Title: Clay’s Hope [companion to Hope(less)]
Author: Melissa Haag
Series: Judgment of Six Companion Series #1
Genre: Fantasy, YA, Fiction, Werewolf
Source: ARC
Rating: 5 STARS
Available
at:
Blurb:
(via Goodreads)
Clay is a man of few
human talents. As a wolf, he hunts well and can fight off a grizzly twice his
size, but has no aspirations. The idea of a Mate isn’t something he has ever
seriously entertained. Dreamed about, maybe, but he knows the chances are nearly
non-existent.
Then he meets Gabby, a human girl. She hates him at
first sight, yet he can’t let her go. Who he was is no longer important. Now,
who he needs to become to win her over is the only thing that matters
My
Review:
I cannot put into words how much I loved
this book. If you know me, and you have read other reviews of mine, then you
know that Melissa Haag and her books mean a lot to me. I have read everything
she has written, and I have loved them all. This book had a special place in my
heart because it is the companion novel of the first book I have ever read for
Melissa, and the companion to my favourite book in the JoS series so far.
(click here to read my reviews of Hope(less), (Mis)Fortune, (Un)Wise, and
(Un)Bidden)
Let’s start off characters. Here we get to
see the exact same story as Hope(less)...
but in Clay’s POV. In Hope(less),
Clay really came off as standoffish, shy, cold, and insecure. It is absolutely
outstanding was perspective does to a character, because reading this story
through Clay’s eyes you feel the exact same way about Gabby. It is shocking how
many things Gabby was wrong about when she was trying to communicate with Clay.
(Can we say awkward to the whole used car scene?). Reading Clay’s side of the
story really gave you a good understanding on how both characters felt during
the events that take place of the book, and because of that, you are able to
understand them and the book so much better than before.
Plot wise the book was exactly the same.
See my review of Hope(less) for my
comments on that.
As for writing, what can I say other than
Melissa Haag has done it again. I don’t know how she wrote this book. Did she
have to have Hope(less) open the
entire time? Was there a lot of copy and paste involved? I don’t know! But what
I can tell you is that for writing the exact same story, just in another
characters point of view, it didn’t feel repetitive. I was nervous that the
book was going to be exactly the same with a few of Clay’s thoughts here and
there (lets face it, he doesn’t actually talk all that much). But it really was
something completely different. I didn’t get a Gabby vibe reading Clay’s Hope. Clay was a completely
different character with different views on life, different feelings, and a
different attitude. I loved how she challenged so many things that Gabby had
assumed instead of just going with those assumptions in writing Clay’s
character. Amazing. Just Amazing.
Overall, I can’t rave about this book more.
If you haven’t read Hope(less), I
suggest you do before you read Clay’s
Hope, HOWEVER, you don’t need to at all to understand the story. This was
the easiest 5 stars I have ever given. I can’t wait to read Emmitt’s
perspective of (Mis)Fortune! BUT, not
before I FINALLY get to read Isabel’s story… I have a feeling it will be my new
favourite ;)
