REVIEW: A HOWL IN THE NIGHT
A Howl in the Night
Courtney Rene
978-1-936403-84-4
Reviewd by William Delamar
On a scale of 1-5, the rating is 5 by William Delamar.
I don’t generally read novels in this genre, but a friend
recommended it, so I read it and I’m glad. The author, Courtney Rene, writes
clearly and the story unfolds with purpose and intrigue. It’s the kind of book
that’s hard to put down. Abigail Staton’s mother has a strange reaction to a
gift to Abigail from Dad. Abigail is thrust into a world not of her choosing.
Finally she has to make a choice and face serious consequences with any
decision. This novel is a grabber. If you dare read it, be prepared for a
shock.
EXCERPT: A HOWL IN THE NIGHT
“Not a werewolf, just a wolf,” my mom said, interrupting
me.
“Okay, fine,” I said. If her story was true though, I had
to wonder, what did that make me? It was my turn to pop up off the bed and pace
around. What about me? Was I going to grow hair and fangs and run around trying
to bite people? “Oh, God.”
It felt as if my life was over. How was I supposed to finish
school if I turned into a wolf every time the moon was full?
Would it hurt to change? It always looked like it did in
the movies. I had seen that werewolf movie where the guy runs around London
eating people. The change was always accompanied with screaming and pain. Was I
going to hunt down my friends and family and eat them?
I didn’t know if that was really how it worked or not, but
before I could work myself up into a real freak fest, my mom said, “I have
watched you all your life Abby, and I have never seen anything wolf-like about
of you. I promise. That worry has always been in the back of my mind, but
nothing has ever come of it. You’re fine. Come on, you don’t even like meat.”
I had to admit, thankfully, that she did have a point
there.
She gave me a sideways look then said, “How do you think I
felt? There were times that I was worried I was going to give birth to a puppy.
How would I have explained that to my doctors?” My mom said this with a raise
of her eyebrows and a grin.
This threw me for a moment. She was actually teasing me? At
a time like this, she was cracking jokes? “That’s not funny,” I said.
“Oh, come on. Yes it is.”
Maybe it was a little funny, but there was no way in the
world I was going to admit it then.
“Whatever,” I said with a shake of my head. “So, now what?”
I was still holding onto the hope she had only hit her head that night and
didn’t real know what she saw.
“I don’t know, honey. I just thought with your dad finally
getting in contact with us, well, that you should be prepared. That it was
time. You know?”
No, I didn’t know. In that moment, I felt a little lost.
The day was supposed to be a great day. It was my sixteenth birthday. My world
was supposed to have been great. Instead, I may have lost my best friend and
found out that I not only had a father, but one who may or may not be a wolf.
It was not a fabulous day after all. In fact, I decided that birthdays kinda
sucked. “No. He may be my father, but he’s not my dad.”
“Abby.”
I shook my head at her and left to go to my own room. I
needed to think, and I couldn’t do that in her room with her looking at me with
her sad eyes.
Mine was your average teen room. It had a bed, dresser,
desk, and full mirror. There were clothes thrown about, but that was to be
expected. I was a teenager, after all.
I dropped down on my bed with a huff. I had so much
swirling around in my head I was getting a headache. I felt it coming behind my
eyes. It figured. It was one more thing to go wrong that day.
I looked longingly out my window at Brian’s little yellow
house and wished I could go over and talk to him. I could see he was home. The
light from his room was spilling out into the night. Maybe he would laugh at me
and tell me I needed to go have my mom checked out. I would have agreed. Maybe
he would have helped me do some research and we could try to figure it out for
ourselves. Instead, I felt so alone and lost and overwhelmed.
My mom was not the loony type. She always had her feet
firmly on the ground. She never lied to me and always tried to tell me the
truth. I didn’t know if I should believe her now or not. I know I didn’t want
to believe her. Who would?
I looked down at my hands. They looked like just normal
hands. No claws, or hair. They were just small, thin, girly hands.
BLURB
Seventeen year old Abby
can’t shake the darkness that continues to haunt her since her escape from the
Hunterz. She can’t let it go. Questions continue to circle. Questions no one
will answer. Who are they, really? Why do they hate the wolves so much? The answers
could be found in a young boy named, Sam. He may be from the Hunterz, but he
smells of wolf. Derek wants to believe her, and tries to help, but Abby still
hasn’t learned how to accept help from others. Her relationships with her
mother and father continue to deteriorate, but Derek is a puzzle. Some days
he’s exactly what she wants and others he is all that she despises. Being a
shifter isn’t as simple as she thought it would be. The wolf part is easy. It’s
the human side that needs a little work.
REVIEWS:
The Full Moon Rises
Courtney Rene
978-1-62420-239-1
By Jeffrey Ross
5 stars out of 5
The Full Moon Rises: A howl In the Night Book 2 by Courtney Rene
continues the dramatic life of Abby, a nearly seventeen-year-old shapeshifter
who tries to balance her wolf and human “selves.”
This unique coming-of-age narrative details Abby’s struggles with her
own special nature and the patriarchal wolf clan to which she belongs-- and
climaxes as she confronts the wolf-destroying group The Hunterz.
A successful strain of feminism persists in this second book of the
Howling as strong-willed Abby exerts her emerging personality and successfully
defines her relationships with humans and shapeshifters.
I only hope a third book is in the works for this gritty, naturalistic,
and enticing series.
Life as a shape shifter is
not as easy as it would seem, especially not for Abigail Staton. Being a
teenager and a shape shifter is even harder, not to mention being one of the
last remaining females in the two competing wolf clans and the only girl in her
new schools. Striving to find where she belongs, gets sidelined when an old
threat to the wolves resurfaces. The clans are forced to come together in a
semi-truce, and the already dominant males become even more controlling in
trying to protect their own as well as their secret. Abby finds herself in the
middle yet again, but this time, she will need both clans in order to survive.
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