Shiver, Linger, Forever, Sinner- The Wolves of Mercy Falls

Book 1- Shiver
the cold.
Grace has spent years watching the wolves in the woods behind her house. One yellow-eyed wolf - her wolf - watches back. He feels deeply familiar to her, but she doesn't know why.

the heat.
Sam has lived two lives. As a wolf, he keeps the silent company of the girl he loves. And then, for a short time each year, he is human, never daring to talk to Grace... until now.

the shiver.
For Grace and Sam, love has always been kept at a distance. But once it's spoken, it cannot be denied. Sam must fight to stay human - and Grace must fight to keep him - even if it means taking on the scars of the past, the fragility of the present, and the impossibility of the future.

I read this first book a long time ago so forgive me if some of my review is quite vague. Told from two different perspectives in alternating chapters, Grace the human, and Sam the werewolf. Okay so whenever people say werewolf I imagine someone who grows fur all over and comes with claws and sharp teeth, a horrifying image of an out of date premise. But in shiver you can forget that stereotype for a werewolf. Also, Shiver has been compared to Twilight. DO NOT COMPARE!!! Sure the werewolves in this book actually turn into wolves but that is where the similarities end. These wolves do not look like that! They are ACTUAL WOLVES. Like if you were to go to google and look up wolf, that is what the wolves look like in this book. Also there is no anger trigger when it comes to these werewolves. The trigger for them is the cold. Thus I suspect where the title comes from, get it? Shiver, because its cold...Yeah never mind. But in this first book we get to meet our characters.

The MC- Grace Bisbane- Your average dirty blonde haired quiet girl who reads and watches wolves outside her window. I love her in Shiver, mainly because she reminds me of myself. She reads and loves wolves, as do I. She also has a sense of responsibility and has a great moral compass. If I could rip her out of the story and make her my friend I would.

The male MC- Samuel K. "Sam" Roth- How do I describe the most kind hearted male character in any book I have ever read. By far my most favorite love interest I have ever read in a novel before. He really doesn't want to be a werewolf, he was forced into it by the way, and he has such a strong will to be human year round. I just love this boy, I mean how could you not?

Isabelle Culpepper- What can I say about this ice queen? At first this girl is portrayed as one of the bad guys, her father is the one person trying to wipe out the wolves for god sake. But what you don't expect is the character development of this young woman, I mean wow. Never have I ever felt a character blossom so much. However in this book, she is not the main focus so you get to experience her transformation a lot later in the series.

So having read this book a long time ago I have given it thought and decided to provide a summary from a different source, however this source just gives you all the facts. Some of these facts pretty much just tell the whole story to you, revealing everything so I have to give some kind of warning.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
SPOILERS ARE UP AHEAD! IF YOU HAVE NOT READ SHIVER YET I ADVISE YOU TO DO SO.
So I figure that was good enough of a warning. So here goes the summary:
Provided By: Wikipedia

The book begins with Grace remembering when she was attacked by wolves when she was eleven. However, one wolf saved her. From that point on, she watched "her wolf" in the woods, and he watches her. The wolves kill Jack and Jack's sister, Isabel, informs Grace that her father is ordering a hunt of the wolves. When Sam shows up on her deck, having been shot, she nurses him and allows him to stay in her room. They soon begin dating after sharing a kiss. Grace's friendship with Olivia is destroyed when Olivia dismisses her claims that the wolves are werewolves. However, Isabel confronts Grace about it. Grace and Sam tell Isabel all about the wolves, including that Jack is one. Sam's father-son relationship with Beck is ruined when Beck shows Sam that he has created three new wolves for the future of the pack. A pack member, Paul, is attacked to the point where he's almost killed. Sam suspects another wolf, Shelby, who is in love with Sam and wanted Paul out of the way. Sam later has a confrontation with Jack who locks him in one of their sheds. Jack kidnaps Grace but she tricks him into going to Beck's house for the "cure" where he is locked in the bathroom so he can change into a human again. Grace calls Isabel who finds Sam and nurses him back to health. When Grace is taking Sam to see Beck for a final time, she crashes the car and Sam turns into a wolf, escaping. Grace is distraught and Isabel tries to help her. Olivia apologizes to Grace and admits that Jack bit her when she wouldn't tell him the "cure". Isabel later suggests that the fever was what stopped Grace's transformation and that bacterial meningitis could be a possible cure. Beck agrees to help, turning into a wolf for the last time in his attempt to lure Sam out of the woods to sedate him. Grace, Isabel, Olivia, Jack and a wolf Sam head to the clinic where Isabel injects Jack with meningitis. Olivia, however, is scared of the needle and refuses it. Grace manages to communicate with Sam so that he turns human for a moment and she can inject him with the meningitis. However, he turns into a wolf again and escapes. Olivia turns into a wolf and disappears into the woods. Jack dies with Isabel by his side. As Grace and Isabel become closer, Grace is at her house when a human Sam arrives. The final line of the book reads "and I crushed her to me."


