Book Review: Weregirl

Title: Weregirl
Author: C.D. Bell
Source: Library - saw it on Greg's Book Haven

Goodreads Summary:


Eager to escape her small hometown, high school junior Nessa Kurland is focused on winning a college scholarship for cross-country running. A chance encounter with a trapped wolf while out on a run leads to powerful and frightening changes, and one day, Nessa is transformed into a full werewolf. Now Nessa must navigate the challenges of high school while coming face to face with true human darkness, as she tries to make peace with her new wild nature.






My Thoughts:

This was a pretty entertaining read! I was in the mood for some YA angst mixed with some sort of supernatural type element, and this fit the bill perfectly! The fact that it is set in Michigan is just a bonus. I am a fan of werewolf stories, and this cover - you can't deny that it stops you in your tracks, with those ice blue eyes staring you down, daring you to pick this book up and read it.

Nessa is a super-driven, motivated high school student with a set goal and a plan. She is a cross-country runner on her school team, and knows her talent and athletic prowess is the only way to pay for college. She needs to have a stellar year in order to be even considered for an athletic scholarship, and has put in the time pounding the pavement to train for the season. Unfortunately, there is one hitch - as a result of one moment's kindness, Nessa is bitten by a wolf, jeopardizing her chances. She is told she won't be able to compete for at least a month to allow the wound time to heal completely. Nessa however, begins to heal faster than the doctor said, letting her continue to practice. Good stuff right? The flip side of faster healing? Suddenly growing fur all over your body. Gross. I can only imagine how I would react as a teenage girl, to a sudden growth spurt of animal hair, on me. I had the chicken pox in high school, and honestly, that was hard enough! Yep, you guessed it. That wolf bite had the power to transform her into a wolf.

The rest of the book is Nessa dealing with her newfound wolfish nature, as well as what she learns about the truth behind her town of Tether as a result, which includes a mysterious and ominous chemical company that polluted the water in her town for years.

I think what I really liked most about this book was Nessa herself. The central plot kept my interest, but I really liked how real Nessa was. She had a real life. One where she had to take care of her little brother, who has autism, and has a part-time job. She has to balance her home life with work life with school with track - as well as a social life and boys. She has self-doubts, and dreams. It was very realistic, in my opinion, making her relatable. Not everything is handed to her easily on a platter. This girl has to work for it. On top of all of this, now she has to deal with turning into a wolf as well following down the track of the dark undercurrents of her town.

I thought this book was a fun read, with a unique perspective on the whole werewolf scene. I look forward to visiting this world again, and seeing what happens next!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

  

  

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

Phew! The holidays are behind us, fun as they were, and I feel like the quiet of January can finally descend. Christmas was fun, New Years was great, and my brother is all moved into his new house too, so all the big stuff is kind of done around here for a while. We have spent today being lazy together, taking a drive, watching movies, reading, and hanging out playing with new toys. It was nice. Tomorrow we are going to do some cleaning, and Billy and I are even going out for a coffee date in the morning, just the two of us! 

My new banned book socks!

I also want to remember not just the celebrities that have died this year that, which were all so incredibly sad, some that were icons of my youth - George Michael, Prince, Carrie Fisher (Princess Leia..I am heartbroken), but three of my very favorite authors passed away this year as well. Richard Adams, who wrote Watership Down, my favorite book, as well as Pat Conroy and Harper Lee. It was a sad year, with the loss of so many beloved authors and entertainers. 

“My heart has joined the Thousand, for my friend stopped running today.”

- Richard Adams

Read Last Week:

  

Winter Street by Elin Hilderbrand: This was my Christmas Eve book from Billy. It was a fun and fast read, great for the holiday season! I found myself pretty invested quickly in the lives of these characters.

Weregirl by C.D. Bell: I saw this book over on Greg at Book Haven's blog, and I knew I had to read it. That cover alone is pretty arresting! Add the fact that it is set in Michigan, and involves werewolves - all things that grab my attention and make me want to read the book. I liked this book! I am not sure if there is going to be a follow up but I hope there is. Review soon!

Reading This Week:

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden: Another cover that just stops you in your tracks. I can't remember exactly where I saw this book first, but I want to say Rita at View From My Books. It is going to be my first book of the year! (well, that isn't a picture book..)

Watching:

Veronica Mars, Longmire, Fresh Off the Boat, Alone, Top Chef

What Wyatt's Reading - December Edition

So, I am narrowing this post down to the top five books we read this month, as it would be a mammoth blog post. Lol. Being Christmas, we read so many holiday books. Rather than list off the multitudes, I narrowed down the list to the favorites. The ones that elicited the most squeals of joy, clapping, and also, frankly, a few that I liked the most too.

(clicking on the covers should take you to the Goodreads page..hopefully!)

Wyatt loves loves loves Llama Llama! I do too honestly, they are so cute, and easy to read aloud with their simple, sing-songy rhymes. It is so sad that Anna Dewdney passed away this year, and so young.

Wyatt spotted this on display at the library and would not rest until I grabbed it for him. I have to admit, I was a little in love with it too, after I read it. The illustrations are so detailed and interesting, I found myself going back and flipping through the book to look at them without little hands pawing at the page. The story was really cute too - and the main character little girl looks a lot like my friend's daughter!

