Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls #2) by Maggie Stiefvater Summary: the longing.Once Grace and Sam have found each other, they know they must fight to stay together. For Sam, this means a reckoning with his werewolf past. For Grace, it means facing a future that is less and less certain.
the loss.
Into their world comes a new wolf named Cole, whose past is full of hurt and danger. He is wrestling with his own demons, embracing the life of a wolf while denying the ties of being human.
the linger.
For Grace, Sam, and Cole, life is a constant struggle between two forces -- wolf and human -- with love bearing its two sides as well. It is harrowing and euphoric, freeing and entrapping, enticing and alarming. As their world falls apart, love is what lingers. But will it be enough?
Genre: YA Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Release Date: July 2010
Where to Buy: Amazon . Barnes and Noble . Scholastic
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Source: I purchased a Kindle copy.
Review:
I loved Linger. At first, I was a bit thrown off by the additional points of view. I wasn’t sure I was ready to hear from Isabel or the new wolf, Cole. However, I ended up really enjoying their points of view.
Linger was all about struggle. Something was happening with Grace, but she refused to acknowledge it. Sam was learning to live without constantly worrying about shifting, which was difficult for him. He was also learning how to be Beck and take care of other wolves. Cole was a force to be reckoned with and totally self destructive. He was struggling with being human and dealing with his human emotions when all he wanted was to escape as a wolf and forget his problems. Isabel was struggling with her family life. And Grace’s parents were a major source of conflict in Linger, which was ironic. I felt like I connected with all of the characters, even though I didn’t care for Cole at first. I never really liked Isabel, but I ended up caring a lot more about her in Linger.
I think Shiver works perfectly well as a stand alone novel, so I wasn’t sure what to expect from Linger. The change in tone made it a completely different reading experience, along with the added points of view, but the characters and their story definitely wasn’t over in Shiver. I liked seeing Grace and Sam together, happy, and planning for their future. I liked the new conflict involving Grace’s parents and the mystery of what was happening to her. Linger was a great sequel because it was different, but also very much a continuation of the story.
I highly recommend Linger, the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy so far, and continuing the series after Shiver. Maggie Stiefvater has a magical way of writing. I wouldn’t say Linger was sad and, in many ways, the tone is much brighter than Shiver. For some reason, however, moments in Linger really hit me and I struggled not to cry (and failed). It really takes a lot to get me emotional like that in a book. I am such a huge fan of the author and her ability to write and get me to care about characters I never thought I’d like. This is a must read series, whether it’s the first one you pick up from the author or one you’ve circled back to like I did.
Hilarious Observation: Grace’s parents seem to have major issues with Sam and think he’s corrupting their daughter and I just think it’s hilarious because Sam is so sensitive and sweet and poetic. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with sensitive dudes, it’s just that he’s so over the top and he’s certainly not the type of guy you’d accuse of corrupting anyone’s virtue. Which only proves how totally clueless Grace’s parents are about her life. I just find this whole conflict hilarious.
