Book Review: Linger and Forever (Mercy Falls Series #2 & #3)

In February, I reviewed Shiver, book one in the Mercy Falls trilogy. I've been so busy reading lots and lots of books, I haven't gotten around to doing my review of the second two books in the series until now.


Books: Linger, Forever
Author: Maggie Stiefvater
My rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Brief synopsis:

Linger
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.


Forever
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.


My review 
This series went down hill a bit for me with each book. While I really enjoyed the first, by the second I was a bit more disinterested in what was happening with the characters and by the third I was really burned out and ready to be done. 


In Linger, Grace fights to stop what is happening to her-- her inevitable journey into becoming a wolf. A new character, Cole, is also introduced. A famous lead-singer in a popular boy band, with Cole's introduction into the pack, they now have the concern of the larger public learning about them. While it adds another layer to the story, it also moves away from the series core, which is the relationship between Cole and Grace. I was also dissapointed that they did little with Grace's best friend, Olivia, who become a wolf in book one. I would have liked to hear from her perspective as a wolf. 


In Forever, the tension builds as Grace has become a wolf and the pack is threatened by a wolf hunt. The story again introduces tension through Cole's story line, as well as Grace's story line as a wolf and the ultimate fight to save the entire pack from being murdered. I will say, Stiefvater does a nice job of building the tension at the end as they work to save the wolves. 


Overall, I think the series was pretty good, but not great. For those that really enjoy young adult fiction, it's a decent read. It's a different path than a lot of the popular young adult dystopian fiction, which is a nice break. 


(Final note: I will admit, I finished these books in April... It's July...So, I apologize for some of the lack of spunk and details in this review. I'll try to be quicker with other future reviews!)