Shiver is a Young Adult supernatural romance novel written by Maggie Stiefvater. It is the story of Grace and Sam. Grace is a 17 yr old girl that lives with her parents who are rarely around so she is pretty much raising herself. Grace's home is on the edge of woods that are occupied by a pack of wolves. Many years earlier Grace was snatched from her tire swing by the wolves and nearly killed as they ripped and pulled at her but she was saved by one yellow eyed wolf that pushed the others away and pulled her to safety. For many years she sat out and watched her wolf as he came around watching her equally as fascinated. She knew these wolves were special but she didn't know just how special until she met Sam. Meeting Sam revealed a whole world to her that was thought to be fairy tale, a world of shape shifting... werewolves, as some might call it. Once infected with the disease a human would begin shifting into wolf form, mostly with cold weather, but randomly in the beginning. Sam and Grace have shared a bond and affection from the moment he saved her from the pack years before. But something baffles Sam... Grace was bit, many times over, and she never changed. Why? What was special about Grace that she remained human and held onto the life that Sam grieves every day. How long does Sam have in his human form before the cold of winter and the wolf take him over, maybe for good.
The story of Sam and Grace is sweet. Grace's parents are non-existent and even when they are around they are written to be scattered and the mom quite ditsy. Without giving away any of the story I can't really tell more but you will understand if you read it. I actually really enjoyed reading this as a light "fluff" read. Not much substance and the characters aren't very deep but I just loved the story of Sam and Grace in its simplicity. It can easily be read in a day and would be a good easy picnic or beach read.
I have purchased book two "Linger" (didn't know it was going to be a series when I got the first one) and hope to read it this week as well. I think that I might give this book 3.5 stars out of 5 (4 out of 5 if you're a YA fan).
***Spoilers***
As far as your teens reading it, there are no language issues. There is the situation with the parents and behind their back she speaks of them with little respect and feels a bit superior to them. I didn't care for the way the parents were written in, but I suppose there are parents out there that are just this way. Sam lives in Grace's home sleeping in Grace's bed with her for a couple of weeks without the parents knowing because they never even peek in her room at night to check on her when they get home. There is a lot of cuddling, touching, kissing and they do have sex in her room while her parents are out (which is always). They talk about how it was the right time and they used protection so that makes it perfect and good.
