Linger by Maggie Stievfater: Review

Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls, Book 2)

By: Maggie Stievfater
Copy received from Scholastic for review

Synopsis (From Goodreads): In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love --the light and the dark, the warm and the cold --in a way you will never forget.

First Line:  

This is the story of a boy who used to be a wolf and a girl who was becoming one.

Julie's Review: 

I have to say, this book was certainly as good as the first, if not better. Maggie Stievfater has again done what I most love about her writing; she has created complex and layered characters. Grace, Sam, Isabelle and Cole are all fully realized characters with a multitude of emotions and complicated reasons for behaving the way they do.

Grace and Sam's relationship faces some complex issues over the course of this next novel. As you find in the first line, Sam is dealing with being a boy who was once a wolf, with all of the insecurities and fears/hopes for the future that it brings. Grace, on the other hand, is facing a future less and less certain. She chooses to keep some secrets, even from Sam, and whether or not I agree with them, it is true to her character to do so. Despite this, her relationship with Sam only grows stronger through the book.

One of the things that bugged me about Shiver was the physical relationship between Grace and Sam. I was irked by the irresponsible parents and Sam basically living with Grace and sleeping in her bed. However, their relationship in Linger is deeper and more committed. I've heard that some people feel that Grace and Sam's relationship borders on obsession. I disagree. It feels natural to me that when the person you love is in danger and you are kept from him/her (I won't give away details here), that you would be highly concerned about them. 

While I love the relationships in the book and the development of the characters, there is one character that I mostly can't stand. Cole. It's not that I dislike him or is bad-boyness in particular and by the end I even like the way his character is growing;  it's just that I don't like where he takes the story. Cole is one of the boys-turned-wolf from the end of Shiver. He's a famous teen rockstar with a history of drugs, sex, and regrets. The appeal of being a wolf is that he will forget all of his mistakes. His dark side appeals to Isabelle, who is still dealing with the death of her brother and her own life choices. These two characters and the tension between them adds a level of grittiness that, while it might appeal to some of you, I could have done without. But keep in mind that some readers might appreciate that side of the book.

The other critique of the novel is that it felt slow to start. I thought from the first line that most of the book would be about Grace turning into a wolf and dealing with that crisis. I was wrong. Most of the book, or at least the first half, felt like it involved developing the relationships between Grace/Sam and Cole/Isabelle and laying the ground work for Cole's character and his future influence in the story. Linger kind of feels like a set up for the third novel and the actual movement of overarching plot didn't happen until much later in this book.

However, even with the slow start and the darker side of the book, Linger is definitely a book I thoroughly enjoyed and recommend.  I still love the way the book is told from multiple pov's. Telling the story from Grace, Sam, Isabelle and Cole's points of view adds layers and a lot of interest to the set-up. Maggie Stievfater is an excellent writer with complicated and true characters and I am already anticipating the third novel of the set. 

My Rating:

Profanity: Mild

Sexualty: Mild-moderate; sexual tension

Drugs and Alcohol: moderate; prevalent in references to Cole's past

Violence: Mild

Goodies:

Check out Maggie's stop-motion book trailer for Linger:

And her blog posts about how she made it:

Part 1  (of 4)

Also, check out The Linger Playlist and many other goodies like downloadable music at Maggie's Shiver/Linger website and LiveJournal blog.

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater: Review

Shiver

By: Maggie Stiefvater

Synopsis (From Goodreads):

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 think I'm one of the last people to read and review this book. I'd heard a lot about this book and I was a little leery about reading a book with a werewolf romance. 

I'm going to be completely honest here and say that this book was a little hyped up for me. I liked where Stiefvater went with the werewolf lore. It was a really interesting take and very believable. In fact, her interpretation of the changing process and the wolf relationship was one of the most tragic things I'd read in a long time.


But, I just wasn't sold on a lot of the other aspects of the book. Sam and Grace's relationship was just a little too weird for me. I am not a fan of female protagonists that are obsessed with their boyfriends. Grace's other relationships just died when she met Sam. It made the other relationships seem very unbelievable to me. I also wasn't very impressed with the live-in boyfriend thing. But, I must say that the relationship was MUCH better handled than in Twilight. It was a lot more mature, and less gag-worthy.

Also, the pace was just a little too slow for me. It seemed like chapter after chapter dragged on without continuing the plot. Once the book got going it was a little better, and I liked the ending of the book a lot, but I'm not sure it was worth all the pages I had to read to get to it.

However, this book was extremely well written. I loved the chapter titles that indicated the changes in the season and the temperature. After I got through the first half of the book, things really started to pick up and I found myself wondering how they were going to come out in the end. And never once did the dialogue seem forced or trite.

Because of this, I anxiously await the sequel, Linger.

Book-A-Likes: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, The Dark Divine by Bree Despain, Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

My Rating:

Profanity: None
Drugs and Alcohol: None
Sexuality: Moderate
Violence: Mild