Book Review: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Goodreads 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.
My review:

Linger was such a great sequel.  I think I like it a little better than Shiver, even.  In Shiver, I got annoyed with Sam's character quite a bit, but in Linger, there is a larger cast of characters and I really enjoyed how the story developed.

I liked all of the characters in Linger.  Grace is such a fun character to read about; her personality is a great mixture of sweet and tough and her character just seems real.  I felt what she was going through.  And Cole and Isabel?  I love them so much.  Isabel was an okay character in Shiver, but she grew on me so much in Linger.  I felt so bad for Cole too.  He's a wonderfully complex character and I thought that his story fit into the plot very well.  Even Sam didn't bother me like he did in Shiver - he seemed less sappy and wimpy and more of a character that I could feel sympathy for.

It's funny, because based on the reviews I've read, people seem to like Shiver better than Linger.  I guess I like Linger better because it's not as focused on Sam as Shiver was.  In Linger, there seems to be much more happening in the plot, rather than simply Sam's struggle to keep his humanity. 

One little thing I didn't like: Grace's parents start paying more attention to her in Linger and become more involved in her life.  I thought this was good, since her parents were noticeably absent in Shiver.  But at the same time, the way Grace handles her parents got on my nerves a bit.  Grace just seems to react too impulsively and angrily, and it made her character a little immature at times. 

Lastly I have to mention the writing.  It's so gorgeous.  Maggie Stiefvater has a wonderful talent for writing.  Her prose is delicate and poetic and lovely, and it just draws you into the story so much. that the plot is on the slow side at times, I think it works and flows perfectly, because the author's writing is just so good that she can turn any scene into something magically intriguing.

This is a solid sequel and I was impressed by the character development and the writing.  Even though I wasn't crazy about Shiver, I'm becoming more and more fond of this series as it goes on.  Depending on how well I like the final book, Forever, this series might just be going on my favorites list!

My rating:  8 out of 10 (4 stars)

~ The Bookworm