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Thursday, December 15, 2016

Weregirl

Weregirl

Weregirl is an interesting book. I was first drawn to it by the premise and the fact that it's set in Michigan, and the nice cover didn't hurt either. I was also intrigued by the fact that the publisher is Chooseco- the company that publishes the Choose Your Own Adventure stories. The path to publication for this is somewhat unique in that the author is C.D. Bell, but the idea for the book was formed by a writers room of sorts at Chooseco, and then she was brought in to do the actual writing. It's an interesting way to do things, and I'm curious if there will be a sequel or if other YA books will be forthcoming. 

The story itself is about Nessa Kurland, a junior at a high school somewhere in north central  Michigan who is bitten by a wolf while out running. It's not just any wolf however, and Nessa soon finds herself transforming into a werewolf. Nessa is on the cross country team and wants nothing more than to escape her devastated small town, and feels that running and a scholarship are her way out. The town itself is a fictional one, although various real Michigan towns are name dropped and the author seems somewhat familiar with Michigan. 

Nessa's life and cross country aspirations are complicated by her werewolf activity but at the same time her senses are enhanced and her running improves dramatically even when in human form. Looks like she just might get out of town after all- that is, if she can survive. As she races through the woods at night she encounters other wolves, including some very aggressive ones who attack her, and a mysterious gray wolf who helps her. Yes of course there is a romance here, we can't have shifters without romance! And not only that but there is a mysterious corporation involved as well, a global company with their hands in all kinds of industries- and they pretty much sponsor everything in town after taking over the bankrupt Dutch Chemical company that poisoned the town. 

This element also interested me since Dow Chemical is headquartered in mid Michigan and has been linked to contamination in water as well as class action lawsuits over cancer. It's well known in Michigan and Dow has settled lawsuits so I couldn't help wondering if Dutch Chem was a veiled reference to Dow. At any rate there is a similar premise going on here, taken to a different level of course, and that added a significant level of tension to the book. The story itself is fine, it's a YA book and I think the target audience is pretty clearly teen girls - YA is such a broad canvas and I would say this one skews more towards the younger part of the spectrum. 

I liked Nessa, and could relate. Northern and central Michigan has all kinds of small towns that kids can't wait to get away from, so that's plausible. Her friend Bree had a fun personality and the two guys in the story- Cassian and Luc- are different enough even if not exactly breaking new ground. I think the book is written well but I did find myself skimming- not because the book isn't good, but just because again I'm not the target audience, so as curious as I was about the lycanthrope elements and the home state angle, I was trying to speed through it a bit too. I think this is good read if the premise appeals to you and you like a conventional YA/ urban fantasy mashup. 

21 comments:

  1. The cover is beautiful. I don't read YA paranormal now so it wouldn't be one I'd read but I can admire the cover! I love wolves...

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  2. This is interesting. I've never read a choose your own adventure type of reads but I like the inception of this book. It's been a while since I've read a were book, so I might pick one up again soon. This looks like a good candidate. :)

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    1. I hope you like it if you read it! It's not a Choose Your Own but its's published by the same people. :)

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  3. I've always wondered how invested an author can be if it's not his/her story and if that affects the writing. Doesn't Lauren Oliver have a company that does something similar? I'm going to go look that up.

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    1. It seems like I've heard that about Lauren Oliver too, but I don't remember the details. From looking at their website it does appear this author was pretty involved in the process- and the writing was good. It was just a little younger skewing that I was looking for.

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  4. I am intrigued for the same reasons - home state and supernatural elements. I put it on hold! :)

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    1. Yuo- the Michigan angle was interesting! Especially when she name dropped some towns you'll recognize. :) I hope you like it!

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  5. I always enjoy a good shifter book, although I've mostly read adult shifter books, I can remember a YA werewolf series I once read a few years ago. This one does sound interesting. Glad to hear you mostly seem to enjoy it even though you skimmed a bit.

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    1. Yeah it wasn't bad, I did skim but that was mainly because it skewed a little younger than I was looking for. But if you like YA shifters it has some neat ideas!

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  6. I like the cover of this one and I can see why the location appeals to you. I love when a book is set in an area I'm really familiar with. This doesn't sound like a book for me but I can definitely see the appeal!

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    1. It was nice to read about an area I know. Even though the town was fictitious there were some towns I knew that were referenced.

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  7. I do like this cover. And that is a strange way to write a book, I would've never known it had been written like that. I'm glad it worked well though and that you enjoyed it! It does sound like a nice YA shifter story, albeit not something I'd be interested in since I'm not big on shifters or younger-oriented YA.

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    1. I was a little surprised too. It's actually an interesting collaboration, like a TV writers room- but it was skewing to the younger side so that didn't work for me. I thought she did a good job of detailing what a girl would feel like if she was shifting.

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  8. I have a copy of this book so I'm glad to see you thought it was a decent read. I don't know how, but I'm getting tons of emails for Choose Your Own Adventure since getting this ARC which is kind of driving me nuts.

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  9. A lot of the aspects of the Northern Michigan setting apply to where I'm from too (Eastern Ontario), especially the small town thing, so I'm sure I'd relate to Nessa too. I was a big fan of Choose Your Own Adventure books back in the day, so I may need to check this one out!

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  10. That's cool you found a YA book set in Michigan. No one ever seems to write YA books set in Upstate NY. Ha ha. That is an interesting way to have a book written. I wonder if they will put together more books like this?

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  11. I used to love those Choose Your Own Adventure books. It was a genius concept. This sounds like an interesting read, although not the sort of thing that I normally go for at this point.

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  12. I am attracted to that cover! I loved those Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was a kid. It does sound like an interesting book, and I love shifter stories.

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  13. I don't pick up a lot of YA paranormal these days, but this one sounds interesting. The cover is fantastic!

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  14. I first saw this one on IG and I've been intrigued ever since. It sounds pretty great and I LOVE the cover!

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