Review: Linger

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

publisher: Scholastic, Inc.

release date: July 13, 2010

hardcover, 368 pages
(reviewed ARC from Around the World Tours)

intended audience: Young adult

rating:

Description from goodreads:
In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past...and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabel, who already lost her brother to the wolves...and is nonetheless drawn to Cole. At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love--the light and the dark, the warm and the cold--in a way you will never forget.

Review: Aah. Some fictional worlds are just a joy to step back into. On this second visit into Mercy Falls, Maggie Stiefvater delivers a story with every bit of enchantment as Shiver. The flow of her words never ceases to amaze me.

In Linger, we not only get to see through the eyes of Sam and Grace, but we get to see deeper into the mind of Isabel and what she has is going through after the events of the last book. I really ended up liking her a lot more than the first book! Also, a new character is introduced, Cole. He is one of the new wolves and has an intriguing background story all his own. It added a little kick the story---he was not the nicest of guys and had a pretty wild pre-wolf life, so it was interesting to see where his character would go in the story. Linger is full of romance and wanting, a few rolls get reversed, and some of the Shiver plotlines are brought to light and expanded on.

Grace's parents were infuriating this time around. Even as a parent myself, it was hard to see their side. I mean, yeah, I would be furious to find a boy sleeping in my daughter's room, too, but then again, I have not spent her entire life doing my own thing and fully neglecting her! You have to be a pretty awful parent to not know that a boy has been sleeping in there for months in the first place! Of course, my opinion might be a little jaded because I'm rooting for Sam and Grace's love to pull thought it all!

The story is once again told in alternating points of view, and while I do love that format, especially for this book, I did find that once or twice when stopping in the middle of a chapter, I had to backtrack a little to figure out who was talking. That is minor, and doesn't take away from this wonderful story at all. The ending is quite a cliffhanger, and has me absolutely crazy excited for the conclusion of this amazing story!! Forever comes out in July 2011---it's going to be a torturous year of waiting!!

previous books: Shiver (links to my review)

Author's website:
http://www.maggiestiefvater.com/