Willa's Beast

3 stars — I will admit, I was a bit bummed with this one. Surprisingly in the opposite way of Veronica’s Dragon — in this one it was Willa I had a problem with, and Gren was actually pretty interesting. I’m still getting used to the new narrators. I appreciated Willa’s “voice” and accent more than Veronica’s. And while there was a LOT of growliness to Mr. Crisden’s Gren, I guess I understood it a bit more than Ashtar, so I tolerated it better. Let’s start with Gren, since I enjoyed him more. He was such a complicated hero, because he’d been treated essentially as a Beast his entire life…and his life was, well, weird. So it was interesting to see him dealing with this new environment and being unable to understand what was going on because no one could (or tried to) communicate with him. And it was harder for him and Willa to establish communication because his language was so impossible for a human to learn and master. I loved that we got to see him yearn for acceptance from more than just Willa. It may have taken most of the book, but that end section really endeared him to me. He still put Willa first, but he could see the possibilities. Willa, on the other hand, was just too damaged from her human upbringing. It’s like, I got it…I really did. But I also lost patience with her waaaaayyyyy before she started to open up. She spent so much time making the excuses that their treatment of Gren was the reason for her lack of trust, and that got old fast. Especially since she could see them making an effort. She was kind of unforgiving. And again, given her past…but, I don’t know. I just wasn’t impressed. I think her growth came way late in the story, and so it was a little too late for me to connect with her. I enjoyed them together, but I also got tired of them together. They were in a really unique and interesting resonance situation, and I kind of got what was going on, but…I mean, it just wasn’t sexy or interesting anymore. That situation almost went on too long as well. There were a lot of interesting places that this story could have gone, but instead it felt a bit stagnant and repetitive at times. *shrugs* Or maybe it was just me. I’m hoping Angie’s story gives me what I’m looking for.