Name: Juli Nazzario's review of A Room Away From the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma
Item: A Room Away From the Wolves
Rating: 2
Author: Juli Nazzario

Nova Ren Suma

“Shiver-inducingly delicious.”—The New York Times Book Review “[Suma’s] narratives are subtle, quicksilver creatures, her language is elegant, and her characters keep more secrets than they reveal. If this book was a dessert, it wouldn't be a chocolate chip cookie or a vanilla birthday cake — it would be an earl grey lavender macaroon, or maybe balsamic fig ice cream.” – NPR.com “This beautiful story is full of magical-realism and luscious, lyrical writing.” – BuzzFeed “Terrific . . . A gothic love letter to secret places of New York City and the runaway girls who find them.”—Kelly Link, author of Pulitzer Prize finalist Get in Trouble “Nova Ren Suma surpasses herself with this gorgeously-told, mesmerizing, tense and twisted story.”— Laura Ruby, National Book Award Finalist and Printz-Winning author of Bone Gap "Nova Ren Suma is a force to be reckoned with. Nobody writes like her."—Courtney Summers, author of Sadie "A Room Away From the Wolves is a page-turning thrill. Prepare to be left shivery and spooked and a little bit heartbroken.”—Emily X.R. Pan, New York Times bestselling author of The Astonishing Color of After "A Room Away from the Wolves is a beautifully tangled chain, a modern gothic haunting by one of our masters."—Elana K. Arnold, author of National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of Bina has never forgotten the time she and her mother ran away from home. Her mother promised they would hitchhike to the city to escape Bina’s cruel father and start over. But before they could even leave town, Bina had a new stepfather and two new stepsisters, and a humming sense of betrayal pulling apart the bond with her mother—a bond Bina thought was unbreakable. Eight years later, after too many lies and with trouble on her heels, Bina finds herself on the side of the road again, the city of her dreams calling for her. She has an old suitcase, a fresh black eye, and a room waiting for her at Catherine House, a young women’s residence in Greenwich Village with a tragic history, a vow of confidentiality, and dark, magical secrets. There, Bina is drawn to her enigmatic downstairs neighbor Monet, a girl who is equal parts intriguing and dangerous. As Bina’s lease begins to run out, and nightmare and memory get tangled, she will be forced to face the terrible truth of why she’s come to Catherine House and what it will cost for her to leave . . . In A Room Away from the Wolves, critically acclaimed and New York Times bestselling author Nova Ren Suma weaves a spellbinding ghost story about who deserves a second chance, how we lie to those around us and ourselves, and what lengths girls will go to in order to save each other.

A Room Away From the Wolves

Julie

Juli Nazzario

When I first started reading, I was completely hooked. I couldn’t put the book down because I was so interested to learn all the secrets and understand what was so haunting about the Catherine House. However, I was thoroughly disappointed with it. The ending gave no answers and did not give closure on nearly anything. I thought I was going to like this book, but it was a big let down.

Paige Green

Disclaimer: I received this book for free through KidLitExchange. Thanks! All opinions are my own.

Rating: 3/5

Genre: YA Fantasy

Recommended Age: 16+ (depictions/mentions of suicide, abuse, assault, dark humor)

Pages: 304

Author Website

Amazon Link

Synopsis: Bina has never forgotten the time she and her mother ran away from home. Her mother promised they would hitchhike to the city to escape Bina’s cruel father and start over. But before they could even leave town, Bina had a new stepfather and two new stepsisters, and a humming sense of betrayal pulling apart the bond with her mother—a bond Bina thought was unbreakable.

Eight years later, after too many lies and with trouble on her heels, Bina finds herself on the side of the road again, the city of her dreams calling for her. She has an old suitcase, a fresh black eye, and a room waiting for her at Catherine House, a young women’s residence in Greenwich Village with a tragic history, a vow of confidentiality, and dark, magical secrets. There, Bina is drawn to her enigmatic downstairs neighbor Monet, a girl who is equal parts intriguing and dangerous. As Bina’s lease begins to run out, and nightmare and memory get tangled, she will be forced to face the terrible truth of why she’s come to Catherine House and what it will take for her to leave...

I was totally entranced again by the cover. It has purple on it! Anyways, now that I got that out of my system I have to say besides the cover the synopsis drew me in immediately. It sounds haunting and that’s my type of genre. Overall, I thought the book was pretty good. It had some really dark tones and the character development was amazing.

However, I just felt really disconnected with the book. I couldn’t keep up with what was happening at all and I found myself confused a lot while reading this. The pacing was just kind of everywhere and there really wasn’t any world building. I find myself really disliking books that don’t explain the magic or the backstory of the book and I found that to be the problem in this book. It’s one thing to leave a character in the dark, but I as a reader want to know what’s going on.

Verdict: Dark and haunting, perfect for slumber parties!

Belle Ellrich

*I WAS APPROVED OF A REQUEST FOR ARAFTW AND PROVIDED A PHYSICAL COPY IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW. THIS DOES NOT CHANGE MY HONEST OPINION*

A Room Away from the Wolves was one of my most anticipated reads of the year. It was described as eerie and thrilling, and I thought of it that way before reading through the first hundred pages.

For the first couple of chapters, it was like a "get to know the character and why she is the way she is" sort of deal that all books have. I was really confused as to whether things between her and her step-sisters were her fault or their fault, and it really wasn't specified.

So, I brushed it off.

And then I restarted the first ten chapters... four different times.

At this point, I was questioning if I should DNF the book or continue on, even though I seriously wasn't happy with how it was going.

But I continued on and tried to give the rest of the book a chance. I really hate having to DNF books, and I usually blame it on a forming book slump, but I knew that that wasn't the case this time.

There was one quote that stuck with me throughout the entire book, and it gave me hope that something exciting would happen.

"The story became that she fell out of the night sky without warning."

However, once I got to the end of the book, I realized that my views had not changed and that I'd not been excited about any parts of the book.

The characters hadn't really developed, in my opinion. They mostly just stayed the same and did a lot of the same things over and over again. For Bina, she basically just went out in the city all the time, and while the activities may have changed here and there, the excitement I'd been hoping for from this book never came. Instead, I was let down whenever the characters would build something up—it felt more like the plot was being torn down every time I raised my hopes.

While I really wished to like this book, my expectations weren't met nor were they anywhere close. I'm sure this would be someone else's favorite book or a book they might like, but for me, it wasn't.

My rating for A Room Away from the Wolves is 1/5 stars.

Julie &
A Room Away From the Wolves by Nova Ren Suma

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