Lindsay's Review: Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

Linger by Maggie Stiefvater
Series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Werewolves
Rating: ★★★
Pages: 368
Published by Scholastic Press on July 13th, 2010
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The astonishing #1 New York Times bestseller.
In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

This book is both amazing and also forgettable to me. I don't know how to explain it clearly, but I'll try my best. It's forgettable because when I think about it, all I see is the main plot through the series about the wolves and Sam and Grace. But when I sit down for a moment and think, little things come to mind that I read that make the book amazing and worth reading.

I think it takes a certain type of reader to read this book. Either one who is experienced in the art of reading (yes, I've declared this a thing) or someone who genuinely likes the flow of a book. I think Stiefvater's writing and the series in general is never about the ending or the climax. I think it's about the road to getting there and all the small moments that you have to read between the lines to let them warm your heart. I know it sounds super cheesy, but it's true. It isn't romance-packed, full of action or even entirely about the werewolves. It's a book I can only explain as, for lack of a better expression, about the path along the way to the destination.

I had only a few problems while first getting into the book, and it was that there were two new perspectives introduced, which I was not prepared for. I find reading two perspectives is enough for me, but switching from that to four upset me at first. Isabel we met in Shiver and although seemed like the bad guy, turned out to be important to the story. This time in Linger I liked her a lot more than I did before, and being in her perspective actually gave us more insight to her and the story. But Cole was hard for me to like throughout the novel, and I didn't actually enjoy reading his perspective until the end. I find it very difficult to read a book when the writer integrates new characters in the middle of the series. The author didn't necessarily fail, but it was a rocky thing to throw into the Linger series.

My second issue was that Sam and Grace need to be more realistic as not only characters, but also a couple. They think they will be together for ever and love each other, but I didn't feel like Stiefvater  succeeded in giving that information to the reader. They just seemed like a regular teenage couple that are obsessed with each other at the start of the relationship instead of truly being in love. I also found that their personal problems were secondary to the story, which I can understand why the author did, but I felt like their problems should have been equals with the story because they were so personal and huge to live day-to-day life with.

Grace and Sam as main characters are not only wonderful, but they find ways to say so much meaning with so little words. They have me thinking about what they say and think, reading in between the lines and applying their thoughts to my own life, even after I've put the book down for a while. Some people might find it slow, but I found Linger to be a good book to curl up in and escape life with. If you've read the first book, this book is a must because I promise, the story gets better. And also, Cole is pretty hot, so that's a definite plus.