Wolves, Boys and Other Things That Might Kill Me - Kristen Chandler - 2010

Wolves, Boys and Other Things That Might Kill Me by Kristen Chandler

Published: 2010 - Viking

Age Group: Young Adult

Read: September 15, 2011

4 out of 5 Stars: I really (really!) liked it

Reason for Reading: This was a random Borders pick up. I saw the title and wanted to know if it was about real wolves or werewolves. I was incredibly (and pleasantly) surprised that it was about actual wolves.

On GoodReads: KJ Carson lives an outdoor lover’s dream. The only daughter of a fishing and wildlife guide, KJ can hold her own on the water or in the mountains near her hometown outside Yellowstone National Park. But when she meets the shaggy-haired, intensely appealing Virgil, KJ loses all self-possession. And she’s not sure if it’s a good thing or a bad thing that they’re assigned to work together on a school newspaper article about the famous wolves of Yellowstone. As KJ spends time with Virgil, she also spends more time getting to know a part of her world that she always took for granted . . . and she begins to see herself and her town in a whole new light.

My Thoughts: In my hand-written book journal, the first two sentences I wrote for this story were, "I loved K.J. I felt like K.J." And I really did. I felt that K.J. was so similar in some ways to me when I was her age, and I felt that she was written in such a (wonderful) way that I was reminded of who I was as a teenager, and I was transported into K.J.'s life. The subtle comparisons of wolves and humans were really well done, they weren't obvious, but they made a point. I thought the insight into her relationships with her father, her town, and the wolves were all developed magically. And again, I was just so excited that this was about real wolves. It made me want to go pick up a bunch of books about wolf habits.

Quote from the book: "I would laugh at all my provincial inmates, but I’m too busy lusting. I’m not usually interested in a guy with “take a number” on his forehead, but this guy doesn’t have a forehead — it’s buried in messy blond hair. And he’s not one of the twenty guys I’ve known my entire pubescent life. he smiles like the Fourth of July. What’s a dumb girl to do but get in line with everyone else not in his league? I guess journalism just became my most beloved class.”