Little Red Riding Hood meets Beauty and the Beast.

We follow the story of Redarys, a second daughter born of a Valleydan Queen. Her path is already chosen centuries before she was even born:
“The first daughter is for the Throne.
The second daughter is for the Wolf.”

The second daughter is sacrificed to appease the Wolf. If he found the sacrifice satisfying, he might release the Five Kings that were imprisoned centuries ago.

For the Wolf is an atmospheric read with lush writing style, vivid descriptions, and an inventive magic system. It started dramatically: with a ball and a red gown where we meet the two sisters for the first time, Neve and Red.
Hannah Whitten fashioned a childhood dream into something fitting for adults. Her writing style is both whimsical and gothic, perfect for the dark and woodland setting. It has the classic brooding male protagonist and a strong female protagonist who doesn’t need a man to save her (yay!)

The world-building and the lore were richly imagined and complex. It’s original, creative, and interesting. The connection between the Wilderwood and the Shadowland was well done. It also explores politics and power dynamics between the nobilities, the influence of long-standing traditions, and religion on its people.

My favorite part is definitely its magic system: it’s easy to follow and based on nature. And it comes with a price: BLOOD. It also has two of my favorite tropes: sisterhood and found family. The dynamics between characters were well fleshed out.

What bothered me is the romance and the pacing. The romance felt rushed, and it could’ve been developed more. Readers were told about their connection, but the few interactions could not justify the instalove. With the pacing, it felt a bit off: what started as well-paced became repetitive, and too slow in some places, then speeding up drastically. Although, it found its footing in the last 20% of the book. It was thrilling and action-packed with a good ending, but it felt more of a set-up for the next book which left me wanting more!

Overall, For the Wolf is a well-crafted debut novel. It’s a captivating and intricately layered story. I’m eager to see where the author will take the story, despite my mixed feelings about the ending. It’s perfect for fans of retelling who love magic, romance, and gorgeous prose.

Big thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK/Orbit, and Netgalley for the DRC. All thoughts and opinions are mine.

The first daughter is for the throne. The second is for the Wolf.

Every so often I venture into reading fantasy and have been enchanted by some of the books I’ve stumbled upon, often because of their stunning covers in the first instance. When I think of my favourite books - The Night Circus, Ten Thousand Doors of January, Alice Hoffman’s Practical Magic series and Jonathon Strange and Mr Norrell - all come up very high on the list. Yet I certainly don’t think of myself as a fantasy blogger. I love that sense of total escape and I often read with a smile on my face because I’m so charmed by the audacity of these writers and how they bend the rules of our world with some magic realism or create a beautiful wild new world for the reader to explore. I was drawn to this book by a very beautiful cover and the thought that someone would be playing with the boundaries of a well known fairy tale.

Redarys has always known her fate. As the kingdom’s second daughter, she is doomed to become a sacrifice to the wolf who keeps Wilderwood’s gods captive in the forest. Red seems to have acquiesced to this fate and her mother’s cool and distant attitude tells Red that she too has prepared herself for this moment, by never becoming close with her daughter. Red’s sister Neve wants to rage against the kingdom and tempts Red to run away that night, as far as she can. She has even spoken to the man who loves Red and sets up a secret moment where he can declare his plans to help her run away. He is promised to Neve, but vows to help Red escape her fate. But does she want to? Red has a hidden power deep within that scares her, and she never wants to hurt someone she loves again. She feels the woods luring her and her power is exactly what they need. The stories she’s been told from childhood are not the full truth. The spirits have weakened. The wolf is just a man, as pushed into his fate as she is. Can Red use her power for good and set them all free?

From the very first pages I was drawn into this other world by the author’s use of detailed imagery. She builds a new world, from words: the sumptuous clothing and the meaning behind their colours, the rooms of the castle and even the dark woods beyond are all rendered beautifully. As guests gather for a celebration on the eve of the sacrifice, Red has chosen a blood red dress contrasting strongly with her mother and sister’s choices and making it very clear who she is. There’s a certain pride in her, of who she is and the role she’s decided to accept. I enjoyed the sisterly love between Red and Neve. We do have sections narrated by Neve to give some contrast from Red’s point of view. Although they’re quite different Neve and Red are incredibly close, they have each other’s backs and in a difficult situation I have no doubt each would fight for the other. I liked both characters, but Red is definitely the more dominant sister despite their opposing fates. Her bravery in accepting her fate and her sense of duty to the kingdom were very admirable. She has some attitude too and I loved that feistiness in her. She’s also a voracious reader and the magnificent library was like something out of my dreams.

