At the age of nine, Grace is torn away from a swing she is playing by a pack of wolves that come into her yard. Surely she should have been killed, but one wolf – one with particular captivating eyes appears to save her. Since that day Grace feels a connection with the wolves and sees the wolf with the eyes many times throughout the years around her home, almost as if he is watching her. In an odd way, Grace is comforted by the wolf’s presence.
Then, when Grace is seventeen, a boy she attends school with is killed in a wolf attack and the hunters take to the woods. Grace finds a boy on her doorstep with a gun shot wound… oddly, the boy has very familiar eyes… almost like her wolf…
Yes, I did it. After Shiver has sat on my book shelf for a long long time, I finally took the time to read it. I had heard the comparisons to the Twilight series, and before you groan about me comparing books… there is a method to my madness….
First of all… my only real dive into the paranormal as far as vampires, and wolves go is the Twilight books (other than The Passage, but that is really not a comparable book as that is so much a deeper/ complicated read). And I have to admit after hearing buzz about Sam (Shiver) being a much more likable that Edward (Twilight), I had to bite… (no pun intended.)
Ok…maybe a little bit of a pun….
In the early pages of this read as I was introduced to Grace and Sam, I started making a mental list of what I thought so far of the Sam/Edward comparisons:
1. I like that in Twilight we get to know Edward and meet Edward before we are introduced to the vampire side of him. I found it harder to connect with Sam in the beginning and I feel that is due to me first knowing him as a wolf. I felt I had to work harder to think of him as human.
2. I didn’t find the love connection of Sam and Grace as totally captivating as Edward and Bella. Edward’s love for Bella made you have to book crush on his character as he is so emotionally there for her. I didn’t feel it as strong with Same and Grace although I found Grace a much more likable character than Bella. No where near as ditzy.
My initial plan as I read this book was to come up with a whole pile of comparisons for this review… I was actually excited about it and even thought about a separate post on Sam VS Edward, which maybe… as I read through this series may still happen – but not now and here is why:
As I read on and shook off my prejudices, I really started to get into the story line and found it less easy to put the book down and leave it as I had in the early pages. By the middle of the book I had driven to my local book store only to find out they did not have Linger and not wishing to wait, I ordered it immediately on-line. I enjoyed the alternating chapters told in each of the main characters voice.
Today, I took the liberty of the holiday weekend to SHIVER under a new blanket from my hubby until I got warm and could LINGER through the end of this book. I loved that it is set in my home state of Minnesota and I imagine as I am in central Minnesota that I am about two to three hours from Mercy Falls, where Sam and Grace are.
In the book we are introduced to a rich snooty girl named Isabel who goes to school with Grace. This character is not easy to get along with. She is sarcastic and unfriendly and only gets involved with others when it is to her benefit. The more her character come up, the more she formed in my head of what she would look like. If Shiver ever becomes a movie (and I hope it does!) the perfect character to play Isabel would be Maggie Grace who plays Shannon on LOST.
In the end, I was really surprised and impressed on how much I enjoyed this read. I am looking forward to the arrival of Linger!
Amazon Rating
I received this book as a win from a past Read-A-Thon
Book Journey 