Overall rating: ****
Romance: ***
Reading rate: **
I was a massive fan of the Raven Cycle by Stiefvater and as soon as I finished it I started trying to devour everything written by her. The Wolves of Mercy Falls popped up as a Scribd suggestion so I went for it!
The first book in the series is Shiver and while it is a very different type of story from the Raven boys I loved it all the same. One of my favorite things about Stiefvater’s writing is how all of the people and little details always end up being important… and it may not come back around to even register until much later. The love story that she weaves between Sam and Grace is wonderful and all of the twists and turns that the story takes are on that “hurt so good” level. The author even said in an interview that she set out to make her readers cry and she delivered! The book switches back and forth between each of their points of view throughout.
What I liked:
- I love all of the characters and the way that they are done, even when it is a character that I dont “like as a person”. I always feel like I was given real insight into they someone is good or terrible and what led them to their actions.
- This was a take on werewolves that I have never encountered before. It was made to be more of a real world issue than a paranormal or magic phenomenon that you traditionally see.
- I genuinely could not get enough of how cute Sam and Grace are!
What I didn’t like:
- I felt like the characters were just skipping over all kinds of important details and could have resolved the issues much faster had they paid more attention. I felt like when watching a movie when you are yelling at the person no to go in somewhere scary.
- The one down side of the detailed writing of Stiefvater is that these books are not easy to consume quickly. I had a hard time trying to stay tuned in to the physical book so had to go back to audio, and will finish the rest of the series that way.
Synopsis:
For years, Grace has watched the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf—her wolf—is a chilling presence she can’t seem to live without.
Meanwhile, Sam has lived two lives: In winter, the frozen woods, the protection of the pack, and the silent company of a fearless girl. In summer, a few precious months of being human… until the cold makes him shift back again.
Now, Grace meets a yellow-eyed boy whose familiarity takes her breath away. It’s her wolf. It has to be. But as winter nears, Sam must fight to stay human—or risk losing himself, and Grace, forever.
Lovabull Books 