Seven Reasons You Should Put Down Twilight and Pick up Shiver

If you needed seven more reasons to banish Twilight from your bookshelves, dac213's got the goods right here. –Sparkitors

Did you read the Twilight saga? Did you then also read the Need series right up to Entice? And after Entice did you lose faith in the entire supernatural romance genre? Don’t despair, dear friends! There is a decent supernatural teen romance series out there! It's called Shiver, and it was written by Maggie Stiefvater. She happens to be from Virginia, the birthplace of many wonderful people (please disregard my Virginia accent).

Shiver is a supernatural romance filled with a straight up logical plot line and likable, realistic characters. (They even have personalities! Take that, SMeyer.) There is nary a deus ex machina, chromosome, or hasty storyline redirection in sight. Read on to find out exactly how much better Shiver is than Twilight. *Spoiler alert from here on out*

1. The supernatural love interest. Sam (sexy werewolf), unlike Edward (icky vampire), is not controlling, manipulative, or 100 years old. Yes, he can be sad at times, but he has good reason. And yes, he does display stalking behavior, but at the time it's the only way he can be close to the protagonist, Grace. Edward has no excuse, as he’s more than capable of being close to Bella—watching her sleep is just weird and unnecessary. The point is, Sam actually acts like a real, sweet, musically-inclined teenage boy in love. But the best thing about Sam and Grace is that they do their best to work around the sadness of their impossible relationship; they go on dates, hang out, and act like normal teenagers as much as possible. As opposed to, say, touching faces and singing lullabies all the time.

2. The plot holes. In Stiefvater's books, they are filled, and not with chromosomes. Does the story have a few illogical areas? Well, sure. It's a paranormal romance! But does the author change vital parts of the story toward the end to make it work? No. Does she use convenient plot devices to move things along? No.

3. The friends. Grace’s friends aren't throwaway characters used only when Grace needs to do something human or fill a few seats at her wedding. They have personality, they serve multiple purposes, and they act like real people. Unlike Bella’s friends, who somehow still adore her after she ignores them for months, Grace's friend Olivia actually gets mad at Grace for ignoring her. Furthermore, Stiefvater establishes early on that Grace's friendships are drifting, which makes it more believable when she starts spending her time with Sam.

4. The rules. Every supernatural novel has its own set of rules that govern how the supernatural creatures in it act, hide, and manage their society. Twilight vampires sparkle in the sunlight, except during sunset, because…there’s not enough sunlight? And they can go to Florida, because…it’s always sunny there…and…um...they only sparkle in places where it’s intermittently sunny! Yeah, that’s it. No, I don’t know why they don’t all just move there then! Leave me alone! Anyway, my point is that Stephenie Meyer forgets her own rules when they become inconvenient, and Stiefvater doesn’t do that.

5. The neglectful parents. These are necessary to any supernatural romance; after all, what decent parent would let their kid spend an inordinate amount of time with a mysterious boy who disappears in the winter? But while Bella isn't bothered by the fact that she’s basically raising herself (she’s too busy mooning over Edward “Lullaby” Cullen), Grace is, and admitting it makes for a bittersweet moment between her and Sam. It also makes her more of a real character.

6. The attraction. While it’s more than a little odd that Bella prefers a controlling, ancient stalker to the many other guys who’d love to French kiss her, Grace’s attraction to Sam and to wolves in general is explained. I won't tell you how, but it's good.

7. The title. It makes some kind of sense! It’s cold in Minnesota, and the werewolves shiver violently before transforming. I still don’t know what twilight has to do with falling in love with a vampire and living in a rainy town in Washington.

Is everyone who was ever Team Jacob going to rush to read this werewolf romance series?

Related post: GONE vs. Twilight vs. The Hunger Games

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