“Maybe what we broke can’t be pieced back together again.”

“He believes I’m letting go.
But our soul are tethered. Bound in a fate that desires us both.”
— September 1910

“Maybe instead of things happening to me, I’m the one drawn to Chas? That when things are calm, I stand in the middle of the road waving a bright red flag, begging trouble to find me.”

GENRE: Romantasy
RATING: ⭐⭐⭐.75/5
FORMAT: eBook Arc
Would I recommend to others?: I think a lot of romantasy fans would enjoy this so yes I'd recommend it to them!

Review:
Isle of Wolves is a Slavic Folklore and if you have been following my journey and book reviews, you know that I love eastern folklore and I was super excited to read this book. This book follows Olena, who hunts vicious monsters in her village with her team. At the same time, they all have these monsters inside of them and it is guaranteed that one day, the monster in them all will wake up. The folklore behind this is explored throughout the book and we follow Olena as she navigates the burdens of being a hunter & getting betrayed by her boyfriend and having her mother in the hospital. We also navigate Olena’s world in terms of friendship and it made me remember how different & vulnerable we are in our teenage years.

“Good friends hold grudges in your name.”

I enjoyed going through the journey with Olena, getting to learn more about her and her village. I enjoyed learning about the Vovkulaka and understanding this folklore. This was definitely a fast paced book and the adventures kept building up, with one thing leading to another. Daune manages to do this without it feeling overwhelming and I quite enjoyed the fast pace. I also really loved the quotes in the beginning of each chapter and under the chapter number and legit highlighted maybe 90% of them. Here are some of my favourite ones:

“I stopped a heart. Stilled a breathe. Painted the forest red. Still, I am empty without you.”

“I wonder if I am my mother. I wonder if I am my father. I wonder, if they knew what I would become, would they have plunged in the sea instead?”

“The gods are cruel, sticking monsters in us who want to play in a world built to destroy us.”

“Some days the hate is stronger than the love we share”

I think what I would’ve liked a little more and what would push the rating from 3.75 to a 4 is having more folklore introduction and understanding the background behind it. I have no prior knowledge to this folklore and haven’t read it before (speaks to how unique this book is!) and would have just loved to learn more about it in general. I would have also loved to learn more about the world outside of the island that Olena lives in and understand the relationship of the folklore to these different parts and pieces of the story.

Finally, Isle of Wolves goes into the idea of heartbreak and living with what our loved ones do or commit and we see character & plot development throughout the book in this regard. I thoroughly loved getting to know the characters and understanding why they all did what they did. It is so hard to undo the pain & the heartbreak and we watch Olena grow and try to understand that:

“I need to stop trying to fit our broken pieces together. But as I glance his way and he smiles, I’m a girl on a cliff, afraid of letting go.”

All in all, I think this was a lovely and fantastic story and I can’t wait to read more from the author! Thank you for the eArc from the author in exchange for my honest review.