I received a copy of this book from NetGalley for an honest review.

Hood Academy by Shelley Wilson

So I didn't realize it until I was actually at the breaker but this is two separate books being republished into one. I actually feel very differently about the two halves so I am going to review them separately and then give them an overall review.

Oath Breaker

I really loved this first book. I have not enjoyed a book this much since Blythewood by Carol Goodman, which this book is very similar too. I was sucked in , I read this whole part in a day, which is very unusual for me.
The book is about Mia Roberts. who is taken in by her mysterious uncle after her abusive father is killed in front of her by a werewolf. Turns out that her new home is a boarding school to train werewolf hunters, and the Headmaster is of course her new Uncle. Mia understands pretty much nothing that is going on around her accept that she really did see a werewolf. She does make fast friends with her roommate Lizzie, who I personally enjoyed as a character and actually would have liked to learn more about. Mia does get overwhelmed though and runs off into the scary woods after the school bully takes a shot at the newbie. She runs into a pack of werewolves that look at her for a while and leave her be. She ends up meeting Cody, a boy from the village in the woods the next day. He seems skittish about her being a Hood Academy student. She soon takes matters into her own hands after being confused and basically shoved aside in her new life. Mia discovers secrets about the school, the town, the local wolf pack, her uncle, and ultimately herself. This book is really mysterious and fast paced. Mia truly grows as a character and I really enjoyed seeing that in her. She had been abused for so long and her new situation gives her a chance to figure out who she is or who she wants to be. Like iI mentioned this book has so many Blythewood vibes for me and I loved every one of them. The only thing I would have liked more is a deeper relationship with the supporting characters, but honestly the events in this book happen so fast that it is understandable to only know the basics. I would buy the whole book just for part 1.

Oath Keeper

Part two starts with a painful summary of all the things that happened in book 1. The review was completely unnecessary as it is all one book now. There in lies the whole problem with part 2. I feel like the entire thing is constantly reminding you of things that happened in the first part, and somehow it doesn't sound as exciting as it did the first time. I had a bit of a hard time remembering why I liked part 1 so much during most of Oath Keeper. Lots of secrets are brought up and revealed all at the same time. Another issue that I have with part two is that....
*spoilers*

Mia finds her brother Zak after years of him being absent from her life, and we get maybe three sentences of dialog between the two of them. I needed more from the relationship. I needed him to be there for her in my view of the reality, not just in the background where she mentions that they are still working on their relationship....of course they are it has been like 9 years and now he happens to be the alpha of the werewolf pack she was being trained to kill.

I enjoyed seeing her and her Uncles (Fathers) relationship grow in book two, and the continuation of the friends she already had, but for the most part I think I could have done without the Oath Keepers half.

Hood Academy

Overall I really enjoyed this book. The first half was engaging and addictive even and I was thrilled with the story. Highly recommend if you are a sucker for boarding school mysteries.

I've never read anything by Wilson in the past, but I will look for her future books! Besides "Twilight," I haven't read a lot of werewolf books. "Hood Academy" gets off to an action-packed start, and the author's descriptions keep the reader engaged through the final scene. This book has a bit of everything: mystery, friendships, romance, and a few unexpected twists. Sebastian's research added a nice twist to what could have been a typical werewolf story.

This was obviously two books put together in one, which was fine, except it was a bit weird to have the recap of the first part of the book at the start of the second part. The first person POV (Mia) is the perfect fit for this YA urban fantasy novel that is sure to be enjoyed by teens and adults, and I hope Wilson writes more books and makes this into a series.

I received a digital advanced reader copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I am not usually a fan of werewolf stories. Even when Twilight was all the rage, I was always 100 percent team Edward. But I will say.. Hood Academy really grabbed me and held my attention.

I really enjoyed Wilson’s look into this type of fantasy novel. It felt incredibly realistic and really different from most of the werewolf origin stories we usually get.

I actually found myself not wanting the story to end. I really enjoyed the pot and Wilson’s writing style. I could have easily jumped right into book two (if there was one.. Please? Pretty please?? I need more!)

