{NIN} Review: Linger

Linger is the sequel to Maggie Stiefvater's novel, Shiver. Sam has been cured of his werewolvism and can now look forward to a future with Grace. As the snow melts and winter slowly turns to spring, Sam waits to see who of his wolf pack family will return to human form... or if none will return at all. Grace is looking forward to a future with Sam but hiding a secret that threatens to take her away from him forever. Isabel is dealing with the guilt of her brother's death on her conscience and is mysteriously, magnetically drawn to newly turned werewolf Cole, who is full of his own dark secrets.

Told between alternating views of Grace, Sam, Isabel, and Cole, the novel unfolds as all four deal with the tragedy and heartbreak that the future holds for each of them.

Linger, like its predecessor, moved excrutiatingly slow for most of the novel. I was seriously bored and struggled to read through it. The most annoying part was Sam and Grace pitching and mooning at each other the whole entire time. I never really understood why Sam and Grace were so in love from the very first book since all she did was stare longingly into some wolf's eyes for most of her life, or why Sam was so obsessed with her. I realize it had to do with her getting bitten when she was younger but never changing, but really, that's the only reason?

The saving characters of this novel was definitely Isabel and Cole. Although Isabel has her own issues to deal with and secrets to hide, she at least was not paralyzed by fear or guilt or whatever it is that affected Sam and Grace. Cole started out as a selfish bastard seeking to run away from his past, but his evolvement and coming to turns with his own internal demons was fascinating and somewhat touching to see.

In the entire book, it only got really interesting in like the last 3 chapters. But I seriously don't know if I will read the last book in the series because the novels have moved so slowly, and Sam and Grace don't really do it for me.