Despite the very good beginning, this book slows at the middle until the story became just not interesting. I did not care enough with the characters to know, and I actually could guess what would happen already. DNF.

Hood Academy by Shelley Wilson sadly was not what I was hoping it to be. I debated between two and three stars but decided to give it the benefit of the doubt because I did like the premise and series of events, which included a lot of action that moved the story along. But I felt that all their rescues and adventures were just way too easy to accomplish, there were too many coincidences in their favor, and they were unreasonably trusting of certain characters. I also felt parts of Mia's training somewhat unbelievable (a complete beginner beating people with years of experience?), although I'm not sure if this is more about the difficulty of being able to tell how much time has passed between her arrival at Hood Academy and the events following that. I think Wilson has great imagination but the execution was not quite what I had hoped for.

Hood Academy follows one young girl thrust into a world where werewolves are real, and she is part of a culture bent on hunting them.

Hood Academy is an okay novel. There are times when – and this may seem harsh – where this novel almost feels like a knock off of The Vampire Academy except with werewolves. It is not just the structure and concept of the novel, but the tone as well that resembles that series. It has some exciting plot twists and a fair amount of character development, but the characters, for the most part, do not have many flaws. The only character so flawed is the mean girl, but the antagonist is that stereotypical mean girl. She has no substance to her. Sure, there is an explanation of her brutality, how hatred and bigotry are ingrained in her, but she lacks the substance to inspire the reader to feel any amount of pity for her. A good villain inspires something in the reader, and given her dynamics with Mia; she is almost forgettable. It makes her multiple defeats meaningless to the reader. The world they live in is flawed, but the characters themselves are not compelling enough, they are not flawed enough to make the reader care about them.

The character dynamics function much the same way. The dynamics all seem forced together. It seems so easy for the characters to meld together and become friends, to form a romantic attachment. It seems false and separates the reader from the text.

It is unfortunate because the novel does have a powerful opening, but after that, the pacing falls short; it drags. The building of the story, of the history of this new world, Mia enters, uses too much exposition to guide the story forward without compelling tension to keep the reader engrained in the story.

However, the underlying theme does come through, supernaturally addressing bigotry and racism. It shows how that much prejudice and hatred corrupt’s a person, and for that, the novel is an interesting read.

Title: Hood Academy (Books 1+2 are published together).

Author: Shelley Wilson

Genre: a young adult fantasy-adventure, focusing on a school for werewolf hunters and a local pack of shifters.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Forward: I was given an ARC via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! Hood Academy was released Oct 10, 2019 in ebook and physical format.

Mia watched her drunk of a father get murdered right in front of her eyes- that’s enough to mess anybody up for a lifetime. But what killed Mia’s father shouldn’t be real, it shouldn’t exist, she must be imagining the large wolf that slaughtered her father.

Yet when her mysterious uncle swoops in to take Mia away to some isolated boarding school, Mia knows what she saw was real. Her uncle runs a school for werewolf hunters, and she’s the newest recruit.

Mia should want to join Hood Academy and destroy the creature that took her father’s life. But Mia can’t help but look deeper into the truth about the Academy and her new friends, despite the threats she received and the dangerous knowledge putting a target on her back.

There’s more going on at Hood Academy, and Mia will discover what it is.

When we are pulled into Mia’s story, it starts with her watching her father’s murder. Instantly, we are drawn into the word of werewolves and hunters with Mia, feeling the fear and tension she feels. As we learn more about Mia’s deadbeat family and their ties to the Academy, we are just as curious as she is.

I loved the tension and thrill of the mystery that is Mia’s life and her association with the hunters and wolves. It gripped you from the first chapter and took you on a ride through Mia’s story with her. I loved the creativity, the twisted secrets, the light romance, the strong female characters- I loved basically all of it.

As we transition into the ending of book one, I felt a bit of a drag. I found that all the mystery and build up was lost, and into the start of book two it seemed the tension was replaced with mediocre dialogue and action. I could tell what was going to happen, and didn’t feel that the tone of the beginning of the novel was kept up.

If it wasn’t for that lag, I would have enjoyed this book so much more. The secrets were out of the bag, and Mia was learning to handle them, and it was slightly boring to read her be bossed around by everyone and lose her fierce streak.

I was glad that Mia has a well rounded story, and none of the characters were cut and dry. The action was full of tension and there was no “tame action”- aka “the hero wins everything with a grain of salt”. I can’t stand that in any story, even a young adult. 🤦🏻‍♀️

Overall, I enjoyed Hood Academy and would recommend this to my werewolf lovers. I loved all the content you get in this book, and I love werewolf romances with the perfect dash of thriller.

A full and thorough review will be posted at CelticsLibrary.com by 11-1-19

This was an enjoyable read and I loved how the werewolves were described, including their transformation. I believe this may be one of the books making their way into my niece's hands once it has been published. The main character has to push through and overcome her abusive childhood and learn who she wants to be, even when the time comes to choose sides becomes dark and twisted. Sometimes a friend's love is stronger than any bond a person may have with their family, and when they are in trouble...decisions must be made.

