I found out via Twitter that Rebecca Rogers was giving copies of her saga out for reviews, and I signed up. I thought the descriptions sounded intriguing, and while the whole werewolf genre is a little overdone at the moment, I thought I’d give it a go.
The premise behind these books is an interesting one. Here it is, in as short a summary as I can make it:
A long time ago, in the days before indoor plumbing, gasoline-powered vehicles and electricity, a man and a woman – Ulric and Daciana – are bitten by a werewolf. They were told if they told no one about it, they would live forever, but their children would be free from the curse.
The wolf who bit them plotted to try and make others suffer as she had suffered, for being different and for practicing magic. Then, the Ulric’s brother – Alaric – is cursed for causing the woman to be tried and killed as a witch (she also curses his family, which curses Ulric and Daciana, as well) and he ends up casting Ulric and Daciana to an alternate universe. Thus started the curse of the werewolves and a family feud.
Fast forward to modern day, and Candra is sent to live with her aunt and uncle after getting into too much trouble at home. She has to graduate with good grades during her senior year, or else. Then she learns of the family curse, that she will become a werewolf on her 18th birthday, and that she – and a boy from the family bent on destroying hers – might be the key to breaking the curse.
This book is definitely aimed at the young adult in their early high school years, in my opinion. It involves time travel, magic and other bits and pieces of fantasy. There were points in the story that I found either went way too fast, or way to slow. I liked the main character, Candra, well enough. She, like many of the other characters, was a little shallow for me, but I still liked her. Ben – the main guy – and some of the other characters needed some work, in my opinion. I also don’t go for the whole anger-passion thing. At one point, he makes her kiss him by choking her until she does. I get the whole werewolf thing, and violence inherent with that, but it bothered me to read it. The idea of “marking” someone, and that they will, at some point, be your mate – sort of a soul mate twist – was an interesting concept.
The end was too quick for me. I think that’s what got me the most and left a slightly bad taste in my mouth. Things just played out, randomly, and I didn’t see how things were going to turn out the way they did. It was too much to really keep me in the suspended disbelief state that authors want you in while reading their book. It felt sort of quick and clumsy, like they just stumbled along the way and somehow fixed everything. I’m not saying that none of it belonged in the story or everything needed to change. I just think it needed a little more time and thought.
Overall, the saga was decent. It needed work, but I always enjoy a happy ending.
You can find out more about the saga at the author’s web site.
I'm a lover of writing and books. I graduated from South Dakota State with a master's degree in communications in 2011, the same year I was first published. I'm a wife and mom, and I work in marketing in Sioux Falls.
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