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River
Defiant, nocturnal, moody, and short tempered. Though she sounds like a typical teenager, River is anything but. She's a werewolf.
River was once the alpha female of a wolf pack, until one night when she was attacked and bitten by a mysterious human. When she awoke, she found herself completely alone, and changed into a young human girl.
Three years later, after being thrust into a world where she doesn't belong, and living in foster care, River believes she'll never know who bit her or why. Then one day in school, all that changes. Enter Daryl, who seems to be a normal teenage boy, though River recognizes him for what he is: the human that changed her. He holds the answers to all her questions, but only offers vague responses. He seems to be a step ahead of her at every turn, giving her only enough information to create even more questions. Although they're playing his game, River is determined to win.
As if being stuck in a world she hates, with a life she never asked for, and faced with a destiny she doesn't want wasn't bad enough, River still must find a way to survive every human's greatest challenge: high school.
2007 Fantasy EPPIE Winner
2007 ARIANA Best in Category Fantasy, Fantasy Romance, and Paranormal Romance
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Award-winning author Skyla Dawn Cameron has been writing approximately forever. Her early storytelling days were spent acting out strange horror/fairy tales with the help of her many dolls, and little has changed except that she now keeps those stories on paper. She signed her first book contract at age twenty-one for River, a unique werewolf tale, which was released to critical and reader praise alike and won her the 2006 EPPIE Award for Best Fantasy. Skyla lives in Southern Ontario with her fiancé, where she dabbles in art, is an avid gamer, and watches Buffy reruns. If she ever becomes a grown-up, she wants to run her own pub, as well as become world dictator. You can visit her on the web at www.skyladawncameron.com for free fiction, book news, a community forum, and tons of other totally awesome stuff.
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Reviews
Rated 5 Clovers! No one would ever guess that River is a debut novel unless you told them! Skyla Dawn Cameron has perfectly captured the angst of the teenage years in a format that will appeal to adults as well as teens. River’s struggle to understand basic human interactions, such as the need for excessive words or attending a dance, is both poignant and insightful. One will clearly see just how awful humanity can be at times while reading River. Skyla Dawn Cameron has clearly demonstrated a remarkable gift at capturing the true essence of humanity, both the good and the bad. River is not your typical werewolf story by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, the wolf theme serves almost more as a symbol. Fans looking for a unique twist on the werewolf theme need look no further than River as Skyla Dawn Cameron is definitely an author to keep an eye on! —Debbie, CK2S Kwips and Kritiques
River by Skyla Dawn Cameron. Werewolf high school romance with a GREAT twist. The heroine was originally a wolf until she was bitten by a human. I swear the author is Joss Whedon in disguise. —Internet Blog Discussion
A Unique werewolf story! This is a terrific book, filled with unique and well-drawn characters, realistic dialogue, and a great deal of humor, as River has to deal with a sudden and undesired transformation into a species that makes no sense to her. Nor do her friends understand her most of the time, but they feel the effects of her nature as she struggles to recover the pack she lost. I just stumbled across this, ordered it and finished reading it in the same day. —Marc Vun Kannon, ParaNormalRomance Reviews
River, the debut novel from Skyla Dawn Cameron, provides a fresh and unique take on the werewolf legend. Filled with twists and turns, the novel propels the reader along on a riveting journey of discovery. River Wolfe is a heroine for the new millennium--attractive, smart and tough as nails! River should absolutely not be missed! —Judy Bagshaw, bestselling author Lady Blue; At Long Last, Love
Excerpt
When Walters passed out the lists, I snatched my copy and quickly started for one of the trails that led into the forest. They wanted us to find stupid things like types of feathers and leaves and twigs... I was beginning to feel even more isolated from nature than I had back in town.
"You're in quite the hurry--you must be excited," I heard Daryl say sarcastically as he caught up with me.
"I'm thrilled." When I thought we were far enough from the group, I abruptly stopped and turned to him. "All right, talk."
"About what?"
