Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Title: Linger
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Pages: 362
Publisher: Scholastic, Inc
Source: Barnes and Noble





 





Back of Book Summary:
   
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.

 My Review:
Characters:
   The characters in Linger are sculpted very well. I love the development of the characters in Linger. Grace bucking from her 'good girl' ways as her parents try and become more attentive parents. I felt myself rooting for her and encouraging her to tell her parents how badly they had raised her over the last years. That being said, I also rooted for the parents and hoped that they would pick up on the dangerous illness that was plaguing Grace's days and nights. That their new attentiveness would indeed become the help that Sam needed...that wasn't the case regardless of how hard I wished.

   The new werewolves were a great new development to the novel. They were well written and developed. I loved the personal conflicts that Cole brings to the mix.
  


    Plot/Conflict/Theme:
    Linger was very enjoyable, though I didn't enjoy it as much as Shiver because it was set up as a lead in to the third book. Shiver was impeccably written, and my expectations for Linger were set extremely high. Linger's plot kept my attention by creating and sustaining tension for the reader as the conflict for Grace develops. I did like the contrasting conflict between the two novels- Shiver and Linger. In Shiver- Grace struggles to keep Sam human. In Linger, Sam and Grace have seemingly conquered the Were disease, until Grace becomes mysteriously sick after finding a dead wolf in the woods. Sam's fight becomes keeping Grace alive and human- again furiously fighting the Were disease. There is additional tension added as Sam steps in as the leader of the pack and has to help the new werewolves adjust to their new lifestyle.
   
Quality of Writing:
     I very much enjoy Ms. Stiefvater's style of writing. She creates a delightful voice through her writing style. I am looking forward to reading the third installment in this series.

Rating:
Book: B for Basically Brilliant
Cover: B for Basically Brilliant