Do you ever read a book and when it’s over, you just sit back and scratch your head and say to yourself, “What was that even about?” That was this book for me.

 

I knew this was a contemporary novel from the very beginning—but I figured Chandler would give me a reason to care about the wolves involved in the story since most of the book is about them and the culture surrounding them. I was seriously disappointed—I never understood why I should be concerned about the wolves, beyond the basic “this could be bad for ranchers” notion. This novel assumed I was a small-town rancher who knew the ins and outs of how a town like this works and why—it assumed I knew things about nature and wolves and farming and cattle that I literally wouldn’t know unless I lived this lifestyle or was particularly interested in this subject for some reason. It explained nothing. It didn’t care if I was lost. Nothing any of the characters said or did lessened my confusion or showed me why everyone was freaking out about something that, to me, seems so simplistic—wolves.

 

On top of that, the writing was poor, the characterization was off-putting, and the instalove between KJ and her love interest, Virgil, made absolutely no sense to me whatsoever. Nothing about this book clicked except that it had potential to be new and different from most modern young adult books—but it failed in execution.

 

What I Liked: Spoilers!

Well, it was about as anticlimactic as I expected. At the end there, KJ hallucinated Virgil calling out to her so she could make it back to shore and not freeze to death. Now that's true love.

 

I still don't care about the wolves. I know the whole book was about wolves, but...why? I just don't understand. I tried. But absolutely nothing connected.

 

Two stars.

This is pretty much just another mediocre book, unfortunately. I'm currently feeling two stars. I knew this was a contemporary novel, but I figured the author or characters would give me a reason to care about wolves--not werewolves, or shapeshifters, or anything--just plain wolves. But...I don't care. At all.

 

The people in our main character, KJ's, town are crazy about wolves. Some of them are crazy about keeping them in Yellowstone park and letting them do whatever. Far more of them are crazy about getting them out and away from their herds and cattle. Which I guess makes sense if you're a rancher. But the book does a very poor job of explaining why I should care and why all these people are feeling the way they are. I mean, stores are being destroyed, Virgil (KJ's love interest) had his truck/ice sculpture/himself shot at during a Christmas parade, and KJ's dad's store was set on fire with her dad inside. People are going freaking nuts and violent over...wolves. You're either a wolf lover or a hater--and the other side will pretty much hate you no matter what.

 

I just don't get it. I'm supposed to care. But I don't, because KJ never takes the time to explain why I should care. She just assumes we're all like her and will get it immediately. I get really turned off by books that assume I'm a specific type of person, or is only written for one, small crowd--this would be small town ranchers, I guess. 

 

In addition, there are quite a few grammatical problems, and Virgil sucks as a character. He and KJ barely talk during the whole book (they mostly pointedly ignore each other), but KJ has now admitted to herself that she loves him. (Why???) There's poor writing ("He smiles with his eyebrows"--what does that even mean?!), poor grammar, poor characterization, and poor plot development. I kind of feel like banging my head against a wall so I can figure out why I'm even reading this.

Well, so far it's not...great. The insta-love between Virgil and KJ is ridiculous. I've already found two basic grammatical errors (yes, they could be typos, and typos I can forgive, but two within the first seven percent of a novel does not bode well). The present tense is getting on my nerves with all the times the word "says" is used. Info-dumping. Unrealistic and nonsensical characters.

 

I'm lost.

KJ’s always been fascinated by the wolves around Yellowstone. When the town starts a campaign to get rid of them, KJ knows she can’t be the quiet little outcast anymore. She starts a column about wolves in her school’s newspaper, and gets to work with the handsome new transfer Virgil, who is as mysterious and fascinating to her as the wolves. But the campaign against wolves turns violent, and a serious misunderstanding pushes Virgil away. Kristen Chandler’s Wolves, Boys, & Other Things that might Kill Me is a great coming of age novel. Books are my escape, so I usually don’t like to read novels about real people with real problems. But every once in a while I do, and they’re gems in my bookshelves. This is one such book. I loved KJ’s growth through the novel, how she goes from being a quiet, ‘let things be’ kind of girl, to an outspoken, ‘I’ll fight for what’s right’ young woman. And she’s not only dealing with her teenage problems, but also with something bigger—the Wolf Reintroduction Program. We get to hear both sides of the arguments, with the environmentalists on one side, and the ranchers on the other side. Then we have KJ, who starts viewing the wolves as people. The parallel she makes between herself and the Cinderella wolf added an interesting layer to the story; about how wolves are hunters and killers and people are too. This is how she learns not to back down. There are romantic tones to the story, but they take a backseat to the bigger problems. Virgil is a new student at KJ’s school, and she’s totally smitten by him from the moment she sees him. They get to work together on the wolf column for the school’s newspaper, and have some interesting times. But then she makes a mistake, and he pulls away. This leaves her feeling quite alone, as her father is usually off camping and guiding tourists and stuff. What I loved about Virgil is that he didn’t give up. He still continued to help KJ, even though he was upset about her misconception. The ending was the part I didn’t like. It was too ‘real’ as in no happy endings for me. But the quote below was great. This comparison of wolves and humans is a big theme that is carried throughout the book, and I loved it. Overall, it’s a fun and quick read, with a nice environmentalist message that add deeper meaning to this YA novel.