For the Wolf

Dnf @ 40% / 14ish chapters in.

Idk why I couldn't get into this, I was bored. It has a lot of great imagery, dark setting, and intriguing mysteries.... But I found myself just not caring. Unfortunate, but I'm sure this'll be an amazing book for someone else.

i tried really hard to get through this book but i just had to accept that i was not interested in whatever was going to happen next and there was no reason to push myself to keep going when i wasn't even having a good time. i think this was fully on me; the book itself isn't bad, but it just wasn't working for me.

This book was alright. There were a couple parts where I felt like I was really struggling to keep going, and a few times where all I could ask myself is… “really?”, especially in regards to the way the plot progresses. It’s a little clunky. But by the end I was invested in the lore and I’ll be reading the next one.

No me esperaba ese desarrollo pero super original y hacía mucho que un libro no me sorprendía!!! :)

This was good enough to finish, but I don't think it was good enough to pick up book 2. Ya know?

3.5

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Reader, I am sad. You all know how much I flat out adored The Foxglove King. I went into Hannah Whitten's debut novel with high hopes after reading her third book. It did not live up to the hype or my hopes. Ultimately, your opinions my differ from mine, but I thought For the Wolf was kind of a mess. Upon first glance at the book, you might think that it's a Little Red Riding Hood retelling, but you'd be completely wrong. There is absolutely nothing of that story here, which makes the cover choice almost baffling. Instead, For the Wolf is almost a Beauty and the Beast retelling, but not really. Sure, the main romantic lead has a sort-of curse on him, but that's about where that comparison ends. There are no roses, no enchanted castles, nothing else familiar from that tale. For the Wolf wants to be a fairy tale quite badly, but there was just too much going on for that feel to really sink in.

I will give you this, though, I really enjoyed the parts of the novel where we were focused on Red and Eammon. They were so much fun to watch together. Red was stubborn, protective, and wanted to be helpful so badly. Eammon was more stubborn, and determined to do everything by himself. Of course, they clash because of this, but ultimately end up falling in love. I mean, what's not to love about that story? It's great. When it came to literally everything else I lost focus, and interest. There was too much happening. The forest was weakening, magic was becoming harder to use, Red and Eammon were falling in love, the priestesses were maybe evil maybe not, the queen was dying, the gods might be real, and Neve wanted her sister back. Too much. I think if some of this had been pared down, if we had had the bare basics of this plot, perhaps things would have been able to breathe more. As it is, things feel rushed and confusing. (My biggest questions that I'm not sure we got answers for — where did the wildwood come from? Why is it there? Where does magic come from?)

I am so disappointed that For the Wolf did not work for me. I don't think I'll be picking up For the Throne, because I don't see the point if it's going to continue to be like this book. Despite everything about For the Wolf, I still really love Whitten's writing. I'll still be eagerly awaiting The Foxglove King‘s sequel. Overall, I'd give this one barely three stars.

DNF. Not for me. It seemed to drag and concepts are never fully explained. Things just kind of exist, and there is no explanation as to why. I decided it wasn't worth my time to finish.

Little Red Riding Hood meets Beauty and the Beast? And a sentient wood? Give me! Plus that cover

It's not the fairy tale you might expect, but it's really good.

I'd have to rate this 4.5⭐.

Maybe it was what my brain was asking me for, or maybe that I got too invested in the romance to care for anything else. But, while I loved the whole dynamic between the Valleydan Interludes and the Wilderwood POVs, but... every time a Valleydan Interlude came I felt like I was getting deprived from getting more Eammon and Red content, #sorrynotsorry.

It got so bad that at some point, eveytime it happend i was like 'Neve, I don't care' 😭. And then again, obviously those chapters where there for a reason, and after the 6th or 7th one I started to get the hints that maybe I should be paying more attention to those interludes 😭😂.

Anyhow, at the end of the day, did I wish maybe the interludes had opened up to other characters like Arick and Raffe? Yeah.

Apart from that, what I loved the most about the book was the character development of Eammon and I'd love to know more about his past in a precuel or something (pretty, please Hannah?🥺)

But yeah, I really enjoyed the book and if you're looking for a rollercoaster of emotions, this is the one!

ps: so much shaming Neve's interludes but now I am super excited for her adventure on book 2 too 👀.

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4 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm so torn with this book! I loved the overall story- the characters are interesting, the setting was compelling and the plot was interesting enough to keep me very hooked to the pages! It's a very plot-driven book and I felt that although the main PoV is Red and her story, the interludes are a very interesting way to give the reader the “OMG. See what's building up here... this is going to turn out wrong!!”

I was in the mood for a bit of romance and an easy read- which this book 100% gave me.

HOWEVER, I really didn't understand the world of this story and why the main plot happened. It's a beautiful story in a forest perpetually in the twilight, but... why do we need the Wolf?, what's the role of the 5 kings? why do we need second daughters?....

Maybe it was very clear and I just missed it, but overall I think that the world-building wasn't done in a way that satisfied me, and I'm not sure if the second book will give it to me either (LOL)

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4 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I'm so torn with this book! I loved the overall story- the characters are interesting, the setting was compelling and the plot was interesting enough to keep me very hooked to the pages! It's a very plot-driven book and I felt that although the main PoV is Red and her story, the interludes are a very interesting way to give the reader the “OMG. See what's building up here... this is going to turn out wrong!!”

