Vivian moves to a new city after the traumatic loss of her father leaves her pack in disarray. She finds the jockeying for power too violent after his death. Her mother is out fighting to stay the pack leader’s mate. Her childhood friends have created hostility amongst themselves now that they see her as a potential mate instead of just pack. She wishes for things to be simple like they used to be like when she could just change and run for the joy of being wolf. She just wants things to be easy and normal again. After seeing a poem about “the change” a werewolf goes through, she seeks out the author. Upon discovering he’s a human, she decides she wants to learn more about him and finds herself drawn to his softer mentality and love of life which leads her to fall in love with him in turn. Now she’s caught in the middle of not wanting to betray her pack to a human and wanting to share everything she is with her human love.

Overall, I like the story because it’s relatable in some ways. Obviously not all of us are able to shape shift, but it is easy to relate to feeling like you don’t fit in anywhere and wanting to just be able to be accepted for yourself. Furthermore, it is relatable in the sense that sometimes you can be attracted to an idea more than the thing itself. It’s easy as an outsider to want something different when what you know seems to be going wrong.

However, I get a little frustrated with Vivian during her relationship with Aiden. She says she wants a gentle human yet she’s unsatisfied by him not having a passion aggressive enough for her wolf desires. She also irritates me with her antics regarding Kelly after Aiden breaks up with her. Why would she put herself in that situation after someone has been murdered?

Even though he’s not one of the primary characters, I can’t help but feel sad for Rafe’s story–beginning to end. Vivian breaks up with him for another before the story really begins. He’s involved in the reason behind Vivian’s father’s death which makes her not want to be near him at all. His own father is drunk all the time. He feels like Vivian has chosen a human, not a whole “person,” over him. Then he feels hurt and betrayed when Astrid speaks of her desire to be with Gabriel indicating she merely settled for him since Gabriel was “taken” from her. Furthermore, he only followed Astrid because he thought she wanted to be with him, and it ultimately led him to his doom.

The ending of the story is one that gets wrapped up quickly and, in my opinion, ends too soon. I would have liked more background on Gabriel. His heat and intensity intrigue me in his small appearances leading up to the ending drama. However, that could just be my greediness for knowing more about someone so well suited to being with her and wanting to see some actual relationship development between the two.

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