There is romance too, a slow burning attraction between Red and her unusual beau. I liked that it wasn’t overdone or flowery, and that Red didn’t lose any of her feistiness in the relationship. She wants to be loved for the person she is, not to change. I won’t reveal her love interest, but it’s there feeling of being trapped into a life they didn’t choose that brings them together. They are bound by blood and sacrifice. He’s a proper Gothic hero too, just as strong and fierce as Red but with an edge. He’s definitely the boyfriend you wouldn’t take home to Mum. It’s a complete awakening once Red enters the wood and she learns that the myths she’s been told about the world are far from the truth. I really enjoyed my foray into the world of fantasy. We all need a brooding love interest, with dark woods and crumbling castles. This isn’t all romance though, it’s more reminiscent of the original blood thirsty fairy tales where women are willing to saw off their own toes to fit a glass slipper or where an enchantment forces them to dance every night till their feet are bleeding. There is blood, so if you’re thinking of sweet, fluffy, fairy tales it might be better to imagine Disney meets Game of Thrones. This is a well written Gothic fairy tale, with a heroine who can not only save herself, but the world as well.

DNF @ 60%

I received an eARC of this for review.

Even the audiobook on 3.5x couldn't get me through this unfortunately. I think for some people this will absolutely be a perfect book but I just found myself frustrated.

It started off strong, with the first 100 pages or so being packed full of emotive language and beautiful, raw description. Then we kept getting that dramatic and emotive language used while absolutely nothing happened, which kind of just made it feel melodramatic instead. All the marketing I've seen seemed to advertise this as an adult Red Riding Hood retelling, but instead it was very much a YA Beauty and the Beast retelling. Honestly I feel like I've read this exact book dozens of times.

I was expecting a monster boy (I was promised a monster boy!!) but instead the 'monstrous wolf' is literally just a dude with long hair and some scars. It never makes sense why they sacrifice daughters to him and he literally offers to let her leave immediately after she arrives. The plot felt really slow and confused. I couldn't tell you what anybody's motivations were, like the entire plot was handwaved away in favour of a romance that wasn't nearly as interesting as the book thought it was. Tropes were shoved in with basically no build up or explanation and it just weighed the story down.

Ultimately I was just bored for the middle 40% of the book, and couldn't push through because I didn't care about self-absorbed Red or the bland Eammon. I had really high expectations and maybe that's part of why I'm so disappointed but honestly for an adult fantasy I want more depth and explanation, and to really feel the characters. This felt like a middling YA.

"The First Daughter is for the throne. The Second Daughter is for the Wolf." I wasn't really interested in this book until I read this line. This is what draw me in. How could I resist something like this?
Spoiler: I could not. I did not.
So, I asked for an arc. I received it. I read it and here I am, reviewing it.

Well, this review might sound like I'm high, but I assure you I'm note. So, ear me out: it's Red Riding Hood (the red cape on the cover it's explanation enough), but Red Riding Hood is not eaten by the Wolf, instead falls in love with him (I would not consider this a spoiler, because I got it from the plot that Red and Wolf would be our pair), BUT the Wolf is actually the Beast from Beauty and the Beast. Moreover, Red's sister is Snow White, but it's a Snow White with the potential to become the Evil Queen herself. Everything is, of course, set in a Russian-like world because Shadow And Bone just got adapted for Netflix and so that would sell.

As I said before, this does sound like a trip, but I assure you it is not. It does work. Somehow.

I find interesting seeing different takes on different tales, especially when they are mixed like this. However, I found it too "obvious"? Like, having the Snow White's character called Snow and having black hair and white skin. I prefer retellings when it's a bit harder to spot the original tale. Still, the overall story is not bad and the enemies-to-lovers and the development of Wolf and Red's relationship was cute to read. Just like I enjoyed the "corruption arc"(? let's call it that) of another character.

