Book: Fated to the Wolven Mage by R.L. Perez
Reviewed by Michelles_Cosy_Booknook
Rating: 4/5
Fated to the Wolven Mage by R.L. Perez is a Red Riding Hood fairy tale retelling/re-imagining. I was kicking my feet the minute this landed in my inbox, as I love everything I have read from the author. This book was no exception.
Cerise, the FMC, has a lot going on. Living with her grandmother in a cottage in the woods at the edge of their village, shunned by all. The witches have disowned them, the fae simply don't trust them, and the wolven people have a mutually intense dislike of each other. As if all of that isn't enough, she also has a voice in her head that is increasingly taking charge of her person, and is losing patience at being imprisoned within her.
Alaric is such a cosy, lovely character who I fell for immediately. Everything he does is selfless and for the benefit of others.
After a night spent unconscious in the woods, Cerise returns to the cottage to find her Gran has been attacked and killed, with all evidence pointing to toward a wolven being the culprit. At the same time, Alaric and his sidekick Reid, are hunting a 'rogue' wolf who has lost their humanity, which leads them to Cerise's cottage. The three of them come together to solve a number of mysteries that seem related.
What follows is a solid, adventurous, tense, and banter-filled R.L Perez story. There is a delicious degree of yearning between Cerise and Alaric, along with mystery, discovery, betrayal, twists and the banter that makes R.L. Perez's writing so easy to ready. There is also the perfect amount of spice, that adds to the plot, rather than suffocating it.
An element that I particularly enjoyed as that Cerise is not the typical stick-thin, societally 'perfect' female. She has curves, 'imperfections', and self-doubt.
This read gave me the fairy-tale Red Riding Hood I have always wanted, where the wolf isn't the enemy, his isn't the bad guy, and Gran had a backstory. I thoroughly enjoyed this and had a great time.