Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Summary provided by Scholastic Press:
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 Thoughts:
I read Shiver, the first book in the Wolves of Mercy Falls series, a few weeks ago and I was taken back by this beautifully written story. I loved it! I could not stop thinking about the characters and how much I connected to them. I was afraid to read Linger, because many times, the second book does not even come close to how good the first one is! This was clearly not the case with Linger, and it exceed all of my expectations. Linger is about Sam, a boy who was once a wolf, and Grace, the girl he has loved since he saved her from the wolves when they were both children. As their relationship progresses, Sam is dealing with the trauma in his past, and Grace is dealing with her parents, and trying to figure out why she is so sick all of a sudden. In Shiver, the book is told through Sam and Grace's points of view (POV). In Linger, Sam and Grace are still prominent characters, but Stiefvater adds two additional POV. One is Cole, a singer in a very popular band who decided to become a wolf to escape his pain, and the other is Isabel, whose brother became a wolf in Shiver. I don't want to spoil anything so I am not going to say much except, THIS SERIES IS A MUST READ!! I can see myself reading these books over and over again, and have suggested this book to all of my book loving friends! The words flowed beautifully, the plot was original and exciting, and the characters were easy to relate to. The third, and final book in the trilogy is called Forever, and will come out July 12, 2011. While Shiver ended on a very happy and promising note, Stiefvater thought it would be fun to torture us and ended Linger with a major cliffhanger. I can not wait to get my hands on Forever! July can not come soon enough!

Love, Kristina