Stiefvater leaves the faeries of <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Lament and <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">Ballad for a lyrical tale of alienated werewolves and first love. For years, Grace has been fascinated by the yellow-eyed wolf that saved her from its pack when she was a child. Sam, bitten by a wolf as a boy, is that wolf. Long obsessed with each other at a distance, they finally meet after a wolf hunt (inspired by the apparent death of a local teen) sends a wounded and temporarily human Sam into Grace's arms. Their young love is facilitated by Grace's hands-off parents (“Once upon a time, I would've leaped at the rare opportunity of curling up with Mom on the couch. But now, it sort of felt like too little, too late,” Grace muses), but threatened by two linked crises: the fact that Sam will soon lose the ability to become human and the instability of a new lycanthrope. Stiefvater skillfully increases the tension throughout; her take on werewolves is interesting and original while her characters are refreshingly willing to use their brains to deal with the challenges they face. Ages 13–up. <EMPHASIS TYPE=""ITALIC"">(Aug.)

Gr 9 Up-Grace, 17, loves the peace and tranquility of the woods behind her home. It is here during the cold winter months that she gets to see her wolfthe one with the yellow eyes. Grace is sure that he saved her from an attack by other wolves when she was nine. Over the ensuing years he has returned each season, watching her with those haunting eyes as if longing for something to happen. When a teen is killed by wolves, a hunting party decides to retaliate. Grace races through the woods and discovers a wounded boy shivering on her back porch. One look at his yellow eyes and she knows that this is her wolf in human form. Fate has finally brought Sam and Grace together, and as their love grows and intensifies, so does the reality of what awaits them. It is only a matter of time before the winter cold changes him back into a wolf, and this time he might stay that way forever. Told from alternating points of view, the narrative takes a classic Romeo & Juliet plot and transforms it into a paranormal romance that is beautiful and moving. Readers will easily identify with the strong, dynamic characters. The mythology surrounding the wolf pack is clever and so well written that it seems perfectly normal for the creatures to exist in today's world. A must-have that will give Bella and Edward a run for their money. Donna Rosenblum, Floral Park Memorial High School, NY

Stiefvater would like to remind you that werewolves can be just as sexy as those headline-hogging vampires. Grace has always had a thing for the wolves in the woods behind her house, and when she finally meets the human form of a particularly enchanting wolf, Sam, the two cling to each other with the force of destiny. Time is running out, though, as these lycanthropes don't change with full moons but rather each year spend less time as humans and more as wolves, until the balance completely tips them into the animal world. While the two leads are almost entirely defined by how much they love each other, Stiefvater is able to take their romance seriously without turning it into an overly brooding affair, and defines their interactions with a fresh sense of humor and playful back-and-forths. A ticking clock provides plenty of dramatic tension throughout, while elegant writing that is especially intuitive about the animal world sets this apart from the bulk of paranormal romances. Note the presence of one tasteful, fade-to-black sex scene.

The gathering chill of a Minnesota autumn provides the backdrop for this idealized romance between Grace, a high school junior, and golden-eyed Sam, who turns into a wolf each fall. Poorly developed secondary characters limit the novel's focus, but a well-wrought atmosphere in which the tension ratchets up every time the temperature dips down keeps readers on edge.

Grace and Sam met six years ago when she was attacked by werewolves. Sam changed from a yellow-eyed wolf to a yellow-eyed boy and carried her home. Although bitten, Grace survived and did not change, the only werewolf victim ever to do so. She has a more developed sense of smell, improved hearing, is stronger physically, but she is still a girl, only now a girl connected to a wolf, her guardian who watches her every winter. When Grace finally meets Sam again in human form, it is in the fall of her seventeenth year. Sam, attacked and forcibly changed when he was seven, has grown up spending his winters with Beck, his werewolf mentor, running through the woods with the pack, and his summers in human form, learning how to read, write, and become a man. The chapters have temperatures for headings because these werewolves are turned, not by a full moon, but by the cold, and there is plenty of cold in Mercy Falls, Minnesota. Also the number of times they can change is limited, and this change may be Sam's last in human form. After the wolves attack a local teenager, Sam is shot and winds up in Grace's arms, literally. She saves him, but the days are getting colder and the nights longer. Neither can bear the thought of being separated, but one cannot argue with Mother Nature. The first volume in The Wolves of Mercy Falls series is yet another winner for the author of Lament. (Flux/Llewellyn, 2008)/VOYA December 2008). This novel is perfect for Twilight fans or a Romeo and Juliet list. It is sensuous, intense, riveting, and so very satisfying.ùBonnie Kunzel.