Review: Wolfsbane by Andrea Cremer

Publisher: Philomel/Penguin Young Readers Group

Publication Date: July 26th, 2011

When Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemies, she’s certain her days are numbered. But then the Searchers make her an offer—one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack—and the man—she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

I want to start with my one and only complaint and get it out of the way... Why the eff did they change the cover of this book?  I adored the early cover that matched Nightshade and I really detest this one.  It looks so grandma's-bad-romance-novel-esque.  Now that I've gotten that out of the way, I can focus on my actual review...

This is a book that earned an honored spot on my Top 10 YA Books of 2011 list because it was awesome!  I put off reading it's predecessor, Nightshade, for far too long, and I kicked myself once I got around to reading it because I loved it so much (read my review HERE).  I was not going to make the same mistake when this book came out!  As soon as I got my hands on it, I devoured it.  It was one of those books that I just couldn't put down until I finished it.

I thought I loved Nightshade, but I felt like this blew it out of the water.  Better story, better writing, better everything!  It pretty much picks up where Nightshade left off, and it turns out that things were never quite what they seemed to be...  I won't give spoilers, but I will say that the world building this time around was spectacular, especially the descriptions of the Searcher compound and their methods of travel.  I also really enjoyed the new characters.  I bonded with them and I felt a solid punch in the gut when things didn't go well for certain ones.  When some of the characters from Nightshade reappeared in the story, I was really thrown for a loop.  Not at all what I expected...  Calla is still kick-ass, and I love her more and more with each book (please don't disappoint me, Bloodrose).  I find Shay as repulsive as ever, although I still can't put my finger on why.  I totally get why people love him, but he rubs me the wrong way;  I'm still solidly on Team Ren.  I have faith in him (plus my imagination says he SO much hotter than Shay).

I cannot wait for the release of Bloodrose on January 24th.  I will devour it as well.  Judging from Andrea Cremer's first two installments, I am sure it will not be a disappointment.  I'm hoping maybe she will have some tidbits for us at YallFest in November.  She is one of the main attractions for me.  Stay tuned!

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ++

Grade Level Recommendation: Because I said Nightshade was an 8th grade+ book (ages 14+), I'm going to say the same of this one.  See the Nightshade review for my reasons.

WWW (4) and Waiting on Wednesday (May 11, 2011) Double Feature

W. W. W. Wednesday is hosted by Should Be Reading, a great YA blog that I subscribe to. Here's how it works... Each Wednesday I will answer the following questions:

What are you currently reading?
What did you recently finish reading?
What do you think you'll read next?

I've had houseguests for the past week, so I've been pretty busy...

What are you currently reading?

My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison~ I'm still on this one, and probably will be for awhile, at two chapters each night.  It's still cute.  :)

Hereafter by Tara Hudson~ I am seriously loving this book!  I can't wait until my company leaves so I can have some time to finish.

Shimmer by Alyson Noel~ I loved the first Riley Bloom book, and this one is shaping up to be even better.

L.A. Candy by Lauren Conrad~ I'm reading this for a challenge, and it's honestly not as bad as I thought it would be...

What did you recently finish reading?

Nightshade by Andrea Creamer~ I had only gotten a few chapters into this when my husband borrowed my Kindle for a few days.  Once I got it back, I couldn't stop reading this.  Amazing!  Read my review HERE.

What do you think you'll read next?

With so many books going at the moment, I'm not sure I'll start anything new this week, but if I do...

Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton~ This looks good, and I've heard so many positive things about it.  It is due back soon, so i should probably get on it...

Starcrossed by Josephine Angelini~ I have been dying to read this one!

"Waiting On" Wednesday is another fun blog event. Hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, this event gives us a chance to talk about the books we anxiously await the release of. Since there is ALWAYS a looooooong list of books I'm waiting on (I actually keep a spreadsheet), I figured this is one that I MUST do. 

So, without further ado, the book I am highlighting this week is....

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore

I've seen him on the news. Followed the stories about what happened in Ohio. John Smith, out there, on the run. To the world, he's a mystery. But to me . . . he's one of us.
 
Nine of us came here, but sometimes I wonder if time has changed us—if we all still believe in our mission. How can I know? There are six of us left. We're hiding, blending in, avoiding contact with one another . . . but our Legacies are developing, and soon we'll be equipped to fight. Is John Number Four, and is his appearance the sign I've been waiting for? And what about Number Five and Six? Could one of them be the raven-haired girl with the stormy eyes from my dreams? The girl with powers that are beyond anything I could ever imagine? The girl who may be strong enough to bring the six of us together?
 
They caught Number One in Malaysia.
Number Two in England.
And Number Three in Kenya.
They tried to catch Number Four in Ohio—and failed.
 
