1 out of 5 Hoots
I was so excited to get this book and read it, but I was horribly disappointed.
This was supposed to be a book about two strong sisters fighting the wolves that not only killed their grandmother, but also other innocent women. The concept itself sounded fantastic and yet this book fell flat.
I cannot begin to even explain how disappointed I am in this book. The book started off with a lot of promise! A grandmother sacrificing herself in order to protect her young granddaughters. Alas the werewolf is still alive so the older sister breaks a mirror and uses the glass to fight the wolf. I will be honest, at this point I was hooked!
The book moves forward 7 years and we are still following the two sisters. You have Scarlet, the older sister who has a facial scar from the wolf attack when was a girl and you have Rosie her little sister. Scarlet has grown up to be a strong hunter and spends her time luring and killing werewolves. Rosie on the other hand is more focused on wanting to settle down and get a boyfriend. As you could assume this is where the book begins to take a turn.
This is the point where you want to stop reading if you want to avoid any spoilers.
The author makes the decision to add someone from the young woman’s past in order to force the two sisters apart. Yes, a man was all it took to put a huge wedge between these sisters. It seemed that the author did not know how to write a strong female lead. What he did was create one character who resembled a 12 year old girl with a crush and another who obviously could not have a happy ending because of the scar on her face.
The author’s lack of understanding of women does not end there! The most horrific thing that this book did was explain how the wolves chose their victims…it was based on their bubbly personalities and the way they dressed. Yes, you read that right. The victims were chosen if they were wearing tight clothes, went out to clubs, etc. But it does not end there, one of the wolves actually said “the younger the better”. I kid you not. The message that this book was sending is that these girls should have known better than to dress this way knowing that there are wolves in the world. This is not okay to me. This is a book geared to a YA audience and that is the message that is being sent in this book.
To make matters worse, the character of Scarlet kept on pointing out how she was not as beautiful as her sister and would always be alone. Which of course spoiler alert…..it is exactly what ends up happening. Rosie ends up traveling the world with the love of her life and Scarlet ends up alone.
There were so many problems with the way this book portrayed women. You had to be pretty to find the man of your dreams, but be careful because if you dressed or acted a certain way the wolves would get you. You would become a victim because you were too enticing to the wolves and they could not help it. I mean come on they are werewolves and they cant help the way YOU dress. they can’t help it if you are “asking for it”. This just infuriates me, this book just seems to perpetuate rape culture. By changing the words wolf, werewolf, and attack to the words boy, man and rape you would get a much darker story. Seriously, it is not the type of story I would feel comfortable recommending to a younger audience. I’m sorry, but this book just did not do it for me.
The Owl's Book Nest 