Sinner

Stiefvater, Maggie. Sinner. 2014. 357p. ISBN 0545654572. FIC SIN on the library shelves.

At the end of Forever, Isabelle is sent by her family back to California. Mourning the loss of Cole, whom she saw shot in wolf form, she was thrilled to hear that he had survived the hunt. But now that months have gone by, she’s managed to move on. Living with her aunt and her cousin, Isabelle is soon joined by her mother, who separated from her father.

Cole St. Clair decides to go to California to be with Isabelle. Now that he can control his transformation, he is ready to rejoin the living. Signing a music deal with a reality-tv show, Cole will get to be the star he was, while producing a new album with no constraints. He gets to revive his star following his bouts of addiction and his brutal overdose at his band’s last show. But most of all, he wants Isabelle.

As the two reconnect, however, they are not able to look beyond their own feelings and their shattered history back in Mercy Falls. The death of Isabelle’s brother Jack, and of Cole’s drummer Victor, both wolves, haunt their dreams and color their decisions. Cole’s history of substance and alcohol abuse, his abrasive show personality, and his past relationships with women are hard for Isabelle to overlook.

Cole barrels through his reality show, all the while trying to convince Isabelle that he has reformed. Unfortunately, the show’s producer keeps on trapping Cole in events that may force him to lose control. And with the ugly divorce between her mother and her father and her hapless cousin, Isabelle has troubles of her own.

Can the two of them redeem their relationship, or is the wolf in Cole too much even for Isabelle?