Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater

"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."

This book was okay. Unfortunately that as much praise as I can give it. The book is slow and has definitely been done before. The characters weren't fleshed out enough for me.  

It was nice to read about a "stoic" female character and an emotional, gentle male character. But Sam felt and read far too much like a middle aged woman and not like a teenage boy. Grace and Sam's voices were also near identical so I couldn't tell who's point of view I was reading. They are two different people and genders, they should sound different. The only way I knew I was reading Sam's point of view is when he threw in a few really insipid song lyrics he had just made up, which make him sound like a whiney emo.(Nothing wrong with emos, just the whiney bit I don't like.)  

The romance was also way too rushed. I understand liking wolves and feeling close to a specific one. But that doesn't mean that as soon as it becomes human you throw your self at them. Maybe I am cold hearted but I just wanted Grace to slow down and GET TO KNOW HIM FIRST. Any normal person would still feel very uncomfortable around someone they have only known as a wolf in the past.   

Her parents were stupid. I could complain that they were unrealistic - but I've met some weird parents over my life, so I'll buy that they really could be that moronic.

So, other than the fact that Grace's obsession with "her wolf" disturbed me, the book's plot dragged on like a visit to the old folk's home and it was also poorly edited. Some of the poems were down right rubbish, and some of the others were alright. It was average on the writing scale. It's secondary characterization was pretty good but the main characters didn't do it for me. The plot was so SLOW.

And what's with the dramatic ending? Really? He gets cured and goes home, gets dressed, reads a few books, checks his mail, buys the perfect set of shoes and THEN tracks down the love of his life who he thought he'd never see again? I DON'T THINK SO! How about stumbling through the forest, naked and desperately arriving in Grace's backyard because he can't believe the complete miracle of his cure and can't wait to have the love of his life back in his arms? Yeah, that ending makes so much more sense. Also The "cure" made no sense to me. Why would it work on Sam and not Jack!

Anyways rant over. I would suggest ages as a 12+. Sex is alluded to but not described. This, for me, was werewolf version of Twilight. It wasn't even as good as Twilight. I can't believe I have just typed that sentence but there you go.