Review: I’m Not Afraid of Wolves by Erin Hayes

Posted October 5, 2016 by Lola in Fantasy, Review / 16 Comments

LolaReview

I'm Not Afraid of WolvesI’m Not Afraid of Wolves (The Cotton Candy Quintet #4)
by Erin Hayes

Rating: 4 stars

Blurb:
Christine would do anything to get away from it all.

After escaping an abusive marriage and heading up a group of brand new performers, she’s tired and in need of a vacation. So when her sister Sara wants her to go camping out in the mountains of Georgia with the girls, she packs her bags for some rest and relaxation. Not even meeting a gorgeous park ranger like Colton Donnelly is going to distract her.

Except Sara didn’t tell her the real reason for the trip: she’s running away from a terrible secret. One that puts all of their lives in danger.

Now the vacation that Christine so desperately needed is ruined, but that’s the least of her worries. She has to use her wits and skills to save them all. Because she soon finds out that werewolves are very real. And they’ll stop at nothing to get their claws into her sister.

My Review:
I received a copy in exchange for an honest review

I’m Not Afraid of Wolves was a great read! I’ve been looking forward to sink my teeth into this one as I love shifter stories and enjoyed this series so far. This book follows Christine, who we meet in book 1 How to become a Mermaid, but besides a few mentions of the other main characters this one can be easily read as a standalone.

Christine her sister asks Christine to join her on a vacation, but Christine knows there’s something her sister isn’t telling her. I really liked the direction this story took and there was a big plot twist pretty early on in the book which was great! I totally didn’t see that one coming and I really liked the twists. There are some nice twists and turns later on as well and a few scenes that totally didn’t go as I expected, which is a good thing as I liked how the story progressed.

Christine is a great main character. She has been in an abusive relationship and the mental scars are still there, but she’s finding her own way in life. I think in a sense a lot of the characters find their way in this book and it was great how there was so much change and twists in one book. I also appreciated how the romance was handled in this book. It’s very subtle and basically nothing happens except they meet, there’s an attraction and there is a promise of more. I think it fit the book.

At first it seemed easy to get a feel for each side character, but they all show their colors once the book progresses and we learn more about them. I didn’t like Emily at first, but I sure felt bad for her later in the book. Sara had landed in a difficult situation and was trying to get out of it and I liked how Christine was there for her. Every characters turned out to be different than I thought at first and I liked how the book mixed things up and surprised me. And we get to see Neptune and the professional mermaids for a bit as well, which was neat. And there are a few short mentions of the previous main character, which was neat as I have already read those books.

While the focus isn’t on the world building, I did like how we got a bit of a feel for how the shifter society worked. The change is pretty much instantaneous here and they can shift back and forth basically. I did wish we got to see more, but it was enough to make the story come alive. And like with every book in this series I just keep wondering what else is out there and if we ever get to see the different paranormals interact, but I don’t think so. Each book focuses on one character and one type of paranormal creature.

To summarize: I really enjoyed this book! There are some great twists and turns and surprises. It was an interesting read and I liked the twists and the direction the story took. I liked the shifter aspect and we get enough of a feel for the shifter world to make the world come alive a bit. Christine was a great main character and I liked seeing her relationships with the other characters. How she thought of the mermaids, her friendship with Neptune and how she was there for her sister. Each side character seemed easy to figure out at first, but as the book progressed we see their true colors. Another great book in this series!

4-stars-rating

Links:
Goodreads
Amazon

What’s the last book with shifters that you read?

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16 responses to “Review: I’m Not Afraid of Wolves by Erin Hayes

  1. This is neat how she has strong ties to friends and family and has to heal from her own bad situation. I like that the romance is toned down to suit the story. Neat how each story offers you a different paranormal focus.

    My last shifter book was Wolf En League by EF Henley and Unbinding by Eileen Wilks. Haha, actually, I just realized that both of those are from series focused on shifters, but these latest particular books featured a vampire and fae respectively. So technically they don’t fit the bill, but the over all series, do.
    Sophia Rose recently posted…Dangerously Charming by Deborah Blake #ReviewMy Profile

    • The toned down romance fit this book perfectly and I liked the strong family ties in this book. I really like how each story has a different paranormal but the stories are still connected in small ways as well.

      What a coincidence both were shifter series , but the latest book didn’t have shifters. It can be nice when other paranormals are added into the mix.

  2. I’m so happy you’re continuing to enjoy this series, Lola. I put it on my tbr thanks to you. 😉 It’s wonderful that the author kept you so engaged using the twists and surprises in the plot. And Christine sounds like a great character. I like stories with strong relationships between family and friends and I’m particularly fond of shifter stories where the dynamics between them are a big part of the storyline.
    The last shifter story I read…hmm…well, I listened to Dark Deeds at Night’s Edge by Kresley Cole and it has a shifter in it, but I think the one that truly qualifies is Curragh in the Werewolves of Chicago series. 😉
    Bookworm Brandee recently posted…#OctobeRecFest Review ~ Happily Ever Now ~ Jen MeyersMy Profile

    • I am so glad to hear you put this series on your tbr. It really is a fun series and I like that the stories are a bit shorter and still tell a whole stories. the twists in this one were really nice.
      I always enjoy a good shifter story, they are fun to read!

    • Same here, but I finally picked up some shifter reads again lately and they’ve all been good ones so far. I really enjoy reading about shifters, one of my favorite sub genre.

    • The twists were really nicely done, it sounded like a straightforward story at first, but there were way more twists than I had expected.

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