Welcome to Blackwood is Khaiah Thomson's debut novel and she has smashed it out of the park with an engaging, well written story.

It is set in the lush, secretive town of Blackwood. The descriptions are fantastic and I want to live there. Not even for all the supernatural shenanigans, but for the absolutely beautiful setting. It has the forest, beach and small town vibes. It sounds like heaven.

I saw a review for this that said if you like Twilight, you will like this. And yes, I agree, but I must point out that the angst is low in this book and there is no 100 year old being staring at a 16yr old while she is sleeping for months on end, so it won't give you creep vibes.

Freya has moved around all her life, trying to hide what she is from the world. But after a guy tries to assault her and she defends herself, her mother decides it's time to head back to their home town. The town of Blackwood. Blackwood is full of shifters, empaths, telepaths and lots of other flavours of supers. It's an exclusive town, if you will, and the hope is that Freya will be protected there. Not long after arriving though, Freya realises that creeps come in all shapes and sizes and she needs to make some hard decisions about how she wants her life to go. Freya makes friends, meets a sexy boy from a rival pack and even gets a job, but it seems that those who killed her dad are now after her and they will use whatever they can to get their hands on her power.

Freya is a kickass main character. I was rooting for her the whole way through. I wanted to punch people in the face for her, I wanted to tell her that her feelings where valid and I wanted to punch her mum in the boob. Because those who loved her, may have had what they considered her best interests in mind, but they crossed so many boundaries. Freya was determined, sweet and so sassy. She is thrown into a completely foreign situation and the girl handles it with grace. She continuously does the best she can with the information she has. She is a little naЗоve, but it's understandable.

This book has Beau... You want Beau in your life. The other side characters are great, but again, it has Beau.

I loved the small town politics, the pack rivals, the many flavours of supernaturals and I loved watching Freya learn to embrace who she is and what she is capable of. This was such an easy engaging read, I read it in one sitting. Yes, there was lots of coffee the next day. It's fast paced, no fluff and I'm very much looking forward to book 2. I need to know what Freya gets up to next.