The Superficial: Gorgeous cover. The blue, bare trees set the mood of the novel while being eye catching. The simplicity of the monochrome scheme is refreshing and beautiful and really makes the blood droplet of the “i” pop. I also love how subtle the wolf in the trees is; I didn’t even notice it the first time I picked up the book.

The Short of It:     LOVE IT.

The Long of It: Normally, books focusing solely on romance don’t quite ring my bell. Romance as the icing on a zombie-hunting cake? Yes. Just babyIloveyou romance? Meh… Or so I thought. Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver transcends the teen-romance genre to become something more personal. The story revolves around Grace and her life-long fascination with the yellow-eyed wolf that roams the woods behind her house every winter. Her obsession gets a little creepier once she starts seeing a local boy with strikingly similar eyes to “her wolf.” The awkward comfort between Grace and Sam (her wolf-boy) set the tone of the novel, somehow making the impossible seem familiar. The real power of the novel, however, comes from Stiefvater’s amazing writing. The author makes you feel the chill of the woods and the tension in the air without resorting to purple prose or cliche page-fillers. She takes a old theme, werewolves, and adds new levels of meaning while still keeping the time-tested core of mythos. The result is a novel that creates a world that feels so familiar, yet exciting at the same time.  Stiefvater also excels at creating characters that seem levelheaded and realistic, not just creatures who fall in love and out of sanity; they instantly become entranced with one another, but the awkward tension of their strange situation is palpable. I am not calling Shiver a perfect novel, as Grace’s obsessive love over a wolf crosses the border of Cute into the land Creepy, but, while I was reading it, it was the perfect novel for me.

Opening Lines: I remember lying in the snow, a small red spot of warm going cold, surrounded by wolves. The were licking me, biting me, worrying at my body, pressing in. Their huddled bodies blocked what little heat the sun offered. …I could have screamed, but I didn’t.

Score: 10/10. Buy it now.