Review: The Secret of Wolf River: The Heart of Everything by Jessica Musso

The Secret of Wolf River: The Heart of Everything
Author: Jessica Musso
Published: June 2011
Formats: Kindle, Paperback

Book Blurb:

 After living in peace for over one-hundred and fifty years, a family of
peaceful werewolves is threatened by evil, outside forces and must risk
everything to defend themselves from intruders and keep their home a peaceful
sanctuary.

Rose was just an ordinary young woman with an ordinary job and no plans or
hopes for the future. She had no friends and her family was gone. She wanted
nothing more than to abandon everything and start a new life. Then, one fateful
night, she did...

Rose discovered a world that she never thought could exist. It was the complete
opposite of the cruel world that she had been a part of her whole life. After
spending a short amount of time there, she knew she had finally found her true
home, made some new friends, and became a part of their family as well.

This was no ordinary group of people, however. They possessed a gene that
allowed them to shape shift into wolves and live forever; a gene that could be
considered a gift or a curse, and either way, was feared by most humans.

This misunderstood race of werewolves, called Rougarou, is a peaceful race by
nature. However, there are exceptions. Shortly after Rose found her new home
among the family of Rougarou, they are confronted by vicious outsiders who defy
everything that their race stands for and threaten their very well being. Now,
the family must unite with others of their kind and stand up against these
dangerous enemies, for if one of them strays, it may be the last mistake they
make...

My Feelings:

I was browsing Pixel of Ink, a site that dedicates its time to finding all the free or bargain books available on Kindle.  I came across a book with such a beautiful cover I just had to have it.  

I was super excited about this story; the picture was so mysterious and intriguing I felt the story would be awesome.  

Well, perhaps I should not judge a book by its cover.  In this case, the cover was gorgeous, however, the actual plot and makeup of the story-not so much.  

At first, it starts out great.  We find Rose, a young woman, in turmoil, staring across the eerie foggy lake that makes her feel safe.  The writer lets us know that Rose is in emotional pain and has been through a lot.  I come to the conclusion that Rose is an important character and I am excited to see what will happen to her.  

Unfortunately, this story couldn't hold up.  The characters were flat and dull.  The plot was so full of holes and the author was too concerned with "love" to actually stick to some kind of routine.  There is an established bad guy who is actually pretty good at being bad, and then the author just switches it up and makes him almost angel-like.  

I'm sorry but there are things you just don't do, like try to kill your girlfriend with a knife because she is pregnant, and then all of a sudden get a conscience. Or receive forgiveness from the same person.  

Also another pet peeve of mine was the repeated explanation of why they were a certain type of werewolves.  It was a constant repetition of the same thing throughout the book.  I wish authors would trust the reader to understand the first time and then maybe only skim over it for the rest of the story. 

The cover of the book is beautiful and the concept of an magical land across a lake is interesting but unfortunately, the author just couldn't pull it off for my tastes.  I have to give this book 1 heart.  It really isn't worth the read and it was so painful to finish the novel.