The plot was super fast paced but I didn’t feel like it was rushed at all. Overall, it was well written and I really enjoyed it.

This book was different than most books about supernatural schools. For one there were a lot of fights with werewolves. It was interesting that the wolves lived so close to the academy. SPOILER ALERT; There was a lot of kidnapping by various people who lived & worked at the academy. Poor Miami went through a lot in this book. An abusive father, a mother dying & her brother just leaves her. And that all happens in the first few chapters! After her uncle shows up & takes her to live with him, she finds out he lives in a school. It isn't long before she notices there are some weird things going on. She is way to curious for her own good! As many times as she runs into danger without telling anyone, it's a miracle she's alive in the end. She makes some lasting friends at school & a nasty enemy. When she learns what's really going on at school, she leaves to go live with the wolves. It's hard to know who to trust sometimes. You'll really like this book. I just wanted to let someone know that the editing on my Kindle had some errors. So I am going to list them for you in hopes you can correct them for future readers. Page 2503; Inestled the gold medal into the folds of my jumper, feeling the heavy weight of it against my chest. (It needs to be "I nestled". Page 3147; Atrickle of sweat trailed down the side of my temple, and I swiped at it with a trembling hand. (A trickle). Page 3199; ‘Ohmigod, Mia, that hurt!’ ('Oh my god). Page 3823; Istared at my reflection in the mirror, my eyes flitting from the bruises on my cheek to the cut on my lip. (I stared). Page 3956; Iknew my brother was going to be mad at me when he found out I’d gone, but part of me hoped that he knew me well enough to understand my reasons. (I knew). Page 4908; Iknew my brother was going to be mad at me when he found out I’d gone, but part of me hoped that he knew me well enough to understand my reasons. (I knew). Most of these mistakes were at the beginnings of the chapters.

The cover & blurb drew me in. I didn't know it's a re-issue and that there are actually two books to be found in one. Was that an issue? No.

The opening scene is a pretty brutal one and, to be honest, everything is rather abrupt in this book. The action, I mean. It felt like the author was too eager to finish one scene before she was jumping into the next one.

So, the heroine, Mia has an awful life, to be honest, until her father is murdered and she gets whisked away to this mysterious and eerie academy, by an uncle she doesn't know. All throughout the two books, she keeps finding out more and more things. Yes, Hood Academy has quite the tropes. It reminded me a bit of Twilight-Vampire Diaries-Vampire Academy. Thing is, as I already mentioned, it felt like the author wanted to say too many things, was excited about having all of these ideas that she just had to write down, so she crammed them all into two books [Oath Breaker & Oath Keeper], without fully developing them.

There are so many things happening, I don't want to say anything, so as not to spoil anything by accident, but had the writer taken the time to properly develop all of these ideas, given them depth, Hood Academy would have been one awesome book.

As it is, it's only a 3 stars but that shouldn't sway you in any way. I voluntarily agreed to read an early copy via Netgalley.

Mia is 15 years old and feels like an outsider. She has led a hard life in that her mother died when sh was very young. Her brother looked out for her as her father became very abusive to her. Her brother leaves when he is in in his teens leaving Mia alone with her father. She begs him to take her but says no and that he will come back to get her. As her father was going to beat her, a giant wolf appears and kills her father. The wolf looks at her for a few moments and then leaves. While the police try to figure out what to do with Mia, a stranger appears and says he is her uncle. She is taken by him to the boarding school where he works as the headmaster. It’s an unusual school in that it teaches the students how to defend and kill werewolves. They are to be “hunters” of werewolves. Why? At first Mia doesn’t believe in werewolves. What causes her to change her mind? Mia meets someone who knew her mother when she was alive. Will she tell Mia what she wants to know about her mother? Will she find her brother?

The novel is filled with action. There are secrets revealed, friendships are forged even while the plot twists and turns making me wanting to know if Mia will ever stop feeling like an outsider. There is romance in the book with information about the werewolves. There are spooky science experiments being done underground. There are alliances made and broken. It’s a story that moves!

