Raised By Wolves By Jennifer Lynn Barnes

He's in a cage, I reminded myself, but the words meant nothing to me, because I just couldn't stop staring into his wild eyes and playing the last words he'd said before he Shifted, over and over again.

I got bit.
I got bit.
I got bit.

At the age of four, Bryn wayched a rabid werewolf brutally murder her parents. She was rescued and taken in by the mysterious Callum, the alpha of his pack. Now fifteen, Bryn's been a human among werewolves, adhering to pack rule.

But the pack's been keeping a secret, and when Bryn goes exploring against Callum's orders, she finds Chase, a newly turned teen Were locked in a cage. Bryn needs answers, and she needs Chase to get them. Suddenly, it's Bryn and Chase against the werewolf world, whatever the consequences. Raised by wolves will leave you howling for more.

The more werewolf books I read the more I love them. As well as Nightshade by Andrea Cremer and Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, Jennifer Lynn Barnes has an enjoyable read in Raised By Wolves that sits quite well next to these other great and exciting stories.

Bryn is a real tough cookie after growing up human among wolves. She has had to keep her wits about her to make sure she doesn't get on the wrong side of the pack. If it wasn't for the alpha, Callum, that took her in and made sure the pack understood that she was part of them then she may not have survived for so long. However, that doesn't stop her from being herself and constantly pushing the boundaries with a cheeky perserverance. Sometimes she a bit rash with her decisions and doesn't think through the possibilities of danger but that doesn't make her unlikeable at all, if anything it made her more real and honest because she makes no allusions to being perfect. The one thing she always strives for is her independence and freedom and chooses to ignore the pack restrictions and bonds. That is until she finds out about Chase; a freshly bitten boy that may just hold the truth to why Callum insisted on taking her in as part of the pack when she was just a child.

I also really liked Callum in the end as well. There were times when I couldn't understand why he did some of the things he did and these made me dislike him, but you eventually realise there's more to him than meets the eye and he has some secrets of his own that allow him to look at the bigger picture. There was also Ali, Bryn's adoptive mother. She was such a fantastic character becasue she has nothing but love for Bryn and even though she also has loyalties to the pack she knows when they over step the mark and this is when she moves in to protect her family with a fierce determination that makes her admirable. The only person I felt I didn't really get to know was Chase, not that I didn't like him, I just felt that he just popped up out of nowhere all of a sudden and formed an attachment to Bryn a bit too quick.

I loved learning about the interesting dynamics of the wolf pack including the ones that seemed to be rooted in stubborn traditions. There are wolves in the pack that are quite strict and abide by the rules to the last letter and they don't like the fact that Bryn is allowed to get away with bending some of the rules slightly even though she is human and believe serious punishment is the answer. So the constant threat of danger is always int he atmosphere even when everything appears safe. I really liked learning about the bond between the wolves as well, especially when Bryn finally allows herself to become open to it and takes her first run with the wolves. A primal instinct takes over her and she forgets shes human and not one of her pack for a short while. That was one of my favourite parts of the book; the feeling she expressed when she just lost herself to her instincts and felt this warm kinship to the wolves and the surroundings of the wood.

There was also some really funny moments in the book as well, especially when it comes to Bryn's werewolf friend Dev. He has a great sense of humour which was sarcastic and dry at times and left me laughing. I also really enjoyed the energy Lake brought into the book, another one of Bryn's friends. She was a quirky, mischevious and fun character to get to know and would love to have as my own friend. They both are loyal to Bryn and hep her with her quest to find the truth which even though it takes a lot of bravery to go against strict rules they don't hesitant for a second.

The story is fast paced, suspensful and exciting with a dash of mystery as well which Bryn does her best to uncover. The characters are all fully developed and very interesting (I would have like to learnt more about Chase though). I really enjoyed it and would go as far to say that it is my favourite wolf book of the lot so far! I can't wait for the sequel, Trial By Fire, this summer!



Random Passage: I hit the ground running and didn't stop. As a matter of reflex, I covered my tracks, running in patterns designed to make tracking me difficult. There were several streams in the woods, as well as the disturbingly named Dead Man's Creek, and I made a point of crossing all of them. Whenever I saw a second pair of tracks, I ran along them, and I loosed my emergency bag of cayenne pepper (which I kept on my person at all times) in an area I knew any self-respecting tracker would take a great big whiff.

