part about all this is that she is in love with a WOLF! I donât give a flying fuck that heâs a werewolf. She literally was obsessed and pined for a wolf and itâs only by stroke of luck that he turns into a dude.
Second, Grace and Sam never actually have a meaningful conversation. Ever! They spend pretty much the entire book going: âI want to fuck you.â âokay.â âNo, I canât!â And thereâs a couple âIâm turning into a werewolfâs in there, but this is just a story about two horny-ass teens being excessively melodramatic.
The Cure!
Iâm sorry. Meningitis cures lycanthropy??? What kind of answer is that? Literally you couldnât come up with any other answer to âinternal heatingâ than to infect people with a deadly bacterium? How about scaling hot tea? Or better yet, since weâre not worrying about any of the characters surviving, just throw some hot coals down their throat. Thatâll warm them right up. I mean, you need your stomach lining a lot less than you need your BRAIN! Good God. I donât even know with this anymore. There are a DOZEN of other ways to heat the body internally and many of them are far less deadly, like⦠I dunno, the flu. Or just throw the person in a scalding hot bath and force scalding liquid down their throat. And why did Sam survive the infection but Jack did not? Anyone want to give an explanation there? No. Yeah, didnât think so. >.>
In this two person narrative, it gives us the minds of grace and sam. While some books who have a two person narrative, does not work, this author made it work beautifully. You really start rooting for the two main characters. Some surprises sprinkled here and there. Although the ending is a bit of a cliff hanger, thank goodness she's writing a sequel to Shiver, called, Linger.
When visiting my grandmother in Virginia, we went to this used book store I had never been to before - Mackay's. And what did I choose? This book. While everyone else read The Raven Cycle, I found and clung to this series.
I was so absorbed, I read this while my best friend was sleeping because I couldn't wait.
I very quickly picked up and absorbed the rest of the series. The characters were so memorable, I loved them all - particularly Isabel and Cole St. Clair.
The covers are so beautiful. The story is interesting. The characters are likable, and even when they aren't, they still are.
I will finally be picking up The Raven Cycle series roughly 14 years later.
I was so absorbed, I read this while my best friend was sleeping because I couldn't wait.
I very quickly picked up and absorbed the rest of the series. The characters were so memorable, I loved them all - particularly Isabel and Cole St. Clair.
The covers are so beautiful. The story is interesting. The characters are likable, and even when they aren't, they still are.
I will finally be picking up The Raven Cycle series roughly 14 years later.
Loved it. Loved the different take on shape-shifting wolves. Loved the love story. Can't wait to read [b:Linger|6654313|Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #2)|Maggie Stiefvater|http:photo.goodreads.com/books/1275751066s/6654313.jpg|6848948].
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