Still, I must inform that if you are going into this looking for more Russian folklore – because, you know, it's advertised "for fans of Spinning Silver and The Bear and the Nightingale" – you will end up disappointed. I know this is no fault of the author in anyway, but I wanted to point this out in my review so that, if someone is reading this, they can readjust their expectation and, hence, do not leave a negative review later because they did not find what they were looking for. I readjusted my expectation without too many problem, but I know of some readers who would have just given up on this book and they would have missed out on a nice story.

This is only the first book in a duology and I'm really curious on how the story might evolve, because some things have been solved, but some others are there, worrying our protagonists and I'm curious to see if also the sequels will be so fairy tale-influenced.


Note: I read in another review that this book could be targeted as a YA and not an A. I must confess that during the reading I had totally forgot that this was not a YA: the writing style is linear and easy, the plot is "clean" and not incredibly convoluted, and the characters are relatively young (you know, hundreds of years old but with a young face still counts as a young character). So, at most this could be a NA (because the characters are, yes, young but not teens, and there is some blood and killing here and there), but I would not recommend going into this one with the expectation of reading an A.

Little Red Riding Hood meets Beauty and the Beast meets Uprooted meets Stranger Things meets Snow White meets Princess Mononoke.

That's how I described the book when I was finally done. What started as a buddy read quickly became a solo read--I'm the only one who managed to keep going beyond 20%.

I couldn't help but feel that this book was suffering from an identity crisis. It's clearly a retelling, but of what exactly remains a mystery. Even though there are similarities with all the works I mentioned above, it ends with one or two from each of them, and doesn't fully commit to any of them. And while that many sources of inspiration for a story could lead to the kind of wild, crazy journey that is a good time while you're reading it, most of the book still manages to feel incredibly small.

This book is also being marketed as an adult book, but it absolutely reads as YA. You could swap the heroine out for one from a YA fantasy book and not notice the difference.

I will say that there were elements of the romance that I enjoyed (although I was bitterly disappointed when it turned out that the inevitable sex scene that I'd been anticipating was off-page/fade to black--why is this labelled as adult again?), and that the pacing towards the last 20% of the book is much improved. But I just couldn't help seeing similarities to so many other fantasy works in existence, and it took pretty much any enjoyment I could have felt out of the reading experience. None of it feels original, and while I know that can be said for a lot of fantasy books, this one really takes the cake.

Big thanks to the author, Orbit and NetGalley for providing an e-ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the opinions expressed in this review are my own.
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I was really excited about For the Wolf since I'm always happy to read fairytale adaptations.

Right off the bat, I felt the writing was evocative and immersive without being frivolous, a feat difficult to achieve especially when trying to capture the mood of locations such as the Wilderwood in For the Wolf.

Having said that, however, I thought the plot was a bit too simple and slow-paced at times. I understood the curse and its basics but I wasn't too sure about the ultimate cause of all of it. Perhaps that was just me.

Red was a very interesting character initially but I found it hard to connect with her emotions for a majority of the book. I also felt that the side characters were not explored and developed to the extent they could have been. The romance felt quite bland and a little forced at times.

I am interested in reading more of Whitten's works simply because her writing style is great and I feel that her future works might balance all the elements of a great story better than in For the Wolf.

Overall rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3/5 stars

For the Wolf is the story of Red. Red is the Second daughter of her royal family, which means that while her sister, Neve, is meant for the throne, Red is meant for the Wolf.
Basically, when she turns 20, she has to give herself to the Wilderwood and then, with her sacrifice, maybe the Wolf will release the Five Kings, who have been gone for centuries. But soon, Red realizes that it's not so simple after all. What if the Wolf isn't the monster she's been told he is? What if the Kings aren't the Gods they're supposed to be?...