Looking Back : April 2011

I read eight books this April:

1. Wolf Hall By Hilary Mantel

2. Slice of Cherry By Dia Reeves

3. Ravenwild By Peter Plasse

4. The Help By Kathryn Stockett

5. Desires Of The Dead By Kimberley Derting

6. A Most Improper Magick By Stephanie Burgis

7. Monsters Of Men By Patrick Ness

8. The Dark & Hollow Places By Carrie Ryan

It's been a slower week than normal reading wise. I've been enjoying the Easter holidays though including the beautiful royal wedding yesterday. I'm back to uni tomorrow where I will be extremely busy as I've only got six and half weeks left before I finish for good so I don't know how much reading I'll be able to enjoy. This month I finished The Chaos Walking and The Forest and Hands Of Teeth trilogies, both of which were fantastic. My favourite though was The Help which I loved especially after reading Gone With The Wind last month.

Slice Of Cherry by Dia Reeves

Kit and Fancy Cordelle are sisters of the best kind: best friends, best confidantes, and best accomplices. The daughters of the infamous Bonesaw Killer, Kit and Fancy are used to feeling like outsiders, and that's just the way they like it. But in Portero, where the weird and wild run rampant, the Cordelle sisters are hardly the oddest or most dangerous creatures around.

It's no surprise when Kit and Fancy start to give in to their deepest desire - the desire to kill. What starts as a fascination with slicing open and stitching up quickly spirals into a gratifying murder spree. Of course, the sisters aren't killing just anyone, only the people who truly deserve it. But the girls have learned from their father's mistakes and know that a shred of evidence could get them caught. So when Fancy stumbles upon a mysterious and invisible doorway to another world, she opens a door to endless possibilities...

I've never read another book like Slice of Cherry in the Young Adult genre. It is completely unique and original and at times utterly bizarre.

Kit and Fancy Cordelle are two sisters unlike any other. They both seem to have inherited the same intense fascination with killing that their father, the bonesaw killer, had. I never really liked either of the sisters which in a way is kind of a good thing because their hobbies are definitely twisted and horrifying. However, I did enjoy reading about them, it was disturbing, yet refreshing to explore their relationship, which had its ups and downs throughout the story. They like to think that they are practically the same person and almost have this unhealthy attachment to each other, but throughout the novel they start to realise they do have their differences just like all sisters. For Fancy, this unsettles her, as she hates change, so much so that she still plays with dolls and wears dresses more suited to little girls even though she is now in her teens. So when she realises that Kit is happy to spend time with somebody else other than her, she ends up feeling lost and I think this is what helps her grow up.

I found it fascinating how both of the girls gut reactions to anybody they don't like is to either torture them or straight out kill them. They are also completely nonchalant about killing. At first I thought Kit was the more bloodthirsty of the two, but you soon realise that Fancy is just as bad if not worse, she is just more creative and inventive with the way she kills. Kit is more impulsive at first, whereas Fancy likes to plan so as to wipe out the risk of leaving any evidence behind, so when she comes across a door into another world she realises it is the perfect place to kill. This new world is the definition of weird and it had this unsettling atmosphere to it which is really unnerving.

Portero is the creepy town they live in, where the strange is the norm. It is a place where corpses can rise, strange creatures are roaming in the woods and the neighbours are happy to overlook suspicious deaths as long as it benefits them. I haven't read Dia Reeves first book, Bleeding Violets, so I'm not sure of how much of Portero was explained, but I would have liked to have learned more about it, especially the doorways to worlds that seem to be scattered across the town. Although I did love the hot sticky summer atmosphere of it and the lure of knowing that anything could happen.

I loved how this book is so different from others and whilst there were some loose ends that were left untied (not crucial to the plot though) I did enjoy it. It is a mix of realism and surreal fantasy with the toxic relationship of the sisters and their brutal and terrifying interest in killing coupled with the exciting yet eerie world they live in. A must read for anyone that enjoys a dark, quirky and unique read.

.5

Random Passage: Fancy and Kit jounced along redbrick streets past low, colorful buildings. The docile trees lining the medians had cute little cages around them and nothing in common with their cousins in the wild forest upsquare. The whole town generally smelled pine fresh or, when the wind was right, like freshly baked bread, thanks to the bread factory in the warehouse district. Many days, however, Portero smelled like blood.

