Maggie Stiefvater, "Linger"

Linger is a beautiful, elegant, and searing sequel. It contains all of the drama and romance of Shiver, but also possesses a new urgency as secrets are kept and tensions rise. Linger opens up Sam and Grace's world to include Cole and Isabel as narrators, and divulges even more about the wolves and how they live. Stiefvater reveals some wonderful character growth for each of the four narrators as well; Sam is still trying to get used to the fact that he is fully human and has a future ahead of him. Grace is feeling the stress of keeping secrets from her parents and Sam and her anger at her parents' constant absences. Sharp-tongued Isabel suffers from guilt at her part in her brother's death, and even though she'd like to stay away from the wolves, she can't help but be drawn to Cole, a sardonic boy who chose to be a wolf to escape the problems in his human life, but is finding that being a wolf is actually making him confront the things he has tried to bury. These issues that force the characters to evolve keep Linger from seeming like a transition from Shiver to the next book, and give it enough drama and tension to keep you rapt, especially during the climactic final scenes when Sam, Grace, Isabel, and Cole realize that the inner workings of lycanthropy may not be quite as they thought.