"Stop it!" I shouted. "No more games! Tell me now!"
He turned to look behind him, as if he heard something. I wasn't about to fall for that trick, and I was going to tell him so when I too heard the sound of people talking and crashing through the trees.
"Race?" he offered.
"What?"
"Race." His eyes drifted to somewhere behind me and he nodded. "There's a stream that way. Do you want to race?"
He was about to ask me again when I suddenly turned and ran. He never said it had to be a fair race.
I felt freer than I had in years. The wind that seemed so cold in the clearing was with me as I ran, pushing me along and urging me forward. I ducked under branches, dashed around trees, and I was almost able to forget it was human legs which propelled me. Almost.
Daryl decimated my lead in only a few minutes, though. I heard him coming up behind me, so I tried to thwart his attempts to pass me by weaving back and forth across the path. Instead of being content with the fact I was the superior runner, he dove into the trees to the left, and appeared a minute later ahead of me. Cheater.
I spotted a break in the trees several meters in the distance, and a few feet beyond that was the stream. I sped up so I was only a step behind him, then I grabbed his backpack and yanked him off his feet. While he was falling, I raced on. By the time he stood I was already sitting on a rock next to the water.
"You don't...play fair," he panted, and, after shrugging off his backpack, he sprawled on the ground.
"Bite me," I retorted. "Oh, wait, you already did. I almost forgot about that."
"So," he sat up and looked at me, "ask away."
"Change me back," I said immediately.
"I can't."
"Why not?"
"I told you, it doesn't work that way."
I spotted a nice round rock about the size of a baseball on the ground to my right. I considered hitting him with it, but what I said earlier was true: I didn't want to use weapons like some human. Instead, I decided against violence for the moment.
"How does it work? How did you change me?"
"You know, I'm not sure how it happens exactly," he admitted. "I've got two years of high school biology and a friend that's a med student, so I can explain how we believe it happens. There's something in our saliva, like a virus or something. When it enters the blood..." He paused, then seemed to be scrutinizing my expression. "Okay, you understand we're all made up of cells and stuff, right?"
"No."
"Well, we are. In our cells in something called deoxyribonucleic acid, or DNA. Everyone's is different. Our DNA decides things like what types of cells are produced--like skin cells, muscle tissue, and all that. You following so far?"
I shrugged. I didn't really care for his science lesson, but if it meant he might get to the point soon, I'd listen.
"Okay, so the virus-thing that's in our saliva breaks into the cells and mutates the DNA very rapidly. Suddenly the cells are told to be something different, and then our bodies change into human ones. Get it?"
"No, but I don't care; just tell me how to change back. Will a bite from another wolf do it?"
"No."
All the talk of biting had put an awful idea in my mind. If something in our saliva caused animals to come down with a case of werewolf-ness...
"Does it work on humans too?" I asked.
"What?"
"Can a bite turn a human into a wolf?"
"No, and I'm not going to bite you, River."
"It's not that. I took a chunk out of my speech pathologist's arm awhile back."
Daryl laughed, so I figured my worry was unfounded. "He won't change, so..." His voice trailed off. He squinted as he looked at something in the trees to the left.
"What is it?" I asked.
"Ravens."
I swiftly glanced around. Ravens were scavengers, and most people wouldn't give them a second glance, but I knew what they meant.
"Where are they?" I asked, my eyes searching the trees.
"They're not here," he sad.
"What!"
"You're expecting wolves?" he asked. "Not this close to human camps. It's possible the ravens are hanging around because of us, because they know what we are. I know they tend to follow packs, but there aren't any nearby."
"How do you know?"
"It's kind of hard to miss the scent of a pack's claimed territory."
I looked at him warily. As soon as I changed and awoke in a human body, I realized I'd lost my sense of smell. It didn't just get worse; it was practically nonexistent. So how the hell was he able to pick up a scent?
"You're wondering why I can tell?" Daryl asked. "I take it you don't have your senses back yet."
"Yet?" I pounced on the word. "You mean they will come back?"
