The Best Reader + TIME

Linger — Maggie Stiefvater

"I can't wait to bring both of these books into my classroom for my students." — Miss Remmers

From Amazon.com...

"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 Isabelle, 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."

Why I read this: I adored Shiver and couldn't wait to see what happened next for Sam and Grace.

Plot: The plot wasn't was fast-paced and captivating as Shiver, but it held my attention enough. I felt like it was very repetitive in regards to Grace and Cole's conditions — it could have moved a bit faster. Once I realized where Cole's plot line came in I liked it, but until that moment towards the last few chapters of the book I didn't know what to expect with Cole and felt like he was kind of taking of space.

Characters: The characters are what made this book. I adore the relationship between Sam and Grace and I loved the how Cole described their relationship. Hearing someone else's description of the two love-birds made me want an outsider to describe my own relationship simply because "I want that." Weird, isn't it? I really loved getting to know Isabel better. She's so tortured — I love it! (Is that weird?)

Relatability: I am not in love with a werewolf and have no intention of being bitten by and becoming a werewolf myself. But I could relate to Sam and Grace's feelings for each other. There's a line where Sam describes seeing her for the first time in a long time and he says (something around the lines of) — I miss her more now that she's here beside me. At first that line was confusing, but then I realized that when you're really in love it's not that "you don't know what you have until it's gone," painfully you know exactly what you have when you have it and you're afraid to lose it.

Cover: I ADORE the covers of both Shiver and Linger.

Random Thoughts: In both Shiver and Linger I really disliked all the lyrics. But maybe if I were a teenager again I'd see the appeal to the emotional tortured soul. I also really REALLY dislike Grace's parents — UGH!

Final Thoughts: I can't wait to bring both of these books into my classroom for my students. Highly recommended!

Originality: 10/10
Ending: 10/10
Characters: 8/10
Plot: 6/10
My reaction/enjoyment: 9/10
Theme: 10/10
Imagery: 10/10
Setting: 5/5
Voice: 4/5
Style: 5/5
Tone: 5/5
Cover: 10/10
Overall: 92/100 A

To the FTC, with love: Gift

book, love story, review, and more:

Linger — Maggie Stiefvater + TIME