This was a decently fun book for a second in a series. Of course, it has its problems like any other book, and I did not enjoy it as much as I enjoyed Shiver, but it had the potential to be much much worse. With the way that Shiver ended, I would have been more than happy to leave the story there and let my mind wonder what the future held for these characters. There were obviously plotlines set up to continue the series, but those could have easily been removed from the original book if they meant to keep it as a standalone. That being said, Linger is a better second book in a series than other second books I have read. 

     My feelings about this book are so mixed. On the one hand, this book is better than I thought it would be. On the other hand, this is not an objectively good book and I did have my issues with it. Hence the middle-of-the-road rating for this one. 

     I think the biggest issue that I had with this book is the overall plot. It just is not as entertaining as the first one, and I kept drifting off and zoning out during this book. The weird thing is though, when I would zone back in, I wasn’t confused and I didn’t really miss anything. The pacing is a bit weird, and it feels like nothing happens until the very end and then everything explodes and it hits the fan. 

     The growing relationship between Sam and Grace is what saved this book. Following them through their relationship is just so happy and reminds the reader of what it felt like to fall in love for the first time. It really reminded me of having a crush in high school and feeling like everything was the end of the world because it was the end of our world. Sam and Grace just love each other so much and are experiencing all of these firsts together and it is exciting to see, but also heartbreaking when considering the situation they are in. 

     While I still really love Isabelle as a side character, I think she is the only side character that I really care about at this point. The parents are pretty awful and even Cole is a bit unnecessary at this point. While Cole is actually pretty funny, I think there is absolutely no reason for him to be there other than to create tension. He does serve a bit more of a purpose in the 3rd book, but that’s not the book we’re reviewing is it? Sam and Grace are really the only ones that I care about, and even Sam can be a little melodramatic for my taste. 

     So you can probably see why this book is so middle of the road for me. It is hard to definitively label this book as either good or bad, which makes it a pretty difficult book to review. Overall, it could have been a lot worse, but it did not strongly hold up next to the first book. 3/5 stars to Linger by Maggie Stiefvater.