I was really deliberating whether or not I should give 2 or 3 stars for this story. I give it 5 for creativity. The jaguars voice, the culture. The romance 0 stars. They talk twice make out and then thats the last you hear of him. I know nothing about him as a character. All you know was that he was hot, whoop dee doo. I swear the next teenage book I read about a perfet romance interest... Ugh!! Next thing you know its the end of the book- after reading chapter after chapter about her baking and crap- she is on this cool rescue mission. Its like the author realized the book was so anti-climatic she added something at the last minute, which to be honest, I didn't care about.But the thing that angers me is that it had so much potential. I mean how many shapeshifter books are out there about jaguars? And the mysterious death of her parents... I feel like the author didn't develop it enough. In the end, I realized I was not excited to read the second book, so I settled with 2 stars. But who knows maybe the author will improve. Not sure how I feel about this one.It was an interesting point of view, to have a girl that can't embrace her shifter birthright. She just didn't want to. That was a big change from most of the other young adult shifter books where the shifters really do enjoy their other form. Vivi wants no part in that.I don't know what is was about her, but I'm not a big fan of Vivi. I think it was the fact that she was crying all the time. I understand that her parents just died, and she has a right to cry about that. But, after that, it seems that her natural reaction is to cry. Not fight back, not learn ways to prevent certain things, but to cry. I didn't like that. Yes, she has to grieve and I get that. I thought she forgot how to stand up for herself after her parents died. It became almost a natural reaction and I didn't enjoy that.As for the plot, it was an interesting twist. I just wish that we had gotten to know more about the whole Donella vs Vivi's mom thing. I feel like we got information, but no way to put it together. I understand that there was fallout, but I wish we had gotten just a tad more.It was also cool to watch Vivi go through her grief. We got to see her at her highest and lowest and I liked that she never forgot about her parents, but she began to move on as she realized that she had a new, different family.A very different shifter book with the main character determine to hide away her jaguar. It wasn't a bad start for this series.
What do You think about Darkest Fear (2014)?
Not a bad start to what looks to be another interesting YA urban fantasy series from this author.
—Ash
A great start to a new series by Cate Tiernan.
—FerideMercury