SO... Told you, it even gives away the ending. But if you had read the book you would have known it anyway right? Of course. But I now must provide my opinion on this book as a whole. Must I say if I could, I would provide this book with a many stars as there are in the sky. Yes, Shiver is just that good. Of course a lot of people don't share my opinion and that is fine, they are entitled to it. But I just hope that if someone out there is looking for a book that they pick this up and read it. I loved it dearly and I hope a million other people get the chance to as well. Definitely one of my favorite books of all time. 5/5 stars. 

Book 2- Linger

the longing.

Once Grace and Sam have found each other, they know they must fight to stay together. For Sam, this means a reckoning with his werewolf past. For Grace, it means facing a future that is less and less certain.

the loss.

Into their world comes a new wolf named Cole, whose past is full of hurt and danger. He is wrestling with his own demons, embracing the life of a wolf while denying the ties of being a human.

the linger.

For Grace, Sam, and Cole, life a constant struggle between two forces--wolf and human--with love baring its two sides as well. It is harrowing and euphoric, freeing and entrapping, enticing and alarming. As their world falls apart, love is what lingers. But will it be enough?

Again, I must say it has been a while since I actually read this book, so I had to refresh from another source which I will provide again as I did with Shiver. I must say though, this book is told from Sam and Grace again but also by Isabelle and a totally new character, Cole St. Claire. Here is a short biography of Cole:
Cole St. Claire- A "bad boy", sure if you really want to call him that you could. He used to be a part of a rock band. He was the damaged singer who every girl swooned over. Now he is a werewolf struggling with his past and his desire to not be human.

In the second instalment to this trilogy, and companion novel, Linger is told from four different perspectives. Don't get me wrong that is a lot of voices. But the thing is that I never had a tough time reading this book. Each character has their own unique voice and I can very distinctly point out who is who. We go further into the story and to my delight the extent of the werewolves and what makes them who they are. We never fully leave the romance of Grace and Sam but we are introduced to the budding romance of Isabelle and Cole. We learn new things about how to shift into wolves and how to stay human. All of this is thanks to meningitis. Wait....what? Seriously? Wow. But anyways I will provide you with the totally spoiled summary. Again here is your warning.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
SPOILERS ARE UP AHEAD! IF YOU HAVE NOT READ SHIVER OR LINGER YET I ADVISE YOU TO DO SO.
So there you go, you have been warned.
Summary provided by: Wikipedia:

A newly cured Sam finds Cole transforming in Beck's house and realizes that he's one of the teenagers Beck turned for the future of the pack. After becoming human again, Cole turns up at Isabel's in search of clothes. To hide her grief over Jack, she ends up kissing him but he disappears as a wolf again. Grace becomes very sick and, when she cries in pain, her parents find Sam in her room. They take Grace to hospital and stop Sam from seeing her. After returning from hospital, Grace makes plans to go and live with Sam at Beck's house. She leaves one night and Sam's ecstatic to see her. Isabel and Sam find Cole having a fit and discover that he was experimenting with needles, trying to find a way to become a wolf. Isabel and Cole later kiss again when he's warming up in the bath and again when visiting her mother's clinic. After spending a day together, during which Cole admitted his famous past to her, they almost slept together until Cole rejected her, not believing he was good enough for her. When Grace's health worsens, Sam and Cole take her to the hospital where her father punches Sam. Cole realizes that, because Grace was bitten but didn't change in a set amount of time, she's dying. He comes to the conclusion that she needs to turn. Isabel shows up and creates a distraction to get Grace's parents out of the room. Cole then gives Grace his DNA and she shifts, escaping out the window. Sam's final words are, "I will find a cure. And then, I will find Grace."

Now onto the opinion and rating. I really liked this book. I will say the endings to all these books are absolutely wonderful but in Linger the ending is a cliffhanger from hell. Stiefvater really knows how to hit you in the gut with her endings. But overall this sequel was definitely a great one. I loved all the characters stories and the tale will stick with me for many more books to come. 5/5 stars.

