Review Detail

I really, really like this book.  It was
beautiful in many sections, and the emotion felt between Sam and Grace seems
electric, real and totally engaging.  The story is told from the
perspective of both of the central protagonists, which sets it apart from the
others and allows one to feel the different feelings, the mixed emotions and
the pain Grace feels, as she knows she may have to lose her true love to an
eternal winter.  The story is powerful and moves at a good pace as it
tells the tale of a girl who falls in love with the most inconvenient of people
(Sound familiar?) a wolf.  And as she realises that they can really be
together, they are forced to find a way of stopping themselves being torn
apart.

The characters in this book are brilliantly well
made, from the frantic, art loving mum who dejects her daughter, but is still
oddly loveable, to Sam an incredible, sensitive well structured character that
doesnt annoy and really does pull at the heart strings. Of course there is
Grace who, to me, feels just so real, as does her group of friends, the proper
mix of people that often occur in the strange world of adolescence.  This is a very powerful, beautiful book with
very powerful beautiful characters.

However, I dont think that there is enough in
this book to set it apart from the rest of the books in this bloated genre.  Im not saying thats because its bad, its
not, in fact Id say its better than most, I just think that it wont be recognised
amongst all the over titles, as its a gentle, calm love story, something that
might stay on the shelves while more well known, more shouty things are picked
up.

But this is a very small problem in a book that
is, generally very, very beautiful and powerful, a book that will have you
thinking about it long after youve turned the last page, the kind of book to
truly lose yourself in.

Yours truly, Alex Lines, a 14 year old British
male who reads far, far too much.