Book Review: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
Publisher: Scholastic
Publication date: July 2010
ISBN: 9780545123280
Source: Library

Sam is trying to adjust to life as a human in the winter, to his feelings of loss for that part of himself.  He is also struggling to understand the new wolf recruits, particularly Cole, who seems bent on being a wolf as long as possible.  Grace is trying to deal with some unexpected effects from her wolf bit from years ago.  Meanwhile, Isabel can't seem to accept that her brother is dead while Sam managed to survive.  She feels an interesting attraction to Cole and his bad-boy persona.  Relationships change and humanity is questioned in this sequel to Stiefvater's Shiver.

Things I Liked:
Oh, how I loved the writing.  Stiefvater could write about toilet paper and I would read and enjoy it.  Cole and Isabel I just loved as well.  I always wanted to skip ahead to more story about them.  They were interesting, dynamic characters that I enjoyed getting to know.  The story became very exciting closer to the end and I found I couldn't put it down for the last 1/4 of the book.  And really, can I say again how much I love Stiefvater's writing?  I love it.  I also love how soft-core the paranormal aspect seems to me.  It's almost scientific and gentle enough for me to believe.  It doesn't seem too sequel-ish either.  Well done.  Some favorite parts:

"Why am I telling you this when you don't care?"
This question, at least, I knew the answer to.  "But that's why you're telling me."  I knew it was true.  If we'd had the opportunity to deliver our confessions to anyone who actually cared about their contents, there was no way either of us would've opened our mouths.  Sharing revelations is easier when it doesn't matter. p 135-136

There's no meaning to life as a wolf.  If you don't have memories, it's like you never existed.  You can't leave anything behind.  I mean - how can I defend humanity?  It's all that matters. p 201

He looked like he'd been put together by a swank designer who knew what he was doing - his distinctive features were brutal and purposeful, sharp enough to hurt yourself on.  The booth seemed soft and faded around him, almost comically old-fashioned and country in comparison, like someone had dropped him here for a tongue-in-cheek photo shoot. p 252

Things I Didn't Like:
I had a hard time getting into the story for over half of the book.  It dragged for me, with nothing really "happening" except Grace's parents showing up.  I remember loathing her parents in Shiver and this book confirmed their idiocy.  I also got really tired of hearing about Sam and Grace.  Oh, yes, they are in love.  Oh, no, they can't be separated, etc, etc.  I was more pleased closer to the end, but I really cared almost exclusively about Isabel and Cole.  They were unique and vibrant characters that I wanted to know more about.  

Read-alikes:
Read Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater first
Fallen by Lauren Kate 
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

BOOK CONTENT RATINGS:
s-factor: !@#
regularly, but not strong language

mrg-factor: XX
a lot of innuendo and a few "near misses"

v-factor: ->
most of it relating more to wolves than humans

Overall rating: ****

Do you have authors you'll read just for the sake of their writing?

If you buy through my Amazon linkage, I will get a very small percentage

And I'm amazed that this is the first review I've posted without changing the year to 2011. I figured I'd have done it at least three times by now :)