Although Vivian loves to change from her human form to wolf, she still longs for a normal life. She still grieves for her dead father, her pack has no leader, and all around, she just feels lost. How can she ever have a normal life?
It took me a little bit to get into this. It sort of moved slow at first, but really did pick up and I started to enjoy it. Vivian isn't what you'd call normal. She looks like a human, but can change into a wolf, and there are many others like her. But in order for her kind to stay safe, they have to try to blend in and never, ever let humans know what they are.
It's hard to grow up in a world where you are constantly being judged. And it is even worse when you are different. I can understand how hard it was Vivian because she was definitely different. But instead of just being judged and feared, humans would have most likely hunted her too, simply because of her difference.
I'm going to share a quote from the book that really stood out to me:
"Well," Rudy said, amusement in his eyes. "I didn't know we had another rebel in the house."
Esme laughed. "She's a teenager, for Moons sake. She's supposed to rebel."
Vivian bristled. How easily they dismissed her feelings as a stage she was going through.
I can definitely relate to this. Throughout my teenage years, I heard my mom say similar things to this. It's not a good feeling when you're feeling are completely dismissed. And of all the teen books I've read, this seems like this author really gets that. Not to say other authors don't, but this is the first time I remember a teen character in a book feeling this way and hearing something similar to what I heard myself many times. This really helped me to relate to Vivian.
The story itself was interesting, and this was actually the first time I read a werewolf book.
[spoiler]
I felt really bad over what happened between her and Aiden. I could just feel her heartbreak. She wanted to share what she really was and he just couldn't accept it. Although, I feel there was a part of him that cared about her and loved her. I was actually kind of sad to see how it ended. Not that it was a bad ending, but I was hoping Aiden and her would at least make up.[/spoiler]
I liked the book and I liked Vivian. I thought this was a good read, and in the future I might read other books by Annette Curtis Klause. This one was really good and I just loved Freaks: Alive, on the Inside!.
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