I love fairy tale retellings, and this was a great one. There were a lot of aspects that were recognizable from the original fairy tale, but the changes the author made it into its own unique story as well.

Emi is such a great character: she wrestles with her own self-doubt, has to overcome her family's neglect, and come to terms with her own strength. Wolf is *chefs kiss*: A morally gray, MMC who falls first and has his own found family.the little bit that we get to know the gang from the Enclave is so fun; you can just how strong of a found family they are and how much they truly care for each other.

There was some mild spice. The few spicy scenes are well written. You can feel the chemistry between Emi & Wolf.

I felt that the story moved at a great pace and kept me enthralled. This was a unique take on the story of little red riding hood and it was highly enjoyable.

I don’t normally like stories that start off the way this one did, but it worked for this fairytale retelling. The author set up the story well enough afterwards that everything blended.
The pace was great and I liked the detailed descriptions following the curse/cursed. It was an easy to enjoy read with spice, magic, big strong alpha male, delicate FMC who gains much needed confidence, and a nice conclusion that leaves nothing to be questioned. I like retelling, and this was nicely done and made its own.
I really liked the set up of good guys and bad guys all having their own grey areas and that being acknowledged in their stories. It was a good writing decision on the authors part to include “ yes so and so did this but here’s the reason”. It just gave everyone more layers.
Fun read I super enjoyed it and would recommend to my book club!

I can't really say that this book blew me away because it didn't, it was just lacking something that i can't quite put my finger on.
The red riding hood aspect as a retelling was very intriguing, and i did really like the way the author played around with the stereotypes and made the story more their own, and the magic system was very well done! I really liked that all of the witches were classified as gemstone witches, all kind of related to each other, and that the coming of age aspect with their magic stems from the very first wish that they make. I also really liked all of the subtle connections between the names of the witches and the different types of powers that they have, for example Emi is the emerald witch and she decides to help people, whereas her grandmother is the ruby witch and deals in curses and pain.

Like i said before there was just something lacking when i was reading this and i think that it might have been a lack of detail/world building or build up & foreshadowing. I'm not saying that every book has to have these things in order to be a good book, far from it, but this story just seemed a little unfinished and less descriptive. The plot however was perfect as well as the pacing, everything seemed to move and progress just right, there were plenty of twists and turns, and i wasn't really bored, it was just missing the background detail that would have made this a knock out book for me. I mean that there were a lot of times i couldn't really imagine what characters and places looked like because there wasn't too much of a description, just a general overview.

I also quite enjoyed how Emi and Wolf interacted with each other, and even more so how Wolf was the one to fall first and realise that he was in trouble, i mean after all he was supposed to hate all witches. The budding romance and teasing/flirting was also adorable, and even sweeter when they revealed how they felt to each other!
Honestly though, and i don't say this very often, but i think this story also didn't need the intimate sex scenes, or it could have just been fade to black. I know its meant to be a romantasy book and they usually have tonnes of sex in them, but this story seemed so much more about the plot and finding a way to break curses & awakening magic that it was a little bit jarring to have a sex scene and then go straight back into the action.

Overall, i did enjoy this book, i just know that it could have been even better.
A thank you to the author and publisher for giving me a chance to review this book though!

This is my first fairytale retelling, and first introduction to the author.

The book was a very fun and light interpretation to Red Riding Hood. I enjoyed reading Emi's growth, and really felt her struggles. Wolf was fun to read, by annoyed me more often then not (a little too brooding for most situations). Up until the last 20% or so, the story was captivating, but a lot was lost on me during the forced "romantic" scenes - felt added for the SJ Mass fans than anything. Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend for some light reading!

Thank you to Jo Holloway & NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for my honest review.

I rated this book 4 stars. Loved the storyline of this book so much. Loved every single second of it. I recommend everyone to read this.

Title: Hunted by Wolves and Shadow by Jo Holloway

Release Date: May, 29th, 2024

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️Stars

This book is part of the Enemies Ever After series, offering standalone fairy tale retellings.

In "Hunted by Wolves and Shadow," Emi finds herself at her Grandma's cottage, only to encounter a handsome stranger named Wolf instead.

Wolf's mission was to kill a witch to end a curse, but when Emi emerges from the Mist, their paths collide in unexpected ways. Trapped together, they discover a chemistry between them, but explosive secrets threaten to tear them apart. As they confront their pasts and learn to trust each other, they must navigate the dangers of the cursed woods to find redemption and love.

This story offers a fresh take on the classic Red Riding Hood tale, blending familiar elements with exciting new twists. Jo Holloway's storytelling skill shines through as she introduces an engaging enemies-to-lovers theme, weaving in elements of witches, shifters, and magic.

The emotional depth of the story, particularly Emi's journey of overcoming loneliness and mistreatment, strikes a chord with readers, emphasising the importance of empathy and support! The well-developed characters, including Emi, Wolf, and the enclave residents, captivated me with their relatability and growth throughout the story.

With the tension and delightful banter between Emi and Wolf, the narrative is both entertaining and charming. Highly recommend to all the romatasy retelling fans out there!


Thank you to The Author Jo Holloway Books & NetGalley for an advanced reader copy (ARC) in exchange for my honest review.

I absolutely adore Little Red Riding Hood retellings, especially when the wolf is the MMC! I’ll take the morally-grey wolf, you can keep the virtuous huntsman 😈

This was such a unique romantasy that I gobbled up in less than a day; I couldn’t help it, I wanted to see our FMC grow stronger (✅), our MMC send more flirtatious smirks her way (✅), and how they were going to solve the problem of the Mist (✅)!

I also enjoyed seeing some other fairy tales entwined in this book, namely Jack and the Beanstalk.

Here are some of the goodies to expect:
🐺Little Red Riding Hood Retelling
🐺Witch x Shifter Romance
🐺Enemies-to-Lovers
🐺Forced Proximity
🐺Found Family
🐺Mild spice

My overall rating: 3.5 stars

Hunted By Wolves and Shadow is part of the Enemies Ever After series, a collection of standalone short novels featuring enemies-to-lovers fairy tale retellings with a touch of steam. Each book is written by a different author and the books can be read in any order! See the full series at this link: www.enemieseverafter.com

Thank you to NetGalley and Jo Holloway for the opportunity to read this book. The opinions expressed above are honest and my own.

Three and a half
Honestly I thought initially that this was going to be the most predictable, boring paranormal romance and yet absolutely not ! This went in directions I didn’t expect and totally both surprised and delighted me . If blunt I found the central couple as much irritating as I found them fun but I think that’s partly what made this different . A new author to me but one who entertained me and that’s a definite recommendation
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from NetGalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

Thank you to NetGalley, the author, and the publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review!

As part of a ten book series of fairy tale retellings, this one was the better of the two out of ten so far that I've read. The writing style is competent, and it does do some interesting things with it's very fast and loose interpretation of Red Riding Hood. She's not really Red, she's green, technically. There's some weird force called The Mist that keeps people trapped in the forest. The Big Bad Wolf is a tortured man-wolf thing. A witchcraft system based on gemstones. There's 2 really nice full color illustrations, along with black and white chapter headers that were very pretty. Kinda cool, right?

However, I really just....there's so many ACOTAR clones out there to pick through if Sarah J Maas's series left you hungry for more fairy tale adult romances. Being just okay is okay, and to be totally fair this is the first one that I know of with Red Riding Hood (albeit very. very. very loosely adapted). I think for the right person, this one is totally fine, but it just didn't "do it" for me.