GUEST REVIEWER, V. WALKER *** LONE WOLFE PROTECTOR (A Wolf Creek Novel) by KAYLIE NEWELL***

After her friend Aimee disappears the night before Halloween in the small mountain town called Wolfe Creek when they stopped to gas up, Maggie does the one thing she promised her friend she would never do – she leaves.  Almost a year passes by the time the story begins, with no new leads and the investigators are no closer to finding Aimee, and Maggie is on her way back to Wolfe Creek determined to find her friend.  There she quickly becomes friends with local Candi, and gets close to Koda Wolfe, one of the deputies working on Aimee’s case.  Things quickly heat up and Maggie and Koda have to work together to figure out the puzzle of Aimee’s disappearance.

After only ten pages in, I was hooked on this story.  I read it almost straight through, pausing only to refresh my snacks, and I quickly felt like I had a personal stake in Maggie’s mission – her pain and determination became mine.  Kaylie Newell’s writing was able to grip me in a subtle but strong way that I haven’t felt from the last few novels I’ve read.  Her writing is not superfluous, but refreshingly straightforward and elegant, much like Maggie herself.

I really loved about this novel was that even though it’s in the paranormal genre, Newell puts the focus is on the characters and the search for Aimee rather than on supernatural abilities or forces that try to drive characters apart.  It’s wonderful to read a novel about characters and not abilities.

Each character’s drive is deep – Maggie’s desire to find her missing best friend; Koda’s desire to find Aimee, keep Maggie safe, and watch over his bad-boy younger brother – and it’s fascinating to watch unfold.  I thought I had the ending figured out, but I was wrong.  This novel is absolutely captivating; Newell’s charm works the characters into your heart until you can’t put the book down.

~V. WALKER~