Jorie Rao

Cryptids are a fascinating concept and I have wanted to read more non-romance centric books about them for a while now. Big part of whyvI was so excited to find this series! In this book, Prudence goes after a rougarou (werewolf) after it attacks and kills her mother. Her sister goes along for the ride (and tries to keep her rational), while her father is left in the dark.

I'm a little conflicted about how to feel about this book. The plot was amazing, but it could have been executed better. I don't know how much it was due to the length of the book, but I didn't feel that much of a connection to the characters (although I loved Mamma Black and the YouTubers fascinated me - I wonder how much real footage they actually got compared to what they faked). I know reactions to gried differ, but I felt like Prudence's dad in particular was rather indifferent to the death. I don't know if he mouthed more after his children left, but yeah. He seems like a cool guy though (although he should have told his children - one of whom is an adult - more of the truth before all of this happened).

The events take place over a short period of time. Yet there are two major gaps. The second is understandable (although a bit of something would have been nice) but the first is just weird (they get banned from a restaurant due to something that may involve glitter?).

I found an interview by the author and I'm glad she decided to set it in modern times. She deals with technology well (so it can't just solve everything while still being helpful). Some of the references felt a little odd though and definitely have the potential to date the book faster than it would otherwise have aged. But that's always a risk with these kinds of books though. None are too in depth though so I doubt it'll do too much.

If you are interested in a short story that focuses on family and chasing down a werewolf (with very minimal horror) you might enjoy this book. But if you prefer more in depth stories, you might not enjoy it quite as much. That being said, the plot is an interesting one and I definitely wouldn't complain if the author were to explain on it in the future!… (mehr)