I am Number Seven. One of six still alive.
 
And I'm ready to fight.

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

I really enjoyed I Am Number Four, and am really looking forward to book #2.  I have a feeling that this one will be even better than the first.

Publisher: HarperCollins

Publication Date: August 23rd, 2011

My Expected Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★  

Review: Nightshade by Andrea Cremer

Publisher: Philomel

Publication Date:  October 19th, 2010

I can't believe it took me so long to read this book! It has been on my TBR list forever, and I was drawn to this book from the moment I saw it (the cover is absolutely stunning). I guess there were just other books that I needed to read first, but honestly, this book was so amazing, I wish I had put it ahead of most of them.

Calla Tor has always known her destiny: After graduating from the Mountain School, she'll be the mate of sexy alpha wolf Ren Laroche and fight with him, side by side, ruling their pack and guarding sacred sites for the Keepers. 

But when she violates her masters' laws by saving a beautiful human boy out for a hike, Calla begins to question her fate, her existence, and the very essence of the world she has known. By following her heart, she might lose everything— including her own life. Is forbidden love worth the ultimate sacrifice?

(Courtesy of Goodreads)

I know I'm in the minority when I say this, but I really did not care for Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls series) at all. It was the only one of the series that I read and I was really disappointed. I expected so much more- probably because of all the hype surrounding it. When I heard that Nightshade was about wolves, my first thought was, "Oh, great. Now come the Shiver/werewolf rip-offs to go with the Twilight/vampire rip-offs." I'm pretty sure that was the reason for my literary procrastination... Well, I can tell you, like many of the vampire books that came in the wake of Twilight's success, this was MUCH better than the "original". I LOVED it!

The playroom after my marathon reading of Nightshade.

It's totally different from the other wolf books out there in so many ways. The biggest, and most positive difference is that there is no weak, whiny, lovesick human girl in love with a paranormal creature. The female protagonist is an Alpha female wolf (they don't really call them werewolves in the book). She's strong and independent, and she kicks butt in battle. Another difference that I loved was that this book is SO not a love story. Yes, there's a romantic element that adds to the story, but the book is not centered on that. This is an adventure that is so imaginative and awesome that I had to let everything else go while I read it straight through (and that's saying a lot because I am a stay-at-home-mom of 3 young children, and 2 days of my not doing anything gets my house classified as an official disaster-zone; see playroom photo above-right). It also had such a great message about not accepting the status-quo if it feels wrong, even if you might suffer severe consequences for standing up for what's right.

Andrea Cremer did a great job developing the characters. I loved that characters I didn't like in the beginning grew on me to the point that I was rooting for them by the end, and vice versa. Just like people I meet in real life, I had to get to know some of the characters before I could make my judgements. I also think she did a great job with the pacing of this book. I never felt like it dragged in the slightest. It was a pace that kept me turning pages, but not frenetically, where I had to speed read to get to the next chapter, potentially missing important details.

I had only one complaint with this book, and I won't delve into it too much because I don't want to give any spoilers and it wasn't a big enough issue to make me give it fewer stars... It was a little predictable at times. I saw (and anyone with half a brain would have seen) one of the major climactic reveals coming way ahead of time. I almost wish she would have led me to believe it was going to happen, and then changed things up. I found myself being mad at the characters for being so dumb as to miss it. There were a couple of other things that I called before they happened too, but at the very end of the book, Cremer totally (and I mean, TOTALLY) redeemed herself. The ending was such a shock that I literally sat there for a few minutes with my mouth hanging open (then I sent Andrea Cremer a tweet to let her know how mean I think she is for leaving things the way she did). In hindsight, it is probably a good thing that I put off reading this book for so long. I would have been so mad if I had read this when it was released, and then had to wait almost a year for it's sequel, Wolfsbane (releases July 26th, 2011).  Now, I only have to suffer for a couple of months to find out what happens next (unless some nice publisher happens to give me an ARC *wink, wink*). 

All in all, this was a great book. Definitely one of my top reads so far this year. In this case, judging the book by it's cover totally paid off. If not for the cover, I probably would not have read it, and I am so VERY glad that I did!

My Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★  

Grade Level Recommendation: This one is hard. It really depends on what type of thing the parent takes issue with... For my daughter, I would probably say 8th grade+. Not so much for content, but because I think a younger reader might miss some of the subtle, but very important interactions. This is not to say that there aren't content issues for younger readers. There is definitely a decent amount of underage drinking, but then, these kids aren't typical "kids" at all. There are a good number of intese physical situations between the protagonist and her "mate", as well as between she and the boy she really likes (no sex though). There is also the implication that some Alphas and Keepers tend to abuse their power to get who and what they want sexually. In the end, I think that any parent considering allowing their under-14 child to read this, should read it first.