I enjoyed this story. It had a lot of twists and turns that I did not see coming. I also quite enjoyed the characters, they were layered, as were their relationships.
All in all, I had a good time but I was often confused and a bit lost. The magic system took me quite a while to grasp, and honestly, I'm not sure I have understood it even now. Maybe I was tired (I usually am), but it felt a bit messy to me, and there was a lot to figure out in the first quarter of the book, it kind of made my head explode a little bit.
But yeah, it's a good story, a very good debut and I'll be reading its sequel.

For The Wolf was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, and it didn't disappoint! With a delightfully dark and spooky forest, an intense sisterly relationship, religious fanaticism, and a wonderful romance, this book was everything I wanted and more. The only downside is that I have to wait for the sequel!

When two daughters are born to royalty the first is destined to be on the Throne; the second is to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wilderwood. Red is a second daughter, and despite her sister's protests, she glad of it. A strange power she can't control lurks beneath her skin. Her leaving would be safer for everyone. When she reaches the forest she finds out everything she was taught was wrong. The Wolf is a man, the forest is in danger, and the sister Red left behind would destroy everything to get her back.

The Wilderwood is an amazing setting. It's a strange, sentient forest with a thirst for blood, and good luck trying to escape its grasp. Both setting and character, the Wilderwood was such an intriguing aspect of the book, and I loved learning more about its strangeness. It's both a threatening presence and something the characters long to protect; it's both powerful and defenceless. No spoilers here, but I loved how the main characters relationship with the Wilderwood shifted throughout the book. Even though it'd probably tear me apart I can't help but wish I could wander inside.

One of the themes that I wasn't expecting to love so much was sisterhood. The first sister, Neve, thought she'd be able to stop Red from leaving, but she failed. In her despair and desperation to save Red from the Wilderwood, she gets involved with an incredibly interesting plotline. It's best if you see for yourself, but the little snippets of her point of view were always amazing.

I also loved the romance between Red and the Wolf! The way this book remixed both Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast was so much fun. Eammon is more of a man than the monster Red expected him to be. A man struggling with his responsibilities and (literally) bleeding himself dry to keep the forest at bay. The two are forced to work together, and quickly their respect for each other develops into something more. I wanted a few more scenes with these two than I got, but I guess the whole 'the forest will eat us if we get distracted' thing kind of puts a dampener on romantic entanglements. I'm so excited to see how their relationship will develop further in the second book!

There's something else I want to discuss, but it dips too far into spoiler territory, so I'm keeping my mouth shut! The only thing I can say is the religion in this book is very interesting...

The only thing I didn't enjoy about For The Wolf is that it becomes a little repetitive in the middle. I enjoy slow books, but I found myself wanting to speed things up because the scenes were too similar to each other. Don't get me wrong this isn't extremely prevalent, and it did help with the atmosphere of peculiarity and confinement, but I could have done with a little more forward movement. The ending was amazing though!

Overall, For The Wolf was a fantastic dark, forest-y fantasy that I couldn't put down. I read this all in one sitting and stormed through it because I enjoyed it so much. There are so many amazing themes and character relationships; the Wilderwood has truly stolen my heart.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing this arc in exchange for an honest review

For five hundred years there’s been a balance between the throne and the Wilderwood. One daughter to rule, the second to be given to the wood and the titular wolf.

I was quite excited to read this one, seeing it as a good blend of Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast with hopefully its own elements for good measure. Unfortunately, I’m somewhat ambivalent about the book.

Firstly I did enjoy the relationship between the two sisters and you get introduced to their dynamic right at the start and it continues throughout the book, providing a lot of the drive for the action. Both Neve and Red are victims of their circumstances in their own way but also make a lot of choices for good and bad. I like Red as a character. She’s very pragmatic and does things according to what makes sense at the time. This is not to say she’s unemotional but it's a different kind of emotion in comparison to Neve.

The book is also very atmospheric. Both the forest and the court are described in great detail, and the wood, in particular, is both creepy and foreboding in equal measure. The descriptions give a real sense of place and contribute to the sense of threat and menace the woods are meant to have. But also throughout the book, other sections reflect the fact that they’re not evil either but more neutral on balance.

