It's a bad day when you find out that in a few short months you're going to "wolf out" and become some crazed feral animal that won't even realize who you are or the others around you. To make a bad day turn into a hideous day all you need to add into the mix is how your family and the guy you're falling for's family have been mortal enemies for like forever. Yep, that is an awful day. And Candra Lowell just had that day. Candra had always been somewhat "delinquent" and after she was arrested for a little vandalism, her parents decide it was best for her to go live with her aunt and uncle in Connecticut. She feels like they are just dumping her on someone else since they can't seem to handle her anymore. They leave her there in a strange house with people she barely knows anything about. Almost immediately she has strange dreams of a man trying to tell her she needs to leave and constantly sees glowing eyes watching her from the forest line outside of the house.
"I hear the words drifting around me and into my ears 'There's nothing for you here. Go back. Those close to you will pay the price. You must leave."
Then there's school. As soon as she gets there, everything starts going wrong.
"High school. The worst part of my life. Some say it's the best, but I wonder what planet they're from. If I can get through the long days without any morons making fun of the new kid, then I suppose it might be tolerable."
But Conard High School is hardly tolerable to Candra, who's a senior. "Everyone knows when fresh meat has arrived." Her English class rolls around on her first day of school and her teacher seats her by the very attractive Benjamin Conway. Before she can even reach her seat she trips and falls on her face right in front of him. While everyone else laughs, he does not. Although everyone seems to be openly talking and laughing about Candra, she ends up meeting Blake and Jana who quickly become her only friends.
It doesn't take long for Ben's brothers, Cameron and Ethan, to pick out just who Candra Lowell is and to start making her life more of a living hell than it already is. Thanks to Ben, things don't get too out of hand until Candra pushes Cameron out of a window in the middle of school. He may have deserved it, but she is totally freaked out that she was able to cause such damage. Little does she know that the changes have already started and there are many others around her who know more about her than she knows about herself.
"Oh, Candra, it's painful how little you know. You have no idea what's about to happen to you, yet everyone around you does." - Cameron (right before he finds himself being pushed through a window)
Candra's aunt and uncle finally have to sit down and tell her about her heritage. She, like her parents and her aunt and uncle, is a werewolf. Everyone has their first change when they turn 18 and they receive a special power. No one knows what it is until then or possibly later. And then there's the whole thing with Ben's family. So their families hate each other. Ben's family is power hungry and has been dabbling in some very dangerous magic. But Ben seems so different. He cares for Candra enough to mark her, which she doesn't really understand either. Of course she had to go and fall in love with her mortal enemy.
I never understood why two people have to go and fall in love with each other before they find out how much their families hate each other. But it has happened again. (Perhaps it's fate?) This time instead of a feud between vampires and werewolves, it's between two very old werewolf families. In this series you don't have to be bitten to turn into one. It's in the genes. You don't get a choice in the matter. It is definitely a non-traditional fantasy novel and because of that I like it. To mix it up even more, the werewolves have magic. It is the source of the power they receive. But one family decides to abuse magic and it can only wreak havoc on those around the area. (SPOILER ALERT)- While everyone seems to believe the problem is the Conway family, the actual problem stems back to the ancient one named Alaric. He pays the town a little visit and causes more problems. Like they don't already have enough. Ancients are not really supposed to get involved in such disputes. Candra is a confused teenager who finds out her true genes. But when she does things start making more sense to her. Once she gets used to the idea of becoming a werewolf, it doesn't sound so bad anymore. Keeping her safe is proving to be her family's biggest challenge. Ben is from a family of werewolves who will do anything to take down the Lowell's. They want all of the power and don't care how they get it. As ruthless as his family seems, Ben is not like them. However, he does have his dark side and his reasons for it. Candra just has to learn to see past that.
While the book has some repetitive themes in it (romeo and juliet), it is a great story. The way the author slowly unfolds the story makes you want to read all three of the books in the series. You never find out all of the information at one time. It's a great series, but if you read the first one, you should read it to the very end to see the true depth of it all. Things are never what they seem. And it's true in this story as well. The forces of evil have wound themselves right into the middle of the feuding and it stems from ages back.
"All of us are God's creatures...just some are more creature than others."-Unkown
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*image via Rebecca A. Rogers
*quotes via Rebecca A. Rogers
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