Book 3- Forever
then.
When Sam met Grace, he was a wolf and she was a girl. Eventually he found a way to become a boy, and their loved moved from curious distance to the intense closeness of shared lives.

now.
That should have been the end of their story. But Grace was not meant to stay human. Now she is the wolf. And the wolves of Mercy Falls are about to be killed in one final, spectacular hunt.

forever.
Sam would do anything for Grace. But can one boy and one love really change a hostile, predatory world? The past, the present, and the future are about to collide in one pure moment--a moment of death or life, farewell or forever.

Again. It has been a while and this book is by far the fuzziest in my memory but here goes anyway. I must say there is a lot more action in this finale than the other two books. I loved it, and all it represents. I hate the new character who is introduced, Shelby. Yes she may be a tortured soul but she is just filled with so much hate that I cant relate to her. She is so...violent. I blame her anger for making her the vicious wolf that she becomes. But other than this, Forever is definitely the final book I was hoping for.
So lets get straight into the spoiler summary because honestly, this review is becoming a monster to read. So here is your warning.
WARNING! WARNING! WARNING!
SPOILERS ARE UP AHEAD! IF YOU HAVE NOT READ SHIVER OR LINGER OR FOREVER YET I ADVISE YOU TO DO SO.

Summary from Wikipedia:
Shelby finds Olivia and kills her. Grace turns into a human and manages to call Sam, but by the time he arrives for her, she has already turned back. A desperate Cole tries to call Isabel but since she's still upset at his rejection, he leaves 21 voicemails on her machine, the last one simply, "I wish you'd answer." Grace is chased into a sinkhole by Shelby. Sam and Cole find her and manage to save her, locking her in the bathroom until she can change back. Isabel's shocked to discover that her father is arranging for the wolves to be removed from the protected species list. Cole reads Beck's diaries and discovers that the wolves have been moved once before, when Hannah, a wolf who could retain her human memories in wolf form, lead them. Sam is interrogated by Officer Koenig as he is the suspect behind Olivia's death and possible rape (as she was found naked) and Grace's disappearance. Sam and Grace tell him about the wolves and he tells them that he owns land just outside of Mercy Falls where the wolves would be safe. Grace visits her parents to say goodbye, but they have replaced her with a cat. Cole captures Beck and calls Sam and Grace. He injects Beck with a dodgy substance he made, despite Sam's protests, and it turns Beck human again. They tell him that Sam was successfully cured but they have to move the wolves. Beck tells them about Hannah and turns back into a wolf, agreeing to help. Cole injects Sam and himself, turning them into wolves. The helicopter catches up to them and Beck is killed. The pack splits when Shelby and Sam fight. Shelby attacks Cole but they're shot. Isabel, who has driven up to the commotion, is hurt by Cole's apparent death and drives onto the scene. Her father texts her "Get out of there." She replies "When you do." The hunt stops and the wolves arrive safely. Finally, Isabel discovers that her parents are sending her to California for ruining the hunt. Cole calls her and she's thrilled that he's alive. He admits he needed to talk to her before he saw Sam and Grace. She tells him to keep her number, and they say goodbye.

There. I am done. 5/5 stars for Forever.

So there you go, the complete series. But wait, there's more!

The Companion novel.
Sinner
So I didn't actually read the physical book of Sinner. I didn't have the money to go out and purchase the newly released book. To be honest I didn't know it existed until I saw the audiobook in my local Anythink library. As soon as I spotted it I lunged for it. Never had I ever listened to an audiobook. I have always been the person to actually pick up the physical copy, preferably a paperback, and read it by myself. But I just couldn't resist. But I don't think reading the actual book would have better. I loved the way that the person reading the book spoke out the voices of Cole and Isabelle. I am actually glad we got to see the romance between these two bloom and flourish. I must say this though, if you read the three books in the series, you really don't have to read Sinner. It also goes the other way around to be honest. You don't have to read the trilogy to read this companion novel. You wont be missing a whole lot of information but I do say if you want to read all of the books, I give my seal of approval. 5/5 stars
OVERALL:
I loved all of these books and I am so glad that this series is the first time that I actually totally completed a series. I always tend to read the first book then stop reading, either due to money issues or I just don't have the urge or time to. But with these books, I hopped from one to the next without stopping. I highly recommend these books to anybody and everyone who loves to read. I truly enjoyed them and I hope everybody else will as well.