Blog Tour Review: Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

Reading level: Young Adult
Hardcover: 256 pages
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Children's Books (September 14, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599905108
ISBN-13: 978-1599905105

Avery Hood is reeling from the loss of her parents--and the fact that she can't remember what happened to them even though she was there.

She's struggling to adjust to life without them, and to living with her grandmother, when she meets Ben, who isn't like any guy she's ever met before.

It turns out there's a reason why, and Ben's secret may hold the key to Avery finding out what happened to her parents...

But what if that secret changes everything she knows about--and feels for--Ben?

Review:

After witnessing her parents brutal death, Avery Hood feels numb with the missing pieces from her memory still out of reach. Living with a grandmother she never really understood--and still calls "Renee"--Avery feels more lost and desolate than ever. When a new boy comes to Woodlake and ends up being her would-be neighbor, she feels like nothing has changed; and little did she know that he would turn world upside down.

Closing in on the mysterious murders in Woodlake gave the setting of Low Red Moon a suspenseful tone. The author created a town with its independent characters that share the knowledge of their town's inhabitants with a feeling of liberation. Avery's parents always thought it better to keep to the woods where they felt more at home than they ever could be badgered by the local real estate agent and their town's small strip mall. That is, until last year when Avery's parents insisted she start at the local high school. Further ahead in the book, I wondered if this was written as a convenience to have Avery already known at the high school during the events in the book were taking place. In relation to that, I wondered if a lot of the book's plot was written up for convenience to get to the next event.

Low Red Moon had a lot of repetitive sentences and rhetoric questions that soon got me thinking, "What exactly were the editors and other readers thinking when they passed over the same idea in different wording three times?"

This book does have its moments of brilliance. They mostly consist of the moments of imagery of the woods and its creatures. Devlin really made the traumatic, rural angle work for Avery's story of her parents tragic death.

Overall, I wouldn't call this a memorable book because it has too many common qualities with other YA Paranormal Fantasy novels (Raised by Wolves, particularly). It does end with a cliffhanger, so I expect their to be a sequel of some kind. I would like to know what happens with the town of Woodlake but I won't be "waiting by the phone."

Grade: C-

This Advanced Readers/Reviewers Copy was sent by the publishers at Bloomsbury Children's Books for my uninfluenced review.

LiLi