eyes and it was just Grace and
me - nothing anywhere but
Grace and me - she pressing
her lips together as though she
were keeping my kiss inside
her, and me holding this
moment that was as fragile
as a bird in my hands.
the cold.
Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf - her wolf - watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn't know why.
the heat.
Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace... until now.
the shiver.
For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it's spoken, it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human - and Grace must fight to keep him - even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.
Firstly I should say that I really enjoyed this book. Shove all your preconceived expectations of werewolves out the door and make way for a new vision in Shiver. The wolves of quiet, small town Mercy Falls are not quite what anyone would be expecting. In the winter the wolves roam the woods, but in the summer the wolves became human again. No significance of a full moon, just simply temperature. It gets too cold and they turn into wolves but once it's all warm again they shift back to themselves, only there's a little catch. As time goes by they need more heat to turn them back, and eventually they will remain a wolf for the rest of their lives.
When she was little our main heroine Grace Brisbane was the victim of a wolf attack in the winter, coming close to being eaten by the wolves only to be saved by one. Her yellow-eyed wolf. Ever since she's felt a connection to the wolves, in particular that one wolf and she watches out for them all the time in the woods. She doesn't know where they go in the warmer months, only that she looks forward to the winter so she can see her wolf again. Little does she know her wolf becomes a walking, talking boy during the warmer months who is equally as fascinated by her as she is of him, but unfortunately he's never spoken to her.
The big plot of this book is the death of a boy from Grace's school, Jack Culpeper, was killed by the wolves of Mercy Falls. Given that Jack's father is a big time lawyer that naturally leads to big trouble for the wolf pack with a hunt quickly formed. A hunt that results in a yellow-eyed wolf being shot. Grace, oblivious to this fact, worries for the wolves but is forced to return home from the woods, where of all things she finds a naked boy bleeding on her back porch. A boy with yellow-eyes.
From there the story really takes off, finding out what happened to Jack and why he was killed, and why a wolf seems to be following Isabel Culpeper. Grace finally gets to speak to her wolf turned boy Sam Roth, and the two start a very sweet romance, though winter is coming fast and their time together could be limited with Sam believing it could indeed be his last time as a human. There's a lot of learning about these wolves and it's great to see this whole idea come to life, there are so many characters throughout the book that are so awesome with their own individual personalities and there's that whole school dilemma of wanting to spend time with your boyfriend (who's a werewolf!) but you can't miss school.
Naturally Grace is eager to find a cure for the werewolf condition so that she and Sam can stay together but there isn't a lot of confidence on that front and some dangerous ideas that can lead to death, which isn't exactly a bonus. So this time together before the winter well and truly hits may be all Grace and Sam ever get.
The way this book is written, with two focus characters, is brilliant. You can't more indepth thoughts and feelings from both Sam and Grace with their alternating chapters and it flows so wonderfully it makes the book hard to put down. As the reader you grow to love and care about these characters and understand what they're going through, and it really does take you on a roller coaster of feelings. What would you do if you only had a few weeks with the person you love? And what would you risk to stay human?
In regards to the characters they're great! Grace is a strong, independent sort of girl, she had to be since her parents give her too much space and leave her to fend for herself. She's intelligent and reasonable but when she knows what she wants she really goes after it. I really like Grace as the female lead, she's a believable character and everything she does fits with who she is.
Sam isn't your classic hero type, he is deeply thoughtful and caring. He's not exactly strong, I think the strongest of the pairing is Grace, but he's super sweet and you can't help but adore him. I found him really intune with his feelings and he likes to express them, particularly in lyrics that he comes up with throughout the book. There's a somewhat innocent quality to Sam that I think will make readers fall completely for him, in a way he seems to be getting corrupted by Grace. It's not a dynamic that's seen a lot in books and it is done really well, after all Sam's not weak, he's a werewolf after all, and he's been through some major trauma when he was young. He's a completely believable character as well.
Ultimately I list Shiver and it's whole Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy as a must-have to a good book collection and definitely in my top ten. If you're considering Shiver I definitely recommend you get Linger and Forever as well, at least now you don't have to wait for each of the books, the trilogy has been released with Forever having arrived on August 1st. Enjoy!
Read this if you liked:
Twilight - whether you're a Twi-hard or just someone who enjoyed it on the first read but didn't see the movies or finish the series.
Fallen by Lauren Kate
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Coming Soon:
These books are coming soon to the shelves and are highly anticipated. Ironically I can reveal that all three of these books will in fact be hitting the stores of Australia on August 23rd, and you can pre-order your copies now. I've done so at my local Dymocks!
Hades by Alexandra Adornetto - Sequel to Halo (so get that first!)
Fateful by Claudia Gray - First of a new series by Claudia Gray, author of the Evernight series. This one feature werewolves and takes place in 1912... on a ship... named RMS Titanic.
Bloodlines by Richelle Mead - First of a new series by Richelle Mead, author of the Vampire Academy series, this is a spin off series with alchemist Sydney Sage taking the front and center role, and for all those fans who loved Adrian, fear not, he's back and as witty as ever!
