Title: 13 to Life
Author: Shannon Delany
Pages: 308
 

I did mentioned before that werewolves isn’t my comfort zone (actually, human shifting to animals in general) but here I go again reading another werewolves theme book. But there’s something new (ok, not quite new) with this book that got me really fascinated – it has something to do with mafia. And While my mafia background isn’t exactly The Godfather level (but a teenager shot by with dying will bullet, talking infants and rainbow colored flames), I was copiously interested to know what they have something to do with werewolves (I never encountered werewolves prying their tails in an organized crime). Plus the fact that this time the wolves are actually ridding a cherry red convertible (werewolves are always the less fortunate among the sexy creatures boys of YA). Oh yeah, and the Russian boys too.

Jessie Gillmansen was asked to guide a new student Pietr Rusakova to his classes. And because he is the new guy (like Jessie said new toys are always shiny) every girl was swooning over him. Surprisingly, Jessie wasn’t because she had her eye locked to the popular football player Derek, and she and Pietr didn’t have a very good start. But to sum up, Pietr and Jessie like each other, they are just too stubborn (mostly it’s Jessie ‘coz she is martyr) to admit. Added to their already complicated relationship, her friend Sarah also likes Pietr (and quite possessive to boot). Jessie is willing to sacrifice her feelings for her friend. But there is something different with his family and she found out they are siblings of werewolves.

Now for my critique (lol, not really, it is more of what I “notice/complain”) the story is actually moved in a good pace. I always complain that some books are either fast (Angel Star) or too long to build (The Hollow). I don’t feel the plot was dragging and there’s proper amount of information revealed at each pace of the story (though, of course the big revelation is always later, save for the big finale). I like Jessie and Pietr; actually I like almost all the characters (well, I hate Sarah and the popular girls but that’s not new). Given that no character is perfect, there always something that will irk you with their personalities. I like Jessie (in most part) but there are things that irritated me. First, she is too martyr. Why do you help a person who killed your mother? Because it’s the right thing to do? Just for nobility sake? I don’t get this part of her. I think it’s a natural reaction to hate the person who killed (or even just an instrument) someone you’ve loved. But no, Jessie helped her, became her friend and now even giving him the boy she likes. Talk about charity, she is probably noble than… well… Santa? And she is giving up more than just a material thing. As for the other characters, I like Pietr (actually a lot); he might be brutally frank (hey at least, he is honest) but totally nice. I really like him. I can see myself in Amy, she is a nice friend. No matter how stupid Jessie is doing, she is there to support her. And I hate Sarah, oh wait, I already said that (my bad, I really dislike her).

Why do I get the feeling that vampires are going to introduced in the book? (don’t tell me if there are werewolves, there are always vampires. I’m positive that there are no leeches vampires in The Dark Divine and that’s werewolves’ theme book). Anyway, they were mentioned several times in the book. I remembered Pietr criticizing Jessie’s book (I think the book was Life Suck) which is a vampire book. And they were also mentioned in their class discussion. I’m totally amazed how authors managed to twist/alter history and put their own revisions on it. Nice touch. I’m also one of the few (based on what I read in goodreads) who think Derek is more than just the running back of their football team and the popular boy in school. A vampire? Well, not to that extent but who knows (I’m pretty sure Shannon Delany knows). Sarcastic comment aside, I’m betting he is important. I don’t think it is just jealousy when Pietr looked at Jessie lips after Derek kissed her (it’s like he sensed it). How on earth he found out when he is not even there (unless he peeked) but I’m certain he didn’t. There is a weird animosity between the two and it’s not just the popularity at stake. And you know what they say about the weres as the natural enemy of the vampires (or is it just in Twilight?) Lots of presumptions, but no definite answer. I can’t wait for the next installment, I’m excited to find out!

It’s not really a (very) heavy novel (well at first it wasn’t but by the way the book one ended, things for sure will get complicated) I like the author used of words (there are verbose, uhmm… Angel Star) and there’s some which too much dialogue (Twilight) this book is on the even side (not too articulate but still much defined). Another good thing about reading this book is that I learned two Russian words Da and Nyet; that’s yes and no, haha. At least I learned something new. Oh, and the mafia? Well, they were introduced in the end of the book so its importance on the plot wasn’t revealed that yet. To wrap up, it’s a great book, I really love it!