Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater

The basic premise of this story is a simple one: girl watches boy from afar and falls in love. Except in this boy is a werewolf, and this girl was almost killed by his pack when she was a child. The werewolves’ change is affected by cold and heat, so the wolves who are not too old become human again in the summer. The temperature of day is noted at the beginning of each chapter, and this becomes increasingly important as time progresses. Grace finally meets Sam during what will probably be his last summer as a human, and the story takes off from there.

One thing that really bothered me about the plot is the importance attributed Sam’s yellow wolf eyes and their distinctiveness; however, adult wolves naturally have yellow eyes. Grace’s character seems to me a little flat; her world centers around Sam and caring for him. There seem to be few interactions with her parents and friends.

Supernatural romances are huge right now in the teen reading world, and this particular novel is fairly popular already. The chapters are short and move quickly, alternating between Grace and Sam’s point of view. And though the weak writing may bother some readers, many will likely snap up this novel.