So my original rating for this book was 4 stars but I have since decided to demote it to 3.5 stars. Sorry, Stiefvater. This might seem unfair but I think this is purely because her other novel, The Scorpio Races was such an epic read, in my opinion, that I didn't feel like this book deserved to be rated so closely. 
 Anywho. 
 Shiver is the first book in a trilogy following the lives of Grace, average high-school girl, and Sam, distinctly unaverage boy, who divides his years between his human and his wolf form. No fear, no spoiler here, it literally tells you this in the synopsis! 
 I honestly wasn't that excited to read this based on the abstract of the book; it was the author's name that compelled me. However, this definitely exceeded my expectations in that respect. There was enough exhilaratory plot, varied sub-plot and well-executed action to make this a sensational and thrilling read. I also loved the dual perspective of both Grace and Sam and I appreciated that the reader got an insight into Sam's inner-thoughts when he was in both human and wolf form. 
 However, the romance aspect of the book featured to highly and too frequently for my taste. I don't like authors who try to warm my cold, dead heart but authors who break it. And then spit on it. And then break it some more. This book was just too...nice, for want of a better word. Their love was sickly sweet, which I know is too a lot of people's tastes, but for me, it just felt overdone. There were some nice moments though: I liked it when Sam and Grace had quieter moments together, just existing comfortably together in each other's presence. For me, these parts were sweeter and realer than the tentative kisses and teenage-angst filled other moments that pervaded the book. 
 It is rare, I find, for an author to display their characters as the antithesis of their expected stereotypes. There was a strength in Grace and a delicacy and vulnerability to Sam that made me a fervent and zealous supporter of their relationship, despite my initial resentment towards their infatuation. The gender stereotype reversal was an unexpected find in, what I found on times, a formulaic YA romance. Contrary to this I found other characters, namely Jack and Isabella Culpepper, so stereotypical as to appear two-dimensional! 
 Some moments just shine, recalling to me the voice of the author who wrote my beloved The Scoprio Races , but some moments elicited little emotion from me. I have a feeling my fifteen-year-old self would have loved this novel. Perhaps this is a case of, 'it's not you, it's me'.