Novel Review: Sinner (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #3.5) by Maggie Stiefvater

Rating (Out of 5): ~4.5

Genre: YA Paranormal Romance

Publisher: Scholastic Press

Release Date: July 1, 2014

Spoilers?: No.

Buy it here: Amazon. Barnes and Noble. Book Depository. Powells.

Teaser Tuesday. Wishlist Thursday.

Goodreads Synopsis:

 A standalone companion book to the internationally bestselling Shiver Trilogy.

Sinner follows Cole St. Clair, a pivotal character from the #1 New York Times bestselling Shiver Trilogy. Everybody thinks they know Cole's story. Stardom. Addiction. Downfall. Disappearance. But only a few people know Cole's darkest secret -- his ability to shift into a wolf. One of these people is Isabel. At one point, they may have even loved each other. But that feels like a lifetime ago. Now Cole is back. Back in the spotlight. Back in the danger zone. Back in Isabel's life. Can this sinner be saved?

The Cover:

I think the cover is fitting for the book, what with the setting and the similarity to the other books in the series. But something about it, maybe the colors or something, just feels a little off to me, not perfected. I'm not quite sure what. It's still a good cover, though.

Quotes:

• "'I am fine with whatever tomorrow brings.’
  Which was a ridiculous sentiment. Tomorrow brought exactly what you told it to bring. If you told it nothing, nothing was what you got. I wanted something. No. I wanted everything.” (Hardback, pg. 108)
• "I didn’t want to feel like I was the only person in the world who hated people.” (Pg. 129)
• "The ugly masqueraded as pretty, and it turned out that now the pretty pretended to be ugly. I wondered if there was anything in this entire world that was real.” (Pg. 196)
• "There was nothing terrible about them. They had no particular power over me. No more than anyone else.
  It had never been them. It had always been me.” (Pg. 275)
• "I was so tired of being alone, but I was always alone, even with people around me. And I was so tired of being surrounded, but I was always surrounded, even when I was by myself. There was so much talk about how everyone wanted to be so goddamned special. I was so tired of being the only one of my kind.” (Pg. 292)
• "'I just live, Cole. I don’t go away in my head. I deal with the crap as it happens, and then it’s gone. When you don’t think about it, it lives forever.’” (Pg. 294)
• "'Just forget about everything. Just go somewhere and get smashed and pretend like there are no problems or consequences. I know why. Because there are still problems and consequences. And going and—and—partying doesn’t make them go away. I feel like I’m the only sane person in the world. I don’t get why this whole world run on stupidity.’” (Pg. 311)
• "When something caught on fire, you could say It went up in flames or It all burned down. Up and down at once. Everywhere. It was all just destroyed.” (Pg. 336)
• "'It’ll get easier,’ Paolo said.
  But I knew that. That was the worst part. The worst part was that eventually you forgot about the people you loved. The dead ones and the ones who raised you and the ones you wanted to be with at the end of the day.” (Pg. 346)

Review:

I am a huge fan of Stiefvater. I love her, and I love her books. The Wolves of Mercy Falls series was my first of hers, and I loved it. When I found out that she was writing a spin-off of Cole and Isabel, I was seriously excited. And now I’m just so happy that she wrote it, because it was perfect.

The writing was different. Whereas in her The Raven Cycle series, her writing is beautiful and lyrical and quirky for all the characters, this one was in first person and while still those things I listed, it was more characterized. Which is to say that I still loved it.

I love Cole and Isabel. Cole is a little distant, but he’s also kind of open, and he loves a good show, he loves getting attention, and he’s an addict. Isabel is hard to get to know, and she hates people, but she loves Cole, even if she doesn’t want to.

I actually think this is the first book or character that I have ever read where the person legitimately does not like people. I’ve heard people say that before, but it’s always more to sound cool, to be cool, because other people are; it’s when a person is trying too hard. Isabel isn’t like that. She legitimately does not want people around her. She wants them to leave her alone. She’s kind of hateful, like a hurt, spiteful kitten. I love her.

Cole loves attention, and he’s an addict. Only now he’s replaced drugs with being a werewolf. And it’s bad. And frustrating. But I’m also kind of proud of him.

These two are perfect for each other, and they really needed a book to themselves. They needed to work through some things, and it’s perfect how they did it. It’s messy and hateful and loveable and I love it.

Aside from these two, there were other characters in the book. We heard from Sam and Grace twice, I think, and that was nice. I miss them. We also met Isabel’s cousin Sofia, who is a little fearful and in need of reassurance, and I liked her. I liked her and Isabel’s relationship especially. Then there was Leon, Cole’s driver, kind of. Leon is great, and his forming relationship with Cole is fantastic. I particularly like the way that Cole kind of adopted him as his friend, and what that did to Leon. We also saw Cole’s bandmate, Jeremy, who is kind of great. I liked the glimpse we got of Jeremy’s life.

I simply loved this book. I loved seeing Cole and Isabel again, the ending was perfect for them. I loved meeting all of the other characters, and how attached I grew to all of them.

Simply put, this book was perfect and I loved it. I cannot wait for her next one.