Enchanting Review: Shiver

SHIVER
MAGGIE STIEFVATER
Paranormal YA
Scholastic
ISBN# 978-0-545-12326-6
400 Pages
$17.99
Hardcover—Available Now

Rating: 4.5 Enchantments

Grace’s fascination with the wolves in the forest behind her home stems from an attack that happened when she was young. Ever since, she’s had a connection, with one wolf in particular with the beautiful yellow eyes. But when a teenager at her school is apparently killed by the wolves, the community is in an uproar and goes after the wolves. Desperate to save ‘her’ wolf, Grace risks her own safety to go running into the forest, wanting to save both the wolf and her best friend who is out in the forest taking pictures. Ushered home, Grace finds an unbelievable sight on her back porch, a huddled up figure with the same eyes as her wolf.

Sam’s been changing back and forth between a human and a wolf as the seasons change since a brutal attack on him as a child. His parents, unable to deal with what he had become, tried to kill him but he survived and was taken in by the local pack leader. But when a bullet hits him, he finds himself human again in the fall, a time when he shouldn’t be. Sam’s been in love with Grace for years, ever since he saved her from the wolf attack several years ago. Now in human form, he’s desperate to make the most of the time the two have together, never knowing when the next cold weather is going to hit and make him change—this time permanently.

SHIVER is truly an enjoyable love story, with twists and turns that keep the reader hoping that Sam and Grace will find a way to keep him from turning back to the wolf, because as Sam fears, turning once more is something he may not be able to change back from. I really came to love these two characters over the course of the book, the way they cared about each other and the way Sam wanted to give Grace good memories to hold on to when he turned back. One of my favorite scenes is when he takes her to Duluth to the little candy store on a date. I loved the banter between the two and the way they truly cared about one another. Ms. Stiefvater has a very lyrical and enjoyable style, that keeps the reader turning the pages into well into the night.

Readers looking for something different in the paranormal genre should definitely try SHIVER.

Maggie Stiefvater is also the author of Lament: The Faerie Queen’s Deception and Ballad: The Gathering of Faerie. Maggie lives in rural Virginia with her husband and their two children. You can visit her online at www.maggiestiefvater.com


Lisa
Enchanting Reviews
August 2009