Review of Linger by Maggie Stiefvater

Book:  Linger (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #2)
Author:  Maggie Stiefvater
Published by:  Scholastic Press
Pages:  360
Source:  Audiobook-own

From Goodreads:  In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other. Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace, this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous secret about her own well-being. For Sam, this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabel, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

I listened to an audio of this book and it was wonderful.  They had a different reader for each of the four point of views...and I have to mention that the reader for Cole had this deep, gorgeous, sexy voice.  It was definitely melt worthy.

Maggie Stiefvater has the most beautiful writing I've read in a while.  For lack of a better description, it's very poetic and lyrical.  It draws you in and you feel as if you a drifting lazily down the river on a hot summer's eve.  
This novel dealt more with Grace and her issues, than Sam.  I found myself frustrated with Sam at times.  I felt he was very self-involved and didn't want to take responsibility.  He wanted to drift along in his world of music instead of dealing with the tough issues.  Grace obviously needed help and yet Sam chose to pretend nothing was wrong.  I almost felt let-down by Sam in this novel.  I did feel his love for Grace, yet I wanted him to toughen up a bit.   

I was surprised by how much I liked Cole and Isabel.  I couldn't wait until we got back to their stories and voices.  They were fun and edgy, with fierce dialogue and passion to match.  

This was a great second novel, but left us with a cliffhanger.  Overall I'd give this novel ★★★★