A review by evikes
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

2.0

I'm torn about this book.... I liked it once I finished it, but the first three quarters of it was a bit hard to get into. I loved the premise, but some of the interactions, the dialogue, and the characters’ actions were a bit unrealistic – okay, I know ‘realistic’ isn’t a word to use when reading this kind of paranormal story, but some of the exchanges seemed unlikely and out of character for Sam (who is 18) & Grace (17). The one thing I just can’t get over: even when they both knew their time was short, and that they were sooooo the centre of each other’s universe (he would risk death rather than be a wolf for good and live without her), she still just kept going to school and he kept doing his thing while she was gone all day. Ummmmmm.. okay. If the love of my life had weeks to go before he in essence “died” or disappeared and we both knew it, my priorities would shift dramatically I think, and I would probably spend EVERY moment with him – maybe it’s just me. And speaking of Sam, it just didn’t connect with him and had a hard time even picturing him, even by the end of the story – aside from the floppy dark hair and yellow eyes (and the fact that he thought the jacket made him look too bulky for his liking) I have no idea what he looks like. I did like the writing in general, but at times it seemed that the author was having the characters say things or react to a situation in some way because the story required it, not because it was the natural inclination of the character or the natural progression of the story. It seemed forced. Switching between the characters’ POV also got me annoyed enough to mention it, even though each chapter is labelled with either "Sam" or "Grace", I kept losing track and would have to verify who was ‘talking’. I didn’t think I would, but I did like the ending, even though it was totally predictable, and the last 100 pages or so were rather well done – almost (but not quite) made up for the rest of it…. I liked it overall, but I think I’m just too old or too cynical for YA books.