Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson

4 out of 5 Robots!

 

My Review:
Claire de Lune by Christine Johnson breathes new life into the magical world of werewolves and a society that knows they exist. This isn't your typical werewolf story and I was hooked from the get-go. You can't be bitten and you can't be male. All werewolves are female and were born that way. Exciting, right?

Everything is going great for Claire, until her mom drops a bomb on her 16th birthday. Happy Birthday, honey, you're a werewolf! Now she has to rediscover who she is and what all this means, along with the normal teenage stuff- best friends and boyfriends. Nothing can be how it once was- She isn't at all happy with her new discovery and finds keeping secrets from her friends the most difficult thing to deal with. The changes couldn't come at a worse time as she's finally dating the boy (Matt) she's had her eye on for quite sometime.

So, not only is Claire dealing with the more mundane aspects of teenage life- but she has this whole werewolf thing hanging over her head. With that come the werewolf problems- Two villains. A rogue werewolf maiming humans and the mad scientist extraordinaire that captures and experiments on werewolves. It was a little ironic... hilarious, even, that humans knew weres existed, but didn't know the identity of any- or the fact that they were only females. They were consistently trapping men and claiming to have cured them, when in fact these men weren't part wolf at all. I really hope Christine touches more on the back story in the books to come- I'm totally intrigued on the history of the world she created for us.

Claire was a brilliant main character, she seemed very real to me. Although she handled the werewolf news a little too well, the struggles of being a teenager seemed logical and were expressed well through the writing. Reminded me of being in high school and the everyday emotions you deal with when you're a teenager. I loved that Claire had a million questions for her mother and that she questions everything. She is distant with her mother- I'm sure a lot of teenagers will be able to understand and relate to this aspect of the story extremely well. Their bond evolves and grows strength throughout the novel, which was enjoyable to read. We also get to witness Claire's first love- Matthew Engle! Absolutely adorable watching this little relationship blossom and then become something bigger than what she had ever expected.

Claire de Lune was a fascinating new way to experience werewolves and won't disappoint Young Adult readers. Even though this novel was a bit on the predictable side, I couldn't stop flipping the pages. Impressive debut novel and magnificent introductory into a new series- I can not wait for the action Johnson is going to throw at us in the next installment!

Book Details:

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 336 pages
Publisher: Simon Pulse; May 18, 2010

ISBN-10: 1416991824
ISBN-13: 978-1416991823

My Copy: Peace, Love & Pat's ARC Tours