Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater
Release Date: August 1st 2009
Publisher: Scholastic Inc
Add it: Goodreads
Overall:  ♥♥♥♥

Alrighty, let me start off with a few things. I've read some reviews that either LOVE this book or HATE it. And generally every single review on Goodreads seems to think this is a Twilight ripoff. No, it is not a goddamn Twilight ripoff just because it is a paranormal romance. There are gazillions of books that have apparently ripped off Twilight when really, everybody only compares books to Twilight because it's easy and it was, and still is, extremely popular. ANYWAY, this is obviously a paranormal romance and I thought it was beautiful.

Grace was attacked by a pack of wolves when she was 11 years old, but one of the wolves, with his amazing yellow eyes helped her. Throughout the years that follow, every winter, Grace watches the wolf and the wolf watches her. A boy from Grace's school dies and Grace finds that the wolf she's watched all those years, has been shot and is laying helpless on the edge of her backyard and the woods, his name is Sam and his time as a human may run out soon. Shiver alternates between Grace and Sam's point of view which I found really refreshing because I like different POVs.

I found myself getting a tad bored in the middle of this book and I began wondering whether anything was actually going to happen. I mean, yes, the romance between Grace and Sam was one of the most beautiful I've come across in paranormal romance but there was nothing happening for a long while. Maggie's writing was incredible, the words jumped out at me and I found myself immersed in the world of Mercy Falls. How the temperature was described (which is a major component in this book) was amazing, you could feel the cold and could really picture the snow and the wind. Whilst I found some plot points pretty predictable, it didn't damage the book for me and I still found it beautiful and sad when my suspicions were confirmed.

To begin, I found our main protagonist, Grace, a little boring and dull but then as I delved further into the story, the more interesting and real she became. She had a personality, she had a hobby, she wasn't arrogant, she didn't describe what she looked like in great detail, she was intelligent and she read books! If you ignore the fact that she was in love with the wolf before she met the man behind the wolf (beastiality?), she is an extremely easy protagonist to love.

SAM. Sam, Sam, Sam. I love Sam. Why have I been falling in love with all of these boys in books all of a sudden? I shouldn't really be complaining though, I enjoy reading good books, I really do... Moving on, to everybody who thinks Sam is like Edward Cullen, I'm sorry but I have to disagree. Sam was incredibly sweet, somewhat vulnerable and intelligent. The story about him and his parents broke my heart and I loved how Maggie weaved this backstory into how Sam thinks, acts and feels in general. Sam's song lyrics sort of freaked me out for a little bit, but it grew on me. I mean, I can't really complain because *Fun Fact!* everything I do or talk about generally triggers a song of somesort in my head and then I randomly start singing, and I really can't sing. Everytime I read about Sam's time running out I got teary eyed and when Sam and Grace were apart toward the end of the book, I was also teary eyed (why is this happening so often lately?).

I've already mentioned that Ms. Stiefvater's writing is gorgeous and there are some scenes that I adored, I loved the sex scene in particular, I thought that was incredibly well done, I also loved it when Sam took Grace to the candy store, it made me think of the sweet shop here because it was so well described, I could smell the damn sweets. Finally, the way that Grace and Sam found eachother again made me cry... it was just so beautiful and personal. The ending in particular seriously touched me.

Overall, whilst this was generally a typical paranormal romance and some parts were boring, I loved the characters and I loved the ending. I would definitely recommend this to those who haven't read it yet!

One of my favourite moments....

"Oh my god, what is that?" .............

"In my language, we call it a hat. It keeps my ears warm."
"Oh my god," Sam said again, and closed the distance between us. He cupped my face in his hands and studied me. "It's horribly cute." He kissed me, looked at the hat, and then kissed me again."

Isn't that horribly cute! 

However....

"I nuzzled my face into his armpit. It smelled very Sam in there."

 ...freaked me out a tad.