Review: Scarlette by Davonna Juroe

Title: Scarlette
Author: Davonna Juroe
Format: Ebook
Publisher: Bumble B Media, Inc.
Publish Date: October 12, 2012
Source: I received a copy from the author; however, this did not affect my review.

Why You're Reading This Book:

• You're a YA fiction fan.
• You're a paranormal fan.
• You like  fairy tale retellings.

What's the Story?:

From Goodreads.com: "What if Little Red Riding Hood was real?

Ninety years before the Brothers Grimm penned their version of Little Red Riding Hood, a historic, gruesome series of events shocked all of Europe. In 1765, an unidentified wolf-like animal ferociously mauled dozens of peasants in the Gévaudan region of France.

Whispered rumors of unnatural creatures blended with age-old superstition, causing mass hysteria, and a werewolf was blamed for the carnage. Alarmed, King Louis XV sent his best huntsmen to rid the province of the beastly scourge, but this legendary massacre had only just begun.

Scarlette, an 18-year-old peasant, lives under this dark threat, knowing the nightmarish monster lurks in the surrounding forest. A poor seamstress, she labors to make ends meet and is skeptical of supernatural gossip.

Until her grandmother survives an attack.

Scarlette learns her grandmother is infected by the bite of the animal. Desperate to save her, Scarlette begins to uncover the dark secrets of her village and finds there are those who wish to keep their pasts hidden. As time grows short, Scarlette is befriended by a local nobleman and a woodcutter who share an eerie history with the wolf.

To save her grandmother, Scarlette must unravel the mens' connection and solve a long-forgotten crime. But as she pieces together the clues, Scarlette finds herself torn between the two men, both of whom desire more than friendship and together hold the key to the cure."

My Two Cents:

I really love retellings of fairy tales so on that alone, I was very excited and anxious to read this book. "Scarlette" is a sort of retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. This isn't a cheery story but Little Red Riding Hood was not a cheery story. Wolves eating sweet little grandmothers, dressing up as said sweet little grandmothers, and then trying to eat little girls? Yeah, that's definitely a little scary. Ms. Juroe weaves the Grimm's fairy tale of Little Red Riding Hood with a really imaginative story to come up with a thoroughly winning combination.

If you've ever read any of the Grimm's fairy tales, you know that many of them are a bit creepy and this book is definitely in that vein of fairy tales and I absolutely loved it! I really loved the main character of Scarlette. She starts out being scared but is so compelled to find out what happened to her grandmother, really the only caring person that she has in her life that she puts her fear aside to try to find out if her grandmother's disappearance has anything to do with the wolf (or is it werewolf???) attacks that are happening in her small French village. I love when characters come into their own throughout a story and this is most definitely the case with Scarlette. I also love her "voice" in the book. She's a very logical thinker and even though she is scared and most definitely makes some mistakes, in the end, it's her wit that sees her through. Scarlette is definitely a well written character who I loved following in this story!

I was left with some questions after the book ended that I wish had been answered. I still didn't understand why Scarlette's mother was so terrible. It's hinted at but never fully explained. Since her horribleness becomes a big part of the story, I wanted to understand more. Also, I wanted to know more about why the werewolves were attacking the town. Is it just because they were werewolves? I also wanted to know more about their background as well.

Overall, this is a good retelling with a great main character!