and she cuts her hair dramatically with pruning shears...shocker....

At first, I was extremely excited to read Wolfsbane, but once I started to read it, it was not what I expected. The plot kind of drug out for the most part and Calla was having issues the whole time. However, after a while, it turned out to be worth while and a terrific sequal to Nightshade. I can't wait to read the third book: Bloodrose.

I loved Nightshade, which is a little funny because I honestly didn't think I would. It sounded like a story that had been told 100 times, but really is was something completely original and captivating. It was filled with this incredible history and back story. It also amazingly well done tension. Sexual tension. Nightshade has a love triangle at its best. There wasn't a completely clear choice. You couldn't help but like both guys. Nightshade in a word was fantastic.

Now with all of that being said I have to say that Wolfsbane fell a little flat for me. Maybe my expectations were too high after Cremer's wonderful debut. Maybe it was just my mood. It could be any number of things, but I definitely didn't like this one as much as the first. Don't get me wrong, I did like it. I was just expecting a 5 star book...I gave it 3.

Wolfsbane picks up right where Nightshade left off. Calla is in a completely different world than the one she has always known, and I think this is what caused the most problems for me. There is a lot of information to get across to the reader. A lot. To me it seemed like that kind of bogged down the plot. Where Nightshade was action packed, nothing much really happens in this one.

All the things I really loved about the first book were...gone. The mythology, the tension between Calla, Shay and Ren. The romance was still there, but it wasn't as strong or as big of a plot element as it was in Nightshade. There were also some new characters introduced that I didn't care for. There constant bickering and jokes made things move slower than I wanted them to.

This is starting to sound very negative and I honestly don't want it to. I sincerely liked the book, just not as much as I wanted to. I didn't lose interest at all, even when I felt things were moving slow. I still cared about what happened to Calla and her pack. I think this was a stepping stone book. Wolfsbane is setting up the last book. Which I hope will be as awesome as the first.

So, I mostly liked Nightshade, but there were a couple of things about it that bothered me. But I thought the writing was good, so I was very interested to pick up Wolfsbane.

What Andrea Cremer did here was take everything I disliked about Nightshade, multiplied it by 50, and made a book out if it, adding in some new annoyances while she was at it.

Calla really isn't a strong, admirable character anymore. She's an idiot that never learns any lessons from any of her life experiences. Shay is no longer a mildly annoying character who I didn't connect with. He's a misogynistic jerk that I hate, even though I can tell the author wants me to love and root for him. And she must have thought there were too many readers who liked Ren, and she's all "no, reader, that's not how you're supposed to feel about these characters--it's Shay you like, SHAY", so she tried to make sure of that by making Ren in his tiny, tiny bit of "screen time" into an even bigger jerk than Shay, if that's possible.

With all that said, I read this in a day, so it was a quick read and not a total waste, hence the two stars.

This book - and the entire Nightshade series - is an emotional roller-coaster, revolving around tree main topics: Calla's inability to choose; her responsibilities for her pack (although this appears to be the least important thread, which is unfortunate, but more about this later) and finally, the war.

A significant part of the book is only about Calla's thoughts and feelings, and very little remains for the actual story. That said, the story is exciting, non-stop tension throughout the entire book.

The new characters were fairly interesting, and we got to see much from the Seeker's side of things, which is very good. The good-vs-evil war for world control is nothing new, boring, and naive. I don't like it.

Very little is again about the wolf pack mechanics, and it still feels like that it's just hanging in the air, without any basic concepts supporting it. The Guardians don't act like wolves in any way: it very much feels to be a forced aspect. I'm very sad about this, this is basically the only thing that keeps me attached to the series.

Calla still feels weak to the core. Incapable of making any hard, rational decisions, and also incapable of making emotional choices. She also worries a lot more on insignificant things than on more pressing/important matters. I won't give you an example, because I want this review to be spoiler free, but it's pretty typical throughout the book. Sorry, it's just all pathetic.

There were a lot of horror/thriller elements here as well, keeping up the suspense. I don't approve of them: I hate constant suspense.

As for the ending of the story (I wouldn't call it conclusion: it doesn't conclude anything): it's horrible, once again. The story is just cut up, all threads left drifting. I swear that if they do that once again, I'll throw these books out of the window, and burn them.

Overall, I've enjoyed the book, but I'm not going to give it more than 2 stars. In fact, if it wasn't about wolf shapeshifters, I wouldn't even have read it in the first place, or would have stopped reading at about the 40th page.
I'm still sort-of looking forward to the third book, [b:Bloodrose|8130839|Bloodrose (Nightshade #3)|Andrea Cremer|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1308177384s/8130839.jpg|12926604], despite all that. I just hope it will conclude the story properly. So far, Andrea Creamer hasn't struck me as a talented writer, although she's good with emotions. That may be enough for poems or songs, but not for books.

1.5 stars

I was so excited for this book especially after how well the last one ended and this book didn't let me down! This was so much better than I had anticipated and I am really shocked! Some of this book was really sad but there were a lot of kick-ass parts and even some bittersweet moments. I really loved the characters, old and new, Cremer does a great job making lovable and believable characters. This book had me captured from the first page with its brilliant weaving of the story and the great characters and I was in love! This is the best one in the series yet and I am psyched for the next book! This book was incredible, and I can't even explain how good it was! I didn't like the ending because it was a total cliff-hanger for the next one, and I hate cliff-hangers! But they always work, and I am so pumped for the next book! Nightshade is definitely one of the best series I have ever read!

I really wanted to be able to give this book 4 stars, or maybe even 5, like I did for Nightshade. The first book, from what I remember, was really good.

This book was just a little too slow for me. Not much happened throughout the entire book. There was a ton of information given out about the Searchers and the "truth" about the Keepers. It was good to learn it all, but it made the book incredibly dull.

The romance was good when it was in there but it only seemed to come from Calla being upset or Shay being angry. I did, however, enjoy Connor's inappropriate jokes. Go figure there.

When the action did pick up I knew I was supposed to feel the intensity of it, but I couldn't come to care too deeply, like I did in Nightshade. A few characters died and it didn't bother me.

Spoiler

And quite frankly, I don't think Calla should have been able to brush off her mother's death so quickly. It was mentioned a few times, and then not brought up again.

Still, I have hope that Bloodrose will be better. Andrea Cremer did promise Ren in a towel, so that's got to at least spice things up, right? As an overall series, I still enjoy it. So maybe I'd give it more 3.5 stars as opposed to 3.

Loved it!