Review: Linger

Linger
By Maggie Stiefvater
Published 2010 by Scholastic Press

WARNING: There are probably going to be spoilers for the first book here and potentially spoilers for this one, so be mindful.

If I didn't really know what to say about the first book, I find myself even more at a loss for this one. I definitely didn't enjoy it as much as Shiver; I feel like a lot of the magic and suspense from discovering the story and watching the romance unfold was gone in this one. I feel like there were unnecessary obstacles introduced to Sam and Grace's relationship and that just made me mad. Additionally, I really hated the new character, Cole. Completely unsympathetic and obnoxious, I had a really hard time relating to or caring about him at all. I liked the addition of Isabel's voice as a narrator - I think she's a wonderful character and a really great contrast to Grace's syrupy sweetness. I still love seeing how Grace and Sam's relationship develops but I didn't enjoy the plot of this one as much as the first. It seemed completely ridiculous to me that Grace's parents would all of a sudden care about what she's doing with her life, considering how hugely absent they've been for the first 17 years. I can understand why Stiefvater chose to change the "cure", but it sort of feels like a cop out to me. I think there were many other ways to continue exploring Sam and Grace's relationship (the reappearance of Shelby, for one) without changing the entire conclusion of the first book. I don't know. Maybe it just makes me mad that I totally followed her logic for the cure and then she went and changed it on me. But I definitely wish this had gone a different way. I really don't care to read anymore about Cole so I can only hope he doesn't play a big role in the last book. I guess we'll see what happens but this was a miss for me.