Review: Linger

Title: Linger
Author: Maggie Stiefvater


From GoodReads, "In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, inLinger, 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 Isabel, 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."


     It's been almost a year since Shiver came out and I am pretty sure that is why it took me awhile before I could re-connect with the characters from the first novel.  I distinctly remembered Grace and Sam, the main characters of the two books, but was having a hard time remembering the other characters from the story.  The book is told from different points of view, but unlike the first book, which was told just from Sam and Grace's perspectives, this book throws in two other character perspectives as well... Isabel and Cole.  I remember Isabel from the first book, but couldn't for the life of me place Cole from the first book.  I almost put Linger down to go back and re-read Shiver when a plot point in the book made me realize that Cole wasn't in the first novel (no wonder I didn't remember him.)  
     The moment that Cole St. Claire comes onto the scene, I instantly disliked him.  His cocky demeanor and abrasive viewpoints made me wonder why Maggie Stiefvater would want to include him in this second novel.  Then Maggie Stiefvater pulls a fast one on me as an unsuspecting reader and after all of the crappy things he does (and there are many), I find out that I'm actually starting to like him... just in time for the book to end.
     I have to admit that this book had me going through emotions that I don't normally experience while reading a book.  There were times that I was incredibly mad at Stiefvater.  I am a fan of happy endings and when I had the feeling that the book might not be going in that favor, I had to put the book down for two weeks while I made a decision whether I would return to it or not.  I did return, mainly because I wanted to know what happened.  I guess that is what makes Maggie Stiefvater a great author because she writes from her own emotions and in the process touches the reader's emotions as well.
     I can honestly say that I wasn't thrilled with the way this story ended (being the sucker for happy endings that I am), but again Stiefvater has me looking forward to finding out what happens to not only Grace and Sam, but Cole and Isabel as well... unfortunately it looks like I'll have to wait another year for the ending... here's hoping it is a happy one!