Title: Linger
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
Series: Wolves of Mercy Falls #2
Genre: Paranormal Romance (YA)
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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 Isabel, who already lost her brother to the wolves … and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

This synopsis–first paragraph only–contains spoilers for Shiver, the preceding book.  There are also a few minor spoilers throughout this post for Linger, but nothing that’ll ruin the book for you.

Linger is the continuing story of Grace and Sam.  Now that Sam is human, Grace and Sam think they have everything their hearts could desire–each other forever.  But, reality kicks in when Grace begins to feel sick, something she hasn’t felt since the time she was bitten by the wolves who lived in the woods behind her house.  Not only does Sam have to worry about Grace, but he also has the nagging suspicion that the new wolves created last winter, by his adopted father Beck, aren’t necessarily the people with whom he would’ve chosen to entrust the entire safety of the pack.

“I folded myself against her body, breathing in the smell of my new life and matching my heartbeat to hers.” Sam

Shiver followed Grace’s and Sam’s points-of-view while Linger follows theirs and two additional points-of-view, Isabel’s and Cole’s.  I liked the addition of Isabel’s and Cole’s points-of-view because it helped add more depth to the story.  However, at first, I wasn’t sure why Cole’s point-of-view was important because we barely knew him in Shiver.  In fact, we didn’t even know his name.  But, after reading about his past and who he was, I started to like and feel sorry for him.

There were things I enjoyed more in Linger than I enjoyed in Shiver.  For one, as I’ve already mentioned, I really liked the addition of Isabel’s and Cole’s points-of-view.  I also liked the dynamic of why the people bitten by the wolves shift in the first place, and look forward to learning the real reason in Forever, the third book in the trilogy.  There were also things I enjoyed more in Shiver than I enjoyed in Linger.  I liked the romance and chemistry between Grace and Sam more, and I found that I was missing that as Linger progressed.  I hope there’s more of that in Forever.

Even with the differences between Shiver and Linger, I really enjoyed Linger, and I’m anxiously awaiting for Forever because I want to know what happens.  The second book in a trilogy is always the hardest for me because there never seems to be any closure.  But, of course, there wouldn’t be any; the author and publisher want you to anticipate the continuation of the story so you’ll read the next book when it’s published.