Linger by Maggie Stiefvater – ARC contest winners

It’s the moment you’ve all been waiting for … yes, we’re announcing the winners of our Linger ARC giveaway! Drumroll …

Rivkie R. is the winner of a Linger ARC

In second place …

Ana M. is the winner of Ballad by Maggie Stiefvater

(Winners, check your email this weekend for details on claiming your prize!)

The winners were chosen completely at random … each person received one entry for every point earned in the contest. (So if you had x3 points, you had three entries in the drawing.)

Now, of course, many of you wrote essay responses to the question, “What makes you shiver?” And while you may not have won the drawing, we want to recognize your hard work. So after the break you’ll find all of the eligible essay entries we received.

Congrats to the winners & thanks to everyone who entered! Remember, keep coming back every week for more contests & features in our Linger Countdown!

Essays: What makes you shiver?

Jasmine H.:

Love makes me shiver. Feeling love for the first time with a person I care about is a wonderful thing. But the great thing is when a writer can truly capture that feeling, put it to words on paper, completely envelope you in that feeling until you feel like you are now longer in the world you are in. You now have joined this new world of wonderful characters that you not only have fallen in love with you can feel the love emanating off of the pages. This love makes me shiver.

Cameron P.:

There’s something about having a chill run down your spine. About gooseflesh prickling your skin. About the tensing of your muscles as something unexpected, unknown creeps into your world. Fear has an unmistakable lure about it that, like its reason, is unknown. Maybe it’s the adrenaline rushing through your system as the need for self-preservation kicks in. The idea that danger lurks around the corner that makes you appreciate the safety of your own home. Maybe it’s just the lure of darkness, because it is something that varies from the norm. A taboo, of sorts. It is always the forbidden fruit that tempts us with the promise of something we have yet to taste. Yes, fear is an addiction.

So, what makes me afraid? What makes me shiver? Is it the skeletons in the closet or the creepy neighbors next door? Bats flying across the sky or ghosts haunting the attic? Sure, all of those things give me chills, a little bit of a rush when I get absorbed in a story that whispers to me of other. But what truly makes me shake is the possibility of the unknown. What could be in the closet when the lights go out at night? What might the neighbors be doing, up only during the late hours of midnight? What if there is a monster lurking under my bed? It’s the imagination of the individual that is truly frightening, because the imagination is limitless. The real world outside of the mind is changed and altered, turned into something dark and terrifying by the whispers of imagination.

Xeque W.:

What makes me shiver? So much comes to mind when asked that question yet I don’t know how I could phrase it all. Aside from the breathtaking story of our beloved Sam and Grace, there’s so much life has to offer that makes our senses come alive. So much to lose and gain that we can’t take for granted. I think of the feeling I get after waking up from a vivid dream…it could be something wonderful, or terrifying. The feeling of cool grass on bare feet, or the smell of crisp clean air. The full moon shining down brilliantly in the night. And running fast through the woods, pretending you’re free of all of life’s worries. Hot summer days when my skin first touches cool water.

I shiver when a story of my own falls into place, and each piece fits perfectly. I shiver when I feel loss, or sadness, as if the warmth inside me is gone. But more than often these days I shiver with joy because of the wonderful things life has offered me. And having hope something good will always come to outweigh the hardship. I shiver in the face of danger and thrills,  wondering what I’m getting myself into. Watching sunsets and sunrises, and searching the sky for meteors. Standing atop skyscrapers and the chill of the wind biting my cheeks. When summer has come to a close and I watch the leaves fall, solemnly to the ground. Listening to bagpipes and flutes and wondering, what possibly some of our ancestors went through to create such hauntingly beautiful music. I shiver with a strange nostalgia that’s not quite my own, when walking through old places.

And I shiver with anticipation of finally being able to read Linger, and see where the story plays out, afraid of where it may lead.

But it’s the thought of the one I love that makes me shiver most of all.

Khadija A.:

Have you ever had that prickling, when you feel every hair on your body rise and your body seems like something remote and unconnected to you, and you can’t remember how to move it anymore?

Watching the news or reading the papers, the awful stories of the things that happen to children – that makes me shiver like no other shiver. The kind of shiver that is at the same time fear and horror, complete incredulity and absolute heartbreak. Children in warzones, in third world countries, children right here in the ‘civilised world’ who become victims of their own parents’ abuse, below anybody’s radar…and when you wonder how there is enough space on a baby’s body for more than eighty bruises or a hundred cigarette burns, or thirty-eight stab-wounds…if that doesn’t make your belief in humanity shatter into little pieces, and shiver like you might never feel warm again…if it didn’t make me shiver – that would be an awful loss of my own humanity.

