Shiver - Maggie Stiefvater

After hearing Becca, a fellow NBCer rave about this book called Shiver, I decided to add it to my Christmas wishlist. Then after seeing the author, Maggie Stiefvater, write on Becca's facebook wall I thought to myself that I really needed to read it now because the author just seemed so awesome. Christmas came and I didn't get the book but I did go to Books-A-Million's after Christmas sale and picked it up.

First I want to say that the writing was amazing and I loved how Maggie flipped back and forth between the two main characters point-of-view. This is also the first book that I've read recently that didn't have any misspellings. That gets major points in my book. If it did though, I was so captivated by the story that I didn't even notice.

Shiver takes place in Mercy Falls. Grace is a high school girl who was bitten by wolves six years earlier and has since become obsessed with the wolf that saved her. I mean, obsessed. She spends her winters waiting for a glimpse of him and even comes close enough to touch him at one point. Her obsession is a little..weird at first because she's so enamored with him that she takes to sleeping with the sweater she was wearing when she had contact with him because it smells like him.

Anyway, Grace soon finds out that her wolf, the one with the yellow eyes who saved her all those years ago, is actually a boy who is a shape-shifter. Sam's form depends solely on the temperature, turning into a wolf when it's cold outside. Even knowing his secret, Grace loves him, although it doesn't hurt that he's a hot, sweet, smart, emo, poetry loving, lyric writing, guitar playing guy.

Sam fears the cold because that means the change is coming, and this time it's different, this time it's his last change. He's loved Grace since the day he saved her and can't bear the thought of leaving her. Sam tries to prolong the time before he shifts and spends every moment possible with Grace. Shiver is a love story and a good one at that. It's so terribly sweet and it even made my eyes well with tears because of it.

If you're looking for a book to read, this is it. The story is great, the writing is wonderful, and I absolutely loved getting to know Sam and Grace. Even the weirdness didn't seem so weird to me after a while. I can already see myself reading this book over and over.

I cannot wait until Linger comes out in July.