The Best of Mutts

Wolfville

The Synopsis:

Wolfville, Nova Scotia is a town run by students. Timmory Cross is attending her first semester at Acadia University, but there's a problem: she hates people. And university is full of people. The only place where she can get away from them all is Gaspereau Mountain, a wildlife reserve outside of town, but what she doesn't realize is that the mountain is home to a group of wild, dangerous wolves. After one of them fails to make a meal out of her, she finds out why they've kept themselves hidden: they're werewolves. Rescued by the son of the pack's chief, Timmory learns that she's now one of them and must face not only the threat of the wolf that changed her, who intends to finish the job, but frightening hunters that seek to exterminate her kind. Between a pack eager to call her family, a best friend that drags her out to every party, and a boy in her class who gets a little too close too quickly, Timmory struggles to find balance between her two lives while avoiding certain death at the hands - and jaws - of those that hunt her. And she must accept one ever important fact: Wolfville is not run by students. It's run by wolves.

****

My Rating: 6.5/10
      - although this may seem little, or not particularly good IT IS! Believe me it is. Perhaps I'm harsh in my rating but this is an honest review and whilst I enjoyed it I believe in some parts the narrative could be a little better. HOWEVER I really appreciate the amount of research the author has obviously done- taking out the time to do it is no easy task and you can honestly see the effort, the research gone into the physical traits of werewolves, their folklore and mythologies. She even includes a little fact file sort of thing at the end which I sincerely enjoyed reading. I'm a firm believer of having reasons for the way things are in books involving the supernatural - for instance the author includes reasons for how transformation is made possible.

I'll be the first to admit I raised a brow at the name - snorted even - however I found that 'wolfville' is indeed an existing place, much to my surprise, and so I applaud the author MadisonTrupp for the setting since it really does resemble a place where wolves might actually live.

Without giving too much away, the story focuses more on the advancement of the action, with romance as a sub plot and you'll realise many of the stories I recommend follow. I personally think that this sort of focus is better for the storyline because, for one, it has a layered and more sophisticated plot and thus the story is less predictable.

The protagonist - Tim - is a very realistic character and that was the first thing I noticed. She doesn't fall dramatically into awe or lust when meeting her MCM and neither does she do the whole pretentious badass-fiesty-hard-to-get act. Her reactions to pain and betrayal (hint hint) are very realistic and heart breaking in their nature (we love a good heartbreak). The book deals with issues people face when first becoming adults including wanting to get away from the natural worry of parents and other similar things.

I genuinely loved this book for the reasons as follows:
- Timmory's personality- I felt that I could relate to her as a female, a student, a daughter and a friend. You won't always like her actions, but that's because her actions are her's. I really felt like the author fleshed her out well and good characterisation is everything.

- The plot - whilst romance is highly significant to the plot, the mystery of what will happen next makes this book a real page turner.

-The supporting characters are not just there to simply exist. In this book, each and every character has a purpose.

- the research put behind the narrative - already spoke about this above

- The grammar - I could read it without wanting to through my phone at the wall. I could also appreciate the language used although I'll be honest to say I wasn't exactly blown away by it. But here is an example:

I hope you give this book a chance because I really enjoyed it and I loved not knowing how the story would progress/end.