Scarlet Moon: A Retelling Of Little Red Riding Hood (2004) - Plot & Excerpts
1.5 stars. I liked Stephan!! I wanted a awesome brother\sister relationship where Stephan helps her figure out what to do about William and is there for her and protective and awesome.....But no. Just kill off the brother and all the potential for greatness. Thanks a lot.So I like the idea of the wolf being a were wolf, or something really similar, but I wish that it would have been more of a mystery to figure out. As it is, you can tell by reading the back cover and by page 3. Real subtle. I wanted to like Ruth and William as a couple but a few things were against them.A. "What if I devour you?" he asked at last. She pulled back slightly and touched one of his eyeteeth with her fingertip. "I hope that you do," she breathed.What? No. I can assure you, Ruth, that that would not be good.That sounds like a super great start to a healthy life long relationship. (Also, "Touched one of his eyeteeth"? Who does that?)B. Ruth is afraid of William....and is still considering marrying him without actually knowing him? Sure, she knows that he's cursed and he seems nice....right? But since he met her, he can't control his wolfy actions. He blacks out after being a wolf. He thinks that having Ruth would be worth the death of a hundred people, but he's not sure he can make that decision, condemning a hundred (or more) people to death all so that he can be loved and love in return. I'm all for helping the poor guy but he's got issues. A lot of them. And until he resolves them, don't get too close. C. He practically killed you as a kid. That's gotta be off putting.D. She glared at him as he stepped closer. "We should never see each other again," he said."That is fine with me," she said, stepping back again until her back hit the wall. She stared deep into his eyes, and suddenly she saw something, a change in them. His voice was little more than a growl. "Unfortunately that doesn't work for me."Than his hands were on her waist and his lips were on hers. She moaned as she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave in to his embrace. She was pinned between him and the wall with nowhere to go even if she had wanted to. But I don't want to go anywhere. I want to stay here with him, be a part of him. He gently bit her lip, tugging on it slightly with his teeth, and she closed her eyes. "It's no use," he said, pulling away ever so slightly. "I tried to forget you, but I can't, not now, not ever. I need you, I don't care what the consequences. Just knowing you, loving you, makes me crazy. If that is my fate, I'd rather go mad with you by my side." He kissed her cheek and then trailed kisses down her throat. "We are only going to destroy each other," she whispered. "I should leave now and never return.""It's too late for that," he said, gazing at her fiercely."Why?""You love me, don't you?""Yes," she whispered. "God forgive me, I do.""Then I shall never let you go, for I love you.""I could run.""I would catch you," he growled against her lips."I could kill you.""Only your absence could do that.""You can't make me stay with you.""I will marry you and then you will have to," he said."What if I don't agree to that? something inside her forced her to ask. He pulled away from her, and his green eyes bored into hers with an intensity that made her quake. "Then I'll make sure your father forces you to marry me." "And how will you do that?""I don't know. I will not lose you, though." She felt white-hot flame explode throughout her being. "I have no choice but to marry you?""None." She smiled slowly. "Then kiss me again."Pages 121 and 122 in the mass market paperback by "Simon Pulse."At this point in the story, I no longer cared about them as a couple. I didn't like nor did I respect William. He doesn't love Ruth. If he loved her, regardless of personal pain, misery, or effort, he would want her to be happy and safe. And if that meant losing her in his life, he would have done it; had he loved her. As for what these two have.... Attraction? Infatuation?Ruth is just silly. This, in a real life situation where all is not fairytales and gumdrops, is not a safe relationship. Get the heck of out his life. He needs help. He is controlling, possessive, and dangerous. He would force you to marry him! What part of that is in any way good? This should have been her reaction to all that:and then ran like hell.Also, ending a sentence in a preposition: She was pinned between him and the wall with nowhere to go even if she had wanted to. is grammatically incorrect. And then there was Peter. Heard that coming from a mile away. It was blowing a horn and wearing tap shoes.And then there was the anti-freaking-climatic ending. Ruth: "Oh, yeah, we still need to break the curse else William nom me to death one night he gets a little too excited but there is only two pages left. What to do?"William: *nomming on Ruth's neck*Grandmother: "Idiots. You're cured now, William. Happy wedding present, you two. I never want to see you again. It was Magic."The End.Not recommended. The very few things that made this interesting and different were sunk like the Titanic by the truly horrendous romance and characters.
