(all cozy from reading in bed hehe)
Upon starting to read this book, I was rather concerned. It started really fast, not neccessarilly with content, but switching from character to character. I couldn't get a grasp on them as people/beings, and was worried that the whole book would continue with these 2 page chapters. But I persisted through, and the chapters started to pan out. We see the story through the eyes of the two main protragonists, our love interests, Sam and Grace. I don't know whether I liked the fact that we knew from the off pretty much that Sam was a werewolf, however it did stop alot of unnecercary dialogue, and those brooding moments of discovery. The fact that Sam and Grace had a connection, whilst he was in his wolf form, made the easyness of their human relationship seem more legitamate...and the author didn't have to use things like 'it just felt so right'...because in a sense they already knew each other...and did infact love and care for each other in some way or another.
Grace is a stereotypical outcast, that most people reading books like this will probably relate to. But the shocker is that for once the main lead, was not some dark, mysterious stranger. He had a dark history with his parents, he had emotional depth...he was very humanised...perhaps to componsate for his wolf side. This was defiantley helped by the fact we saw alot of the book from Sams point of view, and thus could get inside both of the characters. The whole book was very centered on them. Even when other people were in the frame, it was still somehow them. Which isn't a bad thing at all, but something that really centered the story. They kept having these cutsey little moments, that made me want to find my fiance and just hold him.
This book was very much about humanity. About retaining humanity, and remaining true to oneself, for Sam in particular. It was about the little things, those small moments of beauty, we let pass us by everyday, but should cherish...moments without which we would be lost. As a reader I got sucked into these moments, and found myself comparing them to moments in my own life, and promising to make the most of them. There was a message in this book definatley, but it was still packed with action, emotion and a good, not too predictable plot. The book clearly left on a cliffhanger for book two, and now I find myself needing to know what happened. I hope in the second book, the author keeps the focus she did in Shiver, but also expands on the other characters inner depths. I will be purchasing the second book very soon I think.
I give this book a 7.5/10. You can tell from the onset this is not a work of Shakespeare or a literary masterpiece, but this gets point, because it's not pretending it is! A lovely, easy (if emotive) read. A great way to spend an afternoon or two.
(sorry for looking so terrible, I just got in from an 8 hour shift that had me up at 3.30am)
This was yet another book I was reluctant to buy, mainly because it was stacked along side all the new clique teenage romance/horror novels. But it was actually rather good! ALOT of plot twists...things that shouldn't be combined together, but somehow it worked and flowed seamlessly. The further into the book I got, the more my eyes grew wide in shock...a few times I exclaimed, 'No! Did they just? What the...?' I don't want to say anymore about the plot twists, as it would spoil half the fun, so I'll stick to the main story, and just say this books genre would be a hard one to pin point.
Which involves a girl (Alison) being locked away in a modern day mental asylum for an event she can't remember involving a girls dissapearance. The book was rather wonderful and dreamy, because the author had cleverly given the main character Synesthesia - a problem in the brain function which makes people taste words, hear colours, see the letters of the alphabets as different colours and see they have personalities. This made for an even more interesting read. Being set in a mental institute you met alot of interesting people, all with different illnesses and mental diseases. Along side these characters, that helped break up Alisons' time in the asylum, there were also her parents, who for me created alot of controversy...one minute I hated them, and the next they weren't so bad. Her mother particularly was a wonderfully fickle character. The author created some really interesting characters which kept us amused and entertained along the way. This poor girl had to deal with alot, and whilst her reactions to all things real were spot on realistic, her reactions to the unexplained and supernatural were perhaps not too well thought out, as she seemed to just take it all into her stride.
Sebastians character was interesting. He was so hard to figure out, I was consistantly trying to make my mind up about him. I liked that he was much more than just a love interest (despite the beauty of Alisons description of him) he was the missing link, and a key concept to the story. It truley felt like reality, with the relationship developing throughout, rather than the author having just thrown in a bit of love for the hell of it.
I would give this book a 7/10. It was wonderful and beautifully written. Held my intrest, so I had finished it in a few hours. But I felt some of it, despite the content, seemed aimed at young teenagers, and did not reach it's true potential, which is why this is rated at a 7 not an 8.
