Shiver by Maggie Steifvater

Since yesterday was Memorial Day, I took the day off and spent it with friends.

Hence the review being moved to today.

Shiver enchanted me.  As you know, I don't usually read romance (at least, not willingly).  But Shiver is a romance, a fantasy romance at that.  With werewolves.

But it's not what you're thinking.  It doesn't read like a contemporary romance (say, like Twilight).  It's magical.  Mysterious.  Much more akin to a Grimm fairytale than a modern story.  It was beautiful.

Haunting -- that's the word for this story.  A young girl was bitten by wolves and saved by a wolf.  She remembers, and every year waits for the one who saved her, the one with yellow eyes.  There's a draw she can't explain.  Something calls to her.

And then she meets him.  The wolf-who-is-a-boy.  Sam Roth is only a boy when it's warm.  The two have been in love for quite some time, and when they finally meet when both are humans, the love deepens, irrevocably.

They're sweet.  Innocent.  Charming.  Sam and Grace are unique, each struggling with family, identity, and destiny.

What will happen to them when it gets cold?  Sam only has so many years he can change.  After that...he'll be a wolf forever.

I thought the development of the werewolf mythology in this book was particularly original.  I won't spoil it but there is more going on than a simple fairytale.  There's something else just on the edge, a blend of science and magic that's almost tangible.

There are certain authors who have ways of stringing words together that create effortless landscapes, feelings, smells, sounds...Maggie is one of them.  She really does write magically well.  If I was dropped in the little town where Grace and Sam live, I could find my way to the bookstore, Beck's house, and Grace's. I could spot the school, the candy store, and Grace's car, and all of it is tinged with that "once upon a time" aura.

There's an eerie feel throughout the book, almost as if you're being swallowed up in the story.  You become part of it.  You become just as fascinated as Grace by the wolves.

I thought it would be a one shot, but the ending was so abrupt that I ached for more.  I needed resolution.  And then I found out it was a series.  I still think the writing could have been less abrupt, but I'm thrilled to see we're getting more stories from The Wolves of Mercy Falls.

It isn't summer reading, so maybe once Autumn arrives, pick this one up and enjoy.