Review: Linger by Maggie Stiefvater (Spoiler-Free)

4.5 stars because wowzers this got so much better than the first book. While this book still definitely had its overdramatic romance moments, the plot and character development was exceptional yet again, like its predecessor. Also that ending, 10/10. Of course, in the "The Wolves of Mercy Falls" book review tradition of mine, I will fill my review with glorious Teen Wolf gifs. First of all, I genuinely despise Grace's parents. Any time that a word came out of either of their mouths I could not help but go:

They were actually so frustrating, unwilling to understand/listen to their daughter, and hypocritical that I actually wanted to explode whenever they spoke. One prime example of them (specifically her father) being horrible is shown impeccably through this scene: I heard a crack outside my door. A sudden pop, a foot on a floorboard, and then the door creeping softly open. For a single, tiny moment, I thought it might be Sam, somehow, miraculously sneaking in. But then from my nest in my blankets, I saw the shape of my father's shoulders and head as he leaned into my room. I did my best to look asleep while still keeping my eyes slitted open. My father came in a few, hesitant steps, and I thought, with a surprise, He's checking to see if I'm all right. But then he lifted his chin just a little bit, to look at a place just beyond me, and I realized that he wasn't here to make sure I was all right. He was just here to make sure Sam wasn't with me. Oh, and of course I must address the elephant in the room, the other horrible parent in this series. Isabel's dad, Tom Culpeper. (spoiler inserted here on my Goodreads review) Anyway, moving away from those characters, we did get introduced to a new character in this book, and that character is Cole. From what we learned about him, I really like Cole so far. He makes/has made some poor choices in his life, but I think that after some events that happened in this book (spoiler inserted here on my Goodreads review) he will change his mindset on life, and hopefully no longer feel the need to escape it. I am highly anticipating reading the next books in this series soon.

Song I was reminded of while reading: Fresh Eyes