Melissa Haag

Slightly weird, since the entire book, except for half a chapter at the beginning and ditto at the end, is a flashback. This is Charlene's story - and wow, has she made changes. Gabby, Bethi and Michelle encountered slightly weird people who turned out to be werewolves - Charlene encountered a bunch of total ferals, with...one, maybe two capable of interacting with the human world. She pushed and pulled them into a totally new way of life, in not all that long. Her power is a little vague, show more and she likes it that way - doesn't want to tell anyone, not even Thomas, exactly what she can do (and what she finds she can do, once they're Mated). I can see why, though after how many years? you'd think she'd have relaxed a bit. And maybe she has, I don't remember all the details of the encounters with her from the first three books. Specifically, I don't remember what exactly she's seeing/sensing in the fugue state she gets into when Michelle touches her (that's in the current-time frame, not in the flashback, of course). I don't really want to reread the first three (six) books, until I've read the ones I haven't read before - this is a very deep and tangled story. The twist of having two series, one from the women's point of view and then the same story from the men's point of view, is neat, complicated, and occasionally very funny. I haven't read the match to this book yet (I'm reading the woman's story first) - it will be interesting to see what Thomas was thinking, though I'm not sure how the author is going to depict the feral POV. Worth reading, though not a favorite in the series(es). show less

I find it easy to let myself go when it comes to the paranormal world. I love to get lost in a make believe world of the supernatural, so I did enjoy reading about Gabby and Clay in Hopeless by Melissa Haag. I have to be in the mood for clean, young adult reading, and I read Hopeless at the perfect time. The characters came alive on the pages, and it was fun watching Gabby figure things out, find those who she can relate to, and find a home, a place to belong.

Seeing this is the first book in show more a series that looks like it will spotlight an individual character in each book, and it is clean, targeted at the younger crowd, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. For those looking for steamy romance, this may not be for you. BUT, if you are like me, allowing the author to take me where they want me to go, you may want to give it a try.

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Review of Hope(Less)
(5th Review for July)
www.reviewoffantasy.com
Rating: 5 stars

O god this was one of those books that I was screaming at 95% the way through and then the last 5% made it all okay.

Okay where to start firstly I loved Gabby she was a loner who always kept herself at a distance, which I didn’t blame her, we all love male attention but the attention that Gabby received was creepy and unnatural. I could understand her distancing herself from the world, also being switched from show more foster home to foster home did nothing to help her trust issues, so when Gabby comes across Sam a werewolf she starts to find some answers to her unnatural gifts (which I think are pretty cool) this isn’t your normal irritating werewolf story, we see it as finding a group of people within their own world with their own rules, it’s fascinating it’s not this is my pack against your pack but how one pack operates I loved learning and watching Gabby grow with them, even though she is kind of human. My feelings on Sam I am still unsure feeling very disappointed in him, for not being totally honest with Gabby when what she needed was someone she could truly trust. But when she is marked by Clay the story gets interesting and this is where I started screaming at every single page.

It’s the weirdest love story I have ever read Clay being a werewolf seems to understand Gabby more than she does herself so he takes matters into his own hands not wanting to frighten her, I don’t want to say too much and give the story away but I will say for 95% of the book he says nothing – really I am not messing nothing but he doesn’t need to his actions speak louder than words, but when he does speak my stomach did a little flop and I let out a sigh, yes it was worth waiting for, just a line or two and I was in love.

So basically when I finished I felt the story was only getting started and I want the second book like now. Just can’t wait to read it. Very unusual story but one that brings love forward as something gentle and patient yet with enough roughness to me you sigh sigh sigh. Love it. show less

I'm glad I read Hope(less) first - I love getting Clay's view on the events, but Gabby has the broader story (how she got involved with the werewolves in the first place, for one thing). However, I'm delighted with this book - it's fascinating seeing the different viewpoint on the same events. The most amusing part, to me, was how Gabby thought Clay had this solid plan for his courtship, and she was trying to figure it out - and here's Clay, trying to decipher what Gabby's plan is for them, show more and reacting to what he thinks he knows. Lovely trick. Honestly, I liked Clay a lot better after I read this - he didn't have nearly as many secrets from Gabby as she thought. All the external events are exactly the same between the books - dialog, action, situations - though they didn't necessarily notice the same things. It's very well done. Glad I read it and I want to read the rest of the series(es). Whether I'll reread...depends on the whole series, I think. But I suspect that this book/these books are going to be ones that permanently affect my worldview... show less