“Does it Bother you your parents are the way they are?”
…
“Grace, it’s not fine. I’ve been here for — how many weeks now? I don’t even know. But I know how it is, and it is not fine.”
…
“You don’t have to pretend around me.”
…
“Why can’t I make them love me any more than they do?”— Maggie Stiefavter, Shiver
Rereading Shiver felt like stepping back into a soft, wintry dream I never quite left behind. I still absolutely adore this book. Maggie Stiefvater captures the feeling of young love so vividly — that tender, dizzying sensation of falling for someone new and believing the whole world has tilted because of it. The romance between Grace and Sam is delicate, earnest, and quietly intense in a way that still resonates with me.
Love, Loneliness, and the Things You Notice
What hit me differently this time was Grace’s relationship with her parents. As a teen, I recognized the distance, but I didn’t have the mind for what it meant. Rereading it now, the neglect feels so much sharper. The empty house. The emotional absence. The casual dismissal of her needs.
It made me think about why this book became one of my absolute favorites when I was young. Looking back, I can see how closely Grace’s loneliness matched my own. Her quiet resilience, the way she took care of herself because no one else would — those parallels made me unexpectedly sad for my younger self.
There’s a trend on social media where people play a song they loved as a teen and caption it:
“Parents: I didn’t know you were depressed.
Me: Listening to this song…”
This book feels exactly like that for me. A story that once felt like escapism now reads like a mirror I didn’t know I was holding.
A Story
Despite the emotional sting, I loved revisiting this world. The writing is atmospheric and lyrical. The wolves, the woods, the cold slipping in around the edges — it all blends into a setting that feels both mystical and deeply human. Grace and Sam’s connection remains just as compelling as it always was, full of softness and sincerity.
Final Thoughts
Shiver will always be a beloved book for me, but rereading it brought a flood of new insight. It reminded me of who I was when I first read it, and of the quiet ache I didn’t realize I was carrying. Even so, it’s still a beautiful, evocative story about love, longing, and finding warmth in the cold. I’m grateful I picked it up again.
Have you read Shiver?
Hazel Harbor Books 
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