However, in terms of pace, the beginning was a little hard going. There was lots of getting to know the characters and the setup with not much else. Certain mysteries are strung out and for the 1st third, I felt very clueless about what was actually going on. But after that, things hit their stride and the pace picked up. I positively raced through the last third of the book wanting to see how things resolved and certain elements came together to increase the tension.

I also wasn’t a fan of the romance. Eammon is the typical brooding romantic lead who believes everything has to be done by him and it shouldn’t fall to anyone else, with all the standard problems this creates. For me, it was a little out of nowhere that Red would give up everything just to be with him. However it did fit with the tone of the book, and there was some progression of the two of them getting to know each other. I think this is a very ‘me’ problem as others have been very enthusiastic about the romance.

In summary, an interesting variation on well-known fairy stories, for fans of Uprooted and those who enjoy vivid descriptions.

With thanks to Little, Brown Book Group UK, Orbit, and Netgalley for providing me with an eArc in exchange for an honest review.

'The first daughter is for the throne.
The second daughter is for the wolf.'

If the ominous tagline doesn't draw you in, the premise will.

Red is the second daughter of the Kingdom, and her only purpose from birth is to be sacrificed to the Wolf of the Wilderwood when she comes of age.

Great fairytale trope here - with a twist. Everyone tries to save Red from her fate but...she wants to go. Because she and her sister have been to the Wilderwood before, and Red unlocked a dangerous power she's afraid of, and wants to be away from her loved ones so she doesn't hurt them.

"But the legends lie. The Wolf is a man, not a monster. Her magic is a calling, not a curse. And if she doesn't learn how to use it, the Wilderwood - and her world - will be lost forever."

From the cover and the blurb you might be expecting a 'Red Riding Hood' re-telling, and there are elements of that, however as it progressed I found it to be more 'Beauty and the Beast', although The Wolf doesn't stay very ominous or scary for very long, and is more of a quiet, byronic, romantic anti-hero... without any bite.

I didn't enjoy this as much as I anticipated - half the time I'm not really sure what is happening and the plot progresses very slowly and is a bit repetitive, it seems to be a constant cycle of going into the woods to do some bloodletting and be stunned by unusual creatures and the 'abnormal' magic Red possess, to characters recovering from injuries and concluding each time that they're done for, only to go back out there and do it again, each time not really adding anything to the story. There were a lot of allusions to the 'mysterious backstory' that then didn't deliver when revealed - it felt like no effort had been put into why this was all happening. The love triangle that is first built up (which is actually a square - Eldest daughter Neve is betrothed by the kingdom to Arick, whom she doesn't love, curse of the throne - Arick in turn loves Red, and Neve loves Raffe) was immediately nixed by Red marrying and falling for The Wolf, something which the author later send to come back to and realise needs closing up but… can't. It was quite messy in the world building. The sentient forest was a great idea but I didn't understand a lot about what was going on when it was being described. It was confusing, and overall, I think, just a backdrop for the romance plotline.

Which would have been fine… if there was any chemistry between Red and Eammon/'The Wolf'.

I feel like all this is down to the book being stretched out for a sequel, which is a bugbear of mine. I think this could have been a great standalone novel. I also can't see how there would be enough material for a second book.

The first daughter is for the throne. The second daughter is for the wolf.

And FOR THE WOLF is the spooky forest book of your dreams.

This was one of my most anticipated reads of the year, especially as someone who loves fairytales and perpetually wishes there were more new adult books. I can definitely see the comparisons to Beauty and the Beast and Little Red Riding Hood, but it had a lot more darkness, blood and political intrigue.

It's pitched as a fantasy romance - and it definitely lives up to that - but it’s so much more about sisters and sisterhood. Messy and complicated, full of good intentions and bad choices. Red and Neve are one of my favourite sibling relationships in fiction, possibly ever. There was a lot more of Neve’s perspective than I expected, which just made me even more excited to read her story in the second book.

That said, the relationship between Red and Eamonn was delicious and hit all of my favourite tropes. The romantic tension was off the charts, and the pacing was perfect to allow space for their relationship to grow while still moving forward at a satisfying pace.

