This one is very YA. The characters don't have much depth. Grace was taken by werewolves at the age of eleven. She was bitten, but returned to safety. She falls for Sam, a werewolf who is human in the summer. She knows, and falls for. him as a wolf long before she meets him in his human form. Since she has been bitten, she has some werewolf attributes, but does not turn into a wolf. At the beginning of the novel, Jack Culpeper is killed by the wolves, so the town is on high alert and at times hunts the wolves. I found this one difficult to connect with. Many of my students have enjoyed the series, and it is often checked out of the library. ( )

Beautiful characters and enchanting descriptions. I easily lost myself in the pages! I only wish I were a little more sold on the solution. ( )

Shiver is told through the two main characters, Sam and Grace. The first person narration moves between them seamlessly.
Sam and Grace's star-crossed romance is slightly "Twilightish" but without the vampires.
Even considering that, "Shiver" is a much better read for me than "Twilight" was.
The language is more than descriptive; it's poetic. When I wasn't busy being absorbed by the plot. I was drinking in Stiefvater's descriptions; I felt the Minnesota winter of the novel. I frequently reread sentences and lingered over well worded paragraphs. I laughed many times, cried more than I should have, and you probably will too.


The ending is abrupt but satisfying to me. I was left with a smile... and a craving for the sequel { Linger, which is due out in the Fall of 2010}. I highly recommend curling up next to the fire with this one. ( )

I followed narrator, Jenna Lamia, here--as to how I chose to read this particular book.
I like this Young Adult story for the unique, gentler, tamer, spin in takes on its subject. ( )

I've been seeing this around the young adult blogs, so figured I tried it when I saw the library had it. I liked the premise she used with her wolves storyline. Its a bit of a twist to the tradition werewolf story, which gives them more of a natural existence, for a supernatural being. Instead of changing once a month, the werewolves change when the weather gets cold enough, returning to human form when its warmer weather, but eventually changing into a wolf permanently.

Unfortunately for me, there was not enough focus on the wolf story line. The romance side of the story took over, and overpowered the supernatural side. It features one moony high school girl who falls in love with a werewolf teen guy. The story is told from both perspectives, so you get two voices internally wondering if the other likes them, how much they like them, and just plain thinking about the other all the damn time. It feels fake, and sugary and just not very enticing.

Another strike against this audiobook was that I just didn't like either of the readers at all. There was not much emotion or any impression that acting was occurring. It seemed more like they were just reading, with very little changes in tone. Plus the woman reading Grace's chapters sounded very young, and the guy reading Sam's chapters sounded much older than the woman, so my psyche was coming up with an unpleasant mental image. My dislike of the readers may have influenced my impression of the novel, but by the end it was difficult to separate the two sides.

If you want to try this one, I strongly recommend you skip the audiobook and just read it. ( )