Cover Image: Hood Academy

Hood Academy

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Member Reviews

A great twist on the origins of werewolves. This tale follows Mia on her journey to discover her roots in an academy nestled deep in the woods after being rescued.

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Hood Academy is a young adult werewolf soap opera. I would have liked more of the history and lore of the school and werewolf info. It was an ok read,

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the e-arc I received in exchange for my review.

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Unfortunately this was a DNF for me. It started out promising but I could not seem to get into the story.

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I recieved this arc through NetGalley for an honest review of my thoughts and mine alone. This novel was very enjoyable, this character growth was impeccable. I really felt myself being amiable towards the characters and could feel myself empathizing with all the emotions they were going through. This novel was very enjoyable.

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I love werewolves, but this whole "secret school for supernatural teens" as a YA trope is getting to be very overdone and tiresome. The story was fine, but it just feels "been there, done that".

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I’m torn with this book. I enjoyed it but at times I didn’t enjoy it. I loved the writing however the pacing was a tad slow.

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Hood Academy was a decent book about werewolves and hunters. When Mia sees her father killed by a werewolf she is whisked away by her uncle to an academy he runs for hunters. There is more to this academy than learning to hunt werewolves and she is learning there are more to werewolves than just them being bloodthirsty creatures. Mia also finds out more about herself and her mother and isn't sure that she likes how her uncle does things especially when she meets Cody and learns more about what happened to her brother Zach. Overall, it was a decent read. I believe this was maybe a duology that was put into one book and wasn't bad for a YA paranormal.

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Loved this book. Plenty of devious surprises and crackling suspense, along with interesting characters. Just the sort of book to cause a lack of sleep, but I won't complain! Highly recommended.

*This book was provided to me as an ARC at no charge in exchange for my honest review. My thanks to the author, publisher and NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to participate in this program.*

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I haven’t read a werewolf book in such a long time so I was excited to give it a try. This was a very quick read but I had a lot of thoughts as I was reading. I found this plot to be very crazy, all over the place and moved way too quickly. Book 1 basically took place over a week or two and then book 2 took place a couple of months after book 1 and also happened in the span of a week or two also.

I also believe that everything was revealed way too quickly. I would have really enjoyed more suspense and mystery! Although I really liked the characters in this story, I didn’t feel like they were developed enough for my liking. Mia kept telling us that she didn’t trust anyone but almost right away she was confiding in other characters and telling them her secrets and she didn’t know anything about them. I also felt like I never learned anything about our side characters at all. Nothing about their backgrounds or stories which I found to be quite annoying and frustrating.

Another thing about characters which frustrated me to know end was that the trauma and abuse Mia suffered for all those years had absolutely no effect on her at all. It was like she left her home and never had any trauma related issues which is a very false representation of a trauma victim.

We also have a case of insta love. Mia meets this character about three times and has a five minute conversation with him and the next time they meet then end up kissing and getting together which made no sense at all. She doesn’t know this guy at all!

Many of the problems that Mia faces get solved way too quickly. Something will happen and it wil be completely resolved in that same chapter. It was all very convenient. I would have liked these situations to have been stretched longer and made more tense and suspenseful so that I could feel what the stakes were.

Although this story has a lot of flaws I do believe that this is a fun and exciting story if you’re looking for something quick and easy to read.

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You can find this review and all of my others over at www.readbookrepeat.wordpress.com

It all started when Mia's father was murdered in front of her. His throat ripped out by a wolf as she watched, a wolf that strangely left her alive. When she is put into the custody of an estranged Uncle, she figures that things can't be much worse that what she's already lived through with an abusive father, right? However, it might be worse. Taken to a secret academy deep in the woods, Mia discovers that things she thought were just fairy tales are real. The academy trains young women to become werewolf hunters, and not just anyone can become a hunter. As Mia soon discovers that things aren't what they seemed, secrets, lies and revelations abound as she tries to navigate her new life, new friendships, new family, all while still searching for her missing brother. Are werewolves really as bad as she is being taught? What if they're not?

