Review for Low Red Moon by Ivy Devlin

"She knows what he is. But she can’t be sure what he’s done. The only thing Avery Hood can remember about the night her parents died is that she saw silver – deadly silver, moving inhumanly fast. As much as she wants to remember who killed her parents, she can’t, and there’s nothing left to do but try to piece her life back together. Then Avery meets the new boy in school – Ben, mysterious and beautiful, with whom she feels a connection like nothing she’s ever experienced before. When Ben reveals he’s a werewolf, Avery still trusts him – at first. Then she sees that sometimes his eyes flash an inhuman silver. And she learns that she’s not the only one who can’t remember the night her parents died…" First things first I couldn’t just let this review go by without acknowledging the beautiful simplicity of this book. The cover’s so gorgeously creepy with the gothic, proud, tall standing trees and the eerie feel of the glowing moon and blood red metallic cover. Inside the book itself there is the same scarlet red illustrations of trees and the moon at the start of every chapter and across the bottom of the pages as well as the word “moon” highlighted in the same deathly red- a very nice touch for a book about werewolves reminding me of the US covers for Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver series which I love. Wolves are one of my favourite paranormal creatures to read about so to say I was excited to read this book is an understatement. Before reading Low Red Moon I’d heard rumours flying around the blogosphere that Ivy Devlin was in fact a pen name for Elizabeth Scott -an author notoriously known for her fantastic young adult realism books in America- Low Red Moon being her debut here in the UK. Right from the start Low Red Moon completely captivated me a big reason for that being because of how beautiful Ivy Devlin’s writing is. At the start of Low Red Moon our heroine Avery’s parents have just been brutally murdered, Avery being found with their mutilated bodies although she has no real memory of what happened. You can really feel Avery’s loss and sadness making her immediately endearing to the reader. What I loved about this book is what a big part Avery’s loss plays in the story. It’s not just touched upon like a lot of paranormal romance novels it’s deeply explored with Ivy Devlin bringing in the realism she’s use to writing about as Elizabeth Scott and connecting it in with a paranormal, mysterious, love story. I love the realistic touch Low Red Moon has making it stand out against other books in the genre. If werewolves were real creatures Ivy Devlin has you completely convinced that this is how they would be. She has you believing-as much as Avery- that the old tales surrounding Woodlake town are real and are totally happening right now. Ivy’s writing completely blew me away. It’s haunting and poetic and has a strange beauty to it. She makes her characters endearing and easy to relate to and has created a fantastic, fresh, original new take on werewolves and the little red riding hood story that has been re-told so many times. I read this book really quickly because I was so caught up by Ivy Devlin’s storytelling. She really has a wonderful way of telling a story always leaving you wanting a little bit more. I closed this book satisfied, glowing with that lovely feeling you get after reading a good book. Low Red Moons ending ties up things nicely but also hints at a possible sequel. I really hope that’s the case because I would love to read more about Avery and Ben. Ivy Devlin has a bright future ahead of her as a writer of paranormal goings on and is a very welcome new addiction to the genre. Highly recommended to anyone looking for an intelligent, murder mystery/ paranormal romance. My Rating 4/5 stars **** Thanks go to Bloomsbury for sending me this book to review. Synopsis taken from back of book.