She Wolf by Maya Morrison

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CW: parent death, threats of sexual violence, alcoholism

After Edith’s father loses his place as pack alpha in Sibyl Falls, her family becomes ostracized and her life of comfort is quickly replaced by poverty and violence. When her mother is senselessly killed by the new pack alpha, her father finds solace in the bottom of the bottle while Edith is left to mourn alone, defenseless against their abusive pack. When she meets a boy, Tiam, in the Forbidden Forest, their friendship becomes one of her few sources of comfort and joy.

As Edith grows older, her feelings for Tiam grow into something more than friendship but pack laws ensure the two can never be together. Also, Edith has an enormous secret that she has spent her whole life hiding, even from Tiam. When a chance to leave the oppression and abuse of her pack finally becomes available, Edith flees. But when girls start to disappear from her pack, including her only friend, Edith finds herself working with an unlikely ally to discover not just where her friend is being held, but Edith’s possible connections to the disappearances.

I was very excited to receive this book from the fabulous Book Fairy Polly, as I’ve been wanting to get back into paranormal romance and finding myself coming across far more misses than hits. When I picked it up, it was just to read the first few chapters to get a feel for it but then I blinked and it was dark outside. I love when that happens. This does land on a HUGE cliffhanger but luckily for you, the next book comes out at the end of the month.

I really love this book. Edith is a total badass who has spent most of her teen years gritting her teeth and dealing with the abuse and nastiness from the other kids, and adults, in the pack. Their wolf shifter pack is kept very isolated from the outside world so Edith has to deal with the pack’s disdain for her family on a daily basis. It would be so easy for her to turn bitter or give up and instead, she walks through her day finding ways to figuratively, and sometimes almost literally, give the pack the middle finger. She refuses to be intimidated and keeps her focus on saving enough money to escape. Her relationship with Tiam is incredibly complicated, not just by them meeting in a literal forbidden forest, but also because he is the heir to his pack’s alpha and his life is already laid out by his father. Of course, both Edith and Tiam are hiding secrets from each other, secrets that can jeopardize both their lives, so when the fates match them as mates, Edith has to reject him to save him. I love that it was Edith that did the rejecting for “saving his life” reasons and not Tiam. Nice little trope twist.

I really enjoyed the world Morrison created for her characters. The bar Edith works at is magically cloaked and requires a little chanting to enter. Her work as a bartender influences later events and I really enjoyed the cocktail descriptions. Working there with her best friend gave her a small escape from the constant harassment of her pack. The magic system was also really well thought out and I like how it influenced and revealed aspects of the characters to the reader. At one point, Edith finds herself in a magical tree house that can alter it’s form and dimensions in really interesting ways. Edith’s inner wolf is far different than any wolf found within her pack, something only she and her parents suspected but had no proof of, and I’m very curious as to how this will play out in the coming books.

Really loved this one. It’s full of action, tons of angst-so much angst, mystery, drama, some politics, and tons of sexual tension. There’s a dinner scene-you’ll know what I’m talking about when you read it-that I nearly screamed when I read it. I’m really hoping Edith gets some revenge! I also hope she gets to throw some well deserved punches.

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