Wolfskin
by W.R. Gingell
Publish date: May 1, 2015
Genre: Fantasy, young adult
Rating: 4/5
Summary | Goodreads
‘If you want adventure, you have to march right up to it and kick it in the shins . . .’
At
fourteen, barefoot and running wild, Rose is delighted to be
apprenticed to Akiva, the witch of the forest. She thinks it will be all
enchantment and excitement, and not so much fuss about baths. The
reality is much more sober and practical- that is, until she meets a
mysterious wolf in the forest and is tricked into stepping off the path .
. .
In young, naive Rose, Bastian sees a way of escape. Cursed to
remain in the shape of a wolf after running afoul of a powerful
enchantress, he has lived many decades under a spell, and now he is both
desperate and ruthless. But by breaking part of Bastian’s curse, Rose
has caught the attention of Cassandra, the enchantress who cursed him:
and Cassandra is by no means ready to forgive and forget.
Meanwhile,
wardens have been disappearing from the forest, one by one. Rose is
certain that Cassandra is behind the disappearances, but can she and
Bastian get to the bottom of the matter before Akiva disappears as well?
And are Bastian’s motives entirely to be trusted?
Sometimes the
little girl in the red hood doesn’t get eaten, and sometimes the wolf
isn’t the most frightening thing in the forest.
My thoughts
Honestly, in the beginning I was a little unsure about reading and reviewing Wolfskin by W.R Gingell. Now that I'm in my mid-20s (sigh... getting older) I tend to lean more toward stories with slightly older characters or NA fantasy. I find that I can relate more toward characters that are closer to my age.
So with that in mind, I did get a little frustrated with the main character and her childish reaction to things. She was a little bit whiny and pouty. However, then I reminded myself that I was a little brat at 14 too, and I started to really enjoy the story once I got that out of the way.
What's good. The story itself was excellent. It wasn't anything like I had expected at all, which is always refreshing to see in a fantasy. Our main character, Rose, has a lot of learning to do in her apprenticeship and we learn right along with her. I found myself confused at times by what was happening, but it made me connect with Rose more, since she was struggling to understand everything at the same time I was.
The characters were new and refreshing. After I got over my initial dislike of Rose, I came to love her energy and curiosity. It reminded me a lot of myself at that age.
Then there's Akiva, the guardian witch Rose is apprenticed to. She's not your typical lovey, dovey fairy godmother. She's a tough, no nonsense old broad. She really makes Rose work for everything and never just gives her the answer to whatever problem she's facing.
Lastly, we have Bastian. His character is very drawn out through the novel. When we meet him, he's a conniving, vicious wolf who's about to eat Rose on their first meeting. After she breaks the first part of his curse, we don't see that much of him. Rose runs into him here and there, but he doesn't really play a bigger part until the second half of the novel.
What could have been better. The pacing was a little off for me. Sometimes it would take an entire chapter to go through a few days. Other times it was months down the road within a few sentences. To me, it didn't quite flow as well as it could have. I like it better when there's a consistency to the timeline.
I would have like to have seen more of Bastian in the beginning half of the novel. After Rose broke the first part of the curse I thought he'd be around more. He still had two more parts to the curse but didn't seem to be in a hurry to break them.
Overall, I gave Wolfskin a rating of 4/5 because I really, really enjoyed the storyline. The few things that I didn't like were very minor and didn't take away from the book as a whole. I'll definitely be recommending this one.
** I was provided a copy of this book in return for an honest review
Get it here
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About the author
W.R Gingell is a Tasmanian author who enjoys reading, bacon, and slouching in front of the fire to write.
Author links:
Website | Twitter | Goodreads
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Gathering Frost
by Kaitlyn Davis
Gathering Frost (Once Upon a Curse #1)
Publish Date: February 17, 2015
Genres: Fantasy, dystopian, fairy tale retelling, YA
Rating: 4/5
Book summary
Will his kiss be enough to revive her frozen heart?
Once Upon A Time meets La Femme Nikita in GATHERING FROST, a dystopian romance from bestselling author Kaitlyn Davis that reimagines the classic fairy tale of Sleeping Beauty.
Jade was only a little girl when the earthquake struck. Before her eyes, half of New York City disappeared, replaced by a village that seemed torn out of a storybook. Horses and carriages.
Cobblestone streets. A towering castle. And, above all, a queen with the magical ability to strip emotions away.
Ten years later and Jade has forgotten what it is to feel, to care...even to love. Working as a member of the queen's guard, she spends most of her time on the city wall staring at the crumbling skyscrapers of old New York. But everything changes when the queen's runaway son, Prince Asher, returns. Jade is tasked with an unusual mission--to let the Prince capture her, to make him trust her, and then to betray his secrets to the crown. In return, she'll earn her freedom. But life outside the queen's realm is more than Jade bargained for. Under Asher's relentless taunts, her blood begins to boil. Under his piercing gaze, her heart begins to flutter.
And the more her icy soul begins to thaw, the more Jade comes to question everything she's ever known--and, more importantly, whose side she's really on.
Goodreads
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My thoughts
If you like fairy tale retellings that aren't the typical rehash of the same story, but something entirely new - then Gathering Frost is for you. Our sleeping beauty goes by the name Jade. Jade is a soldier in the queen's military. As with everyone else in the kingdom, she feels nothing. No joy, no anger, no jealousy, no love. She exists as the queen's pawn and can't conjure up enough feelings to care either way.
In walks our prince, Asher, who is an actual prince - the queen's long lost son. After some time away from the queen, Jade begins to return to normal. However, he can't hide from the mission given to her by the queen, nor can she hide from her feelings.
I really love the different take on fairy tales and this one was a little bit different. It mixed the traditional fairy tale involving castles, princes and an evil queen with a modern dystopian setting. It's an interesting combination that really worked for me in this case.
While I did find the relationship between Jade and Asher to be a bit predictable, it was still fun for me to read. It wasn't love at first sight or anything. Asher had to break the enchantment on Jade first.
Jade is pretty kick-ass. She's the best soldier the queen has and she's no damsel in distress. Her fight scenes are very descriptive and had me sitting on the edge of my seat.
As far as writing goes, I'm pretty impressed. I didn't even realize this was a self-pubished book until I was putting this post together. Not only is Gathering Frost well-written, descriptive, and has multi-dimensional characters, but it's also well edited. Not once did I have a typo or grammatical error throw me off while I was reading.
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars.
About Kaitlyn Davis
I've always been a writer. I grew up duct taping my novels together,
started writing complete manuscripts in high school and studied
creative writing at Johns Hopkins University. Upon graduating, I decided
it was finally time to actually give my dream career a chance. So, of
course, I started writing a young adult paranormal romance series -- and
no, I'm not jumping on the bandwagon. I've been a true paranormal supporter for my entire life! I blame my obsession almost completely on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, my all-time favorite television show. And, before you ask: Yes, I own every season... even the post WB ones! I especially challenge anyone to watch the first three seasons and not fall in love with Angel, securing a lifelong love of vampires! Other culprits of my paranormal obsession are some of my favorite authors: JK Rowling, Raymond Feist, Meg Cabot, Richelle Mead, Lynne Ewing and Tamora Pierce.
Author Links
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