Goldilocks by Patria L. Dunn Pages: 222
Published by Createspace Independent Pub on January 27, 2014
Genres: Fairy Tale re-telling, Love & Romance, Paranormal, Young Adult
Source: ecopy from Author
Hannah Adler had wished for more attention from her father, but not at the cost of leaving everything she loved behind. The mountains of Hinsdale, Colorado was not where she’d imagined spending her senior year, but with her father accepting the inspector position at the Golden Wonder gold mine, she had no choice but to make the best of it. It’s not as if the friends, she didn’t have, would miss her. Life had been lonely since losing her mother almost five years ago, and now was her chance to start letting her heart heal once and for all.
Jake Bear had his nickname for a reason, but it wasn’t one that Hannah would have ever suspected. There was a secret buried in those sable colored eyes, and with something lurking in the woods behind her new home, Hannah was almost sure he knew more than he let on.
He only wanted to protect her, but from what…?
Wow, this book was really engaging. It is a retelling (kind of) of Goldilocks. But I found it to be more of an awesome shifter paranormal romance/action adventure book. Hannah is annoyed when her father uproots her from her New York city life to bring her to the middle of nowhere to live in some random house in the woods. To say it was a change for her would be an understatement. I think she adjusted magnificently. If I was thrown in the woods with no electronics working, I would be pretty annoyed. But she just picked up and started to practice her cross country running. And that is where the book really started to get interesting.
In the woods Hannah eventually runs across giant wolves and bears. Her father was sent out to investigate a mine that was having a bunch of tunnels collapsing. And I just knew that somehow the wolves and/or bears were involved in it somehow. We learn pretty early on that Jake Bear is a bear shifter, but Hannah doesn’t find out for a long time. The book is told in dual POV between Jake and Hannah. I really enjoyed reading Jake’s sections because they explained his “connection” with Hannah. He didn’t understand the pull he felt towards her.
I loved Hannah’s personalities. She is a gentle and calm person, but when she wants to find something out she can be very determined and has a bit of a stubborn streak in her. I liked the bits of sassiness that peaked out of her from time to time.
I became so engrossed in this story. The pacing and plot was varied throughout the book. Sometimes it was nice and slow with lots of detail and other times it was fast and we were running through the woods with Jake involved in action packed fight scenes. I loved the romance between Jake and Hannah. They both seem like such great teens that you wanted to see them together.
I was fascinated by the spirits part of the story, but I will it was explained a little bit better. I was kind of confused on the history and the division between the wolves. Other than that though, I thought the story was super interesting. I loved Patria’s writing style. She really did a great job telling a unique story. This is so much more than your average re-telling.
Reading this book contributed to these challenges:
kindlemom1
How have I missed seeing this one it sounds fantastic! I am definitely adding this one to my TBR pile.
Librarian Lavender
This sounds like a great book! I’ll put it on my wishlist straight away!
Nicole Hewitt
I’ve never seen a retelling of Goldilocks before! I’ll have to check this out!
Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction
Ginny @ Gin's Book Notes
This is the first time I’ve seen this book and it definitely sounds like one that I would enjoy. I love multiple points of view and the “sort of” retelling of Goldilocks sounds interesting. Thanks for sharing and bringing this book to my attention. Off to add it to my wish list. 🙂