Title: The Shapeshifter’s Secret
Author: Heather Ostler
Publisher: Cedar Fort
Pub. Date: June 12, 2012
Acquired: NetGalley
Blurb from Goodreads:
Julia is finally discovering what–not who–she is.
Like any sixteen-year-old, Julia’s used to dealing with problems. From her overprotective father to her absent mother to a teacher who definitely has it in for her. But everything changes when Julia’s reactions become oddly vicious and angry—more animal than human. This action-packed adventure has it all: humor, romance, and a plot that will keep you guessing to the very last page.
My Review:
I honestly cannot think of much to say about this book. The problem that I’m having is that I didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it. It was just, “blah”. And, I have to be frank–I HATE writing reviews like this. I hate it when I just don’t fall in LOVE with a book. But, alas, it happens.
Now, I received this book courtesy of Netgalley, so it’s an ARC. With that in mind, I’m not going to critique all of the MANY spelling/grammatical errors that bothered me. Because, in reality, those will be corrected before this book is for sale. One can hope.
But, there were a few inconsistencies that just didn’t sit well with me. One of the characters–Camilla–has brunette hair on one page and blonde on the next. This is the most noticeable. And to be fair, this will also probably be fixed before publication.
There’s also the matter of the fact that when I was reading this, I kept feeling like Julia read more like a 12-year-old than a 16-year-old. Some of her responses and choices were just INCREDIBLY immature for her age. I don’t know, maybe I’m overestimating today’s youth. And as for the boys in this book, I don’t even know what I was supposed to like about either of them.
I just really couldn’t get into the story. I have a general rule that if it takes me more than three days to finish a book, then I KNOW there’s a problem. This book took me a week. I picked it up, got bored, put it down. Then, I would repeat this process every day for the next week. Until I finally finished it. Again, I want to stress that I didn’t HATE it, I just couldn’t find myself liking ANY of the characters.
I don’t know if I’ll pick up the next book in the series. Curiosity may get the best of me to find out what happens next. Because, really I will not accept that something good cannot come out of this series.
PRE-ORDER THE SHAPESHIFTER’S SECRET on Amazon.
PRE-ORDER THE SHAPESHIFTER’S SECRET on Barnes and Noble.
Check out Heather Ostler’s Page.
