Cold Love

I was lucky enough to snag an ARC of Maggie Stiefvater's novel Shiver at the American Library Association convention here in Chicago a few months ago.

I haven't read her other book, Lament, but I plan on it.

Shiver is a well-written novel about two souls who have known each other from a distance for a long time. But they don't really know each other. They just have this connection.

Only problem is, one of them isn't human. Well, at least not all the time.
It depends on the weather.
That's all I'm going to say.

You probably know the storyline already anyway, but I'll keep it quiet for the few visitors who might drop by who don't read MG and YA fiction as obsessively as I do.

At its crux, Shiver is a neat concept. It's about transformation, shedding a cloak, wild nature, the beast in us all.

I really enjoyed the community of creatures and how they interacted while in their human form.

Grace, our heroine, is very genuine. We can relate to her. Her parents are distant and have no idea what she's doing half the time. Mom's a flighty painter. Dad is invisible to her.

It's a love story, of course, and has a very lyrical style.

The more I think about it, as I write this, I really liked this book. She's definitely a good writer.

Check it out.