Shiver

by Maggie Stiefvater

Genre: Fantasy
Age group: 12+

Grace has been captivated by wolves for years. In the forest behind her house, there's a pack of them. She watches them. Especially the one with the yellow eyes - that one is her wolf.
As a child, Sam was bitten by a wolf. Now his life is drastically different. In heat, he's a boy. But in the cold, he's a wolf. He lives behind Grace's house, and he watches her. He is the one with the yellow eyes.
One day, a kid in Grace's town was killed by the wolves. His name was Jack. Jack's parents and a few others hate them. So one day, they take a hunting party out into the forest, and start shooting at the wolves. The yellow-eyed wolf - Sam - was shot in the neck. He shows up on Grace's porch, and Grace helps him. They begin a relationship together. But Sam knows the day is coming when he's going to become a wolf and stay a wolf. And Jack wasn't really killed by the wolves... he's now a werewolf too, and an unstable one. He has discovered a mystery in Grace's past... one that could keep him permanently human. And he's determined to get it.

This book was very well-written. It is another story of the difficulties of love, but it isn't written like a sappy poem. It has plenty of action and excitement as well, plus a little bit of mystery at the end. I have heard that this is like Twilight, only better (I haven't actually read Twilight myself). The viewpoint switches between Sam and Grace, and both characters have lots of depth. I especially like the author's take on werewolves - the ways I've seen them interpreted are usually as horrible beasts. But here, they have a lot of emotion and are conscious of themselves as both humans and wolves. The descriptions in this book are lovely. Very good read overall.