This was a fast paced, quick, easy and enjoyable read for me. I feel like it was JUST what the Doctor ordered, I felt like I was in a bit of a slump lately, majority of the books I've been reading have just been quite, meh. I wondered if maybe it was me, or maybe I just wasn't picking up the right books. This one really helped pull me out of a funk. It's a young adult fantasy/horror story that revolves around the character Mia Roberts. She sees her abusive father die in front of her, his throat torn out by a wolf that strangely inspects her, and leaves her be. When the police arrive she finds out that she has an Uncle and she's now in his custody. This all happens right at the start of the story, there's also some talk about Mia's missing brother, Zak. He promised to come back for her, but as yet has not. So I guess you could say that there is a little mystery thrown in for good measure as well.

Once Mia arrives at Hood Academy that is run by her Uncle, she learns that werewolves are a thing, and that she is about to undertake some pretty hectic training because she's going to be hunting them. I don't want to give too much away, but I will say this, yes, this book has a load of cliches in it, yes it was very predictable, but you know what? That's not always a bad thing, sometimes you just want a story that is engaging, enjoyable and you have a feeling that you know how things are going to turn out, well at least, I do anyway. So there was a lot of things that I already knew before Mia had worked it out, and while it frustrated me a little bit that she couldn't see what was right in front of her, I still really enjoyed the story and absolutely flew through it.

The story was was well written, though some things were super easy to work out before the reveals, as stated above, so if you have a massive problem with this, maybe this book isn't for you. I feel like there needed to be a bit more secrecy to the mystery aspects of the story, but again, this wasn't a deal breaker for me. One thing that did irk me a little bit was Mia's arch nemesis - Felicity. Yes her name was used in the story (obviously) but a lot of the time, in dire circumstances, Mia was referring to her as her "nemesis" or "the redheaded..." which I found a liiiittttlllleee hard to take seriously, but then, our protagonist is only seventeen (I think? Possibly sixteen...) so I can kind of understand the small 'childish' nuances that were used in her dialogue. Felicity was a stereotypical mean girl with her gang of mean girl accomplices that didn't do overly much, they just backed up the taunting and the physical violence put forward by their bitch of a leader. I enjoyed the characters of Lizzie and Adam (I think that was his name!? What is going on with my memory today! Apologies if I've got that wrong), they were lovely supporting characters and gave Mia what she had never had and needed more than anything, a safe friendship circle of trust. I did find it a little hard to believe that Mia felt comfortable enough to trust Lizzie so easily after everything she had been through...but then...she is a teenager and teenagers are fickle creatures, so I guess it's not totally unbelievable.

It appears that this book is actually two books. As part two is headed by script saying "Oath Breaker" which to me denotes a new book. As the copy that I had was combined into one volume, the only thing that I think might have helped would have been to edit out the recap at the beginning of Oath Breaker. It was a little tedious re-reading a rundown of everything that I've just read and it really wasn't needed when the two stories are combined. That's just me though. It didn't take away from the story so much, but it did jolt me out of the narrative a bit.

If you're looking for the next big, complex literature master piece, you're not going to find that here, but honestly, this was, as said above, a quick, engaging, enjoyable read and was just what I needed. Sometimes you don't need a masterpiece, sometimes you just need a good story. Mia is a believable teenager with trust issues, and she doesn't do a heap of dumb teenager character things that you expect from the young adult genre. I'm not gonna lie, she does do some stupid stuff, but hey, she's a teenager, give her a break. AND! There's also no love triangle, so if that annoys you, maybe give this one a go.

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First off, thank you Netgalley for supplying this ARC from the Publisher. Secondly, this is actually a bind up of Shelley Wilson's novels Oathkeeper and Oathbreaker. I didn't realize that when I requested this and the length of the ARC makes SO much sense now.

Overall, I was not a fan of this bindup. The concept was fantastic. If you give me werewolves and a boarding school I am all for it usually. But the writing style literally ruined the novels for me. It just felt choppy and often information would be discovered on the page only to be restated two pages later. I really think this had so much potential and had amazing bones. But it just fell flat for me as a reader.

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I just couldn't get interested in this book. I wanted to so badly, but I just couldn't connect with the characters and the entire book felt rushed. Mia went from traumatised girl to victim to werewolf vespiform whatever so quickly that sometimes I had to check to see if I had skipped a chapter by accident. I think this could have worked as a series if the plot was fleshed out but in one volume it was a little bit forced.
I am not sure if this was originally produced in two volumes but there is a strange chapter where we have a recap of the whole first half of the book for those of us who weren't paying attention

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This book was both interesting and dull in parts to me. I feel like it was overly detailed at times and jarring. That being said I had a good time reading.

