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The surprise that everyone saw coming! Its time to smash!
My history with this story is long. It was among the first books I 'started' among these reviews, but did not finish at the time. Rather than continue to do a huge review, I decided to stop an sit with the author on improving the first set of chapters. The author is a relatively new one, and is humble enough to learn from others hungrily, and so soaked up my experience and explanations and assistance like a sponge. Its been slow going, but after nearly a year I felt she, and her edits, were good enough that I could struggle through the story without wanting to stab myself in the process. So I read the entire story, which is no small feat with its 50 chapters, and am prepared to give my final analysis.
I may have a bit of history with the author and a vested interest in it with my involvement, but trust me, that only makes me analyze harder. There will be no mercy!!
I am new to the whole werewolf/changling/whatever genre so I will be fair and account for ignorance on my part for what amounts to an alien culture.
The story is unedited past chapter 30-ish and is the first story in a series and will be treated as such. She plans for 4 stories and is almost done with the 3rd. Overall, impressive speed both in writing and in editing.
TLDR; A werewolf/changling/something slice of life romance filled with drama and, eventually, politics and even more drama.
Main Characters - Smashing! - The main character is easily the strongest part of the story. She follows the hero's journey very well and is a breath of fresh air after reading so many mary sue stories. She is strong and capable, which is shown through her actions, rather than people putting her on a pedastel and worshipping her. She is talented in certain areas, and this is shown, by the very fact she practices often. She doesn't magically get good at gardening or archery or pain tolerance, she gains those skills through practice, hard work, and more practice. She isn't a magical being who tames assholes with max'd out charisma, but it is so funny how she shuts people up with something as simple as cooking well and putting it in front of them. Its almost cheating at this point how realistic it is that you can shut most men up by putting food in front of them. Its funny, its of humble origins, its simple, it makes sense, and its stuff like that which makes the story stand out to me as being somewhat slice-of-life. The story basks in the simplicity of daily life, how something as basic as prankily throwing someone into a pool for laughs is more romantic than a huge gesture. This simplicity defines the character so much it boggles the mind and makes her relatable easily. Then as you see the source of her strength and lifestyle, it is again relatively simple. Its nothing epic like "im the last of my kind", but it is small, personal, and something many many many people have gone through on some level, yet obviously, and is clearly shown, in how it affects people to their core.
The next thing that is great about her is how she is learning about the culture. She starts as an outsider. She needs things explained. So if the reader doesn't know squat (*cough*) then its like being in her pocket learning things along with her, rather than assuming you know everything. This adds layers to the story because the werewolf/changling/whatever-the-hell-they-is people treat her like an outsider, in a nice way, and try to integrate her well. For this reason alone, so long as everything else holds up in this review, it makes the story a good introduction to the genre as a whole.
