Red Riding Hood

Title: Red Riding Hood
Author: Sarah Blakley-Cartwright
Pages: 352
Publisher: Poppy
My rating: 3.5 stars
Goodreads rating: 3.39 stars
Published: January 25, 2011

Description:

Valerie is in love with the dangerous and unlikable Peter (a woodcutter, of course) but is betrothed to the rich hot blacksmith in town, Henry. Their town has been terrorized by a wolf - a wolf that appears only at the full moon - and when Valerie's sister is brutally murdered the message is clear: she's next.

Okay, many of us {if not all of us} probably grew up with the story of Little Red Riding Hood.  This is that, but on steroids.  Kind of.  And the grandmother getting eaten?  Well, you'll have to read it to find out.

I got this book a while back, read it a while ago, and just have been avoiding reviewing it.  Mainly because I read it about a month before they released the "magical" last chapter.  You know, the one that's supposed to tie everything in and actually give it a decent ending.  Honestly, I thought the books ending was decent although *SPOILER* you don't find out who the wolf is until the bonus chapter!  A good portion of the book had me guessing who it was, and thinking to myself "this is so the person", until I came to the next chapter and started thinking it was someone else.  Because, honestly, this whole book was about finding out who the wolf was for me, not so much Valerie and her "hard" life.

The book focuses on how difficult it is for Valerie and her life in this village, living with the perfect sister {who, really, was just shy and nice... guess most of the girls I grew up with really are perfect}, drunk father and wishful mother.  Oh, and she also has a grandmother who lives out in the woods near {but not too near} the village.  And the village is plagued by a werewolf {if that was a spoiler for you, I'm sorry... you should have read the description}.

I just found it frustrating for the book to keep bouncing back and forth between who the wolf might be!  Is it Peter?  Henry?  Her grandmother?  Her mother?  Can't be the sister... the wolf kills her {again, not a spoiler if you know anything about the plot line}.  Throughout the entire book, I was pretty set on it being the grandmother, and incredibly disappointed that they didn't say who it was {no worries, I'm not going to tell you anything about the bonus chapter except, if you do happen to have a little time to kill and decide to read this book, read that as well}.  That, and after everything Valerie puts Henry through, I feel kind of sorry that the girl who actually loved him had to die.  They could have been happy.

All in all, I wouldn't really read this again.  Its something interesting to read once, but definitely not "buy worthy".  If you want to read it, see if your public library has a copy to borrow.  Or I can loan you mine.