Young and old readers can sink their teeth into this one.
In first-time author Greene’s paranormal young-adult thriller, Ethan survives a beast’s attack only to realize that he’s slowly turning into a werewolf.
High school can be tough, but it’s even harder for young Ethan. He’s bitten by a wolf that also somewhat resembles a human; oddly enough, his wound has already begun to heal before the ambulance even arrives. The ensuing days are peculiar: His eyesight sharpens, his hearing is impeccable and he resorts to shades and colored contact lenses to hide the fact that his eyes now glow in the dark. Ethan also fears that he’s responsible for a string of recent murders, since the victims all seem to have been mauled by a wolf. When he suspects that he’s being followed, Ethan does what he can to protect his family, his friend Anthony, and his new girlfriend, Marie. Greene’s novel moves at a rapid pace that manages to retain tension. The relentless suspense continues to build, with Ethan repeatedly glimpsing a pair of seemingly omniscient, unmistakably fiendish black eyes. There’s mystery and intrigue, too, as when Ethan wakes up covered in blood with no memory of the previous night. The only element of the story adversely affected by the book’s brisk flow is the relationship between Ethan and Marie, who fall in love a little too quickly. However, the fact that the characters are teenagers is effectively integrated into the lycanthropic storyline; there’s an amusing comparison between the late stages of puberty and Ethan’s developing werewolf side. In an exploration of drug use, Ethan and Anthony concoct a “potion” from monkshood to subvert Ethan’s transformation; it’s undoubtedly the wrong choice for Ethan. Clear anti-alcohol, anti-bullying messages are present, too. The novel occasionally treads on familiar terrain—the names of Ethan and his rival, Jared, are reminiscent of Twilight’s Edward and Jacob—but the characters and plot have a life all their own.
Young and old readers can sink their teeth into this one.Pub Date: March 13, 2012
ISBN: 978-1469778174
Page Count: 240
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: July 2, 2012
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Haphazard and undemanding.
A sports agent’s first official client is the man she dumped years ago in college.
After two years of hard work as an underling, Nora Mackenzie is finally being promoted to full-time sports agent. She’s worked hard, kept quiet, and allowed men in the office to call her Mac—a nickname she hates—all to show she’s a team player and “one of the guys.” Unfortunately, her boss instructs her to sign Derek Pender, a football player coming off an injury, who happens to be the man she heartlessly dumped in their senior year of college. Derek signs with her for revenge, seeing it as his opportunity to pay Nora back for callously breaking his heart eight years earlier. He insists she be at his beck and call: answering his emails, running his errands, cooking dinner for his dates. He also refuses to let her explain why she broke up with him without warning or explanation. Nora feels she has no choice but to acquiesce to Derek’s humiliating demands, since she’s worked too hard to let him ruin her dream job. She hopes he’ll thaw and they might become friends, but Derek’s bad behavior is designed to hide the fact that he’s still in love with her. Nora’s characterization is uneven, veering between anger at how she’s treated in the male-dominated field to immature bickering and bantering with Derek. Although Adams likely meant for Derek and Nora’s interactions to have an enemies-to-lovers vibe, the characters instead seem juvenile and stuck in the past. The novel is fueled by a string of tropes—second chance romance! married in Vegas! only one bed!—each randomly deployed to keep the book going despite thin characterization and wan plotting.
Haphazard and undemanding.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9780593723678
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Dell
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.
A vampire and an Alpha werewolf enter into a marriage of convenience in order to ease tensions between their species.
As the only daughter of a prominent Vampyre councilman, Misery Lark has grown accustomed to playing the role that’s demanded of her—and now, her father is ordering her to be part of yet another truce agreement. In an effort to maintain goodwill between the Vampyres and their longtime nemeses the Weres, Misery must wed their Alpha, Lowe Moreland. But it turns out that Misery has her own motivations for agreeing to this political marriage, including finding answers about what happened to her best friend, who went missing after setting up a meeting in Were territory. Isolated from her kind and surrounded on all sides by the enemy after the wedding, Misery refuses to let herself forget about her real mission. It doesn’t matter that Lowe is one of the most confounding and intense people she’s ever met, or that the connection building between them doesn’t feel like one born entirely of convenience. There’s also the possibility that Lowe may already have a Were mate of his own, but in spite of their biological differences, they may turn out to be the missing piece in each other’s lives. While this is Hazelwood’s first paranormal romance, and the book does lean on some hallmark tropes of the genre, the contemporary setting lends itself to the author’s trademark humor and makes the political plot more easily digestible. Misery and Lowe’s slow-burn romance is appealing enough that readers will readily devour every moment between them and hunger to return to them whenever the story diverts from their scenes together.
Sink your teeth into this delightful paranormal romance with a modern twist.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780593550403
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
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