Review and Giveaway: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

From the author's website:

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.

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I picked up this book when Ms. Stiefvater came to New Orleans for a book signing. I hadn't read Shiver yet, but planned to, "eventually". Why, oh why, did I wait so long to read this book?!?

When Grace was a small child, she was dragged off her backyard swing by wolves and almost killed. One wolf stopped the pack from killing her, and since then Grace has felt a special bond with "her wolf". She looks forward to seeing her wolf every winter, when the pack comes to the woods behind her house.

Sam has watched Grace ever since he kept the rest of his pack from killing her 6 years ago. He watches her from afar, thinking about her, wishing their lives weren't worlds apart.

After a wolf attack on a fellow student, the town decides to kill the wolves. As she arrives home after trying to stop the hunters, she spies a wolf on her porch - he'd been shot. Then, suddenly, not a wolf, a boy - Sam.

The love story between Sam and Grace is epic. You wouldn't think a story between teenagers could be, but the obstacles between them seem insurmountable. As they fight the end - Sam's eventual final change into wolf, they know that the time they have together is stolen from fate. Grace is very practical and pragmatic, Sam is a dreamer. He views his experiences as song lyrics, finding the beauty in everything. Together they fit together like pieces of a puzzle, each giving the other what they need to be complete. As they work through trying to experience a whole relationship in a matter of weeks, they are also trying to find a "rogue" wolf, a former classmate who was thought to be dead. The wolves in Ms. Stiefvater's world change according to the temperature. They're human in the warm months and wolf when it's cold. Her use of temperature at each chapter heading sets the urgency of the scenes.

The one thing I didn't care for was that there didn't seem to be any positive parenting influences. With the exception of Sam's pack leader, Beck, who had a few issues of his own, the parents of the teens were self-absorbed, absent, and/or clueless.

This book is like a painting; a work of art - the beauty is in the words. Can I use the word "beautiful" to describe Ms. Stiefvater's writing? (It's my blog, I vote yes.) When I think about this book I picture a painting in my head - stark white with splotches of color - bits of red dotted randomly around the canvas representing Grace's mother, light brown for her father. Sam is huge swaths of earthy green cutting across the canvas, and Grace is ice blue, like sunshine on snow. Add some black for Sam's pack and warm yellow for Grace's friends, and the painting is complete.

This book drew me in from the first few pages and I didn't want to put it down. I bawled like a baby during pages 341-344, and then again at the end for completely different reasons. As soon as I finish this review I'm going to read it again.

I give Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater 5/5 stars - a definite keeper! I cannot wait to read the next book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series - Linger, which comes out July 20.

I know I've posted the Linger trailer before, but it really is a cool trailer:



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Thanks to Scholastic, I have one copy of Shiver to give away! Want to win it? Leave a comment below telling me whether or not a book has ever made you cry.

This book giveaway is open to participants with a United States mailing address only (international readers can enter if they have a friend in the States who can accept their prizes by mail.) Contest ends at midnight central time on Monday, June 28.