In My Mailbox (20)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren.

I got two books this week:

1. The Dark And Hollow Places By Carrie Ryan
2.The Iron Daughter By Julie Kagawa



The Forest of Hands and Teeth and The Dead-Tosses Waves are two of my favourite books, so I can't wait to see how it all ends in The Dark And Hollow Places. Also, I really enjoyed The Iron King so I'm looking forward to seeing what's in store for Meghan, Puck and Ash!

Ravenwild By Peter Plasse

Returning home from another grueling shift of E.R. work, Dr. Blake Lee Strong comes across a downed motorcyclist and stops to help, but little does he know that his world and that of his family will soon be turned upside down. Duped into being transported to another planet called Inam'Ra , Dr. Strong and his family are thrust into a medieval world populated by Trolls, Gnomes, Elves, Dwarves, Humans and other alien beings. An epic odyssey begins as the Strong family fights for not only their own survival, but also for the continued existence of the citizens of Ravenwild.

As soon as you turn the first page of Ravenwild you are immediately transported into the medieval fantasy world of Inam'Ra and introduced to the danger that the citizens of Ravenwild face from the encroaching Trolls and Gnomes. Unfortunately for the Strong family they are tricked into leaving the safety of their world by an unnerving wizard and end up separated and stranded amongst dangerous creatures in Ravenwild and its surrounding countries. What ensues is an epic adventure as Blake and Jessica Strong try to battle their way through Ravenwild to find their children. I'm a big fan of medieval fantasy stories including the works of Trudi Canavan, Terry Brooks and J.R.R. Tolkien and now Peter Plasse. Inam'Ra is a diverse and exciting new world that I really enjoyed exploring.

I loved the way the whole family was involved in the story instead of just one of the children. In a lot of novels the parents are usually conveniently absent but in Ravenwild they were an important presence. The whole family have a really sarcastic humour which had me chuckling along with them at times. The three children Orie (16), Stephanie (15) and Jacqueline (10) are all likable with their own distinct personalities but with traits inherited from their parents, which shows how close they are as a family.

There is also a whole host of characters that you are introduced to, good and bad! There is the brave and loyal Forrester and even though he is a Troll he has a good heart and has banded together with Orie to help him find his family. There is also Jared, the intelligent and resourceful human that comes across Stephanie and believes she is the girl that is prophesised to change the fate of Inam'Ra in his beloved books. On the other side of the war there is the awful and downright evil Troll Emperor Malance Venomisis. So even though there was a lot of characters to keep track of I never forgot who was who and it was easy to follow becasue they all had there own personalities and none ever blended into one another.

Throughout the whole novel there is always the presence of danger and the threat is almost palpable. The Trolls are vicious and don't give a second thought about killing anybody for food or even just fun. There were times when some of the characters had just managed to escape from the Trolls only to find themselves back in their clutches almost straight away. This meant that I never knew what was going to happen next and there were also plenty of twists and turns that kept me reading and guessing.

Dotted amongst the pages of the book are great illustrations by Michael Longenecker of various characters and scenes which were an added bonus and very cool. The story ended satisfyingly, however, there are still questions to be answered and mysteries to be unraveled in the next installment and I can't wait to read it. Overall, it was a fast-paced, exciting read that transports you to a rich and amazing new world and is a great start to a promising new trilogy.



Random Passage: Anyone would agree that it's tough to live every moment of your life in fear that you're about to die - when there might be danger behind every tree, under every bush, around every bend in the roadway - when every shadow might suddenely transform itself into some hidden creature and rip you to shreds.

In My Mailbox (19)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren.

I received one book this week as a gift from my Dad.

1. The Ambassador's Mission by Trudi Canavan

I loved The Black Magician Trilogy so I can't wait to read this new companion series; The Traitor Spy Trilogy.

In My Mailbox (18)

In My Mailbox is hosted by Kristi from The Story Siren

I got two books this week:

1. Ravenwild By Peter Plasse and Michael Longnecker

2. When God Was A Rabbit By Sarah Winman

Ravenwild is the first book I have received for review and I'm really looking forward to reading it. It sounds like a great fantasy read!