Wannabe-Twilight werewolf romance offers little originality

Low Red Moon
By Ivy Devlin
Published by Bloomsbury
ISBN 978 1 4088 1398 0

Stephenie Meyer's phenomenally successful Twilight novels, millions of which have been sold around the world, have spawned many copycat versions and genre novels hoping to repeat the success.

Black-and-red covered paranormal teen romances now have their own section in bookshops thanks to Meyer. Teenage girls, mostly in American-penned fiction, fall in love with vampires, werewolves and shape-shifters in countless numbers with varying degrees of popularity and success. Ivy Devlin doesn't move too far away from this winning formula.

The best thing about Low Red Moon is the title. Once you get past that, plot and character all become a bit muddled and formulaic, ending up with a novel that will appeal only to Twihards. After that promising, crisp title, Low Red Moon trundles along sometimes unable to decide whether it is a murder mystery or paranormal teen romance. Either way, it doesn't have many original ideas to tempt non-genre fans.

Avery Hood (Little Red Riding Hood? Gettit?) is a bit of a misfit. She lives in a DIY house in the forest where her mother makes fruits-of-the-forest preserves and her father hugs trees. She has no friends at school and, because of her isolated existence surrounded by trees rather than people, she doesn't see the modern world as other teens do. Suddenly, tragedy strikes: Avery's parents are murdered and Avery finds herself sitting next to their bodies covered in blood.

All Avery can remember is a sudden flash of silver cutting through the air as her parents were attacked. The rest is blank. The distressed teenager goes to live with her grandmother, who lives on the edge of the forest. Avery has to leave behind the home she loves, live with a virtual stranger and learn how to deal with the terrible event that has shattered her life.