Linger

Linger
by Maggie Stiefvater / YA Paranormal

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 baring 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?
(click title to read more)
** This is my humble attempt to review a book that is still, after days from finishing, HEAVILY pulling on my heart strings**

My gosh. Just as the title suggests, the book's impact lingers and I can't help but feel like I've been exposed to something extraordinary, something that has the power to change me. Linger is no ordinary read, something that you pick up, flip and skim through only to put it back on the bookshelf and forget. No, Linger is the book that moves you and it packs a very powerful emotional punch. What I loved most about the book was the very same thing that worried me. The author added the insight of two extra characters, Isabel and newcomer Cole, making it a story in 4 parts. I thought it might take away from the story and honestly, I was more interested in continuing Sam and Grace's story now that Sam was human and no longer held hostage by the cold. Never before have I been so happy to be proven wrong. I loved being able to look at a story from such different and intense point of views, the book becoming incredible because of it. Of course, I enjoyed hearing the story through Sam and Grace's voice but it was interesting to hear through Isabel. I learned that things aren't always okay at home and the power that guilt can have over a person. My heart ached for her to be carrying such a heavy weight and I enjoyed how "real" she was. But I have to say, the BIGGEST surprise and my most heartfelt thank you to the author, goes to Cole, a newly turned werewolf. He made my heart BLEED. He made me hurt for him. He made me look inside myself and identify with him. To me, he made the story. My first impression of Cole was "Here we go, ego wolf approaching" but behind that facade, lay someone hurting so bad that I wanted desperately to reach in and hold him. He spent so much time giving off the image that he didn't care, that he was the jerk who couldn't be trusted (what he did to Sam ANNOYED me), that I was spellbound reading his transformation, sobbing when he said " ... don't make this harder, okay? I'm trying to remember how to be a decent person, okay? I'm trying to remember who I was before I couldn't stand myself" (I can't even write the quote without getting a lump in my throat) Reading Linger made me wonder what would Sam have been like if not for Beck, for Grace? Would he have turned out like Cole, someone who was bitter and seeking any way to escape the pain of his life? What made them so different from each other? Great questions for me to think over. Then as if my heart wasn't already fragile the author also adds into the story line that even though you see it coming, NOTHING prepares you for it when it happens. I was left with the finished Linger in my hands wondering how was I going to be able to focus until Forever is released because all I want to know is what happens next. Like I said earlier, it STILL tugs on my heart strings and I'm surprised I've been able to find the words enough to say what I have. This book, like Shiver, is phenomenal and beautifully, beautifully written. It is hauntingly tragic and breathlessly hopeful all at the same time. The author is definitely an author to follow and her other books, Lament and Ballad, are worth looking into (as soon as I get money, I'm going onto Amazon to buy them) It is a definite MUST read and if I could, I'd buy everyone a copy to read just so they could experience it. Loved it

Ratings: 5 stars and 2 hearts