And when you hear about how children in warzones live – their mothers raped and their fathers murdered, their houses blown apart, horrific injuries from being shelled, targeted by offensive militia…honestly, there is nothing more scary than other people’s lives.

I absolutely don’t mean to politicise this, but I thought about this question – and I thought about how freaked out I was for months by The Ring, and how things I can’t see scare me, and how my imagination does a better job than anything else on this earth in making me shiver – and I even thought about giving a smartarse answer like ‘the cold makes me shiver’ – but this, the things that happen to other people, committed by their own fellows – that defies belief and humanity, and it makes me shiver to my soul.

Rivkie R.:

I shiver at strange sounds in the dark.

Voices murmuring…

I shiver at a good book; when a character dies, falls in love, or sees something strange.

The shivers run up and down my spine when I step out in winter. The air is crisp and fresh, but it stabs at my lungs as the wind hits me full blast. Hair raised along my arms as the wind pulls it along, and my teeth chatter. I shiver where the wind hits my exposed face. I clench my teeth and stop trying to fight the cold, stop trying to get warmth throughout my body, and let it embrace me as I embrace it. But still I shiver.

I shiver when I try to rid myself of a memory that scares me.

And as I await a book.

I shiver with anticipation and excitement when I’m about to receive a gift.

And when I feel tense or have a bad feeling, I shiver as I wait.

I shiver when I feel an icy hand touch my own. Tendrils of ice that are nothing but fingers.

And I shiver when I read Shiver, by Maggie Stiefvater. From seeing Grace bleed as a little girl, to hearing about the yellow eyes, to watching the girl in the book store, right beside Sam. When the windshield broke and he changed. When Grace said that she was in the car accident alone.

And when she said, “Sam” and he hugged her.

And I shiver when I think of Linger, coming out soon, but never quite fast enough.

e b:

many typical things make me shiver like a cold draft or a cold touch but one thing stands out! you know when you hear an old song and suddenly you are flooded with memories of when it was famous and what was going on in your life at the time, thats what makes me shiver!

Chloe P.:

There are many things that make me shiver, both in pleasant and terrifying ways. First, the bad shivers: insects (especially spiders), the sound of someone writing with chalk, nervousness before a big test at school, scary movies, frightening sights. The better shivers include reading an amazing book, romance, the butterflies of talking to someone I like (which could sometimes be counted as bad shivers, I suppose), slightly cold weather, being excited for something to happen (whether it be going on a trip, heading off to college next fall, getting my hands on the newest YA books in stores, or anything else!). I find it interesting how people, myself included of course, will shiver for an amazing number of reasons. Whether frightened or excited, cold or in love, shivers signify innumerable experiences and sensations that make life more exciting. And then, of course, there is the Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater’s unbelievably amazing book, which makes me shiver for almost all of the reasons I listed above. From being frightened for Grace and Sam to vicariously experiencing their loving relationship, Shiver is a master of making me, and, I’m sure, everyone else who reads it, shiver more than they expected to… and not in a bad way! I’m sure that Linger will continue that experience of shivering… along with living up to its own name and making me want to “linger” around the series even more than I already do! Thank you, Novel Novice, for creating one more way to make me shiver… This incredible contest to win one of my most highly anticipated books of the year!

Elizabeth J.:

Something that makes me shiver is movies that I think are super amazing! There will be a certain point in a movie where I will start to shiver because I am so engrossed in the movie that I love it! I end up feeling what the characters feel, and I feel like I am a part of the movie. When something terrible happens to the heroes, I feel their pain. One situation I can recall that this happened to me was when I first saw my favorite movie, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. I went in seeing Pirates of the Caribbean not knowing anything about the movie except that it was based on the ride at Disneyland. Going in, I was not sure I would like the movie, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that I absolutely loved it! About halfway through the movie at the part in the cave where Will goes to save Elizabeth from the pirates, I started to shiver with excitement! At that exact moment, I knew I would love this movie forever. I was completely captivated by the storyline. Since then, I have watched Pirates of the Caribbean countless times, and I still end up shivering whenever I watch it. To me, shivering is usually a really good thing to experience. It means that I like something more than usual. I would even go as far to say that if I shiver about something, it means I love it!