Thank you to Netgalley for giving me the chance to read and review, "Hood Academy" by Shelley Wilson. It has been such a long time since I have read a book with werewolves in it! Based on how much I enjoyed this book, I would say it has been way TOO long. Hood Academy is full of twists and turns. There was never a dull moment. I really enjoyed the first book in this novel but the second one did not truly give me the same level of thrill. As far as YA goes, this book had all the usual elements that people look for in YA. I would love for the author to take a swing at writing adult novels about werewolves.

Hood Academy was your typical YA werewolf book for the most part. Hood Academy stuck pretty close to the "original werewolf" story. Full moon turning, pack community and following the alpha's orders. I think that Shelley put her own twist on the so called rivals to the werewolves. Which is really the only thing you can do in a place where there are so many stories based on one topic.

The writing for Hood Academy was super easy to read. I finished the book in two days and only because I needed to pace myself or else I would have sat around and read the whole book in one sitting. I personally am a huge werewolf fan, they are one of my favourite creatures to read about. So, when I saw Hood Academy, I knew I had to read it. Which could possibly make me biased about the book, however, it was pretty generic where a werewolf story goes. Something would have to be pretty remarkable to get a 5 star with as many books about werewolves as there is.

I'm getting tired of authors making series that are 5 and 6 books long, and I'm glad that Shelley made this one a stand alone. I would definitely interested to read more about the werewolves of Ravenshood, but with different conflicts or about different characters from the book.

I really liked the twists and turns in this book, for a horror book it really wasn’t gruesome though.

The entire story is based on Werewolf and Hunter, in which a school called the Hood Academy, was established to train hunters who would, well, hunt werewolves.

I loved the whole story in its entirety, not as gory as I thought it would be but interesting read nonetheless.

Would I recommend this book? Yes I would, for all those interested in thriller.

Read more: https://lifeofamaka.wordpress.com/2019/09/02/arc-review-hood-academy/

Hood Academy was a well paced novel with characters that actually have a bit of depth (for the most part at least, looking at you Felicity). The descriptions got me sucked into the story and the various settings, which is a good thing. I also liked that the author didn't just scratch the surface in regards of werewolf-transitions, she made a point on how painful it actually was.

Hood Academy is overall a well written novel and I would highly recommend it.

I really enjoyed the story but it just felt like it was missing something ... Everything seemed so easy and just right there on the surface. I was just hoping for something a bit more. It was hard for me to really buy into the story and what to keep reading, but I love werewolves so here I am.

Ok I'm going out on limb here and suggesting that this might have been previously published as two separate short books because that's how it feels with a second half that kind of reprises some things. That didn't bother me but oddly the pacing actually did.
I applaud the author on having such an original idea and she actually throws so much into this that if brutal it felt like overkill. I did really enjoy the story but oddly thought it would have had much more depth if it was expanded and turned into three separate books. Everything happens too quickly, the reader gets whiplash as yet another revelation is heaped upon them. I wanted more suspense, I wanted more character development, I'd have liked more information about the Werewolves but most of air wanted the author to slow down !

This book was amazing. It immediately pulls you in and it keeps you wondering "What's next?!" The characters were well put together and the entire book flowed flawlessly. Definite 5 stars!

I really wasn't expecting to get much out of this book. But it was good. It's been awhile since I've read a werewolf book (can we bring back vampires and werewolves pleasseee). I felt like the first half of the book was strong. But the second half felt rushed and confusing.

I received a copy of this book from Netgalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

WHERE WOLF? THERE WOLF! THERE CASTLE!

I really liked this book! Mia is a likable strong character who dealt with horrible abuse.

Then her abuser is attacked by a werewolf.

Suddenly she's taken to a school to train in fighting werewolves and discovers the things she thought were good may not be.

So. I really did like this book but there were a few things that struck me as off.

A character is very upset at the idea of werewolf hunting. Another character doesn't even consider that they could be a werewolf.