I was in the mood for a bit of romance and an easy read- which this book 100% gave me.

HOWEVER, I really didn't understand the world of this story and why the main plot happened. It's a beautiful story in a forest perpetually in the twilight, but... why do we need the Wolf?, what's the role of the 5 kings? why do we need second daughters?....

Maybe it was very clear and I just missed it, but overall I think that the world-building wasn't done in a way that satisfied me, and I'm not sure if the second book will give it to me either (LOL)

no thoughts just pure vibes.

Thank god this is over. What a complete mess.

I had a love/not-love relationship with this book. Whitten's writing was beautiful and she created an amazing and atmospheric world that was an absolute pleasure to discover. Eammon and Red's relationship was a true delight and it is absolutely what kept me coming back for more. No insta love here and there was lots of individual growth as well as coming to know each other. I also really appreciate that actually help each other and become a strong team because they build trust and work together. While I enjoyed Red's story and her relationship with the Wolf and their character growth I found I did not like Neve's half of the story. It was always during her bits that I'd lose interest and get bored because I found her utterly predictable and thus a little boring. Yet at the end she was sort of redeemed in my eyes because she acknowledges that she was more aware of what was happening around her than she wanted to admit and made her decisions for selfish reasons. Making decisions and then dealing with the consequences of those decisions and how they impact others was definitely a theme I saw woven throughout this book. I am curious to see how things go in the next book, and though I'm not particularly fond of Neve, I do see potential in her.

Part Little Red Riding Hood, part Beauty and the Beast retelling, this story follows Red, the second daughter of the kingdom who must be sacrificed to the Wilderwood, and to the Wolf. She willing goes, trying to keep her loved ones safe from the mysterious power she has thrumming through her veins. What she finds when she gets there is nothing like what she expected.

I've been wanting to read this book ever since seeing the cover. They say not to judge a book by it's cover, but look at it; it's perfect. This book, while marketed as adult, definitely read a little more YA in my opinion. There was some profanity, but other than that, the tropes and themes felt more YA. That is by no means a dunk on this book. There isn't anything lesser about YA, and I really enjoyed reading this. This book definitely felt more like a Beauty and the Beast retelling than a Little Red Riding Hood retelling. Besides the names of Red and Wolf, this is a story of a woman who willingly sacrifices herself to go live in a castle with a beast and ends up falling in love. There's even a magic mirror, and Red loves books. I thought that this story did a good job of providing that lovely fairy tale feel, while still having unique characterization and plot points. The whole concept of giving blood to the forest, and the forest being semi-sentient was very interesting and allowed for a really dark setting. I was enamored with the romance, the characters, and the plot. I can't wait for the next one!

TW: self-harm for magic use (cutting), parental neglect/emotional abuse, mentions of physical symptoms that might be triggering to those with emetophobia, anxiety/panic attacks, parental death, gore, mild audio/visual hallucinations, religious abuse, medium-heat romance (non-explicit)

Wolf Pup.....
Everytime it was said, I was like: “ohhh that's so cute!” Even though it wasn't meant to be that way.

There are a lot of things I enjoyed about this book, but let me tell you it was definitely hard to get through. I felt exhausted all the time and honestly I think it was because of the willing blood spread. Once it was over, because it wasn't enough anymore, I felt the story starts to pick up.

The “Final Battle” honestly the peak of the story, the moment when you finally see the whole power of this world and what it has to offer. At that point that I felt like I was reading something else. Totally save the book for me. Don't get me wrong, I did like the book before that, but I wasn't sure if to continue with the next one, but the cinematic feeling of great powers colliding was amazing. Plus the new looks on two of the main characters were fascinating.

Although the book does have a romance, actually several, story lines, It wasn't enough for me, but that's just my personal preference. I can say that this book is plainly cute.

As closure I would like to refer to the lovely sisterhood of the twins. They love each other so much you know none of them would give up on the other. Neve will probably need this soon. And at last, perhaps an unpopular opinion, Queen Isla. I felt so bad about her death and how she started to vanish. I believe she didn't know how to love her daughters knowing she was going to lose one at some point, but that drove her to lose both. And still I can't help myself but to think that she did love them, and that's what makes all so sad around her.

3.5*

This book was a disappointment. Most of it was okay, but there was a part in the middle I liked a lot.

There was something about the writing that I didn't enjoy, I was constantly rereading sentences because I was confused about what was being described. I don't know if it was because I was having a hard time visualizing the trees actions or because the descriptions were bad.

I also didn't like the lack of communication between the characters. Red from the moment she met the Wolf knows that he is keeping things from her, but she doesn't demand answers to know what the hell is going on in the forest.
Wolf is also frustrating as a character because he doesn't want anyone else getting hurt but he can???t avoid that because he is clearly overwhelmed with the forest, and everyone including himself knows that, but he insists on doing everything alone.
There was barely any character growth in this book. Almost all the characters at the end of the book were basically the same from the beginning with only really small changes. I think the one that changed the most was Neve and that wasn???t a good change.