Alannah J.:

There are a lot of things that make me shiver. The first one would have to be a cold weather, of course. I was born and raised in the Dominican Republic *i actually still live in the Dominican Republic* and we have summer all year round. Our average temperature would be around 26 degrees celcius (which is roughly 80 degrees farenheit). That means that we can go to the beach in the middle of ‘winter’ (december-february). Sometimes, like it happened this year, some wisps of winter come by, lost on their way to Iceland or Norway, and we get strong winds and blasts of cold. When they do come, even though, technically for someone used to cold winters, they’re not THAT cold (maybe 18 degrees celcius – 65 degrees farenheit), you still see people with scarves and coats outside. It might be the only time in a couple of years that they actually use those kinds of clothes in the country. Those temperatures are not usual here, so when they do come, they make me shiver. Other than that, i’d have to say news about murders, hate crimes, terrorist attacks, kidnappings (those i hate the most) and bad things that happen to kids and elderly people. I find that crimes done to hurt people, rather than to steal or destroy something, are the worst kind, which is why they make me shiver. I’ve loved children since i was a child myself and, more to the point, i’m studying psychology and will be doing a masters program in child psych. So, when i hear about adults or even old teens doing things to helpless, unknowing little children, something just goes off in my mind and it makes me shiver.

Liviania S.:

I shiver the most after eating in a restaurant.  You’re probably wondering how that happens, since restaurants tend to be climate controlled.  It’s all the ice water refills that do me in.  I just keep drinking and enjoying the refreshing taste, slinging back glass after glass even if I’m not that thirsty.  It’s there, so why not drink it? Then, before I know it, I’m cold, even at the very height of summer.  (I live in Texas.  The July and August summer heart is Serious Business.  That is unless you’re from Nigeria or somewhere else equatorial  and laugh in the face of Texas summer.)

I never realize that I’m cold until the shivers begin.  By that point, there’s little I can do to warm up.  After all, I’ve usually finished everything but the last bits of food.  Yet I keep drinking my water as I wait for the check, which exacerbates the problem.  It’s actually best during the height of summer when I start feeling more moderate as soon as I go outside.  I know this is not a particularly glamorous or mysterious explanation, but it is an honest accounting of why I shiver.  Ice water.  I am defeated by ice water.

There are worse things to shiver about: scary things, people wishing you ill, et cetera.  Ice water is harmless and mundane, as few people manage to drown in glasses of ice water.  But I do feel ridiculous when I leave a restaurant, arms wrapped close to my body, shivering.

Sonia O.:

The thing that most makes me shiver is the sound of nails on a blackboard. Since my homeroom is old, we have a large blackboard opposed to a newer whiteboard, and kids frequently like to harass each other’s ears by scratching the board with their nails like angry cats. The noise is awfully screechy and sinister. It sounds as though a banshee is howling, somebody’s limbs are being cut off with a chainsaw, or something else equally horrible. Worst of all, the teacher doesn’t even care; she doesn’t seem to mind the awful noises! Every time somebody rakes their nails down the blackboard, it sends shivers lancing up my spine, and I wince uncontrollably. It happens almost every single day; somebody goes up to the blackboard, scratches it with their nails, and laughs wickedly as the other kids cringe. You might think that I should be used to it if it happens so often, but this awful noise gets me every time! Maybe it’s just my ears, but I hate being in homeroom because of this blackboard.

The first time I heard this horrible noise was during the second week of school, when the kids had started to coax themselves out of their back-to-school shells and being to explore the classroom. One boy, Benji, decided it would be hilarious of he started clawing at the whiteboard. The screechy sound resounded throughout the room, and at first, I thought I was dying. I began to shiver uncontrollably, and when I saw what the source of the noise was, I remember screaming, “STOP IT! IT’S NOT FUNNY!” Of course, this made everyone in the classroom laugh, and they began doing it even more often. It is my deepest desire for the teacher to replace it, or at least tell the kids to stop scratching it!

Kim F.:

Music has always had a great effect on me, especially since I’m a violinist, and I’ve been a part of an orchestra for years now. Not many things make me shiver though. Extreme cold, of course, and maybe a few scary movies. But, I can’t help but feel a shiver go down my spine when I hear the lovely tones of a cello being played. It’s strange, since I’m a violinist; you would think I would appreciate the sound of my own instrument the most. But, in reality, the cello has to be one of the most beautiful sounding instruments to ever be invented. When I go to concerts, I’m always most excited to see the cello played, out of all the other instruments. My friend plays the cello, and every time she plays a solo for me, I can’t help but feel this pleasant shiver come over me. The rich tones and voice of the cello are spell binding, and command my attention more and more with every bow stroke. It’s the reason why I love music so much. The way one simple instrument and pattern of movement can invoke so much emotion without the use of words is amazing to me. This can be done with many instruments, including my violin, but I think the cello has the greatest effect on me. For this reason, I want to learn how to play one someday, but for now, I’ll just sit back and enjoy the pleasant shivers that the sound of beautiful music can’t help but give me.

For the comments: Tell us what makes YOU shiver! (Just for fun!)