I could go on, but the truth is that everything in this book shone. The Wilderwood was such an immersive setting, due in great deal to the lyrical, descriptive writing. I can picture it perfectly in my head, and my first walk in the forest after reading this gave me chills. The cast of supporting characters was really strong, especially Fife and Lyra in the Wilderwood and Raffe and Arick in Valleyda. The themes were classic, but explored in a way that I can't remember ever seeing before.

Don't mind me – I'll just be over here, counting down the days until FOR THE THRONE.

eARC kindly provided by Orbit UK and NetGalley

When I saw that For The Wolf was recommended for fans of Uprooted by Naomi Novik and The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherina Arden, my interest was immediately piqued. I love wintry stories, with dark forests, folklore, brooding heroes and strong female protagonists.

The main protagonist Red, has prepared for her fate since the day she was born. As the only Second Daughter born in centuries, her sole purpose is to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wood and to leave her beloved sister Neve behind. What could easily be a cliched tale, soon develops into an intricate, layered story, with excellent writing, unique characters and a claustrophobic atmosphere that draws you into the forest with Red.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book; it was easy and enjoyable to read and I honestly can't wait for the sequel.

I'm so disappointed. So far, most of the books I was eager to read have disappointed or been DNFs.

It took me almost a month to read 68% and to realize, with a heavy heart, that I just won't be able to finish it.

This was marketed as a Red Riding Hood retelling, but I felt it lean more toward Beauty and the Beast.

So, it starts with a curse (which is something I love in books) but I'm still a bit confused on how or why it started? And I read and reread that part but oh well, maybe it's me. So the curse is about the Wilderwood that always needs the Second Daughter of the royal family to go live there and marry the wolf? The wolf isn't actually a wolf, or a shifter, or anything, but more like a warden, who constantly is cutting himself and spilling his blood - and I do mean constantly, it's a repetitive process that also played a part in flat-lining the story for me - to keep the woods from taking over?

See, cursed woods are a favorite setting of mine. But this was just too boring for me. Every single day, many times per day, Eammon would go to look for some weird creatures or whatnot and give them blood because his blood was the only thing keeping them at bay. And of course that the female lead, Red, was the opposite, having the Wilderwood want to kill her, her blood being a trigger or something. All of this process might be triggering for some.

We get some info about the male lead, about his past but when you're just not 100% invested, you don't really care. Especially when not much really happened and you find yourself skipping the parts about the sister - yes, there's a sister, one who's destined to become queen and is planning on saving Red from the big bad wolf and woods.

There's also a supposed romance but I didn't feel it. I didn't feel the chemistry.

Apologies for this review turning into a slight rant but ugh, I'm frustrated because I really wanted to love it but it just wasn't meant to be.

Others seemed to have loved it, praised the writing, plot, characters. I cannot do the same, but I can tell you read it and decide for yourself.

I voluntarily agreed to read an early copy via Netgalley and my rating is my standard DNF of 2 stars.

For the Wolf was one of my most highly anticipated reads for the year and, boy, did it deliver! I loved this book from its first page right up to its last and it easily earned its rightful spot as one of my favourite reads this year so far.

Redarys is a Second Daughter and all her life she's known what that means: her only purpose is to be sacrificed to the Wolf in the Wilderwood so that he will return their old kings-turned-gods to her world.

The First Daughter is for the throne.
The Second Daughter is for the Wolf.
And the Wolves are for the Wilderwood.

But Red soon discovers that not things aren't always what they seem, and old myths and legends sometimes lie. The Wolf is in fact a man struggling to hold together the now crumbling Wood, the last remaining barrier between Red's world and an evil beyond imagination.<

For the Wolf brings together familiar fairy tales and original mythology to create a complex and rich world. I could definitely see elements of Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast, and even spotted a little Snow White in there! This book takes well-known tropes and elements and gives them an original twist, creating a highly entertaining and engaging read that had me gripped throughout.

I personally loved the characters and the way they changed throughout the book as more and more is revealed about the Wilderwood and its purpose, the kings, and the mysterious shadows slowly creeping into the world.

