Review! Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver
Maggie Stiefvater
Scholastic Press
August 1, 2009 
ISBN-10: 0545123267 
ISBN-13: 978-0545123266

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.

I honestly wasn't going to review this book until I heard that a few of you wanted to hear my thoughts on it. I've had Shiver in my TBR pile for months now, even though I had heard how wonderful it is, I guess I wasn't ready to read it yet. I think that for the first several chapters, I was thinking that okay, it's good but yeah, it's not wowing me. Needless to say, I was getting a little paranoid as every single review I had read of Shiver claimed that it was pure awesomeness.

But then it happened, I can't tell you when it was, or if it was a sentence, an expression, a setting. I don't know but I went from thinking oh, it's good to just.. wow. Stiefvater's writing is, it seems to me, poetic. It just flows so well that based on the writing itself I'd have to give five stars to this book. But when you throw in two characters like Grace and Sam, it's perfect.

Grace and Sam are in their own ways completely different yet completely the same. They are absolutely perfect for each other. It's rare to see two characters as well-developed and so easy to fall in love with. There wasn't one moment where I thought "God, she's so stupid." or "Gee, he's a jerk" which admittedly pretty much happens with every single book I read, no matter how much I end up loving it. Sam and Grace have that perfect love that we all want.

Ultimately, Shiver is, in fact, pure awesomeness. The characters are lovely and the plot will keep up at night but I think it's the writing that just stole my breath away. I honestly can't say enough good things about it, it's poetic and refreshing and Shiver is just one of those books that will make you sigh, or smile and laugh or cry. It's a roller-coaster and you'll love it, I absolutely recommend it.