rating: 1.5/5

Review: Witches & Wolves, by Kelly D. Smith (Rating: 1.5/5)

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smith-witches-and-wolvesWitches & Wolves, by Kelly D. Smith
Publisher: Less Than Three Press (September 23, 2015)
Word Count: approx. 10,700 words
Genre: Bisexual (F/F) Romance, Paranormal

Rating: 1.5 out of 5 stars

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Summary:

Life in the woods is usually fairly quiet, which suits Tory perfectly. She can focus on her witchcraft without the noise of the city or nosy neighbors, and the only visitor she gets is her ex-boyfriend—until late one night when she opens the door to find an unfamiliar wolf who promptly curls up in Tory’s bed and falls fast asleep.

Long used to wolves, Tory lets her be, and has no complaints at all when the morning reveals the wolf to be a beautiful woman. New to being a wolf, out in the woods to learn control and get more comfortable with her new life, Gee eagerly accepts when Tory offers to help her—and she doesn’t seem opposed to any other offers Tory might make.

But not everyone approves of werewolves, and Gee isn’t the only new visitor to the woods…

Review:

“Witches and Wolves” is a solid attempt at a short story with an urban fantasy element, but unfortunately falls short on several fronts. I really liked the concept, about a young woman living alone to practice her witchcraft, and her encounter with another young woman who is also a werewolf. However, I think the author was trying to squeeze too much into a very short piece, and I was ultimately unable to enjoy it.

The biggest issue that I had was with the pacing. Tory and Gee meet under strange circumstances, when Tory helps Gee out after a rough change from wolf to human. However, within only a day Tory is nursing a crush on the other girl… a girl who has spent most of the day asleep and recovering from the previous night. Add in the character of Jake, who kept jumping back and forth between jealous and seductive, and I couldn’t but into Tory and Gee’s relationship.

The scene with the hunters also seemed to come out of nowhere, and I was frustrated because it would have been a lot better with more foreshadowing. There was also no character development as a result of the encounter, which made it feel pointless.

Finally, the writing was very awkward. I felt like the author purposefully chose not to use contractions in order to expand her word count. Dialogue was difficult to read because real people simply don’t talk like that!

In the end, a great concept but poor execution. I hope that the author will continue to grow, because I think there’s a lot of potential, but this just wasn’t for me.

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