Six Moon Summer by SM Reine

Title: Six Moon Summer
Author: SM Reine
Published: April 2011

My Rating: 3 stars
Tags: YA | Paranormal | Werewolves | Camp

First Lines: Empty buses idled in the parking lot at the bottom of Gray Mountain. Almost everyone had arrived for the first day of camp an hour ago, but one girl came in her own car.

As Rylie's parents arrange for their divorce, they send her off to camp for the summer. Right away, Rylie hates camp. All of the other girls are mean to her, there's nothing vegetarian on the menu, and she doesn't like the camp activities. One night after finding a camper reading her diary outloud, Rylie has had enough. She darts into the woods on a full moon...and gets attacked by a wolf. The next morning, Rylie can't remember anything from the night before. She does take note of the scratches on her chest though. A guy from the other side of camp, Seth, seems to have the answers to everything and aids Rylie as she begins to change. Into a werewolf.

From Page 46
She collapsed to her knees. The fever had been momentarily cooled by her flight in the forest but returned with a fury, and Rylie tore at her own skin. She wanted to shed it like clothing. She wanted to let the thing inside of her out. Throwing her head back, Rylie screamed. The sound that ripped from her throat was more beast than human.

I'm definitely a fan of werewolf novels, don't get me wrong, it's just that lately they are all the same. However, this is one werewolf story that you've never read before. Rylie's change into becoming a werewolf is raw and gruesome, there's no sparkle or glitz. I also liked how the author gave background history of Gray Mountain and how the werewolf process took six moons, not one night. She took an overused concept and made it her own, and for that I give her kudos. On the other hand, unfortunately the character development lacked. For one thing, the novel is written from the third person point of view - ugh - so it was hard to get into Rylie's mind. I would have liked to know exactly from her perspective, what slowly changing into a werewolf felt like, not just looked like. I didn't feel connected to her character and she didn't do much for me.

The more that I read the story, the more it grew on me. At first, I found Rylie annoying but by the end of the book she had grown and matured into a new person! These kind of characters are the ones that really impress me; I love watching a protagonist change.

The book was very predictable and didn't throw any curve balls, yet I still enjoyed it. Reine's writing was interesting and she included some scenes in the novel that were hard to forget. The climax of the book was well done and the ending left just the right amount of room for the sequel. This is a good choice of book to read over the summer and will really get you into the camp spirit!

Cover Thoughts: I like all of the little details like the multiple moons in the background and the creepy text. One thing I don't get is the picture of the girl - Riley is supposed to have very light blonde hair...?