2-6-08Debbie Viguie is an established author with several books under her belt and she is the co-author of a successful book series called Wicked. She has her bachelor of arts degree in creative writing, and she says she has been writing most of her life. Most of her books fall into the fiction/fantasy genre and that is precisely where her book Scarlet Moon can be found. Scarlet Moon, along with her book Midnight Pearls, is part of the 'Once Upon a Time Series' published by Simon Pulse. This is a series of classic fairy tales that have had a new twist and a deeper story line put into them.Scarlet Moon is a modern retelling of Little Red Ridding Hood that you would necessarily want to tell your little girl. The book starts out with a young Ruth, the main character of the book, walking through the woods with her brother on the way home from their grandmother’s house. Disaster hits when the two young children are suddenly come upon by a mysterious black wolf with piercing green eyes. Ruth’s leg is mangled by the savage wolf and her brother luckily saves them both, but even though Ruth is in extreme pain she can’t get the image of those green eyes out of her mind, in fact, she didn’t even know that wolves had green eyes. The book soon progresses into chapter two and it is now nine years in the future making Ruth around eighteen years old. She works in her father’s blacksmith shop, which is frowned upon in this time of the Crusades. Soon a strange man enters the shop and helps Ruth deal with a troublesome customer. This man happens to be William, the Earl of Lauton. William is know to have a bad and dangerous reputation but Ruth doesn’t think to much about it. However, she does notice his strange strikingly familiar green eyes…tThe story line of this book takes off on the first page of the book so it doesn’t give you any time to get bored in the sometimes dull background overview of other books. The story not only hooks you with the action and mystery from the first page but I also think the it progresses nice. It doesn’t move so fast that you don’t have time to get involved or connected to the story; it also doesn’t move so slow and get into so much detail you feel like putting it down and never picking it up again. Scarlet Moon is definitely a book for fantasy lovers especially if you like books that involve spells, curses, and mystery. If you are a fast or avid reader this book won’t take you long to finish. Its fairly short, so if you are looking for something to keep you occupied for a while it probably shouldn‘t be your first choice, but if you’re looking for a quick read you might pick it up. I would also say that this book is more geared toward teen readers so if it’s an in depth story line your looking for its probably not for you either. Over all I think Scarlet Moon is a good read with a captivating story line that keeps you turning the pages and keeps you entertained down to the last page. Scarlet Moon, which was written by Debbie Viguie, is a mystical, romantic, and thrilling retelling of the classic fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. Ruth, who is portrayed as the Liggle Red Riding Hood characted in the book, is living her life without fear even thought she was attacked and her leg was mangled by a wolf when she was a child. This story takes place in a small villiage in the times of the Crusades which her brother and cousin left to fight in leaving her to help her father in his blacksmith shop. I love the mystry and courage in thes book and the story always has you guessing what is going to happen next. Scarlet Moon is a must read for any fairy tale lover especially if you like the movie The Brothers Grim.
What do You think about Scarlet Moon: A Retelling Of Little Red Riding Hood (2004)?
Once Upon a Time SeriesOkay I'm all for retelling classics but the story and ending seemed soooooo stretched to me! Duke William's family has been werewolves for generations and the secret has been closely guarded. But William meets Ruth (a female blacksmith during the Crusades) and the next day he spills the beans! I would like to think that a dark secret that big would take longer than a couple glances and witty exchanges to come to light, but maybe that's just me. Here's my other pet peeve an
—Mel
this is a great book...i love ruth and her courage, as well as william and his honesty. ruth was bitten by a wolf when she was young. now, working at her father's smith shop, she met lord william, who has a really big secret. they became friends, until he found out that she was one of his victims. The part when william told ruth the truth that he was under a were-wolf curse is probably the most intense part of the novel and the part i love the most. after the secret was out in the open, ruth realizes that she loves william. suddenly, the town turned up with dead ppl, so ruth (and william himself) thought that william did it. together, they tried to break the curse, and find the true predator plus their happily ever after.i don't really see how this relates to little red riding hood, but i still like this book. ruth's brother, stephen, was the one who rescued ruth when she was in the process of being killed by the wolf. after he went to war, his friend, peter, return and brought the news that stephen died in battle. peter has the appearance of a battle-weary crusader, but you will see peter's true nature in the end. i love this book and i'm looking for other books with the same author.
—Hoang-lan
"Scarlet Moon" is a retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood." In terms of historical context, it takes place during one of the crusades (I'm guessing during King Richard the Lionheart's reign, though it's never mentioned). It's about Ruth who is a female blacksmith after her brother has to go to war. When she was a child, she was attacked by a wolf. Years later, she is attacked once again by the same wolf. In the meantime, she falls madly in love with a wealthy man, William, who eventually reveals to her that his family has been cursed since the time of the first crusade to change into wolves on the 3 nights of the full moon. And it turns out he was the wolf who attacked her both times! But William thinks Ruth can somehow tame the beast within.This retelling gets rather angst ridden at times, especially once William and Ruth reveal their feelings for each other and it all comes out he is the wolf who nearly killed her. Some of the dialogue is incredibly corny. Here's a bit of it: "I need you," he whispered against her lips. "You are the light to my shadow, the sun to my moon, the innocence to my guilt. Without you I am lost. If you will not stay with me, then use that knife, because I am dead already." [Ruth responds]"I have died a little every day since we met, but now we shall both live and learn what it is to love," she answered.Seriously, it keeps going after that for another page. Okay...it's semi-romantic, but I couldn't help thinking about some of the eye-rolling "romantic" parts of something like "Twilight." I admit, I loved the build up to their relationship, but once they finally revealed themselves to each other, I think I much preferred their prior sexual tension.Corny lovey-dovey dialogue aside, this retelling of the classic fairytale is still pretty good in places. Great historical premise. Great imagery of the forest. Interesting inner character struggles.A few more complaints though: Peter (Ruth's "cousin") and Giselle (Ruth's grandmother) could have had the potential to be a really interesting characters. (view spoiler)[I thought for sure that Peter was actually going to be the wolf that was attacking everyone, and that William had all along not really been killing anyone. Peter just having a mental breakdown was a tad bit disappointing. I thought he was going to Giselle to get a "cure" to stop turning into a wolf. As for Giselle, she was locked away as a suspected witch, so I really thought she was going to be descended down from the witch who cursed William's family. She does remove the curse at the end, but I still didn't quite get if my suspicions were correct or not. She felt heavily underused within the story. (hide spoiler)]
—Stacie (MagicOfBooks)
