Review: Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Paranormal, Romance
Format: Audiobook
Released August 1, 2009 by Scholastic Audio
Originally published by Scholastic Inc.
More about the author: Website // Twitter
Goodreads // Amazon UK

For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf--her wolf--is a chilling presence she can't seem to live without. Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human . . . until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It's her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human--or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever. - from Goodreads

This book was genuinely a good surprise. While the book centres more on Grace and Sam's relationship (and their dual narratives) rather than the wolves themselves, I still found this to be a charming read. The wolves of Mercy Falls aren't what I would call werewolves. They're more like people who turn into actual wolves for half the year. Whilst they are wolves, they don't have superpowers but their bite can turn other humans into wolves. It's a new take on werewolves that doesn't involve scary monsters, just people clinging to their life before they turn wolf forever.

The romance between Sam and Grace was nothing short of sweet. While Grace's parents were conveniently out of the picture for most of the book, Sam and Grace spent their cold evenings trying to keep Sam warm and human. Although there is some extremely toned down only mentioned teen sex, their romance isn't as physical as you would expect from the previous sentence. It's actually the romance that stole my heart and didn't have me focusing on some of the plot that would otherwise irritate me (like the convenient lack of parents). Because of an event that took place six years before the start of this book, Sam and Grace were already infatuated with each other and I actually believed it! While not the deepest of romances, I enjoyed it.

If you want a book that centres on romance with a side of wolves, then this book is for you. It isn't perfect, but this book has me looking forward to reading more of Maggie Stiefvater. She is obviously full of talent. This is a highly recommended read for those sappy-paranormal-romance lovers who don't mind the lack of scary werewolves in a werewolf book.

*Audio Review*: This book had really good pacing in the narratives (read by both a male and female). The female's voice was the typical high school girl voice and the male's voice was a tad boring to me. In fairness, Sam is a really serious person anyway. I'm not sure if I gained anything more by listening to it rather than reading it.