Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

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Scholastic, 2011.
Take a small, rural American town located near a forest, add a teenage girl with loving but inattentive parents and a boy of unknown background and you have the setting for another series in the werewolf/shape-shifter genre.
Forever, the third and final book in Maggie Stiefvater's Wolves of Mersey Falls series, concludes the story of Grace and Sam, two teenagers who have been attacked by wolves and carry the 'disease' that turns them into wolves when winter's cold arrives.
The plot is driven by both action and drama, with occasional surprises and emotional tension and with reflection by the characters on themes such as the qualities that make us human, human frailty, friendship, loyalty and love. By the third book the romance between Grace and Sam becomes repetitive, but this is balanced by the development of the relationship between bad-boy Cole and Isabel.
Stiefvater's writing has developed since writing the first book of the series, Shiver. The prose is concise, poetic and flowing. She nicely captures the intensity and purity of first teenage love. Each chapter is written from a different character's point of view, which can occasionally be confusing, but also presents the author with the opportunity to consider the themes from different and often unique perspectives.
Forever is most definitely a continuation of the Wolves of Mersey Falls Series and ideally read as one of a series. Read on its own the storyline is quite confusing with many gaps and unanswered questions.
Forever is an engaging read for early to middle teens.
Kiera James

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