Forever (Wolves of Mercy Falls #3)

I'm still not sure what I thought. I flew through it and I am relieved to know how the characters I've invested time and emotion into turned out... but the ending really didn't feel complete to me. I read it several times, but I am still not sure exactly what happened and what exactly the goodbye is for.

I was waiting for this book for a year and a half and when I finally got it, I was like nearly in tears. But since it was a year after I had read Shiver and Linger, I had to read them again before finally reading Forever. When I was re-reading Shiver and Linger, I was just in love as he first time I had read them. This book did live up to my expectations and it also reach a bit beyond.

The characters are great, and since you read in more than one character's view, you got a great feel for what was happening. I felt that all the characters were amazing in the own way, and I wish that all books are just as good as this. My favorite character was Cole. I liked him a lot. Even though he was super smart and super weird, I felt strangely attached to him.

I loved this beautiful conclusion to The Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. I wish that all the other Maggie Stiefvater's books were as good as this one, not that they are bad. I thought that the Scorpio Races was pretty good, but I loved this the most out of all of them.

I was waiting for AGES to borrow this book, I couldn't find it at my local library so I begged my parents to drive me all the way to another one. I never regret it though, it's an absolutely beautiful ending to a beautiful series.

I love the characters, and I thought it was great that Maggie let us read in more than one character's point of view, it really gave a sense of connection to all the characters.

At the start of the book, Grace is the wolf watching silently from the woods and Sam is the one waiting for her to shift back into human form - to become Grace again. She shifts back a few times, as they do when they are unstable, and narrowly misses Sam each time she does. Back at home though, everyone is blaming Sam for Grace's disappearance and, when a girl mysteriously dies at the hands (nope, maybe paws) of a wolf (Shelby), the wolves' lives hang in the balance as a massive hunt gets underway.

As I said before, it was a beautiful ending to a beautiful series, but the ending made me kind of sad, with all the goodbyes, and I had a couple of questions at the end. Like: did the cure even work? I mean it probably did but I wasn't really sure. And another: so what happened afterwards? And another: So what happened to all the wolves?

I wish Maggie had made an epilogue at the end to show us what happened afterwards, maybe with Cole and Isabel (definitely together) working together to protect all the wolves, or just... being together. And maybe something to show what would happen to all the wolves. And what happened to Sam and Grace, like maybe they finish college together, Sam pursues his music career, with Grace by his side. Forever.

But those are just trivial things really. I mean maybe Maggie wanted us to fill in the gaps with our imagination. This is one of those books that will keep you thinking about it for ages after you've finished. Everyone should read it.

Interesting ending to the trilogy.
I liked how things turned out but still felt that the development of the story was slow.
I still liked the characters and their progress.

I'm really, terribly sad that this wasn't everything I had hoped it would be. Maybe I put it on a pedestal, but no matter what the reason it really fell a bit short. I felt as if I was continuously waiting for something else to happen. And let's not even talk to me about that ending (quietly grumbles to self).

First, the writing. Stiefvater's writing is what first pulled me into Shiver and caught me again in Linger. It's the sort of beautiful writing that just takes your breath away and leaves you wondering "why can't I do amazing things like that?" There were pieces in Forever that completely recaptured that feeling and others that just felt a bit...odd. Sometimes the characters seemed to say things or talk in ways that simply didn't fit. The teenagers talked and used words I couldn't even hint at the meanings of. And Officer Koenig talked in a formal way that I couldn't put with my image of him.

I still quite enjoy the science behind the wolves instead of the simple "BAM! And then he was a wolf." I liked getting a little more into the science with Cole this time. I almost wish I could have learned more about. Speaking of Cole. I kept hearing everyone talk about Cole and he was so awesome in this one. I never payed much attention since Cole was always give or take for me. But seriously. I'm not in love with Cole or anything, but I absolutely loved reading about him and all the bits from his point of view. He was an awesome character. If you pick it up for nothing else, pick it up for Cole.

I have to say that Sam and Grace have the type of love everyone should aspire to. They're comfortable like an old married couple only they still get those butterflies (and, you know, those sexy-times urges). I hope to have a Sam and Grace love for the rest of my life.

I'm quite sad there's nothing left for us in Mercy Falls. I'm also quite sad that the ending left me feeling a little unfinished. Not a happy camper did this ending make.

Final thoughts: While Forever wasn't the best of the Mercy Falls books for me, it's still worth the read. There's a little bit of action with a good dash of love mixed in and all the different points of view make for a fantastic addition to the reading experience.

It was unexpected, I have to say, how much I liked this book: at first, I was looking forward to it, as my sister was gushing on about it, and I generally value her opinion, plus I'd read The Scorpio Races, which I'd loved. Then I was disappointed reading shiver, because it was...I don't know, more young, maybe--which is what Grace observes about Sam, and herself, at the end of forever--nice touch, there. So that was alright(ish) at the end; though I really didn't want to read on after shiver, but did anyway--cuz my sister wanted me to read them ( I found out later that she'd only read shiver...we do have our differences...lol (she's younger, maybe why...anyway)), and also because I hate quitting halfway through. And it was a good thing, because linger was way better than shiver, and forever surpassed its predecessors by far.

The best aspect was that the characters were fully realized in forever--made you really see them as real people, which I've found few authors can do, despite being great writers.

The one thing I noticed that may be a mistake is when Grace thinks of Shelby as 'the one responsible for Cole's death': I thought it should be 'the one who had three deaths on her hands', as she was the one responsible for Beck and Cole's deaths, as well being the one had who killed Olivia.

All in all, a pretty good read, if with a slow start...I give forever a 4.87, linger 4.15, and shiver 3.