Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls #2) by Maggie Stiefvater

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 the 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 a human. 

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

Paperback, 384 pages
First Published January 1st, 2010 by Scholastic Inc.

My Rating:4.1/5
Genres: Fantasy, Young-Adult
Read from August 18 to 22, 2014

MY REVIEW:

“   This is the story of a boy who used to be a wolf and a girl who was becoming one   ” 

Linger is a story told from four different points of view, those of Sam, Grace, Cole, and Isabel. We are introduced to Cole, who is one of the newly made wolves. Cole happens to change into a human on Isabel's doorstep, which inevitably tangles the two in a mess of attraction, self pity and and pain. Meanwhile, Sam is struggling to fight his own demons despite the catalytic relationship that builds up between him and Cole, as he is visioning a common future for him and Grace. What no one notices though, is that Grace's health is debilitated - is it just the wolf inside her, stirring to shape her into one? Or is it something fatal, threatening to take her away once and for all?   

If you read my review of Shiver, you will realize that i wasn't thrilled about the book, i continued reading the series out of curiosity. What happened in Linger, is that there were so many feelings out there, I was gripped by the book in seconds - Isabel's pain, Grace's fear, Sam's uncertainty, Cole's self-loathing. It was like diving headfirst to the ground in a deadly roller-coaster, and going back up towards the sky.
The book's ending left me breathless, and it was not just the feeling of pain and loss, or the awe on Cole's discovery - It was the artful way Maggie Stiefvater described the hospital and the blood dripping to the floor, the tension it caused and the agony I felt at that moment for the story's sequel .
The only thing that felt wrong about this book, is Grace's parents. I mean, hey, how could they not notice that there was a boy in their daughter's bedroom? I can't accept it, because you could be as irresponsible as you want to be, but wouldn't you've notice if someone was secretly living in the house with you? Even if you are unnaturally happy every second of the day, like Grace's mom is presented to be. I can't explain it, they just feel off. Fake. [SPOILER] Plus, I think that Grace's dad is right about Sam, he is a bad influence, because even if it was the love of my life, I would not disrespect my parents this way. PERIOD. [End of spoiler]

THE CHARACTERS:

• Grace Brisbane: 

“  I closed my eyes. “What is happening with you?”

Grace was quiet for so long that I started to doubt that I’d say my question out loud. Then

 she said: “I don’t want to go to sleep. I’m afraid to go to sleep”   ” – Sam

Grace is keeping a secret from Isabel and Sam, because she does not want to show them how worried she is about her health. She has to struggle with her parents, who try to make her break up with Sam, leading her to a series of reckless acts. In Linger, we see that Grace has invested a lot in her relationship with Sam. Also, a notable detail is that Grace is reserved and quizzical as a character, and she constantly gave me the feeling that two books later, I still don't know her at all. I don't think it's bad, on the contrary, I admire the writer who could handle it this way. 

• Sam Roth:

 “  I turned away from her, linking my hands behind my head. “God, Isabel. What do 

you want from me? What do you want?”

“I want you to grow up, she snapped. “What did you think, that you could just work in that 

bookstore forever and live in a dream world with Grace? Beck’s gone. You’re Beck now. 

Start acting like an adult, or you’re going to lose everything.”   ”– Sam

In my review of Shiver, I made it quite obvious that I can't cope with Sam. I still had the same issues dealing with a character who is so awfully sensitive and has the constant feeling that everybody has wronged him. Truth is though, that when I finished Linger Sam had won his place in my Wolves of Mercy Falls world as the best narrator. He still irritates me but he has the ability to "read" other people and identify their emotions, which balances out everything else for me - I respect that kind of people. 

Another fact is, that Sam's world is holding in place because of Grace. He is too absorbed in his thoughts and emotions to get a grip on his life, and Grace's unfaltering temper is a huge benefit.
Right below, in Cole's part, are some more of my thoughts about Sam and his relationship with Cole.   

• Cole St. Claire:

“  “Aren’t you afraid?” Isabel asked, suddenly, and I opened my eyes. I hadn’t 

realized I’d shut them. Her gaze was intense.

“Of what?”

“Of losing yourself?”

I told her the truth: “That’s what I’m hoping for.”   ” - Cole

Cole is naturally gifted with a versatile mind and both Grace and Isabel externally describe him as sublimely handsome. Sam is sure he knows him from somewhere, but none of them is aware of the truth - Cole used to be the lead singer of the band "NARCOTICA". NARCOTICA are supposed to be known world wide and all female fans are enraptured with him. Cole consciously decided to become a werewolf as he couldn't survive his own lifestyle anymore. 

It feels like if Cole and Sam are catalysts for each other. They want the exact opposites in life, as Sam's dream is close to what Cole left behind him. They event want the different halves of their nature - Cole is struggling to stay a wolf, when Sam goes through hell to stay human. It's an intriguing relationship that made me want to read the third book of the series.
Cole suffers from a big load of self-loathing, which makes him and Isabel kin souls and builds a jumble of attraction and aversion between them.

• Isabel Culpeper

“  “It was a girl. She was pretty much drop-dead gorgeous in an eat-your-heart way, all 

huge blue eyes partially hidden behind a jagged fringe of blond hair. And a tilt to her 

shoulders like she knew it. When she swept her eyes up and down my body, I felt as If I’d 

been judged and found wanting”  ” – Cole 

Isabel is neck-deep in a sea of self-hatred and remorse for Jack's death, which drastically changes her as a person in the months that intercede between Shiver and Linger 's timeline. She makes sure that her family despises her too, as if there is one thing she can not stand is compassion and kindness that are freely given. Her diva tendencies have not ceased though, which Cole finds extremely interesting. In Isabel's and Cole's relationship I find all the things I missed from Grace's and Sam's - that sexual tension that caused goosebumps and the bitterness that makes you curse them both for their unyielding pride.
Isabel is friends with Grace in Linger but she is the only one who risks her almost-friendship with Sam to alarm him about the current facts in his life.


To sum up, Linger is a beautiful and sad story that moved me a lot. Isabel, Sam, Grace and Cole are not ordinary teens in they way they're thinking or feeling - but still, the emotional depth of their relationship rings true. This book that made it to "my favorites" without any second thoughts.  

If you want to check out my reviews on the rest of the books in the series, click on the image below to be redirected: