Review: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Description:
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.
 
At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.
 
Details:
Audiobook, Preloaded Digital Audio Player
Published August 28th 2010 by Scholastic (first published July 13th 2010)
ISBN: 1616379294 (ISBN13: 9781616379292)
series: The Wolves of Mercy Falls #2
literary awards: Goodreads Choice Award Nominee for Goodreads Author, Favorite Heroine, Favorite Book, Young Adult Fantasy (2010), Voya Perfect Ten (2010)
 
Review:
After LOVING Shiver, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on Linger.  And, while it was good to continue the story of Grace and Sam, Linger left me a little disappointed.
 
I absolutely think the best character in Linger is Isabel.  I’m glad she got so much play time and that we really got to see who she is—not just as a Frost Queen, but as a real person, with feelings and depth.  I, however, really didn’t like Grace.  She came off as shallow and selfish.
 
One of my favorite parts of the book is where Grace tells her parents off.  I was all like “Yay, Grace!”  Their 180 had left me confused.  And, as a parent, I can see where there were coming from, but also I can’t believe how absent they were.  Giving Grace “room to roam,”  as her mom put it, and then trying to control her every move and banishing her from seeing Sam, it was too night-and-day for me.  Too much from one extreme to the other.  So it was like scientists  had finally proven there was life on Mars, unfortunately it was after the end of the world as they knew it—too little, too late….and a little unrealistic.
 
It all seemed very, juvenile to me.  After that maturity of Shiver, Linger felt a little too tween, not quiet there, but trying to act like it was (I’m not talking about audience here, more about depth of the story, characters, plotline).  There was good, and there was bad.  You can judge for yourself, it is an enjoyable read listen.  But, it left me with the lingering feeling, not that I had missed something, but that the book itself was missing something.
 
I’m a little leery about reading Forever.  I’ve heard mixed reviews.  After Linger, I might just want to make up my own ending to the story myself, so that everyone gets their happily-ever-after.
 
3: Linger did just that, lingered on the edge of greatness, but fell a little short.
 
Many Adventures,
Richard