I killed a girl last night. I did it with my bare hands and an old piece of pipe I found lying next to the dumpster. But that’s not the part that got me. The part that scared me, the part I can’t seem to wrap my head around and still has me reeling, was that when she charged me, her body shifted – and then she was a wolf. All snapping teeth and extended claws. But by the time I stood over her lifeless body, she was a girl again. That’s about the time I went into shock… And that was the moment he showed up.
Now, all I can do is accept the truths that are staring me in the face. One, Werewolves do exist. And Two, I was born to kill them.
Dirty Blood is the first in a five book paranormal young adult series. You can find it for free on Kindle and that’s where I found it. I usually read paranormal and young adult books and since I hadn’t read a good werewolf book, I decided to try this one out.
It was a quick read for me. Hildenbrand’s writing style puts you right into the action. There isn’t a girl who languishes through most of the book trying to understand a mysterious guy. Oh no, Tara kicks ass in the first go. I like the ease in reading Hildenbrand’s work. It wasn’t too kiddie and the action was well placed. I would definitely go back to this author in the future.
Like I said earlier, Tara kicks butt in the first go. She’s a strong, opinionated young lady, I felt she was part of the “in” crowd in school, but I can’t be too sure. As such, she didn’t seem to be a terrible person and that’s good. Sure, there was a bit high school drama, but the biggest drama is Tara finding out who she really is.
Like Tara, we learn fairly early on and that’s great. There isn’t a lot of pause in this book. No, it’s not action, action, action, but it isn’t long pauses of “I don’t cares”. The action scenes were well thought out and I could see them going on.
I was expecting something like Twilight, but that wasn’t the case. The main guy, Wes, did seem to look like Edward Cullen and did have some matching personality traits, but he had a budding alpha male feel to him. There was a funny part when Wes is driving and Tara asks about his age. She asks the same question Bella did for Edward: “How long have you been nineteen?” His answer will make you giggle a little or at least smile. Wes definitely has a bit of smart ass and I hope he loosens up in the future for that. It may make him a future favorite if he does.
I had a good time reading this book. It was enough action and enough details to keep me interested. No, the characters didn’t grow much, but this is a five book series. If the main character grew too fast, then there would be nothing for her to grow into in the later books. I like that Hildenbrand did it that way.
Would I continue the series? Yes, I will. I like werewolves and Hildenbrand’s world has intrigued me. Besides, who doesn’t like a strong female?
Casia's Corner 