The Messenger Reviews

I am so happy to be reviewing this book. It is one of my all time favorites! I remember the day I got it. It was the first book that I ever finished in a day. It was really the book that brought me into the Young Adult genre. I love Shiver with every bone in my body. This is one of the books I re-read all the time. This book is one that I go back to all the time, and I feel like it is perfect for all occasions.
When this book was handed to me, I was skeptical. I was kind of against the whole Young Adult genre, especially vampire and werewolf books. However this book, while there are werewolves in it, I wouldn't really call it a werewolf story. Yes, a girl falls in love with a werewolf. Still, I don't call this a "werewolf story" because the problem that Sam and Grace face is not the fact that he is a werewolf, it is the fact that he has limited time. The whole werewolf thing just adds a bit of flair and helps move the story forward while making it more entertaining. Sam almost never shifts throughout the book, and to me the whole werewolf thing is just a plot device to set the real conflict rolling.
One part of this book that I love so much is the characters. Grace and Sam are two complex, multi-sided characters who I absolutely adore. Just when you think you figure one of them out, you learn something new about them that makes them so much more interesting. I am so glad that both of them narrate this story. I love them together, and I love how things start with them right from the get-go. There is no beating around the bush with these two, but it's not really insta-love either. The conflict I found uncommon and mature. It wasn't some oh-woe-is-me, I-like-him-but-he-doesn't-like-me deal, it was basically a fight against the clock. 
Maggie Stiefvater is one of my favorite writers, mostly because of this book. Her writing is absolutely beautiful and incredibly thoughtful. I got completely wrapped up in Sam and Grace and the story line as a whole. I even felt myself caring for some of the minor characters more than I normally do. This was really the first of only a few books that I cried during. I won't say anything about what happens, but if you've read it, you probably know exactly when I cried. Even when I re-read it I sometimes cry, because there is some sick foreshadowing in this book. I read somewhere that when Stiefvater wrote this book she wanted to make people cry, and boy, did she accomplish her goal. 
I would suggest this book to any person thirteen and older, even if they don't usual like werewolf stories. This book is one of my absolute favorites, and I honestly think that everyone who enjoys Young Adult Fiction should read this book, or at least one of Maggie Stiefvater's many marvelous books.
Five out of Five Stars