Low Red Moon [Hardcover]

Ivy Devlin (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Seventeen-year-old Avery Hood has lived a peaceful yet isolated life deep within the woods until the night of her parents' violent murders. Suddenly orphaned and living with her estranged grandmother, Avery's memories of that night are fragmented. Then Avery meets Ben Dusic, a sexy werewolf with his own tragic past. The two are fatefully connected, able to sense one another's feelings and desires, which leads to intense make-out sessions. Ben senses that Avery is in extreme danger as her parents' home sits empty on valuable land. As Avery reclaims some of her memories, her connection to Ben and her suspicions about his involvement intensify. Avery's first-person narration often seems repetitive as she tries to come to terms with her loss, and the initial pacing seems slow—until things really start to heat up after Avery and Ben make contact. While Twilight comparisons cannot be avoided, this lusty yet somber romance has merit on its own. Grades 7-10. --Kimberly Garnick

Product Description

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 them, 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. When Ben reveals he's a werewolf, Avery still trusts him—at first. Then she sees that sometimes his eyes flash inhuman silver. And she learns that she's not the only one who can't remember the night her parents died.Part murder mystery, part grief narrative, and part heart-stopping, headlong romance, Low Red Moon is a must-read for teen paranormal fans. As breathless as Twilight and as spooky as Shiver, this is a book to be devoured in one sitting—by an acclaimed YA author making her paranormal debut under the pseudonym Ivy Devlin.

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Product Details

• 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
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #87,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Beautifully written tale of suspense, with a dash of the supernatural..., August 5, 2010

By	Veggiechiliqueen "Life's short...eat dessert ... - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: Low Red Moon (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Avery Hood's parents were brutally murdered in the woods outside their house, and the only thing she remembers seeing is inhuman flashes of silver. Homeschooled and raised in the forest surrounding her ramshackle house, Avery is sent to live with Renee, her paternal grandmother. The two have been estranged for many years, and it's an awkward living arrangement at best.

Avery struggles to cope with soul-rending grief as everything she's ever loved is taken away from her, especially her deep connection to the forest. When mysterious new boy Ben Dusic appears at school, Avery is intrigued and soon discovers that Ben is more than he appears...his silver eyes hint at his supernatural heritage. Strange omens seem to plague her (after subsequent murders, her hair turns blood red), and someone is determined to kill her...it's up to Avery to solve the mystery that lurks deep in the heart of the forest.

The writing itself was generally smooth and enjoyable, with vivid descriptions that bring the magic of the woods to life. These verdant images contrast sharply with the rivers of blood that haunt Avery's dreams. (sensitive readers beware; there are several scenes involving graphic violence). The supernatural element could have been explored in greater detail. Also, I wanted more details about Avery's connection to the forest...there are hints that other members of her family share this ability. Where does it come from, and what does it mean for her future relationship with Ben?

Unintentional or not, there are several references that point to Twilight (The Twilight Saga): when Avery steps into the school office to pick up her schedule on the first day, the mysterious, beautiful new guy rushes in, refuses to look at her as she takes in his freaky silver eyes, and disappears just as quickly. Later, when she asks Ben his age, he replies "Seventeen," to which Avery asks, "Seventeen for how long?" as her voice shakes.

The biggest flaw for me was the villain; after developing a complex universe centered around the woods and its supernatural / spiritual heritage and infusing the story with a palpable sense of suspense and lurking evil, the final confrontation felt like a letdown. I had the urge to laugh at the absurdity of it all. The "villain," once finally revealed, projects none of the sense of foreboding that shadows Avery and her family throughout much of the novel, perhaps because his character is mentioned so fleetingly (it seemed far likelier that another secondary character would be the villain based on his description).

Overall, this is a fast-paced, well-written read that beautifully describes the process of grieving and recovery in the aftermath of a brutal attack, of finding love in unexpected places, and embracing the unknown.

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best paranormal story, August 9, 2010

By	The Book Muncher - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: Low Red Moon (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Avery Hood's parents have been murdered, and she can't remember what happened except for a flash of silver. It's all she can do to pick up the pieces and try to make sense of her new life. When Avery meets the new boy at school, everything is different. She's still dealing with the grief over her parents' deaths, but now there's a new distraction. But despite her intense attraction to Ben, there's something about him, something silver in his eyes, that makes her doubt him. When other residents of the forest are found killed, it becomes more important than ever for Avery to recover her memories, even if she is afraid the killer is someone she knows.

Low Red Moon is a strange combination of paranormal mystery and something else mystical. This story just didn't flow well for me. Devlin tries to weave together so many different parts of the story, such as Avery's grief, her relationship with Ben, her desire to remember, and her relationship with her grandmother. Unfortunately, the transitions in between were not very smooth, especially at the beginning through the middle of the story. It took a while for me to get into the story, and by that time, I already started to figure out the outcome of the story. The thing that sat the least well for me, though, was Avery's mystical connection to the forest. Devlin doesn't explain its purpose well, so it seems more an accessory to the story than an important element. The action at the end of the novel was exciting to read, but overall, I wasn't very taken with this story. Low Red Moon was not one of the better paranormal books I've read.

Low Red Moon may appeal to fans of Raised by Wolves by Jennifer Lynn Barnes and Death at Deacon Pond by E.M. Alexander.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Wanted to like it more., August 5, 2010

By	TrishNYC (New York) - See all my reviews (VINE VOICE)

This review is from: Low Red Moon (Hardcover)

(What's this?)

Avery Hood is haunted by the recent deaths of her parents at the hands of an unknown assailant. Avery has no memory of their deaths despite being found by the police in a pool of her parents blood. She constantly tries of remember why and how her parents died but seems to have blanked out her recollection of these events. As she deals with her intense grief at her loss, she struggles to build a relationship with her estranged grandmother, cope with the stares at school and her budding feelings for the new boy in town.

I recently have been reading a great deal of YA literature and unfortunately I cannot say this was one of the best of the bunch. For one thing this book was very short at a mere 196 pages. It did not give me enough characterizations of the different players thus making it hard for me to form any lasting bonds with the characters. While Avery's grief, confusion over her memory loss and her attempts to bond with her grandmother are all adequately handled, her romance with the new boy, Ben, is flimsy at best. It feels like one minute they meet and the next minute they are in love. The relationship was not developed well enough for me to see it as anything but superficial. I heard much about Ben's beauty, her intense feelings for him and him for her, their ability to sense each other's emotion but they never seemed to have enough meaningful conversations that would explain their love for each other. I wish the author had written a longer and more detailed relationship because the potential definitely existed for a good romantic angle. As with the romance, the mystery of who killed Avery's parents was not as compelling as it could have been and I felt that after a while it was easy to guess who the killer was.

I also did not appreciate the fact that there were some scenes in this book that looked like they were lifted straight out of Twilight, even right down to dialogue. I find it hard to believe that the author of this book just coincidentally had the exact same thoughts and wording as a book (and movie) that came out years ago. This author had enough of a story line going that she did not need to mirror another work.

Despite my criticisms, I am more than willing to read any sequels that follow because I believe there is a lot of potential here for a good story.