ridleyreadsthings's Reviews (789)

Actually 3.5 but it felt wrong to round down to 3 stars.

I really did enjoy this book, but the fact that it was branded as YA doesn't really sit well with me. But I'll get into that in a moment ; I'm not coming for the author, or anthing like that. I'm not good at writing reviews and I get alot of my thoughts muddled when trying to do them and jot them down. So forgive me if it seems like I'm dissing the book, because I'm not. 

This is my first time reading a book by Elana K. Arnold, and it was an exciting read - and I will be sure to pick up more of her books. 

First, things I liked.

- I enjoyed that it was written in second person, a style I've never really read before, and I hope to read more books written in 2nd. 

- it had a kind of buffy vibe, with the instincts and the hunting, which was really cool and really well described. 

-I loved Bisou. I thought she was a great character - all the girls were Actually, and I enjoyed their relationships. 

-i could easily picture the whole novel as a movie in my head.

-i enjoyed the idea of the story, the mythology, the almost fresh take on a classic tale, although I wouldn't really class this as a retelling. More of "inspired by"

- I loved loved loved the use of poetry. It was so beautifully written, it's made me want to get into poetry too. 

- It was a well written novel, the story flowed nicely and it didn't drag. It was a bit slow at the start for me but it set things up nicely, gave you questions you wanted answers too straight off the bat and flowed great so it wasn't too much of an issue. 


Things I didn't like, and this is why I couldn't give it a four or five stars, even though I struggled to put it down.

-i am all for feminism and woman's rights but the particular message I got from this didn't sit right with me.


- Every single guy apart from the main characters boyfriend (of course he was a saint) came across as massive, horny, sex driven entitled scumbag. Like, EVERY, SINGLE ONE. 

- That was the general consensus I got from this to be totally honest. That all men are evil, and as a bloke, it made reading a little uncomfortable. Are there rapists? Yes. Are there entitled boys who just see girls as ways to get off? Absolutly. But not every male character had to be one. Apart from a cop we got one or two brief sentences out off. 

(I will say four guys painted their nails black in support of Keishas article, but that doesn't mean much does it, when that is the only interaction we get with these characters. 

 -I'm not saying that the guys were innocent, far far from it. I fully understand what the author was trying to achieve and kind of did, for the storys sake, but I feel the fact that this is marketed as a YA novel, the execution was off. 

-i would have liked to have found out why these boys turned into wolfs- was it random or was it the fact that they were all violent towards women or sexual predators?

- that it didn't have a trigger warning. Not going to lie, I enjoy dark books, but I bought this thinking it would be a retelling of little red riding hood, but I wasn't expecting some of the subject matter. 


I do reccomend this book if you are into retellings or books inspired by fairy tales. But please be aware it has some sensitive topics, and in my opinion isn't suitable for younger teenagers. But I do look forward to reading more of the authors books.