Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright

Red Riding Hood by Sarah Blakley-Cartwright
Series: N/A
Source: Bought
Publisher: Poppy (Little, Brown)
Publication Date: February 25, 2011

The blacksmith would marry her.
The woodcutter would run away with her.
The werewolf would turn her into one of its own.

Valerie's sister was beautiful, kind, and sweet. Now she is dead. Henry, the handsome son of the blacksmith, tries to console Valerie, but her wild heart beats fast for another: the outcast woodcutter, Peter, who offers Valerie another life far from home.

After her sister's violent death, Valerie's world begins to spiral out of control. For generations, the Wolf has been kept at bay with a monthly sacrifice. But now no one is safe. When an expert Wolf hunter arrives, the villagers learn that the creature lives among them--it could be anyone in town.


It soon becomes clear that Valerie is the only one who can hear the voice of the creature. The Wolf says she must surrender herself before the blood moon wanes...or everyone she loves will die.

Valerie was not who she had been. She felt parts of herself softly crumbling off, like a cliff falling into the sea.
Looking back at this book, I didn't find it to be very memorable at all. I couldn't connect with any of the characters, Valerie included, and to be downright honest with you? I actually think that I liked the movie more. And that never happens. It was a pretty big disappointment, storywise. I was expecting some big twist, with a terrifying take on an old fairytale - which unfortunately didn't happen. It was kind of blegh.

Valerie's character was like cardboard. I feel like she didn't think through any of her decisions, and really she just had no pizzazz. Even her feelings of  "love" were flat and underdeveloped. Not to mention the fact that the poor girl is an idiot. I'm not even being mean. But really, she is. It seemed like every five minutes, her opinion on who the wolf was changed... and she stabbed her boyfriend. Real smart, sweetie. (Don't worry, he still "loves" her.)

You know what? Now is the perfect time to talk about the feelings of instalove! Blegh! Let us all fall madly in love with each other over nothing! Grrr. Not only did Red Riding Hood have a terrible case of instalove, it also had a love triangle. A badly done love triangle, that basically made me want to eat my ball cap or something. No romance! No feelings! But don't forget, we're madly in love! (Also, I don't remember if this happens in the book - if it did, I rolled my eyes - but in the movie, he tells her that he'll "eat her up". SERIOUSLY.)

The point of view switched several times without warning, and while it wasn't very confusing, it was pretty annoying. It killed me. And let's not even mention how open the ending was - like really bad open. AND THE LAST CHAPTER IS ON THE INTERNET. *RAGE FACE* I'm not even going to pretend that it was a good ending. It was predictable, dumb, and everything I don't want in an ending.

All in all, Red Riding Hood was okay... but I have many rants on it. So it wasn't great - only read it if you like the movie, I guess. Because everything that happened in the book was in the movie - and the book was written to "give more life" to the screenplay. Fail.