The academy seemed awesome and I enjoyed learning about the girls and their curriculum and the history to this secret school.

One thing that annoyed me was that after the halfway point, because it’s actually two books in one, we do get reminded of past events in book one, but I didn’t realize this until after I finished reading, so, just know, this is actually two books, the two parts are the titles of the original two. There’s ‘Oath Breaker’ and ‘Oath Keeper.’

This actually makes so much more sense and I wish I had done a bit more research before getting annoyed haha as I read both books as one rather larger book.

Anyway, you get to see Mia go through some huge changes and not just to do with being a hunter, or the werewolves or even the academy but she learns to find her place in the world, to find her own ‘pack.’

There’s a great mentor, the answers to where her brother went, the truth of the werewolves and hunters and so many startling revelations about Mia and her life.

I think for me it may have been a little too much action at times which is why I gave this only 3 stars, I wanted more down time, to get to know Mia more as it felt like we were rushing through her development and the plot because there was so much to do.

But that could be exactly what makes this a four star/five star read for you!

If you like things like werewolves and YA you’ll enjoy this, I know I did. Also I would recommend this to fans of ‘Twilight’ or maybe ‘Vampire Academy,’ if you’re looking for a more compact read.

Gripping page turner that has you hooked until the end.
Shelley Wilson's Hood Academy is one of the best portrayal of Werewolf's I read since Kelley Armstrong's Bitten. Absolutely fantastic read.

Rounding to 3.5 stars.
It’s been long overdue that I’ve read a good werewolf book and this totally did it for me! The story was original and great.
Although, I do believe that maybe this could be a series rather than a standalone since there was so much info jammed into one book.

This book was ok but I really had a hard time getting into it. I know this is a young adult and I do like some young adult books but this one just wasn't for me. I might have liked it if I were younger but not now at 42.

Imagine this; You’re a 15 year old girl, your abusive father just got murdered and a strange uncle you don’t even know is picking you up to come and live with him. Weird enough right? Well, in fact, things can become even weirder.

That estranged uncle runs Hood Academy deep in the woods. Not just any ordinary academy, but one that trains werewolf hunters. And as a cherry on top he wants you to take the oath to become a hunter.

Well, meet Mia, the protagonist in this story. Her life just completely changed because of all of the above. She is taken away from everything she knows to come live at Hood Academy. Eventually Mia takes the oath to become a werewolf hunter, but is that what she really wants to be?

Shelley Wilson created a fantasy world filled with werewolves, hunters and other things that go bump in the night. And at the same time she made it collide with the real world, exploring the intricate teenage world of friendship, loyalty and emotions. Hood Academy is the backdrop of it all with its old castle feel and secret rooms.

I think the feeling of teenage angst and exploring who you are is recognisable for a lot of people. Because it’s something most of us can relate to when we think back to our teenage and middle school years. Also, Mia was a very likeable character and I hoped she would find her true self through all the troubles she encountered.

At the same time I felt that in Mia’s quest for the truth and the hunt for werewolves things would often end up in her favour. Which seems a little too good to be true. Yes, I know it’s fantasy and things don’t have to “make sense” but I sort of like it when things don’t always go our protagonist’s way.

There are some plot twists, some people whose loyalty is questionable and some unlikely friendships in this book. But unfortunately it’s also a little predictable at times.

If you’re a fantasy fan and like werewolves this book could be for you.

Unfortunately Hood Academy just didn't do,it for me. Maybe a young YA reader would enjoy it more than I did, but it felt simplistic and juvenile to me. Mia's character didn't work for me for several reasons. She seems very immature for 16. Especially considering her only family member was an abusive father. And with that being said she is way too trusting. And her acceptance/lack of curiosity drove me crazy. Beyond Mia I didn't feel like there were any surprises, it was fairly predictable.

Great book. Loved the way the story was told. It drew the reader in and made them seem like a part of the story instead of a bystander.

I Sadly didn’t like this book. It was not my type of book but I’ll still like to thank netgally and the publisher for sending me this e-arc.

*thank you to Netgalley, Shelley Wilson and BHC Press for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review*


4 stars

In every pack, a cub is born, which unleashes the hunter to protect and serve. 

I enjoyed this. It had a bit of a similar and familiar feel to it of Buffy the Vampire. Except this was with werewolves and not vampires. I was actually surprised by how much I enjoyed this. The characters were interesting and likeable, or unlikeable depending on who they were. Aka Felicity. After everything that Mia had been through, with her abusive father, I really admired her strength and the person she is. She was also a character I wanted to keep reading about. I can't think of anything that I didn't like about this. It had a great flow to it and the author is wonderful at storytelling. This was such an easy and engaging read and I would definitely pick up another copy of this author's work. I also really like the cover of this omnibus version.

I don't like to compare books, but Hood Academy was actually better then Twilight. Oops I said it. The writting flow was easy to follow and all the characters connected in the end. I had my doubts about this book but it was actually pretty good, and the cover art is great.

Rating 3.5

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.

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.