Shiver

When she was very young, Grace was attacked by wolves that lived in the forest behind her house. She survived, seemingly rescued by a yellow-eyed wolf from the pack. Ever since she has had a bit of an obsession with the wolves, especially with her yellow-eyed savior. When another boy from her high school is attacked by wolves, Grace worries that her wolves will be in danger. And then she finds a boy with the same eyes as her wolf on her back porch, shot by hunters...

Sam is a werewolf. During the summer he takes on his human form, and when the weather grows cold he becomes a wolf again. Unfortunately, as time goes on his time in his human body becomes shorter and shorter. It seems likely that this will be his last summer before he remains a wolf forever. Will he and Grace be able to find a way for him to hold on to his humanity so that they can be together?

This book plays on the popular themes of supernatural romance. Maggie Stiefvater's novel contains many elements that will appeal to Twilight fans - a dreamy boy who struggles to maintain his humanity despite his life as a supernatural being, a girl who has largely uninvolved parents and does a lot of cooking, and an incredible amount of romantic tension between the two that, with the exception of one fade-to-black scene, is largely chaste. Plot is unfortunately somewhat lacking as much the the middle of the book focuses on Grace and Sam's budding romance, and the characters are not as strong or developed as they could be. The good news - the end of the book is excellent and everything comes together perfectly. This is the first in an expected trilogy, and I'm hopeful that the upcoming sequels will be a bit more interesting and focus more on the wolves now that the characters have all been introduced.

Overall Grade: B