You’ve seen all the vampire books that are materializing everywhere, right? Books taking a spinoff of the Twilight craze? Well the book I just finished trails off of the other side of the spectrum, the werewolves. Maggie Stiefvater turns an age old urban legend into a modern fairy tale about love and sacrifice.
I found this book a good read, not one of my favorites, but nevertheless a good book. Stiefvater adds an intriguing spin on a well known myth about humans changing into wolves with the moon. Instead of changing every few weeks when the moon is full, the wolves in Shiver change when the temperature hits the freezing point. Gradually they permanently become wolves for life. Another part of Shiver I really liked was Stiefvater’s writing style. I loved her attention to detail and the way she switched the characters perspective throughout the book, it gave the book voice and depth.

One of the greatest disappointments in her book was the relationships. I felt that the love between Grace and Sam, the main characters, was the typical Romeo and Juliet story; Boy and girl meet; they fall in love; something stands in the way for them to be together. I think because it was love at first sight, it took away from the story, because the reader doesn’t get to see the connection between them build. The other relationship that took away from the story was Grace and her parents. I felt that they should have cared more, and noticed in their daughter’s life. It would have given Grace and Sam’s relationship more depth if her parents had ever caught them sleeping together.
I recommend this book to anyone looking for something along the lines of Twilight, but also I recommend for anyone looking for a good romance to choose something else.