Red is definitely the centre of the book, whether we're following her POV or looking at her sister Neve's attempts to find a way to bring Red back. I really enjoyed seeing Red grow and accept her role in the wood... and at the Wolf's side. While at first she seems passively resigned to her fate, her full strength quickly comes through as she works hard to find her own place in the world. Red is headstrong, witty, independent and fiercely loyal to the people she loves: basically, everything I love in an MC. The romance is definitely a slow burn and Eammon, the Wolf, is the perfect tall, dark and brooding gentleman.

I also really liked Neve's interludes. I found her to be a very interesting character, and in some ways even more complex and intriguing than Red. I'm so curious to see what Neve'll get up to in the next book! The entire cast is fantastic, and I loved all the secondary characters. I wish we'd gotten to see a bit more of some of them, but maybe I'll get my wish in the second book.

The world-building was also perfectly on point! The Wilderwood gave me definite Uprooted vibes, as did some of the writing. I'm in love with the author's writing style and the way she crafts gorgeous and deliciously creepy descriptions. The pace did slow a fair bit around the middle mark, which made it feel as though certain sections were dragging on with not much happening. It picked up again though and the ending was incredibly fast-paced and gave me ALL the feelings at once.

For the Wolf is one of those books that reminded me why I love fantasy so much. Magic, an eerie wood, legends and traditions, and an incredible cast of characters come together in this beautiful and unforgettable tale. Can't wait for the second book!

“The First Daughter is for the throne. The Second Daughter is for the Wolf. And the Wolves are for the Wilderwood.”

For The Wolf is a beautiful and dark tale of sacrifices, curses, and magic that kept me completely hooked from the first to the very last page and I keep still thinking about it days after I finished reading it.

The protagonist is Red. A princess, the second daughter of a queen, her fate was sealed the moment she was born. As a second daughter Red will be sacrificed to the Wolf, the creature living in the forest of Wilderwood, in exchange for the return of the Gods. Red accepted her fate a long time ago and she’s been waiting and preparing for the day she will be given away. Red has her own reasons to go into the Wilderwood as she thinks it is the only way to protect her twin sister Neve and those she loves from her magic.

When Red arrives in the Wilderwood, she finds out that there is more to the legends and myths she’s heard all her life and she allies with the Wolf to save both her people and the forest. In the meantime, her twin sister Neve, the future queen, refuses to leave Red in the hands of the Wolf and the Wilderwood and won’t stop at anything to get her back, even if that means creating dangerous and deadly alliances.

The story is beautifully-written and it is so engrossing and intriguing. There is magic and curses, legends and sacrifices, monsters and gods, heroes/heroines and villains, romance and alliances that will make it almost impossible to put the book down. The characters are well-developed and Red is a fantastic heroine, loyal, brave, and strong-willed.

I was drawn to this novel by the buzz around it and, once I started reading it, I wasn’t disappointed. It is a dark and addictive fairy-tale that reminded me of Little Red Riding Hood and The Beauty and the Beast, but it also original and unique. I loved For The Wolf and I can’t wait for the sequel, For The Throne, to come out.

The story follows Red as she is sacrificed to the wolf only to find out she doesn't have to be and the wolf is a man. a moody, brooding sort of man who sacrifices himself for anyone else. that type of man. Then the story deviates and we get snips from Neve, Red's older sister, and what she is doing in the palace. I never liked Neve's story. In the beginning, it distracted me from Red's story but then I understood there was a thread running through both and intermingling. Then I started disliking Neve's story even more seeing if for what the plotline was and where it would go. I always loved Red's storyline. That was the one that kept me going.

I liked the Wilderwood and its magic is neither good nor bad. I liked how it worked. Even the Shadowlands had a well-working magic in return. The way those magic clashed made perfect sense but wasn't easy to spot in the beginning. I liked that.

Red was my favourite character but she wasn't particularly well written. I didn't buy her emotions, I bought her actions. There were some telling of what she felt and I didn't like it at all. But I loved her storyline so I accepted it.

Eammon was also an interesting character. However, I felt we saw very little of the side characters. I would have liked a bit more of them all. It was very narrowed on the MC.

It was an ok book. I liked one story better but felt the MC of that storyline wasn't written the best way. The plot made me continue reading not the character.

