This is another book I’ve volunteered to review. It’s not my usual genre, but I felt willing to open myself to new things after reading other supernatural stories.

Read: April 16 – May 2, 2022
*Self-published author

Genre: Fantasy, Supernatural
Audience: Young Adult
Book contains: monster, gore, werewolf fights

Purchase a copy from Amazon.ca

[I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.]

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A Thrilling Werewolf Romance!

This book follows the life of Ruby in the small town of Shatterlake, and her eventual meeting and romance with Josh, a mysterious boy with a secret to keep. After meeting him, Ruby’s world is turned upside-down as she now has to deal with her new feelings and a whole new level of danger.

This story is told from first-person perspective—through Ruby’s eyes—and I have to say that the author does very well in this regard. My only critique would be that in the prologue, the author struggled writing Ruby’s voice. In first-person perspective, a writer cannot write in their own voice, but rather, must write in the voice of the character. In the prologue, Ruby is twelve years old, but the way it was written didn’t match her age. This voice worked better for the rest of the story, so that is the end of this note.

Another thing I noticed right away was the inconsistency in the punctuation. At times, proper apostrophes were used, but most of the time, single primes were utilized in the contractions. I believe this issue stems from the fact that the author is originally German-speaking, and this book is translated into English.

My other critiques lie in the few verb inconsistencies in the text, though that is an editing problem rather than a story problem, and most likely happening during the translation process.

The story’s plot itself was refreshing. It is, as most Romances are, a very character-driven plot, but I enjoyed the flow of action as well. There were no scenes that stuck out to me as merely filler, and each event tied into the story arc. The characters were each realistic and unique, with proper motivations that created exciting conflicts with other characters. Their descriptions were vivid. There were some I liked more than others, which is something I always look for in a book.

As for the magic system, this book has werewolves. We learn throughout how werewolves work and what they look like, but we are also strung along with the mystery of why and how Josh is different from the others. This mystery is left unsolved in this book, but not in an unsatisfying way. There is no glaring reason why it needed to be revealed, and it’s nice to have an aspect of the book not thrown out as exposition. I like the intrigue.

I recommend this book to lovers of thriller romances—those who love the dark, brooding loner whose world is suddenly rocked when he meets the girl. It’s cliché, but so well done in this book.

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The Twilight Saga Book 1: Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
The Mortal Instruments Book 1: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
*The Other Side of Daylight by Nicole Chartier*