Shiver - Stiefvater, Maggie

 Young Adult, Romance, Supernatural, Fiction
 4 out of 5 stars
Hardcover, 392 pages

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. (From Goodreads)

When I first started reading this it reminded me so much of Twilight with those stupid wolves. But then I realized how much better it was then Twilight, that the wolves are actual wolves, and I've always loved wolves.

It's believable so far, Grace isn't a perfect Mary Sue like I thought she would be. She's in introvert, loves books and her wolf. Reminds me of myself actually, which is wonderful because I can actually connect with the character.

High school drama, fighting friends, all totally believable.  The only thing thats squicked me out so far is that Grace is in love with a wolf, which screams bestiality, which is mega creepy. Luckily for her her wolf turns out to also be a boy.

Who happened to get shot, and transformed naked on her porch. Grace said she didn't stare, but if I just found my love interest naked on the floor, bleeding or not, I'd take a moment to stare.

I like that the book is split into Grace's and Sam's perspective. I enjoy Sam's POV much more then Graces. He has a much more interesting take on the world, because he spends most of it as a wolf.

The rules on changing seem to be pretty straightforward, if you get bit by a wolf, you become one. Although for some reason Grace hasn't, although she does have a 'wolf sense' or something, that if she focuses gives her heightened senses of smell and hearing. You become human in the spring months, and turn back into a wolf at the winter months, which seems pretty interesting to me. Although I think I'd rather be a wolf in the spring months, and human during the winter so at least I won't freeze or starve to death as a wolf. You also get a limited number of changes, I'm wondering if you get to chose to become human or wolf at the end. Although Sam said that this time would be his last time changing or something.



The chasity fact also annoys me. It's clear they Sam wants to be with Grace, but he's really hesitant about putting any moves on her. It seems like he doesn't even want to kiss her, yet he's seen her naked. And they sleep in the same bed! You can't tell me he doesn't wake up in the mornings aroused. Do something already!! Or at least talk about it or something, especially since they are clearly madly in love with each other.

I find it hard to classify the wolves as werewolves, to me those creatures are something like out of Harry Potter, a bit grotesque and very scary, not actual wolves. To me  Sam and his group are move like shape shifters, or lycans or just plain people that change into wolves, or wolves that change into people since they will eventually become wolves forever.

The ending was so frustrating! It just ends, they see each other again, and thats it no feelings from either character on what its like to see the other.

I'm going to read the next book because I liked the first one. Although Grace annoyed me more as the book went on. Sam did a bit too, although I really liked the character, the fact that he was so chaste, and felt that their love making was a mistake or something was just off. It made no sense, especially since he loved Grace so much, and wanted to be with her. He didn't react like a guy was supposed to, he was far to chaste for today's men. Which while isn't necessarily a bad thing, it would have been nice to have Sam display his want for Grace a bit more.