Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

Forever (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #3) by Maggie Stiefvater

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Release Date: July 12th 2011

Publisher: Scholastic

Page Count: Hardcover, 390 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Good Reads: Link

The thrilling conclusion to #1 bestselling Shiver trilogy from Maggie Stievater
In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. In Linger, they fought to be together. Now, in Forever, the stakes are even higher than before. Wolves are being hunted. Lives are being threatened. And love is harder and harder to hold on to as death comes closing in. - Good Reads

 I peeked at reviews before I read this - really peeked. I had a sinking feeling from some of the negative reviews I read that I wouldn't really like how life in Mercy Falls ends. Now that I finally read it, I'm happy to say that I was satisfied with the ending and I have do not have any regrets going past the first book, which was my one of my biggest fears after reading some of the reviews. 

I will say that this book did start out a little on the slow side. The writing was good as always, the pace of the story just seemed sluggish. A lot of moping and thoughtful Sam. I honestly kept putting it down and getting distracted. It did pick up though and by the middle was impossible to put down.

I love Cole and Isabel. Sam and Grace are more smooth and calm as a couple and I think that Cole and Isabel have a certain spice to their relationship and more romantic tension. I'm a sucker for that romantic tension stuff. I am glad that Sam and Grace's relationship didn't have tension though, because they were the steady influence throughout this trilogy and through thick and thin you knew you could count on their love to exist just as steady as ever. And essentially, at the end of the day, that is what made this series. But I still love Cole and Isabel.

Cole was awesome in this book. He steps up to the plate and we definitely see a much better person than we did in Linger. He is a bit of an a-hole in the beginning and he's sarcastic as always, but there is a huge improvement. I think every moment I laughed out loud in the book was because he said something hilariously stupid. My personal favourite Cole quote:

                                              "It's adrenaline, not prom sex." 

I'm actually a little sad this series is over. As I said before, I was satisfied with the ending because I felt that I was given enough closure. It does end a little abruptly though and leaves a little to the imagination. Luckily I have a friendly imagination that sees all of them loving and laughing in a field of tulips and going on to live happily ever after. Ha! Well, Isabel and Cole would probably be arguing in a field of tulips... But at least their making up would be hot!

I definitely recommend this series. At least to try it out - I think it's a series you either love or hate. Fortunately for me, I loved it.

Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

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Release Date: June 13th 2010

Publisher: Scholastic

Page Count: Hardcover, 360 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Good Reads: Link

In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.  Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack.  And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget. - Good Reads

I wasn't sure how Linger would start out or be about since I felt that Shiver had a sufficient enough wrap up to be a stand alone novel. I could see some potential conflict though and I trust Maggie's writing and, of course, I wanted to see more of Grace, Sam and Isabel, so, obviously choosing to read the second book didn't require me to think twice.

The writing is just as beautiful as in Shiver. I still love Maggie's way with words and like in Shiver, she still was able to capture the atmosphere and emotions in such a real way. This book left me feeling very lonely and depressive though. In Shiver, I felt an anxiety about the cold, in Linger, it's more of a gnawing feeling, a depressive gnawing. Grace and Sam's happiness was overshadowed by the issues that you knew had to be faced. And it was nerve-wracking waiting for those issues to arrive. It very much reminded me of the boogeyman in the closet when you're a child: you know he's sitting there, but he never makes an attempt to come jump out at you, so you just wait and wait and wait anxiously for him to. Luckily for us - the problems do jump out, just not quite when and how you expect them.

Linger is written in four separate and alternating viewpoints: Grace, Sam, Isabel and the new addition to the pack: Cole. I personally like alternating viewpoints. I like being able to see in each persons head, though sometimes it makes me a little slower at reading, because I sometimes have to double check who's head I'm in. This didn't effect me as much in this book, because I think the characters have distinct enough personalities. Only once in the beginning of reading did it affect me, and it was because I didn't realize that I was in Cole's head and I thought to myself, "this doesn't sound like Sam at all". But I caught on easily after I noticed. It was my fault for not paying attention to the chapter heading in the first place or I would have known it was Cole right away.

The addition of Isabel and Cole made the book move much better than it could have otherwise, I think. Things between Sam and Grace were a little slow and there is more physical distance between them in this book. I felt Isabel and Cole made up for that and I was especially interested in their storyline together. We saw a little bit of a vulnerable side to Isabel in Shiver, but in Linger we get to see a little more, but we also get to see her strong side. The side, I think, that ended up "saving the day" in a way. Without her the story would have never been able to move forward. Cole also helped in this role as well, but Isabel, I think, was a big deal in this book. At least to me. In some ways she may seem like a cold, hard bitch, but she has guts and feeling too. I don't know, I liked her character in Linger and I can say she is one of my favourites.

The romance in this book was shockingly low-key compared to it predecessor. At times it almost seemed as if Sam and Grace were.... an old married couple. Not something I'd expect from two teenagers in love. I think that is something that usually grows over time in a relationship, at least it did in mine. That quiet love where you just accept and love without everything having to be dramatic or physical. So, honestly, there isn't a lot of hot romance in this book. There are a few scenes between Isabel and Cole, but this book is romantic in a much different way than the last.

Overall, there was a heavy sense of foreboding throughout the book. A lingering (<-- see what I did there harhar) melancholy. But I liked it, just in a different way than I liked Shiver.

If you loved Shiver, then this is a must read. I'm eager to read Forever and see what happens, because there was a big BIG CLIFF HANGER. So have Forever armed and ready!

Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #1) by Maggie Stiefvater

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Release Date: August 1st 2009

Publisher: Scholastic

Page Count: Hardcover, 400 pages

Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal, Romance
Good Reads: Link

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 left howling alone at the lonely moon. A stirring supernatural teen romance. - Good Reads

I've waited a long time to read this book. Mostly because some jerk had it checked out at the library for 84 years and I'm job hunting poor at the moment, so buying it was out of the question. It finally came in and I just kept staring at it, admiring the cover and wanting to start, but I was too anxious to. I'm not exactly sure what was holding me back, perhaps I need mental help or maybe I had a lot of expectations. Either way, I finally read it.
At 3 am last night when I finished, I hopped out of my chair, threw the book down and said, "that was such a good book!". All smiles. Unfortunately nobody could share my joy because everyone else had gone to sleep. 

Okay, I'm stalling because I don't even know how to describe this book. It was wonderful. I've read in some reviews that people disliked the way it was written, but I'm guessing we're on opposite ends, because I loved it. It was lyrical and beautiful. I'm probably going to use the word beautiful at least 25 more times. Sorry in advance.

The whole set-up was inventive. The "werewolf" story was different than anything I've read before. The atmosphere of the book was very intense. I felt the cold through the pages and whenever the weather was mentioned I nearly had a panic attack. In fact, I was whining on twitter that I was sure Sam was going to turn into a wolf, so I kept putting it down because I was so anxious about it.

Shiver is a love story. There is no huge plot other than that. There are sub-plots, but the main idea is the love between Grace and Sam. I found their love story to be touching and beautiful. Funnily enough if I tried to describe this book to somebody, it would sound ridiculous and in theory it is, but on paper it grabbed me and made me believe. 

Oh, and Maggie Stiefvater is not a tease. There's a sexy-time scene in this book. Beware! Or in my case, enjoy!

Overall, a very good book. Highly recommended if you enjoy paranormal love stories. I'm definitely going to buy this as soon as possible.