Genre: Fantasy & Romance
Publication: 2011
After her sister's violent death, Valerie's world begins to spiral out of control. For generations, the werewolf has been kept at bay with a monthly sacrifice. But no one is safe. When an expert wolf hunter arrives, the villagers learn that the creature lives among them - it could be anyone in town.
It soon becomes clear that Valerie is the only one who can hear the voice of creature. The Wolf says she must surrender herself before the Blood Moon wanes . . . or everyone she loves will die. (Summary taken from Amazon.com)
My Thoughts: The reason I picked up Red Riding Hood was because I was fascinated to read an adaption of the original fairy tale. I like seeing old things become new. So I picked up this book while I was strolling through the mall one day, not really looking for anything in particular, and came upon this. At the time the movie was being shown at the theaters and I thought it would be cool to read the book first and watch the movie after so I can see the comparison. But I will not go into detail about the movie here. The book, however, was good but I couldn't bring myself to believe some of it. Like the romance for instance.
The writing of Red Riding Hood was really good and beautiful and the author did a wonderful job depicting emotion and scenery such as the village of Daggerhorn. The writing was elegant... but dragged on too much. As much as I found the writing to be beautiful, I found myself at times wanting to scream at the narrative for not getting to the point - especially for the first half of the book. After that, when it rolled into the second half, I found it was more bearable since the action picked up and the mystery surrounding the Wolf was exciting. If it weren't for the Wolf bits I wouldn't have enjoyed this book at all. There was a lot of girly infatuation with men that I didn't care for because it's just not my thing, but that doesn't mean someone else who likes romance wouldn't enjoy it.
The Wolf parts were definitely my favorite. They were mysterious and whenever I thought someone to be the Wolf there would be something else that would make me reconsider and keep wondering. The Wolf was eerie and frightening and awesome all at once. I mean, I wouldn't want to cross paths with it, but as an observer it was great.
The only thing about the romance was that some of it wasn't believable. For instance - Valerie's love at first sight with Peter. I just didn't feel believable. "Oh my, that's Peter? My childhood friend who I haven't seen for years? I think I'm in love with him!" I didn't care for that. Although I'm certainly not an expert in romance, I just couldn't bring myself to appreciate this aspect of the book.
Now for the number one thing that totally turned me off was the ending. Because there was no ending. I spent the entire time reading and wondering who the Wolf is and... nothing! I considered writing this as a possible spoiler but then felt it wasn't because you can find out who the wolf is eventually... if you read the bonus chapter on the website. So you will be able to discover the mystery although you won't find it inside the book. The entire time reading I had my suspicions about certain people and was aching to find out the truth in the end, but when the end came I was severely disappointed and angry because I thought it was a terrible ending. Then I learned that the author added a bonus chapter on the website, which to me felt tacked on, where I then learned the Wolfs true identity. Shame on you, Sarah Blakley-Cartwright.
Overall I did enjoy Red Riding Hood for its mystery, action and the Wolfs character but I couldn't get into some romance aspects and I didn't like the ending. The first half of the book was alright but I felt it dragged on too much and the second half was much better and more exciting. Although this is a fantasy novel it does heavily involve itself with romance so if you're into that sort of thing then I would recommend this book.
My Rating: 3/5
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