I know this is a debut author so it will be interesting to see what else this author comes out with but for now, I don't think this series is for me.

All the feels of a fairy tale with all the depth of a modern fantasy novel, "For the Wolf" is a story that will linger in my mind for a very long time. I loved Hannah Whitten's style of writing and thought the characters were drawn superbly (particularly Red and Neve). The world this book is set in is compelling, rich, and solid. I hope it won't be too long before book 2 is available.

My thanks to the author, publisher, and NetGalley. This review was written voluntarily and is entirely my own, unbiased, opinion.

There are some books that you want to like, so very badly, and yet you just can't find a single thing in them that stirs anything other than a 'meh' from you. For The Wolf is, sadly, one of those books. I was expecting, from the hype, a rich, interesting fairytale- something like Uprooted or Deathless. Instead, I got the same YA book I've read a hundred times before.

Don't get me wrong, there's some fascinating concepts in here. Eammon has a sort of Green Man, Fisher King thing going on with the magical Wilderwood that's genuinely neat, and Redarys' character is an interesting concept as a girl raised to be a sacrifice, but the actual execution leaves them as two snarky young adults, one a bit more emotionally distant than the other, who seemingly turn on a dime when the plot demands it. For example, Redarys' journey from being afraid of her magic to wanting to use it lasts a chapter at most, and her romance with Eammon is a fairly straight progression even if it's got more bloodletting than usual.

Essentially, this isn't a bad book. It's even atmospheric, in places. But it was, in very crucial moments, only about an inch deep, and the other fairytale books the publisher invokes do not make a flattering comparison.

I really enjoyed Hannah Whitten’s debut, For the Wolf! It was an atmospheric, slow burning fantasy with a lovely romantic element and loads of fairytale motifs. 

Red, the second born princess, is destined to be sacrificed before her 20th birthday to the Wolf who lives in a spooky magical forest bordering her kingdom. Her people believe that if she is a ‘good’ enough sacrifice, the Wolf may release their captive gods, the Five Kings, and barring that will protect the kingdom from monsters.

Right on schedule, poor Red is chucked in the hungry forest to possibly be devoured by the mysterious Wolf. However, things are not what they seem…

Well, first off, I thoroughly enjoyed the slow unfolding of the story as Red is preparing to be sacrificed for the good of the kingdom and as she not only has to manage her own fears but those of her twin, Neve who is determined to find some way to rescue her. I really enjoyed how the author used sisterhood and sacrifice as some of the core drivers of this story.

However, as primarily a romance reader, my heart pitter-pattered whenever Red interacted with Eammon AKA the Wolf. They are truly the piniest of pining couples EVER and I am 1000% down for that! There was tension galore and brooding (but so-soft) monster boyfriend will always be my catnip.

I also really enjoyed the world building and political intrigue as we get interludes away from the Wilderwood to scenes in the kingdom with Neve. These scenes have me intrigued and dying of anticipation for the next book!

The magical system here was interesting but may be graphic for some readers as it involves pain and blood.

Overall, a really fantastic debut and I can’t wait to see more monsterlove!

CW: Blood, self-cutting, suicide, murder, parental neglect of child

For the Wolf is a dark, sweeping debut fantasy about a young woman who, to save her kingdom, must be sacrificed to the legendary Wolf of the Wood. But not all legends are true and the Wolf isn't the only danger lurking in the Wilderwood.

The first in a series, this is a richly imagined and enthralling tale of love, legends and the secrets that hide beyond the trees. A mix of Little Red Riding Hood and Beauty and the Beast, it is a compelling, captivating and brilliantly plotted piece of escapism with myth and folklore running through its heart. It's multilayered, beautifully written and full of intricate details that makes the whole story even more enchanting, and I was engrossed from the get-go as it was easy to become immersed in the setting and with a cast of characters that jump off the page and come alive, there was no putting this down.

It's magical but dark, whimsical yet other times unsettling and features prose that is no less than exquisite. The vivid, luscious descriptions and the imagery Whitten conjured make this book worth reading on their own. If you enjoy fairytales or richly woven fantasy worlds this comes highly recommended.