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The beginning of this book really captivated me! I loved the storyline and where it could possibly lead. The main character was strong but not one hundred percent confident. She was so immature in her decisions though.
I feel as though the author wanted to make this book more relatable to young adults, but honestly some of the decisions the main character made, made it very hard to enjoy it.

I am giving this book 2 out of 5 stars. I would like to see the author trim down on a lot of those details that don't actually matter to the plot. There seems to be more than one plot line going on as well. The author needs to figure out which direction they are taking and stick to it. Or the author needs to break up the book into smaller books with different plots but still have one overall plot and theme during the books. It is not often that I think a book would do better being broken down, but this one would most definitely work better.

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Though this wasn't something I particularly disliked, this book has a lower rating than I usually would have given something like this because, well I think it should have been two books. A great story about a teenage girl overcoming hardships to really grow into her own skin, this book is full of fight scenes. Whether it's student on student or werewolf on student, it's exciting, but not as gory as you'd think.

Following a sixteen year old girl named Mia, it shows her life as she goes from literally sitting in the middle of a crime scene, leaving her old life of abuse from her father behind as her uncle picks her up and takes her with him to his boarding school in the middle of the woods, Hood Academy, the book's namesake. She learns a lot about the world then, mostly because a werewolf killed her father, but also that there are secret societies of people called hunters, that are sworn to kill werewolves, and packs of werewolf families scattered all over the place.

One thing I wasn't a fan of in this book, was that although a lot did happen, it didn't suck me in as well as other books on the same kind of subject have in the past. I love werewolves, but this was just another werewolf book. The other thing I wasn't a huge fan of, was that by the time I got to the second book in this book, I was kind of worn out from reading the first one. I needed a break, and I'm honestly not sure why they decided to bring the two together into one. I should have taken a break then and maybe read another novel between them, but I don't really think that should be a necessity.

Overall, this book was good not great in my opinion. I don't regret reading it, but it's not my favourite. If you like books about teens and boarding school, and also maybe even supernatural beings, and don't mind two books in one book, then I think you would like this, and should check it out.

Thanks for reading!
(Radioactivebookreviews.wordpress.com)

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Werewolf books can easily go bad quickly and end up feeling over the top. I liked Hood Academy in the fact that yes there were werewolves but the plot read nicely with just the right amount of werewolf lore. I loved the thriller and horror aspects of this book and felt compelled to read it. Think so minor polishing would have taken this book to the next level.

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Soooo I liked this??? I really wasn't expecting to but I did!
I can't say this book doesn't have its flaws because it does: the writing is clunky, the dialogue feels quite forced, the romance was very sudden and there was no chemistry between the characters and barely any interaction before they were snogging each others faces off and the pacing of the story could have been much better however from the chapter one I was invested in the characters and the plot and I really don't know why.
Although at times the plot could be repetitive I was eager to find out more and although the characters were pretty one dimensional I couldn't help but love them.
This isn't an amazing book but I enjoyed enough of it, unexpectedly so, that I bumped my rating from a 2 to a 3.

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I received a copy of this book for a fair and honest review.  This book what not what I was expecting. I went in believing one thing and came away with a different point of view. I love the Mia character and she has to go through a lot to grow as a character. That meant meeting her uncle and leaving the world she knew for Hood Academy. She finish some of her missing pieces live friendship and love in those halls.

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Wow this story! It made me fall in love again with werewolves!

Mia is a mixture of a werewolf and a hunter! What a great combination. I like that while looking for her place in the world, she met loyal friends and have her own pack.

Hood Academy is a good place to discover but there are many secrets inside it. There are some parts that I feel being repeated but I enjoy the story and the plot twists as a whole. The changes in the school administration, in the end, is terrific!

Thank you to BHC Press and NetGalley for the ARC!

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As someone who LOVES werewolves (lives/breathes/thinks about them all the time) I thoroughly enjoyed this book! The author created this thrilling, gritty piece that definitely went far more into detail than any YA werewolf book I've read before.

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