Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Review by Diva

I have to do a dual Diva review on this one. It is impossible to compute otherwise.
 
The STORY(Diva, 32)
 
Lonely teen Grace has no interests except her obsession with the wolves living in nearby Boundary Wood. They mauled her when she was eleven (and playing on a tire swing? at eleven? how bout piercing stuff and reading seventeen magazine? realism alert!) and she was rescued by "her" wolf, a yellow eyed beast who seemed to understand her very soul. The wolf watches her. She watches it. There's a connection.

Some jerk from her high school gets killed by the wolves and comes back as a shapeshifting werewolf.  Ecstatic, Grace tells her photog buddy Olivia "hey, i saw this wolf who looks like Jack I bet he's a werewolf now!" and Olivia is all "you are just stoked to jump yellow eyed dog and hope he's a dude." (Okay they don't talk like that at all. It only SEEMS like they do).

Sam is "her" wolf, he shows up in naked 18yo guy form bleeding on her back deck and she tends to him, hides him in her room for weeks, unbeknownst to the Stupidest Parents in the Entire Canon of Literature as We Know It. But, hell, they remained in their woodsy house AFTER she got mauled by wolves as a kid and assured her "wolves are peaceful creatures" then locked her in the damn hot car that summer for hours and she had to be rescued and revived cuz they FORGOT her. (PS an eleven yo couldn't get out of the damn car???)

Grace and Sam fall in love. They have to keep him warm so he doesn't morph back into wolf form. He didn't change in warm weather this year so it's his Last Year As a Real Live Boy. So he wants to see the people and the landscapes and ball the girl because he will never have another chance evah.

But there is the problem of his pack (as well as the fact that every time he gets cold in friggin Minnesota he changes back to a wolf so he has to sit in the warm car a lot). Raised by Beck, a sometime lawyer sometime wolf/highly fallible father figure, Sam has to deal with Shelby, a jealous, murderous she wolf. She tries to kill Grace. Sam finds out Beck has intentionally had kids bitten to perpetuate the pack with new members. He is sad and angry. He takes Grace on a date to SMELL CANDY. Because that is romantic. Then they shag. This does not satisfy my curiosity about whether or not sex will make him transform into a wolf (sex kept vampire Ian Thornheart from craving blood on Port Charles years ago. he was hawt.)

Then Isabel, rich bitch sis of newbie werewolf Jack, tells Grace she knows everything and demands help. Together they figure out that Grace's Dumbass Parents saved her from werewolfism by locking her in the hot car so the temp burned the werewolf out of her or some shit like that. They steal meningitis infected blood to infect and "save" Jack, Sam, and Olivia (who got bitten by pissed off Jack).  Spoilers:  Jack dies. Olivia opts out and frolics wolfily into the woods. Sam's form is unstable and he can't stay a human long enough to get injected fully. He disappears.

At the end (SPOILER) he shows up out of nowhere and they hug. We do not know if he has been human for like weeks since he was injected or how he survived the meningitis that killed Jack or if this is permanent or anything. The End.

PS. This girl has the self-esteem of Bella Swan (read: I must have my para hottie or I AM NOTHING) but Sam is a very cool character. His narration made it possible to finish the book. I fell asleep twice. Old Diva
 
THE STORY (Inner 15 yo Diva)
Grace feels a deep connection to the wolf who saved her life. Little does she know that he is secretly an attractive teen during the summer months. Despite the obstacles in their path, they come together one winter and hope the warmth of their love can protect Sam from leaving her forever to lead life as a wolf permanently.
 
Because she is part wolf herself, the result of the attack from which Sam saved her, Grace can understand him better than anyone. She is drawn to him and all the meaningless responsibilities with which she has filled her lonely life fall away until all that is left is Sam, fragile loving and hopeful. His wounded heart (his parents cut his wrists to kill him when he changed into a wolf as a kid) trusts her alone and they lead a full but narrow life together shutting out the cold and reality. 

A car accident sends a rush of cold air through the broken windshield and steals the last of his humanity, leaving Grace to go on alone. Fortunately her newfound friend Isabel, whose brother has been bitten, helps her discover the key to Grace's own resistance to becoming a wolf. They need to cause a high fever in the victims to save them from becoming wolves forever. Together, they execute a desperate plan that claims one life but saves another.
 
Sweepingly romantic, descriptive and atmospheric, dreamy. XOXO Teen DIVA