Linger (Book 2, The Wolves of Mercy Falls)
Maggie Stiefvater

“This is the story of a boy who used to be a wolf and a girl who was becoming one. Just a few months ago, it was Sam who was the mythical creature. But now it is spring. With the heat, the remaining wolves will soon be falling out of their wolf pelts and back into their human bodies…”

Grace and Sam are finally together, both human, after Sam is cured. Sam still feels vulnerable being human, and is struggling to adjust to his new body and the idea of being head of the human pack. Grace is friends with Isabel, and dealing with her parent’s sudden interest in her life. Plus, one of Beck’s “recruits”, a wolf named Cole, is causing trouble.

My expectations for this book were SO high because I loved Shiver so much (I still say it’s the most romantic book I’ve ever read). As much as you want Sam and Grace to be ok, a sequel where everything is happy would be boring.

I kept thinking of The Empire Strikes Back. Because this is the second story of a trilogy, and you just know something bad is going to happen to one of the characters you love and you’re just dreading it. But what you think is going to happen doesn’t exactly happen like you thought it would and you’re left thinking “oh holy crap!” When is Forever coming out again?

We see Grace and Sam apart more this time around, because of the way life is pulling at them. There are still those beautiful moments that prove how much Grace and Sam love each other, need each other, without being over the top, but there is so much more going on this time around. Cole and Isabel both narrate as well.

I didn’t enjoy this as much as Shiver, but I think that has more to do with not liking seeing these characters suffer. I did love seeing them grow, and will be re-reading it again very soon. My only real caveat was I wanted to hear more about how the rest of the wolves were doing. There isn’t as much wolf-brain action in this one, and there was one wolf in particular (who I won’t mention for spoiler reasons) that I really wanted to see more of.

Overall, this is the perfect sequel; it has everything that’s great about the first one, taken to another level.

P.S. According to Maggie (via her blog) Sam actually sings on the audio book. Just thought you might want to know

TOP 10 YA Reads THIS summer: by Chris

1. Dark Flame by Alyson Noel – 4th installment of the Immortals Series

2. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins – 3rd and final book of The Hunger Games Series (August 24th)

3. The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner by Stephenie Meyer – A short story about a newborn in Eclipse

4. The Clockwork Angels by Cassandra Clare – the first novel in The Infernal Devices series (August 31st)

5. Burned by P.C Cast & Kristen Cast – 7th book in the House of Night series

6. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater – 2nd book in the Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls) series (July 20th)

7. Keys to Repository by Melissa De La Cruz – Newest novel in the Blue Bloods series

8. The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest by Stieg Larsson – 3rd and finale installment of The Millennium Trilogy

9. Radiant Shadows by Melissa Marr - 4th book in the Wicked Lovely series

10. Torment by Lauren Kate – 2nd book in the Fallen series (September 28th)

Top 5 reasons to read Evermore by Alyson Noel: by Chris

1. If you are tired of the same ol’ Vampire, Zombie or Wolf story than “The Immortals” series will be like a breath of fresh air.

2. The series has the always intriguing ‘love triangle’ – with two irresistible male characters

3. Alyson Noel took a lot of time to research all the facts. In the novels, she introduces aura’s, mind-reading, physic powers, spell casting, manifesting and more! All of which is based on the facts, and how they are all truly practiced..nothing phony here!

4. The characters of Miles, Romie & Rayne, and Roman are very entertaining and keep this dark story, very comical and interesting. You are always on the edge of your seat, guessing what is going to happen next!

5. Hello! Immortals are awesome, even better is the past lives of all the characters and how the entwine.

Linger Playlist, Texas Dates & Happy Germans

via Maggie Stiefvater’s Blog

Okay, it’s Friday, and it’s before Linger’s coming out, so more Linger music (are you guys tired of this yet?) It’s now five-ish weeks until Linger’s release and it’s starting to feel really close. As such, I now have my full tour schedule for this summer. Here tis’.

July 20th: Barnes & Noble, Williamsburg, VA, launch event where a Sharpie guitar will be given away.
July 23rd: Keplers, Menlo Park, CA.
July 24th: Copperfield’s, Santa Rosa, CA
July 25th: Barnes & Noble, El Cerrito, CA
July 26th: Borders, Glendale, CA
July 27th: Once Upon a Time, Montrose, CA
July 28th: Barnes & Noble, The Woodlands, TX
July 28th: Blue Willow Bookshop, Houston, TX
July 29th: Book People, Austin, TX

Details and International Dates here

HUNGER GAMES: TRAINING DAYS STRATEGY GAME

from Lindsey at The Mockingjay (livejournal)

Hunger Games game!
No, really, it’s an actual board/card game.

From the best-selling book comes The Hunger Games: Training Days Strategy Game! Coinciding with the release of the third book in the Hunger Games saga this fall, Training Days allows 2-6 players to follow in the footsteps of their favorite Tributes as they compete in the days leading up to the arena.

