Bel Reviews: Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie's - "Unleashed"
Katelyn McBride is a ballet dancer, a gymnast and has dreams of joining Cirque du Soleil. Her life in Santa Monica, California comes crashing down around her ears in the form of an earthquake; one which claims the life of her last living parent, her mother.
In the weeks that follow, she buries her Mum and is shipped off to a backwater town called Wolf Springs to live with a grandfather she barely knows. Salvation comes in the form of a Mustang-driving young man called Trick.
There are mysteries in Wolf Springs, strange noises and young girls being found dead in the woods. Katelyn suffers extreme culture shock as she is required to learn how to shoot a gun and is warned off going out alone after dark. But a flat tire changes her life completely.
Who is the owner of the blue eyes that will forever haunt her dreams and what’s going to happen on the night of the next full moon?
The market seems to be flooded with angels and vampires at the moment so I was excited to switch things up a little and pick up the first book in the Wolf Springs Chronicles, Unleashed.
I started reading this on a stormy Sunday afternoon; the ambience of the weather matched the mood and the setting of the book so well that before I knew it I was 300 pages in and having to put it down to catch some sleep, but the decision to stay up to finish was a near thing.
The first thing to hit you head on with this amazing book is that it is surprisingly sensitive without being mushy. Our lead character, though vegetarian, isn’t used to being molly coddled and finds aspects of her new home quite restrictive.
I felt like I was in Katelyn’s skin, I could empathise with her about being the new girl and the need to hold it all together so you’re not given the label of ‘freak’ in the first few weeks, and yet needing to let loose and be yourself.
I’m a big fan of getting out into the middle of nowhere and my wild side was awakened with scenes of Trick and Katelyn tearing down woodland roads to get to school in the Mustang. Must admit I’m a rev head too, so these moments were doubly thrilling for me.
As for the romance side of things, there is a few smoldering embers that will need only a breath to ignite, and the forecast says wildfires are due in the next book; but who will be consumed by her passion?
I have no complaints about this book except that I ran out of pages long before my appetite was sated… I want to know more. I want the best for Katelyn and I will probably go a little insane waiting to find out what transpires in the next book.
If you’re in the mood for something just a little different consider Unleashed to add to your shelves. You really won’t regret it.
Paperback, 383 pages
Published December 8th 2011 by Doubleday Children’s Books (first published November 22nd 2011)
ISBN
0857530712 (ISBN13: 9780857530714)
http://www.wolfspringschronicles.com
