Book Review: The Mayfair Moon by J.A. Redmerski

The Mayfair Moon
The Darkwoods Trilogy #1
Author: J.A. Redmerski
Reading Level: YA
Genre: Paranormal
Released: January 6th 2012
Review Source: Author
Available: Amazon

Summary: (from goodreads) After a nightmarish encounter with a werewolf, seventeen-year-old Adria Dawson loses her sister, but gains the love of a mysterious young man and his legendary family.

Strange and tragic things begin to happen in the small town of Hallowell, Maine: residents come down with an unexplainable ‘illness’ and some disappear. In the midst of everything, Isaac Mayfair is adamant about keeping Adria safe, even from her sister whom he has warned her to stay away from.

As unspeakable secrets unfold all around Adria, impossible choices become hers to bear. Ultimately, no matter what path she takes, her life and the lives of those she loves will be in peril. As she learns about the werewolf world she also learns why her place in it will change the destinies of many.

I'm just going to start by saying that I am usually a vampire girl myself. I have never picked up a book that was strictly about werewolves before. This story has no other supernatural beings in it except werewolves which is a switch from most YA supernatural books. All that being said, this was a pretty interesting and different read for me.

This is a modern day story centering around Adria Dawson and starts out in Athens, Georgia. Adria (or sometimes Dria) is going into her Junior year in High School. She lives with her mother and her mothers abusive and often drunk, husband. She has a sister named Alexandra (or Alex) whom has turned eighteen and is contemplating moving out of the house and wants Adria to go with her if she wants. But one night in the woods with her sister in Georgia will change both of their lives forever. They see something that can't possibly be real, a werewolf. Neither of them believing what they are seeing end up in the middle of a werewolf skirmish in the woods and run screaming for their lives. They end up in a ditch and life is never the same. Child Protective Services and are sent to their home to investigate the girls having not been in school and suspicion that the step father has been abusive to the girls. Both girls being covered in bruises from their interesting night in the woods does nothing to silence CPS and they are sent to live with their Uncle Carl and his wife Beverlee in Hallowell, Maine. Hallowell is a small town and means a fresh start, away from the abusive father, but Alex is not interested in fitting in or starting over. She becomes reclusive but Adria is determined to try to start fresh.

Adria makes several friends her first day at school. She is also introduced to the sight of the "freak" in school, the other new girl, Zia, whom has been at the school only a week longer than Adria. Zia has a very interesting family and Adria soon becomes friends with her and finds herself interested in one of the guys that Zia lives with, Isaac Mayfair. Isaac is drawn to Adria but like most YA novels, she doesn't think that's the case and she gets swept into a world she never truly believed could exist. A world where her life is in danger at every turn because her sister, Alex, the recluse since they moved to Maine has been hanging out with members of the Vargas family. Adria soon finds herself in the middle of a feud between enemy clans and her sister is on the enemies side.

The story is broken up into two parts. Part 1 is sort of slow, especially the first few chapters, so if you find yourself like me, constantly needing to be grabbed by the first few chapters, it won't happen, just hang in there, the story will pick up. It's not until the end of Part 1 that the story really starts to get juicy but Part 2 does not fail to entertain, interest and keep the readers attention. Overall for my first werewolf book, this book was very enjoyable and I look forward to reading more werewolf stories in the future and especially looking forward to seeing where Book 2 in this series picks up next year.