The Epic LINGER Quad-Review!

Last year, the FNC introduced the co-review -- a two-person, conversational book review -- because when two of us love a book, we both want to review it! So what happens when all four of us love a book? We bring you... THE QUAD-REVIEW!

And continuing with Maggie Stiefvater week, we're quad-reviewing LINGER!!!!

About LINGER: 

In 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.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love—the light and the dark, the warm and the cold—in a way you will never forget.

The Spoiler-Free Quad-Review

(Courtesy of Google Chat)

Janine: We're so excited to Gchat review LINGER!

Donna: This is a first for us, but we figured – an awesome book with four narrators (Grace, Sam, Isabel, and Cole) deserves four reviewers!

Frankie: Why don't we start with our newest member of the pack: Cole! He’s sexy.

Sara: I love Cole! He's a different sexy than Sam.

Frankie: And the anti-Sam.

Donna: Cole is a Maggie bad boy. Meaning, he has significant depth and is redeemable.

Janine: And mysterious.

Frankie: Though Cole and Sam have a similar arc, don't you think? They both need to be saved and both are trying to hold onto one form -- Cole-Wolf, Sam-Human.

Sara: That's a good point, Frankie -- the two sets of stories -- Grace/Sam and Isabel/Cole -- feel very different when you read them, but they actually kind of mirror each other. And I have to say, while I love Grace and Sam, I really dug the whole Isabel/Cole thing.

Frankie: Which is what made them work so well, and kept the entire text fresh.

Donna: Yes! SUCH chemistry. Maggie gave us the passionate, will they/won't they, new couple chemistry, AND the Sam and Grace steady, established love chemistry.

Sara: And it was nice getting inside Isabel's head. She was really engaging as a secondary character in SHIVER and I liked having her come to the forefront in LINGER.

Donna: Isabel intrigued me. Falling for a wolf after her brother died trying to un-become one? Complicated. Plus, Isabel's dad keeps trying to kill Cole...

Sara: OMG, Isabel's dad. Her dad is like the Professor Umbridge of Mercy Falls.

Donna: hahahahaha

Janine: Cole and Isabel are raw and their histories are so loaded. Makes for great tension! And I love tension. Not to mention their complicated motivations.

Donna: Their story was woven very well into the Sam and Grace storyline though, with them dealing with Sam’s permanent human-ness and Grace’s hidden illness. It flowed naturally.

Sara: Yeah, and it was nice to have more people for Grace and Sam to interact with.

Donna: Expanding their world.

Sara: It made Sam and Grace’s relationship less insular and more real. Something else I liked about LINGER was the chance to get to know Sam more. We really only knew him as NotWolfSam in SHIVER, whereas now we're really getting to know him as HumanSam.

Janine: Very true. How about we switch from discussing characters to pacing?

Sara: I thought the story was paced well. I was dubious of four narrators at first, I have to say. But I think it really pulled the story along.

Janine: That's very serious and literary analysis-y of you, Sara. :)

Frankie: It did, and what Maggie does well with the multiple narrative structure is calls off all bets on who is around at the end. With a first person narrator, you kind of know they live.

Donna: True, I never once got bored with middle novel syndrome. Though LINGER definitely acts as a bridge between SHIVER and FOREVER, it has its own plot.

Frankie: One you had to race to the end for! And that ending....OH!

Sara: The ending was so crazy! We can't say too much, obviously. But the pages...they were a'turning!

Frankie: I know! No spoilers, but...WOW! The end makes me cry—I’ve read LINGER twice...and it gets me every time.

Donna: Final thoughts?

Frankie: LINGER was fabulous. Can we have a copy of FOREVER, now?

Janine: Please? With nachos on the side?

Sara: I cried like a baby at the end of LINGER. I cried so much I had to text Frankie about it. It was pretty intense.

Janine: So was the ending!

Donna: I didn't anticipate it, but when I looked back on the book, it made sense, and it was building throughout.

Frankie: Ok everyone say one word that sums up LINGER. Go!

Donna: LINGERing! Ok, I cheated. Uh, lyrical!

Sara: Lasting!

Frankie: I was waiting for someone to say that. Longing.

Janine: Intense.

Frankie: Way to break away from our use of alliteration. But nice word choice!

Janine: Lintense.

Sara: Nice.

Donna: And on that lintense note, you need to go out and buy LINGER! The FNC agrees – it’s lawesome!

Alright everyone, hope you enjoyed our first quad-review! 

Add your LINGER thoughts in the comments, and stay tuned for an all-new Maggie Stiefvater interview posting later today and a GIVEAWAY of an ARC and hardcover of LINGER tomorrow!