red riding hood – GoodeyReads

Rating: ★★★☆ (3.5)
Audience: Fantasy Romance
Length: 437 pages
Author: Hannah F. Whitten
Publisher: Orbit Books
Release Date: June 1st, 2021
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

The first daughter is for the Throne.
The second daughter is for the Wolf.

For fans of Uprooted and The Bear and the Nightingale comes a dark fantasy novel about a young woman who must be sacrificed to the legendary Wolf of the Wood to save her kingdom. But not all legends are true, and the Wolf isn’t the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood.

As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, Red has one purpose-to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood in the hope he’ll return the world’s captured gods.

Red is almost relieved to go. Plagued by a dangerous power she can’t control, at least she knows that in the Wilderwood, she can’t hurt those she loves. Again.

But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn’t learn how to use it, the monsters the gods have become will swallow the Wilderwood-and her world-whole.

BUT WHY?

The entire first half (and honestly, most of the second) had me asking but why, for almost everything thing regarding the world building and magic system. That had to be my biggest gripe here. Why is the wood attacking everyone? Who are all of the kings? Why do we have to bleed on it? Why is he turning into a monster?

SOMEONE TELL ME.

The second half did a little better job with these explanations, or maybe I had been listening for so long that something finally started to click. I wish this had been better and I would have loved the book even more.

I did enjoy the romance. It’s paced well and has a nice slow burn to it. I think Red and Eammon got along well and I could see the chemistry between them. If I didn’t focus too hard on the world building issues I could focus more on the relationships that were a positive for the novel.

The combination of Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast mash-ups was an amazing feature. I could see the parallels and I loved the darker differences. Those two factors also played well into my reading enjoyment.

Jury is still out on whether or not I’ll pick up book two. I’ll probably wait for reviews and won’t go the audio route for it either. The narrator and everything is just fine! But with my previous issues i think reading it might help that overall.

Overall audience notes:

Fantasy Retelling / Romance
Language: some strong
Romance: brief open door
Trigger/Content Warnings: parental emotional abuse and neglect, anxiety and panic attacks, audio/visual hallucinations, self harm (cutting), death of a parent

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Rating: ☆☆☆
Audience: Young adult fantasy, no language, some love/kiss things, some violence
Length: 448 pages
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Publisher: Balzer + Bay
Release Date: May 5th, 2015
Image & Other Reviews on: Goodreads

BOOK SUMMARY:

When Rachelle was fifteen she was good—apprenticed to her aunt and in training to protect her village from dark magic. But she was also reckless— straying from the forest path in search of a way to free her world from the threat of eternal darkness. After an illicit meeting goes dreadfully wrong, Rachelle is forced to make a terrible choice that binds her to the very evil she had hoped to defeat.

Three years later, Rachelle has given her life to serving the realm, fighting deadly creatures in an effort to atone. When the king orders her to guard his son Armand—the man she hates most—Rachelle forces Armand to help her find the legendary sword that might save their world. As the two become unexpected allies, they uncover far-reaching conspiracies, hidden magic, and a love that may be their undoing. In a palace built on unbelievable wealth and dangerous secrets, can Rachelle discover the truth and stop the fall of endless night?

Inspired by the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood, Crimson Bound is an exhilarating tale of darkness, love, and redemption.

— — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — — —

LOVE TRIANGLE ALERT.

*sigh*

I climbed up real high on my soap box tonight to say that I truly can’t stand love triangles. They’re very few situations where I thought it worked out enough that it didn’t bother me, but most of the time I’m too distracted by the wishy-washy heroine who can make up her mind on dying for her country, but not about what boy she likes.

With that in place the rest of the story remained a struggle for me. I didn’t quite understand where the Little Red Riding Hood tale fell into place either. Rachelle wearing a red cloak and prancing through the forest were about as LRRH as it got.

The world-building was neat. I did like that and felt the time spent there was well done. There was enough to understand the politics of the game, but not so much I began skimming.

The two love interests are fine. I actually liked Eric a lot more. He was cruel, deadly, and twisted. Which always makes for a good, dark book. Armand was lack-luster and was horrible at putting any of his own plans together. He was dragged from one scenario to the next without stopping to ask if it was the best idea.

The layout changed from her first book. The extra story was put at the end of chapters so you actually noticed it, and actually understood where it was supposed to be in regards to the current plot line. This is definitely an upgrade.

Everything fell flat in the end for me. It was dark, but eroded as the book went on. At least she finally chose someone, I guess.

Overall audience notes:

A young adult fantasy book with no language. The one love “scene” is super glossed over that you barely notice it. No descriptions or anything of that nature. Some violence, lightly gory.