Book Review: Shiver By Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Shiver
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: #1 The wolves of mercy falls trilogy
Publication Date: August 1st 2009
Publisher: Scholastic Press
Format: Paperback
ISBN:  0545123267

Length: 392 pages
Genre: Paranormal Romance

Age group: Young Adult
Source: Bought
Links: Goodreads | Amazon UK | Amazon US |The Book depository

Synopsis(From Goodreads)

Grace and Sam share a kinship so close they could be lovers or siblings. But they also share a problem. When the temperature slips towards freezing, Sam reverts to his wolf identity and must retreat into the woods to protect his pack. He worries that eventually his human side will fade away and he will be left howling alone at the lonely moon. A stirring supernatural teen romance.

Review:

This was my first ever 'wolf' book and i had my doubts. First off, it seemed very similar to 'Twilight'...there was the girl absolutely fascinated with the supernatural being (in this case a wolf) and the guy who seemed completely entranced..slightly stalkerish, towards the girl. So obviously i was unsure about reading this book, i just didn't want it to be another copy of twilight, which luckily it wasn't.

There were times when the whole 'i would rather die than never love you' thing annoyed me, but thankfully Maggie Stiefvater didn't mention this too often and so i did begin to rather enjoy Shiver. There was much more to it than just a love story which i was glad to find out. 

One of the great things about this book is Maggie Stiefvater's writing style. I found it a breath of fresh air for some reason and i think the varying POV's helped that. I especially loved the POV of the wolf, it was so interesting to read something i hadn't seen done before and the way Maggie wrote it was just so descriptive and expressive that it constantly had my attention.

Something which i did not expect was grace's family and friends involvement in the plot line. I loved how Maggie focused on Grace's family in some parts and the issues surrounding them. Making this more than just a love story. When we find out that Grace's father is helping kill the wolves this really adds a plot twist and another hurdle within the story.  She also included her life with friends which i liked a lot, as i was excepting her to just ignore them how Bella did in Twilight. 

Grace's character was headstrong and independent, something i admired a lot. She didn't just suddenly give everything to Sam, who she hardly knows and was her own person. Sam i just loved, he wasn't as obsessive as excepted and i could tell he had a kind heart. He's got his own issues and i liked that he had a more vulnerable side to him, rather than him just being the hero all the time. The side characters were described really well, i felt that they really meant something to the book and that they all had there part to play. Which each character Maggie intertwined there backstory, which helped you get to know them more and meant you weren't just focusing on Sam and Grace all the time. 

Overall this was a great book and much more than i expected. I your looking for a werewolf book, with some love, mystery and drama then this is for you.  I would be lying if i said i didn't love it so Four Stars!