As their world falls apart, love is what lingers. But will it be enough?

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater


Grace and Sam can finally be together without the fear of Sam leaving forever. It’s March, still winter, Sam doesn’t always believe in his cure, but as the story progresses, he wants to for Grace. Grace is happy, not just happy, she’s thrilled to have her winter wolf by her side. Now that she knows that Sam will be with her forever, she starts to have an even less certain picture of what her own future looks like. Cole, the rock star turned werewolf, wants the escape, but he’s phased early and can’t figure out why he can’t just stay a wolf always. Isabel is still messed up over the loss of her brother. She blames herself and can’t shake the feeling that she killed him.

If you read Shiver, you know that it had a dual point of view, Linger has 4 different points of view. I have read that some find it distracting and not as good of a read because of so many characters being intimately involved in the main story line. I disagree, I enjoyed the multiple view points. I liked getting to know Cole and Isabel more intimately, know what they are thinking in the different situations. Isabel is a character that you love to hate and hate to love. I like the character because Grace does. She’s different and doesn’t quite belong to the group. Then here comes Cole, and they have an incredible first encounter, and then it seems they always have unforgettable meetings. Most of them include Cole being naked, not like that of course, because he’s a wolf and the wolves don’t wear clothes. It was nice to know what was going on, the chemistry between the characters from all of the perspectives.

One idea that I find confusing and it runs through both books is whether the wolves have their human brains or not. All of the characters do not remember most things when they are in their wolf form, but there is a string of things that take place that makes me think that before all of this is over, there is going to be some huge revelation about how the brains of the wolfs work. My two examples are, first Jack, Isabel’s brother, knew that Grace knew that he was a wolf. At that time the only confrontation between the characters was while Jack was a wolf, but he told Isabel that Grace knew his secret and where he had been disappearing to. In this book, Isabel confesses something to Cole and he doesn’t think it’s the first time she had told him that bit of information, and he’s right, she told him while he was in wolf form. So, just an interesting thought that may or may not turn into something later as the series progresses.

The last concept that I want to throw out there is the emotions that this book takes you through. I laughed, I wept, cried out in disbelief, I love Maggie Stiefvater! She is an incredible writer. She has a way with words that most authors don’t. She gives me inspiration to write. The emotional journey that she takes the reader on is incredible. First in Shiver, I remember laying the book down on my chest and balling, and again with Linger, I could not stop crying. I couldn’t believe how much power her words had over me. While nearing the end I was very thankful that I’m not one of THOSE people that read the ending of the book first. I had no idea what was going to happen and there were so few pages left. I kept turning and the resolution wasn’t coming… well you’ll just have to read it to find out what happens.

I can’t wait for the next installment! Any thoughts? Have you read this series? Do you want to? Leave me a comment!