Book Review: Shiver

I read a lot of books. A lot. I also have the problem of talking about books no matter where I go. It can be annoying. The only other person that I know who reads as much as I do is my sister and she constantly asks for books to read. So this is my attempt to recommend books without annoying everyone to death. If you are one of the people who don't like to read, well, why the hell not? No, I'll be adult about it...just skip this entry.

Ok, my first recommendation is a book I finished last night called Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Don't let her last name confuse you, this is a great book.

I was at the Scholastic store in Soho during our New York trip scoping out the Harry Potter gear and ended up with a pair of HP glasses. (Coolest. Thing. Ever.) Because I can't go into a book store without buying one (or two or three), I ended up with Shiver. I won't lie, I picked it up because of the cover. It's gorgeous. Then I read the back and was intrigued, so I bought it.

Here is the summary from Amazon because I just want to get to the part where I tell you what's good about this book--let's leave the summary to the experts:

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.

Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.

Now for those of you who read Twilight, this is not a copy-cat. For one, it's written beautifully. I mean, some of the prose reads like poetry--it's that good. As much as I liked Twilight and the rest of the books in the saga (and will wait in line to see the subsequent movies), one of the things that really drives me crazy is the writing. There is a difference between a great storyteller and a great writer. Stephanie Meyer is the former. Like Nicholas Sparks, she's a wonderfully gifted storyteller whose characters and plot grab you, but her writing is riddled with cliches and moments where you roll your eyes and think, "I just read that? Really?" Stiefvater...let's call her Maggie because I can't keep checking for the correct spelling of her last name, is my kind of writer: descriptive, surprising, character driven. She alternates the point of view with her two characters and writes descriptions that make me green, I so wish I wrote them. A sampling from the back of the book:

"And then I opened my eyes and it was just Grace and me--nothing anywhere but Grace and me--she pressing her lips together as though she were keeping my kiss inside her, me holding this moment that was as fragile as a bird in my hands."

Sigh. This leads me to reason No. 2 why this is a great read: the characters. Though it's a YA (Young Adult, get with it!) book, the characters seem so much older for their age. Sam is just wonderful. He is calm and sad and you just want to hug him. Grace reminds me of Bella in that she's independent and seems to be the adult in the family, but she's nowhere near as annoying. I felt what they felt. I wanted what they wanted. And isn't that the ultimate goal of every writer? For their readers to buy into the world they created and believe in the outcome? Maybe I'm just a sap (a future post will confirm this), but I'm a sucker for a love story especially one filled with people I can root for.

My truest test for whether a book I just read is good, is if I regret that it ended. When I finished reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (My favorite book of all time. I'm such a dork), I all but went into mourning. When Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie/Angela Gennaro series came to an end, I wanted to start them all over from book one--and there are five books (So writing a review for these!) I closed Shiver with a twinge of regret because it was over and I was never going to read it again for the first time. I got excited to find out, though, that it's a series with the second one, Linger, coming out some time next year.

I could really go on all day about this book or any book, really. So I'll quit while I'm ahead. Get it--It's worth the $17.99 price tag. Or, if I know you, I'll just lend you the darn thing.

A quick note on my forthcoming book reviews: I'm going to try to mix it up with all sorts of stuff that I like. I read a little bit of everything so I'll keep it varied for the benefit of whoever (whomever? I can never get this rule) is reading this thing. I'm never going to write a summary because that's just boring but I will give you my opinion. I live to do that.