Review: The Frenzy by Francesca Lia Block

This book showed up on my doorstep earlier this year and at first I was really excited. I loved the cover, I love a well written paranormal story but more than that, I'd read positive reviews of Block's work elsewhere and thought this would be the perfect opportunity to read something of hers.

The premise is rather unique. While it is a werewolf book, Liv is a very unique sort of werewolf, and doesn't understand fully that she is one. She has a troubled relationship with her parents, her mother actually hunts wolves for fun, and she has two close friends, her boyfriend who she wants to sleep with, but she's afraid of what will happen, and her gay best friends whose life is miserable. (he often pretends to be her boyfriend so his parents won't know he's gay and her parents won't know she's dating a black boy)

Unfortunately, I didn't really like this book. The first barrier for me was the writing itself which is very simple. I'd guess that when people have issues with young adult books, they must envision the writing to be like it is in this one. Simple sentences, no complexity, nowhere for me to dive into the words and let them take me away.

My second problem was the story itself. I was initially intrigued by the different sort of werewolf tale being told, but in the end it didn't make sense. Furthermore, some pretty horrific things happen, but I never felt like these things happened at any level of emotional truth for the characters. In other words, I felt I was being told things, without being able to feel like I was experiencing them. I also wasn't crazy about any of the characters and felt everyone was sort of one dimensional.

There was nothing about this book that makes me want to read more from this author. Have you read anything by Francesca Lia Block? I'm really open to hearing what worked in her other stories.

All in all, while I don't really recommend this book, it was a very quick read.

Rating: 2/5
Things You Might Want to Know: teen sex, and I believe profanity (I read it in July, I don't remember!)
Source of Book: Unsolicited review copy from publisher
Publisher: HarperTeen