"So gradually that you'll barely even notice. Then one day you'll just realize you can pick up scents again. You're probably in the process of it right now." He pulled the elastic from his hair and shook his ponytail out. He crossed his arms behind his head, leaned back on the ground, and closed his eyes. That was something else adding to my annoyance: he was far too calm about the situation.
"Why'd you bite me?" I asked.
"The opportunity arose," he replied, then grinned at his own words.
"Is that why you go on this trip every year? So you can turn innocent wolves into monsters?"
"It's a general rule that we can only bite one wolf in our lifetime, so to answer your question: no."
"Then why me?"
"I told you, the opportunity arose. I had a split second to decide, and I went with it."
"But you didn't need to!" I insisted. I struggled to remember the exact details of that night. We were on a hunt, and I was running with my brother. I caught the scent of prey--dead prey--just after he did. He went for it, probably thinking it was easy food, and I followed with the intent of driving him back toward the pack. I smelled the humans, and I think he did as well, but he was too busy following the scent of the dead rabbit.
He was only a few feet ahead of me when he stepped in the trap. I leaped back when his yelp pierced the air. It was by far the worst sound I had ever heard, both as a human and a wolf.
I breathed in the scent of blood before I saw it. The snare had snapped shut halfway up his hind leg, and the blood was spilling out over his gray coat. He tried to walk, but he cried out with each step he attempted to take. Eventually, sat down and whined softly.
I raced over to him, and tried to lap up the blood and clean his wound, but the teeth of the trap had cut deep into his flesh. Later, as a human, I would hear stories about animals chewing through their own legs to free themselves. With the pain my brother was in, I think he might have if he'd had the time.
Twigs snapped, and the smell of people grew stronger. I saw a light swinging back and forth through the trees as the humans came closer.
I began to growl. No matter how many humans were coming, I wanted to defend my brother. Instinct told me to find the rest of my pack, however.
I quickly backed up into the bushes. The humans pushed through the trees only seconds later. They made a bunch of noises, which must have been talking, then I heard huge, whooping laughter that made me back farther into the trees. I knew I had to warn my pack, but I didn't want to leave my brother...
"You're remembering," Daryl said quietly, breaking the silence.
I glanced at him, but his eyes were still closed.
"That night," he continued. "You're trying to remember where I fit in. I saw the human hunters in the woods during the day. An endangered species research group had been making a big deal about them hunting the animals in the forest, so that's why they were out there. Once every few weeks they like to kill something and nail it to the wall of their hunting lodge just to prove they can.
"I was out trying to get rid of their traps. I made my way to their camp and saw they were already on the move. I caught the scent of wolves--you and the gray one--so I was rushing to find the traps before either of you--"
"That was my brother," I said, my voice so low I was surprised he heard me. "What did they do to him?"
"You don't want to know."
"Don't tell me what I want," I snapped. "What happened to him?"
"They skinned him, and took his head," he finally replied.
I felt a knot form in my throat, and my stomach turned. I fought to clear my mind and control the sudden urge to vomit.
"I was close enough to the humans that my scent mixed in," he said, continuing his previous dialogue. "I saw I was too late, and they caught and killed the...your brother. Then I spotted you. I thought you were backing out of the bushes so you could run, but then I saw you stop and snarl. I realized you were going to leap straight into a group of five men with knives and guns, so--"
"So you tackled me and bit me and made me into one of them," I said angrily.
"I tackled you," he continued as if I'd said nothing, "with the intent of keeping you from getting shot. But you put up a fight, and we rolled down that hill...and..."
"And you bit me and turned me into one of them," I finished his sentence.
"I wasn't going to, but--"
"But you did!" I growled. "And there is nothing you can say to defend yourself. You turned me into the very creature that every other species loathes and fears."
"River--"
"No!" I shouted. "Just...just stop." I buried my face in my hands and began to sob. The tears ran down my cheeks and pooled in my palms, burning my nearly numb skin.
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