Shiver
Written by Maggie Stiefvater
I've had this book on my to-read list since it first came out with rave reviews. I never really picked up on the fact that it was about (were)wolves. That right there should have been my first hint of distaste. Everything in the YA literary world now seems to be compared to Twilight, which did seem to relaunch the "paranormal romance" genre, and I hate to go back to that old trope, but let me just say that while the writing was arguably better than Stephenie Meyer's, Maggie Stiefvater's Grace and Sam made Bella and Edward's relationship seem safe. Other reviewers have pointed out that the writing was overly descriptive, and I do agree with them on that point. The story took a very long time to get to a point (this seems to be a Thing nowadays. Why are so many authors gravitating towards writing trilogies and unnecessarily stretching stories thin?) and once it did, the explanations were lacking. Like I'd mentioned, the romance was creepy. We've gone from Edward Cullen watching a girl sleep, to Sam Roth watching a girl change, without her knowledge of his presence. Classy. Way to give the YA genre a bad name. There is a line between a healthy relationship and obsession, and this line was crossed. There's not an interesting cast of supporting characters to hold up the over-romanticized wolfboy adventures either, leaving the entire book rather flat. I was not impressed and will be skipping the sequels.
Rating: 1/5
I listened to the audio and I think that is why I am a fan. It was really great on audio and the narrators really sold the story. I doubt I would have made it through it otherwise.
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