A review by mikah_wazowski
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

dark mysterious tense fast-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

1.5

I thought (and the synopsis said) that this would be a mystery novel about someone who reintroduces wolves into the Scotland Highlands and ends up trying to absolve them of murder-then in doing so discovers it’s her lover who is the prime suspect. Ok. Sure. That’s maybe 150 pages of this story though. The majority of this book is an exploration of why people do absolutely horrible things to each other-and it doesn’t even do that well. I wanted to like someone. I ended up liking one side character and the wolves and that was it. All of that is fine but then when the
pregnancy, sexual assault, and physical and emotional abuse
become the main crux of the story, I was done. The descriptions of birth, assault, and abuse are needlessly graphic, starting with the first sentence. And I understand why, I just didn’t like it and don’t think it was handled well at all. I wanted a story about wolves and I got another story about how terrible people are :( 
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