Review Detail

I knew I wanted to read Shiver the minute I saw its gorgeous cover. It includes everything that I am interested in in a cover. Happy me, the story inside was really satisfying as well.

Probably inspired by the success of Twilight, this novel tells the story of two star-crossed lovers, this time a teenage girl and the yellow-eyed wolf/boy that saved her life when she was a child. Every time the weather heats up, Sam changes from human to wolf; eventually, he will stop reverting to his human form. Each chapter begins with the temperature, building suspense.

Something I really appreciated about this novel was that the narration. The chapters alternate between Grace and Sam's points of view. Don't we all wish we knew what Edward was thinking in Twilight? With Sam, we understand and begin to love him for it. I also really enjoyed that the couple got physical fairly early in the book. Four novels in the Twilight saga was just a really long wait!

There are some definite flaws in the narration. Grace's relationship with her friends isn't realistic. The explanation for why Grace didn't become a wolf was ludicrous (how could an eleven year old get locked in a car?) and the novel dragged a bit at the end (although that may have been because I wanted to know what happened immediately). Still, I am looking forward to reading Linger, the sequel.