Hemlock (Hemlock, #1)

by Kathleen Peacock

[Amber]

Amazing. Brilliant. Superb.

Bloody hell, Kyle!

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Deadly Hemlock came so, so close to being an All Time Favourite read. Everything about it was fantastic, and I fell in love with it just a few chapters in. I think this book is one of those that I will want to reread once a year, like Vampire Academy, Soul Screamers and Harry Potter.

I loved the whole idea of the werewolf virus that was infecting people from all over the United States. The idea of deadly werewolves - as opposed to the fluffy, cuddly ones - was brilliant, and while not ALL werewolves were bad, some suffered from bloodlust which made them go a bit crazy. If discovered to be a werewolf, the person is shipped off to a rehab facility where they will stay until they die. This part was particularly chilling, because you hear rumours about what goes on in those camps.

I am dying to learn more about the lupine syndrome and the origins of it, and I hope that the author dives into that in the sequel. I also want to know more about the rehab facilities and what exactly goes on in those. This book did cover some of those aspects, but I am hoping both points will be fully fleshed out in the future!

The main character, Mac, was a badass who looked after her friends. She had, in my eyes, an awesome background that was so, so interesting. Again, I am wondering if we will learn more about that in the future?

There was a love triangle in this book involving two guys and the main character, and I didn't really mind this, despite Mac being totally ignorant for most of the book. I just wanted to hit her over the head with a Twilight novel and hope that she would get it. Alas, she did not, and she stayed clueless until the last few chapters. I am a little worried as to how the love triangle will play out in the next book, because I have a strong preference on which guy I want her to end up with and I am biting my nails in anticipation.

I was totally obsessing over this book while I was reading it and for a long while after. I couldn't put it down! The action scenes were by far my favourite parts of the book. I had to keep rereading them because they were so thrilling and I couldn't breathe the first time around.

Overall, as you can see, I adored this book. With the badass characters, awesome bad guys and evil werewolves, it will definitely have a place on my favourites shelf even if I didn't rate it an All Time Favourite.