Linger

The UK version of the cover. Something
different for a change, perhaps

In 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.
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.

In my opinion, the sequel was weaker than the first book and although I started to like Isabel in the first one, I felt like her coldness and compassionless, while the story was being told by her point of view, left me compassionless towards her. I could not create any kind of a bond with Cole St. Clair and I guess it’s the main thing I didn’t like about the book. His dark past did not affect me at all, neither did his efforts to get away from his past and apathy towards the people encircling him. The whole continuous drug addiction, coldness and apathy just lost all its value, appeal and I just got tired of reading it. As for the end of the book, I started to have some empathy towards him and I was curious, I must admit, but it was superficial. There were some moments in the novel which shined brightly, but everything else was just like a black stain on a white cloth and it ruined all the other parts. It’s just my opinion and I’m more than sure, that there are a lot of people who enjoyed the sequel and maybe even considered it better than the first one. I liked that the roles changed and that the ending of „Linger“ was sad and desperate. It wasn’t that much of a shock, because Stiefvater was trying to sail this boat towards this kind of an ending and she tried to keep the tension and suspicion, I kind of expected it, but I still felt for all four of them. At the end of it. When it comes to Grace, than I had a mixture of feelings: on one hand, I was happy about her, because it was something she had always wanted, since she was a little girl, but on the other hand, I was sad, because she had everything she wanted and it all came crashing down just in a few moments. Moments! Overall, the sequel was progressing pretty fast, if I all the parts of Cole's past are not considered, and I do not regret reading it, but if I ought to read about the wolves of Mercy Falls again some day, I’d probably just read the first one. Still, it was a great piece of writing to read, while trying to escape from reality and just imagine yourself being in a completely different environment, and I’d say overall, I quite enjoyed it, but I just wasn't satisfied.

Book trailer. Rate: 3/5

Reading order:

1. „Shiver“
2. „Linger“
3. „Forever“