This was such a weird one. I understand that this is marketed as horror, and it certainly has some horrific elements, but it never <i>felt</i> like a horror novel. It wasn't strictly a romance, either. It felt like a contemporary novel with some paranormal horror thrown in, honestly. 

Rory returns to her home town when her sister Scarlett asks her to keep her company just before her baby is born, and she's barely there for a short time before she's attacked and bitten by a werewolf. I have to give Rachel Harrison some credit with the werewolf body horror - it's about the ONLY thing horrifying about this entire story. The attack, the description of gore and Rory's bodily changes were well done, and had me cringing the every time it was described.

The rest of the novel focuses on Rory trying to figure out her relationships and her life alongside freaking out about being a werewolf. Having re-connected with her old high school friend Ian (who was in love with her since they were kids), she's juggling her sibling relationship, her traumatic past that her mother's visit brings up, and a new romance with Ian. I actually liked a bit of the overall relationship struggles that Rory kept going through. 

However.

How-fucking-ever.

Rory was incredibly annoying. Holy shit, was she annoying. 

She was so Cool and everyone had to know it. Everyone had to constantly say it. She's COOL, y'all. She's funny and witty and sexy and everyone loves her and SHE'S SOOOO COOL. She goes to cool parties in NYC and has one night stands and never connects to any man and she always has fun times and she always has quirky zingers for every conversation. Even her sister Scarlett was a Cool Girl, just with a Kat Von D coat of paint. Their best friend was the bestest, most intense homemaker ever. The romantic lead Ian was a nerdy music kid turned hot dude - and did I mention he's tall? He's soooo big and tall. He's so tall that when he's sitting down on a chair, Rory barely reaches his face. SO BIG AND TALL!!

I would have enjoyed this so much more had the character work been done better. The <i>relationships</i> were done really well, but the characters felt like they were fanfic wish fulfillment come to life. I wrote self-insert girls like Rory when I wrote NSYNC fanfic as a teen. It was just so jarring to have a really compelling relationship-driven paranormal story be dragged down by these caricatures. 

What a weird, weird experience this was.