Amazon Digital Services, 2011
ASIN: B005HB8PN6
Available: Kindle and Nook
The women in Elodie’s family have all been cursed with lycanthropy that surfaces during their sixteenth year, and all of them have met violent ends after giving birth to a child, always a girl. At seventeen, Elodie has managed to avoid anything that might rouse her wolf, but she can sense that changing, and sees dark choices ahead. In the meantime, she’s taking her last chance to do what she wants by taking an internship with a scientist who has recently arrived to study the area’s wolves.
Sawyer senses something in Elodie that he can’t quite identify- but he knows she’s not quite like other girls. All he knows is that his anger subsides when she’s around, and he wants to protect her. In her confused and terrified state, Elodie has gotten lucky- Sawyer is a werewolf, from a family of werewolves, and he knows it’s not a curse. Unfortunately, Elodie’s wolf is out of her control, and an unknown werewolf hunter has targeted her. And then Kait Nolan introduces one of those “WHAAT? Wait, you can’t do that!” plot twists that turn the story from its romantic roots and adds more than a taste of horror.
Kait Nolan does a great job with character development on her main characters, although her secondary characters felt pretty cardboard. I wasn’t Elodie’s biggest fan- to my mind, she spent a lot of time thinking about or talking about suicide being her best option- but I loved Sawyer. Here was a guy who really wanted to do the right thing and make it possible for Elodie to make good choices too. He was a steady guy who was willing to wait and was also willing to act. And he was awesome as a wolf. I had a hard time buying Nolan’s “villain”, though- her psycho werewolf hunter’s actions and motivations didn’t make a lot of sense to me (Example: I was going to adopt you and kill you when you were a baby, but now I’ve stalked you an entire summer just to make sure you’re going to wolf out, because I don’t kill innocent girls). Nolan also used the “alternating points of view in each chapter “device seen in so much YA fiction, although she pulled it off well. Still, Red is a fresh take on YA werewolf fiction, which definitely needs it, and a fast, enjoyable read. Readers who enjoyed Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce or Blood and Chocolate by Annette Curtis Klause will definitely want to take a look at Red. Recommended.
Contains: Nudity, gore, violence and references to suicide