It's strange because this character was shown to be pretty intelligent before that.

It's been a while since I've read a book featuring werewolves (Twilight maybe?), so I was excited to get into this novel.  And the cover designer did a magnificent job at capturing readers' attention.

This novel starts out with a heart-pounding sequence when Mia witnesses a werewolf killing her father.  From there, the plot takes off at a fast pace and rarely slows down.  Mia is a strong protagonist, occasionally leaping into action before thinking things through, and she's suffered the loss of her mother, abuse from her father, and feels abandoned by her brother.  Without giving away spoilers, the author did a fantastic job at introducing conflict to the story, and Mia's loyalties are pulled in several directions.  

The transformation of human to werewolf is described in detail with vivid imagery, including both the immense pain involved and the feeling of power and animal instincts upon completion.  Being a science nerd, Sebastian's research fascinated me and this is an angle I haven't seen explored in other werewolf books.  I also enjoyed the loyal friendship between Mia and Elizabeth and, lacking a female presence in her life since the death of her mother, her relationship with her teacher, Miss Ross.

Something I missed was more interaction between Mia and a character from her past who turns up again.  In the beginning of part two of the book, part one was summarized, giving the impression of two separate books being combined.  As I read an ARC, this is something that may change in the final version.

If you're a fan of fast-paced urban fantasy with likeable characters and strong friendships, add Hood Academy to your TBR.  It also boasts some pretty cool werewolves!

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

This is a great YA story, with likeable characters.. I always enjoy a good werewolf story and this one delivers big time. It kept me reading from start to finish. And I appreciated the strong female lead character. Definitely a must read for YA horror fans in general and werewolf fans in particular. Grab and enjoy this book with the lights on.

The suspense about what happened to Mia's family and the details surrounding what happened to her family was interesting. The characters were fun and complimented each other well. I liked the shift in tone in part 2. The relationship of Mia and Ari was a great sisterly bond. I absolutely loved the description of the transformation to wolf form. And the ending was perfect, wrapped everything up in a nice little bow. I teared up a bit.

However, I do wish there was more world and relationship building. She went from never trusting anyone to immediately telling 3 people all her secrets. Also, more time at the academy with detailed training and experiences in classrooms would have been fun.

Overall, I really enjoyed it. I'd give it 3.5 stars. The Hood Academy was a fun, quick and entertaining read.

I don't read a lot of YA anymore, but I do like to read this sort of story occasionally, and I think it is fairly well done. Readers who enjoyed the Twilight series, should enjoy this one.

Shelly Wilson’s new young adult novel, Hood Academy is an interesting premise that takes a tire old premise and turns it around for a modern young audience with winning reward for the reader.

The novel starts out with Mia, after the death of her father, is escorted to Hood Academy by Sebastian, her benefactor. Wilson moves the story at a very quick pace and we enter a world of hunter against werewolves with the line very blurred of who is good or who is bad. This leads credibility to the story and as in real life, things are very rarely black or white.

The characters are deliciously well drawn with human faults playing against their ability to try to do good. There are some cases where the main villains of the piece tend to be a bit cartoonish and would have worked better if they were drawn out a little bit better. A reason why they are doing what they are doing or a better understanding on their hatred but this is small criticism considering the large cast are all well drawn and are very multifaceted within their personalities.

The plot moves at a very fast pace and keeps the reader involved which provides a page turner. I am not sure if this was originally produced in two volumes but there is a strange chapter that starts out Book Two where we have a total breakdown of Book One. Again, this is a small criticism and doesn’t take away from the overall novel in any way.

Overall, this is worthwhile read and should be a winner with the young adult readers. For an adult reader, I was entertained and I enjoyed entering the world that Wilson created. I loved the atmosphere and keeping it in a realistic setting with her narrative passages bringing the story to live. Written in the first person, sometimes it gives an idea of the outcome of Mia as far as in her life and death situations. I am keen to discover more work by Wilson and she is well accomplished writer that shows her true craft to afford a rewarding read.