Shiver the wolves of Mercy Falls #1

Stiefvater, M. (2009). Shiver the wolves of Mercy Falls #1. New York City: Scholastic. When Grace was young, she was saved by a golden eyed wolf from his pack before they dismembered her. With his saving grace, she was able to survive a cold horrific death. She became obsessed with catching a glimpse of him that she observed the wolves every winter. Sam, the wolf that saved her, is a shape shifter. They become humans during the warm months and are wolves during the cold months. Sam and the other wolves have no recollection of their human forms. One winter, Grace found Sam lying naked and shot on her back porch. She gave him the aid he needed and realized he was the wolf she had been seeking for the last few years. The golden eyes gave Sam’s identity away and she realized he was a werewolf. They form a romance built on teenage activities such as listening to music, making dinner, and reading poetry. Sam’s apprehension to tell Grace about his time almost being up and he needing to shape shift back into a wolf forever was disheartening. When Grace discovers his secret, she does everything possible from keeping Sam from changing. They both ignore the world and spend all their time together searching for the cure. Sam explains to Grace that to stay in human form, they need to increase their internal temperature. After much research, they realized that meningitis was the cure to avoid shape shifting. Sam injects himself with this infection and survives. Stiefvater development of Grace and Sam’s characters, help the reader connect with their emotion and actions so well that it strings the reader along through their love story. Grace’s sadness not knowing whether he is alive or dead and if she is ever going to see him after the injection was very heart wrenching. She was able to capture Sam’s longing of being with Grace as he watched every one of her moves, but not being able to reveal himself to her just yet. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc3iXeHdv1Y