13 To Life- Shannon Delany

Title: 13 To Life

Author: Shannon Delany

Format: Soft Cover

Source: Borrowed from the library

Rating: 4/5

GoodReads Summary:

Everything about Jessie Gillmansen’s life changed when her mother died. Now even her hometown of Junction is changing.  Mysterious dark things are happening. All Jessie wants is to avoid more change. But showing a hot new guy around Junction High, she’s about to discover a whole new type of change. Pietr Rusakova is more than good looks and a fascinating accent—he’s a guy with a dangerous secret. And his very existence is sure to bring big trouble to Jessie’s small town.  It seems change is the one thing Jessie can’t avoid…

I picked this up on a whim. I had heard about it but never read any reviews or contemplated buying it.  I stumbled across it at the library. I was going to pick up another book and for some reason this one caught my eye so I decided to read it and see what it was all about. Some of the Goodread reviews were a little discouraging, but I already had it at home with me so I decided to give it a chance.  I am glad I did. It is a quick read and a little fluffy but it passed the time and I was able to finish it in one day.

There are werewolves as main characters.  This never seems to happen so kudos to Delany for that. They are becoming more popular as the main characters or species in a book but I still don’t think they are getting as much time in the spot light as vampires do which is unfortunate since werewolves are an untapped market and so much can be done with the mythology.

Jessie is a character in some ways I can relate to and other I just want to smack her. She tries to be selfless but it comes off as irritating and really not true.

********SPOILER***************

 When she tells Pietr to date Sarah because Sarah likes him I though well that’s a little strange but if she is willing to sacrifice what she feels for Pietr then that’s all right, but this does not happen. Jessie and Pietr are constantly sneaking off to make out and she spends the night at his house?!?!  How is this being “selfless” and putting Sarah’s feelings first.  Plus if Pietr did not like her why did he take her to the dance and why does he continue to date her?!? Why not tell Jessie he likes her and wants to be with only her and he will tell Sarah that he does not feel this way about her instead of dragging her through all this.  Jessie is going to come off worse off now because she hid her feelings which will hurt her best friend more than if she would have been honest.  

********SPOILER***************

The ending made me want to read the second book.  I hope it is better than the first. I enjoyed it but in a way made me feel like when I read Twilight. I enjoyed it while I was reading it and would read it again, but after reading it I notice all the little things that annoyed me in the book adding up. I want to continue to read the series and I hope Jessie can work things out with Sarah and come up with a better solution for the situation she has put herself into.

GoodReads Summary:

Everything about Jessie Gillmansen’s life changed when her mother died. Now even her hometown of Junction is changing.  Mysterious dark things are happening. All Jessie wants is to avoid more change. But showing a hot new guy around Junction High, she’s about to discover a whole new type of change. Pietr Rusakova is more than good looks and a fascinating accent—he’s a guy with a dangerous secret. And his very existence is sure to bring big trouble to Jessie’s small town.  It seems change is the one thing Jessie can’t avoid…

I picked this up on a whim. I had heard about it but never read any reviews or contemplated buying it.  I stumbled across it at the library. I was going to pick up another book and for some reason this one caught my eye so I decided to read it and see what it was all about. Some of the Goodread reviews were a little discouraging, but I already had it at home with me so I decided to give it a chance.  I am glad I did. It is a quick read and a little fluffy but it passed the time and I was able to finish it in one day.

There are werewolves as main characters.  This never seems to happen so kudos to Delany for that. They are becoming more popular as the main characters or species in a book but I still don’t think they are getting as much time in the spot light as vampires do which is unfortunate since werewolves are an untapped market and so much can be done with the mythology.

Jessie is a character in some ways I can relate to and other I just want to smack her. She tries to be selfless but it comes off as irritating and really not true.

********SPOILER***************

 When she tells Pietr to date Sarah because Sarah likes him I though well that’s a little strange but if she is willing to sacrifice what she feels for Pietr then that’s all right, but this does not happen. Jessie and Pietr are constantly sneaking off to make out and she spends the night at his house?!?!  How is this being “selfless” and putting Sarah’s feelings first.  Plus if Pietr did not like her why did he take her to the dance and why does he continue to date her?!? Why not tell Jessie he likes her and wants to be with only her and he will tell Sarah that he does not feel this way about her instead of dragging her through all this.  Jessie is going to come off worse off now because she hid her feelings which will hurt her best friend more than if she would have been honest.  

********SPOILER***************

The ending made me want to read the second book.  I hope it is better than the first. I enjoyed it but in a way made me feel like when I read Twilight. I enjoyed it while I was reading it and would read it again, but after reading it I notice all the little things that annoyed me in the book adding up. I want to continue to read the series and I hope Jessie can work things out with Sarah and come up with a better solution for the situation she has put herself into.