I picked this one out for him for Christmas, and read it to him on Christmas Eve. We read about Iceland's tradition of giving and reading books on Christmas Eve (and eating chocolate!) and so our little family decided to have our own Icelandic style Christmas Eve. We exchanged books and had some reading time, although it was not all that we did. This was Wyatt's book. I adored it! 

Another book gift for Wyatt. I saw this book when we vacationed in Saugatuck this summer, and knew I had to get it. Billy and I both have multiple tattoos so I thought this book would be fun. We have appointments in February to get a new tattoo - we are each getting a tattoo, "the best tattoo of all". We are getting acorn tattoos to represent our little guy. I can't wait!

This book is absolutely gorgeous. It is also really fun! Wyatt and I had fun finding the little foxes together, and I enjoyed the unique page design. Some of the pages were cutouts, delicate and beautiful, and while I loved them, they frustrated Wyatt since they were fragile and he couldn't really grab onto them - especially since this was a library book! I am going to buy it for him, both because I love it, and also so that he can touch the pages. I can use it to help teach him how to respect books, but also still interact with it the way that it was intended. 

My Favorite Books of 2016

This year was a pretty good year - it was rough at times, to be honest, but despite its challenges we laughed, loved, and made good memories. And along the way I read a few books! These were a few of my favorites, in no particular order..

I am looking forward to seeing what next year's reading brings to me. I am also having a hard time deciding on the first book I am going to read in 2017! The first book I read in 2016 actually made this favorites list - Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. I went on to read a million little mysteries this year afterwards too! Probably out of these, my top favorites have to be Readers of Broken Wheel and The Oregon Trail. The Oregon Trail was fun because I mini book club'd it with my husband. And now, of course, I want a mule. If you read this book, you probably do too!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

  

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

I hope everyone had a great November, and Thanksgiving if you celebrate! My month has been spent doing a ton of homework and hanging out with the family. Our Thanksgiving was a little unconventional this year; my family had various illnesses so we split up, and had little individual Thanksgivings. It was just the three of us for dinner! Wyatt really loved the cheesy potatoes the best. Friday I spent lazing about the house with the boy and husband, and it was nice. Billy actually went out early and got us a doorbuster television from Best Buy; ours was going and he got us a great new tv for under $300! Saturday was completely different - we went on an Owl Prowl at our favorite metropark. Usually there are 50 people there; this year, it was just Billy and I and one of the park rangers we know! It was pretty cool - we spent a long time tromping through the woods in the dark, calling for owls. We heard so many and a few flew in close, but we never could spot them entirely. It was pretty cool walking around the woods and fields in the dark, bu I have to admit, my overactive imagination started going crazy and I got a little spooked!! We had a great time out together. We have weird date nights, I guess. Lol. I also spent the weekend watching the Gilmore Girls revival - anyone else watch it? What the what was that ending!!!!

Read Last Week/Reading This Week:

So, I have had to really focus on school work, these classes kill me, so I am reading a lot of articles and books. We have read some really fascinating things, and I am sharing the two books with you. I am not linking the articles although if anyone is interested let me know! These two books have some great information in them, and both are written in a way that is easy to read, and is actually interesting, unlike some material that you read for school. 

  

Native Roots by Jack Weatherford

Food by Warren Belasco

Watching:

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Longmire (holy crap I love this show!!), and I am going to start watching Good Girls Revolt. And of course, it is now the Christmas season! I can't wait to start watching Christmas movies with the kiddo!

It's Monday! What Are You Reading?

  

It's Monday! What Are You Reading is hosted by Kathryn at Book Date

I hope everyone had a great Halloween! We had a great time; Wyatt was still a little congested so we just went a block trick or treating, which honestly, would probably all we would have done anyway. He's little still, and it's not like he's going to eat all that candy...he can leave that to his parents. Lol.

Read Last Week:

  

On Second Thought and Behind Closed Doors are both review books from the publisher. On Second Thought was so good, and just what I needed!! Behind Closed Doors was equally good, but so freaky!! I had to put it down for a bit!!

Reading This Week:

  

So one of these is required reading...guess which one? Lol. I am sure it will be interesting, I just have to finish it before Monday. So, here it is on my list!

Waterlily

In Farleigh Field

Watching:

Longmire (love this so far!!), Supernatural, Van Helsing, The Walking Dead, The Gilmore Girls. I just finished watching the whole series of The Office - wow, that show was really good, and had one of the best final seasons I have ever seen!

 

Goodbye October, Hello November!

With your trips to the cider mill and apple orchard,

Your warm days and cool nights,

hayrides and ghost stories.

This month I learned that Wyatt loves pumpkin spice anything. 

That I love pumpkin spice lattes - I just had my first one!

We had fun collecting things for Wyatt's fall nature discovery box.

I was reminded of the infinite creativity and talents of my husband. He made Wyatt's viking costume - not the hat - and turned a wagon into a viking ship...

And about how awesome my family is in general. I had a moment, standing and watching my husband, son, sister-in-law, and niece (er.. dragon) trick or treating. My brother and I hung back and just watched, and I thought of how many years I trick or treated with that kid, my brother, and how now, how lucky we are that we can take our kids out together. 

So hello November! I am looking forward to seeing what this month brings!