Claire de Lune (edition 2010)

Claire's life had been quite normal until the day she turned sixteen. Her mother delivers the shocking news: Claire is a werewolf. In fact, her mother is also a werewolf. Since Claire has reached the age of transformation, she'll be initiated into the all-female werewolf pack. As if this big life change weren't enough to deal with, there is also a rogue werewolf that is attacking humans, and Claire's pack is trying to figure out who it is so that they can stop her. Everyone in town is on high alert, afraid they'll be the next victim of the violent werewolf. Claire's new boyfriend, Matthew, happens to be the son of a man who is determined to hunt down and kill all of the werewolves. Is Claire endangering herself and her pack by becoming too close to Matthew? Will they find the rogue werewolf before anyone else gets hurt?

I really liked the way that the author introduced a twist on the typical werewolf story. All werewolves are female in Claire's world, and it's a hereditary condition passed down from mothers to daughters. The daughters are initiated into a pack once they come of age. Also, in this story, humans know that werewolves exist, even though they may not necessarily know who the werewolves are.

Claire acted and talked like a real teenager, and I enjoyed seeing her change over the course of the story. She started off hating the fact that she was a werewolf, but she gradually began to accept her fate and even started feeling comfortable in her new furry skin. She started to appreciate her mother more, and I liked seeing their relationship develop and grow over the course of the novel. Also, I really liked Matthew. He is not the typical "bad boy" we see in a lot of paranormal YA romances. It's refreshing that the nice guy gets some love in this book! Of course, his dad complicates things, but I thought Claire and Matthew's romance was sweet and believable.

This is a unique coming of age tale with suspense, mystery, and romance. This is the author's debut novel, and I look forward to the sequel, Nocturne. ( )

This had an interesting take on werewolf mythology, and a nice case of realizing that your parents aren’t as nonsensical as they sometimes seem. I was less convinced by the romance, though I believe there’s a second book, so that might change my mind. [Oct. 2011] ( )

3.5 Stars

I'm not generally a werewolf fan, but I thought that this book looked interesting, and so when I won it through a giveaway I figured that I would give it a try. I did generally enjoy this one, but it did feel like it was missing a lot of depth, so I didn't enjoy quite it as much as I would have liked to.

I liked Claire, and I thought that she is a pretty typical teen, and to be thrust into this new life was pretty cruel, but she handled it well. Claire isn't the most popular girl in school, which is something that she struggles with, so when her life takes two major changes at once, it throws her for a huge loop. She just wants to be 16, date, have friends, a car, a little bit of privacy and independence... Be normal in other words, but normality is pretty much out of the question for Claire.

I really liked the different direction this book took with werewolf lore. Werewolves are real, but still exist in secret. They are not accepted into society and are still feared and demonized by many outspoken figures. I also enjoyed the way that lycanthropy is a trait passed along from mother to daughter, and one that seems to tie into Wicca, or if not Wicca, to the worship of the Goddess in general terms, and incorporates other abilities as well as extraordinary senses usually associated with werewolves. I like that the trait is inherited rather than passed through violence of a bite.

I wish that there had been more depth to the relationships in the book - the only ones that we really see in any detail are between Claire and her mother, and between Claire and Matthew. I would have liked to see more of the pack dynamic and understand more of the pack members themselves, as well as the laws that they are constantly referring to. But I suppose that this information will be revealed later in the series.

Overall, this was a quick and fun read - I enjoyed it, and I would recommend it to those who enjoy werewolf stories as something a little bit different. ( )

Meh. This was a little whiny for me with not enough actual plot; too much of Claire just being upset that she's a werewolf and not enough learning about actually being a werewolf. The end was a little better, but it just took too long to get there. Read [b:Raised by Wolves|6905534|Raised by Wolves (Raised by Wolves, #1)|Jennifer Lynn Barnes|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1265140798s/6905534.jpg|7129899] or [b:Shiver|6068551|Shiver (The Wolves of Mercy Falls, #1)|Maggie Stiefvater|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1257962751s/6068551.jpg|6244926] instead. ( )

Review courtesy of Dark Faerie Tales

Quick & Dirty: Coming of age has never been so complicated as when becoming a werewolf is added to the equation.

Opening Sentence: She killed him in the darkest part of the night, before the dew had settled on the grass.

The Review:

This book has left me on the proverbial fence. I honestly have no strong emotion for the story or the majority of the characters that take place in this world. On the other hand the author does strongly portray the angst and frustration between the main character Claire and her mother. This relationship grows the most during this story and changes from a distant and almost neglectful relationship to something much more.

Claire’s relationship with her best friend, Emily was more of a chore than a relationship I felt any desire to even see continue. Emily’s character is so obsessed with her immediate world that she really grated on my nerves after her fourth entrance into the story. When her parents finally send her to visit her aunt and uncle I couldn’t help but do a happy dance that I wasn’t going to have to see her for a few pages of the story.

Matthew develops into a fully rounded character by the end of the book but seemed a little one dimensional at first but maybe this is due to the fact that we are only seeing him through the eyes of a 16-year old girl with a crush. His relationship with Claire is one of the two high points of this story. As we get to understand more about the world and consequences of becoming a werewolf, we are then given an insight into Matthew’s core values that extend beyond his own family dis-functionality which is a mirror image in many respects as Claire’s with her mother.

The last major character in this story is the mystery of the werewolf that is killing innocent humans. We are taken on a bit of a roller coaster journey until we discover the murderer but I felt this one coming from the very beginning. So no shock to me when we discover who has gone rogue.

Overall, I’m neutral on this book which I didn’t expect. I have high hopes for Nocturne which is book 2 in the series and will let you know if I have had a change of mind after I finish that book.

Notable Scene:

“You come from a long line of proud women. Women who have survived, who have passed down a secret from mother to daughter.” She twisted the sheet around her fingers.

Claire crossed her arms and waited.

Her mother’s eyes darted up to meet Claire’s. “Like me, like your grandmother before me and her mother before her, you are what we call loup-garou.”

Claire cocked her head to the side. She hated it when her mother slipped back into French.

“A werewolf, chérie. You–we–are werewolves.”

FTC Advisory: Simon & Schuster provided me with a copy of Claire de Lune. No goody bags, sponsorships, “material connections,” or bribes were exchanged for my review. ( )