Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright & David Leslie Johnson

I am quite disappointed with this book... It had such potential and could have been so much better!Unfortunately, it lagged.

I had several issues with this book,one of which is Valerie's declaration of undying love for the boy, Peter, it was far too sudden and undoubtedly unrealistic. Sure they knew each other when they were kids. Yay! But get a grip on yourself! It's been at least 10 years, this boy returns and all of a sudden they're both in love. Pfffsshhhh <<< **Snort of disbelief** Geez, it's not like he could have possibly changed in 10 years or anything...

The main character, Valerie, was just missing something. I don't know what that something was, but it was missing. She also can’t seem to make up her mind which is quite infuriating. One moment Valerie is way too trusting and then at times not enough!

I feel as though the side baddy of the book, Father Solomon was one of the most developed characters in the story, he actually played his part well, he caused the reader to hate him, and in the end he repented from his sins (this may be because of the knife sticking out of him :D ) At times Solomon was so annoying, I felt so much anger at his character, but this was probably an achievement because he actually fulfilled the criteria of bad guy.

And then there was the matter of the ending, it was missing something, hmmm? I wonder what it was missing? ITSELF MAYBE?!!?? It wasn’t there... what is this?!?! Yes that was infuriating but through following the instructions, I accessed the bonus chapter on the website. I don’t know what kind of stunt that was meant to be, but I can tell you now it was ridiculous.

Nonetheless the ending was quite a surprise, it had quite a twist relating to the identity of the wolf, although I might object to the fact that such a twist shouldn’t have been kept in the bonus/ final chapter, or they could have at least had a bit of an epilogue to explain what happened afterwards. It also would have helped if this twist was in the actual book, rather than have it as a bonus chapter on a website. Though the twist was great, the ending was still quite disappointing, it was sloppy. The ending was meant to be a happy one in some ways but I can’t say it achieved what it set out to be. It’s a bit ridiculous when Valerie slashes out at Peter, because she has a hunch that he may be the wolf, even after he’s risked everything to help her. Then what? Well, she finds out he’s NOT the wolf, and he has once again saved her life but in doing so has just caused himself to be bitten and infected and will become a wolf and she says: I'll wait for you and declares her undying love for him???!!! That's just unrealistic and pathetic. Especially when she just stabbed him a few moements ago on a hunch! Honestly, it would have been happy if the ending was that everyone was killed, dismal but practical. Ok fine, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but I’m just annoyed at how Valerie changes her mind every 2 seconds!

The writing style was also very difficult to comprehend at times, especially when it switched viewing points halfway through a chapter or paragraph. The ending was also a disappointment and though I was confused and a little annoyed at times I found the book bearable. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't damn-right amazing either...

This is just how I found the book; I honestly hope I do not offend anybody.
The review I wrote was only focusing on the negative factors in this book, but there were several good things too.