Read More here

I am so freakin excited for Linger! The Hunger Games game seems cool, but it looks like it’s a limited edition; the site says it won’t be available for purchase after July 4th.

What do you think of the board game? Will you be attending a Linger release event?

Trailer for Linger

Linger, the sequel to the Bestselling Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater comes out July 20th. Check out the trailer below (created by the author)!

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 Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole. (description via amazon.com)

Check out Maggie Stiefvater’s site here

Author Alex Bledsoe resurrects his vampire in Memphis

by Raelynn Coombs at The Examiner

Author Alex Bledsoe grew up in Tennessee just an hour north of Memphis. He  is a stay at home dad and has been a reporter, editor, photographer and a door to door vacuum cleaner salesman.  Although he now lives in Wisconsin, his vampire novel Blood Groove resurrects his Memphis roots. If you love all things vampire, read Blood Groove and its soon to be released sequel, The Girls with Games of Blood.

What is Blood Groove about?

It’s about Baron Rudolfo Zginski, a Continental vampire who’s staked in 1915 Wales and resurrects in 1975 Memphis.  The book also deals with race and gender issues of its time, as manifested in both the humans and vampires.

Read More here

Design: Don’t judge a book by its cover, particularly in France

Tom Lamont at The Observer

Albums are sold across the world inside a universal sleeve, blockbuster films branded in a singular style. But novels, by a convention that nobody in the publishing industry seems fully able to explain, must be re-jacketed from territory to territory. It inspires all kinds of illustrative madness, and makes browsing foreign bookshelves a fascinating – often bewildering – experience.

“What you are trying to get across on a cover is the essence of a book, quite an ambiguous thing,” says Nathan Burton, a British designer who created the striking cover for Ali Smith’s The Accidental, based on an image of a dead woman. “Designers in different countries read and interpret the fiction in different ways.”

Read More here

I am SO excited for Linger. Shiver is one of my favorite books, Young Adult or otherwise. I’ve always wondered why book covers change when they go over seas, since movie posters usually don’t. But they change the covers when they reprint books into paperback too, so who knows.

What did you think of the trailer? Do you agree that book covers should change by country?

Our friends over at Novel Novice have some exciting news that we want to share with you…

Novel Novice is launching a mega countdown to the July 20th release of Linger by Maggie Stiefvater. This is the sequel to Shiver. They will be featuring cool posts every Saturday — and then every day starting July 13th — all leading up to the July 20th release of Linger.

And they’re kicking off the countdown with a great contest – and the prize is an advance copy of Linger! (Second place: a copy of Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater). The contest runs through May 22nd, and there are lots of ways to enter. See all the rules & details here:
http://novelnovice.com/2010/05/01/linger-countdown-contest-win-an-advanced-copy/

We’ll also be posting all of our Linger countdown goodies here:
http://novelnovice.com/features/projects-features/the-countdown-to-linger-by-maggie-stiefvater/

We’re even teaming up with Shiver fansite Behind Yellow Eyes for some cool posts & prizes. (And if you’re interested in partnering up with us for some Linger countdown goodness, shoot us an email!)

Sounds like fun. Check it out.

OBS Elite affiliate Novel Novice is kicking off an exciting countdown today…and offering a special prize for their contest!

Today marks the beginning of our countdown to Linger by Maggie Stiefvater … the book is due out in stores July 20th, but we’ll be spending every Saturday until then counting down to the book’s release. And when the big release day is just one week away, our countdown kicks into high gear with daily posts! We have some really exciting stuff planned, and we’re kicking things off in a big way!

Yes folks, we’ve got our hands on an extra Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) of Linger.

And we’re giving this copy away to one of you lucky people!!

So, how can you win? Since this is such a cool prize — and frankly, one that a lot of people want to get their hands on — you have to prove you’re really in it to win it. Check out the details:

How to Enter:

There are a number of ways you can enter the contest, and each way will earn you points. The more points you earn, the better your chances of winning! Here’s how you can earn points:

+1 point each:

* Follow Novel Novice on Twitter
* Re-Tweet this contest
* Become a fan of Novel Novice on Facebook
* Subscribe to Novel Novice via e-mail (see button in left-hand sidebar)
* post a link to this contest on your website or blog

+5 points each:

* Print out our Linger Contest flier and tape it to your locker, then send us a photo of it! E-mail photos to sara.novelnovice@comcast.net with the subject line LINGER

* Tell your teacher about our contest; have them e-mail us to prove you told them! E-mails should be sent to sara.novelnovice@comcast.net with the subject line LINGER

+10 points:

* This is the big one … in 250-500 words tell us:

What makes you shiver?

* E-mail your responses to sara.novelnovice@comcast.net with the subject line LINGER

Read more HERE