13 to Life (13 to Life #1)

Everything about Jessie Gillmansen’s life changed when her mother died. Now even her hometown of Junction is changing. Mysterious dark things are happening. All Jessie wants is to avoid more change. But showing a hot new guy around Junction High, she’s about to discover a whole new type of change. Pietr Rusakova is more than good looks and a fascinating accent—he’s a guy with a dangerous secret. And his very existence is sure to bring big trouble to Jessie’s small town. It seems change is the one thing Jessie can’t avoid…

13 to Life has great characters. I liked Jessie very much, especially since she helped the girl who practically ruined her life. She seems to be a great friend but sometimes puts her friends in front of her a bit to much. She seemed like a very trustworthy person who puts others before herself.

Amy seemed like a person who had a great sense of humor, which I like. She seemed to be a great friend but when she and Jessie had the chat at the homecoming dance, she seemed to have a bit of a dark side. Sarah seemed to be quite nice at the start but as I learned more of her backstory I thought differently. You could see a bit of her old self coming out to lash at people when she was angry or jealous.

Pietr at first, to me, seemed like a dark, shady character who never smiled. He said that he didn't like much things so that kinda put me off him at first. But as the story unfolded, as did the characters. You got to know them all better, especially Pietr. In the middle of the book, he smiled, had a good personality and didn't want to hurt Sarah's feelings.

The plot was great and I liked how throughout the book their were hints of Pietr being a werewolf. I caught them easily but it seemed that Jessie didn't. I like books that are written in the eyes of a character so I liked it quite a bit. I cannot wait until I read the sequel, which I don't what it's called yet. I loved this book, it was truly stunning and I bet that the next one will be just as good or maybe even better.

Reader reviewed by Lauren G

I was really excited for this book. With so many of the same stories coming out of YA lately, this sounded promising. I have to say it didn't meet my expectations and wasn't as original as I hoped. However, it was still a well written, interesting book and I look forward to the sequel which hopefully will be even better. This writer shows promise and will likely get better with each book.

Reader reviewed by LunaMoth

13 to  life is about a farmgirl named Jessie, a typical high school student whos life becomes anything then typical. Sure she has to deal with frends (one of whom has a rather surprizing past.) teachures and popular girls. Lets not forget Pietr, the hot russian guy who has come to Junction.
The book was pretty good, the pacing was a little slow, you wil have to read all the way to chapter 28 (of 29)to find out about Pietrs secret (though there is quite a bit of forshadowing, so youll probably guess it beforehand)

The charactors are well written out, jessie is brave and smart and not selfish. she puts others before heself and that is refreshing (well at the begining she was a bit peevd at having to show Peitr around) Her friends are likeable as well, you may change your mind later on but i thouroughl enjoyed them. The writing style is simple an easy, it has its own charm and keeps you engaged into the story.

13 to lfe's cover is simple, and mysterious, i thnk it fits in well. you cn clearly see its jessie and Pietr on the front. Keep a lookout for Secrets and Shadows coming Feb 2011!

Reader reviewed by Courtney Rae

Werewolves. Since the
beginning of time, from the very first scary story ever told, Werewolves
have always been grotesque. Made from nightmares. But over the past few
years, Weres have transformed from feral creatures, to gorgeous, model
like paranorms. Made from daydreams. (Not that I'm complaining! :D )

Recently, I have been turned into a wolf girl. And I have Shannon Delany to thank for that!



Jessie Gillmansen did
not count on coming to school to show around the new student. Definitely
not on her to do list. All she wanted was to live her life without any
change. But every since her mother's death, everything has been
changing. Including the residence of Junction. And I do mean changing.
Pietr Rusakova, the new guy with gorgeous looks, has a secret. Now
Jessie's biggest fear - change - is coming true.



I instantly loved
Jessie. She knows what she wants and will do what she can for it. And
she has smarts. Though I may argue with that statement when it comes to
her boy smarts! I did have a few times were I wanted to shake her and
yell "What is wrong with you!?!" But that is when we know we are
connecting with the characters we are reading.

Speaking of
connections, I loved the one between Jessie and Pietr. They are great
together. Bickering a lot, yes. But that always means so much more than
it is.



Pietr was a fantastic
character. You could tell he had something he always wanted to say to
Jessie, but couldn't bring himself to do it. Well, because he wasn't
allowed to. Whenever he was in the scene you could tell that Jessie lit
up, and you lit up with her!



The storyline is
wonderful. I thought I had everything figured out when I first started
reading, but there are so many shocking moments you aren't expecting.
That makes a great book. Expect the unexpected.  Keeps you on your toes.



The ending leaves you wanting a lot more. More Jessie. More Junction. Definitely more Pietr! 

If you are a wolf fan. Or a paranormal fan. Or a young love fan. You should pick up 13 to Life by Shannon Delany! 

Reader reviewed by sariebearie08

I have heard a lot of
great things about this book, so naturally, my expectations going in
were set very high. Unfortunately, I found this book a bit lacking. The
book took a long time to build up; the plot was pretty slow moving and
the pacing, for me, was off. For about 3/4 of the Book, the main
character is contemplating whether or not she should be with Pietr. We don't really get any real werewolf action until the last, oh say, 30 pages. The rest of the book really is Jess deciding if she should put herself before her friend Sarah.



That is something
else I found to be bit odd with this book. I did not understand the
friendship between Jess and Sarah. I especially did not understand why
Jess was so protective of her. I do no want to spoil anything for
anyone, but after what Sarah did, I do not understand why Jess attached
herself to Sarah like she did. Which in turn, made me question the main
character - which is something I don't like to do. I forget where it is
in the book, but the author mentions something about an editor making a
claim that a character is too stupid to live - I found that a bit
ironic, because I cannot imagine a person reacting the way Jess did to
Sarah. This made it very difficult to connect to Jess, which is a huge
problem.



Also, like I said
before, the pacing was off. The beginning of the book dragged on and
then it felt like the author was cramming a bunch of plot twists into
the last 20 pages. Don't get me wrong, I love plot twists. But I don't
like plot twists that seem forced. It is almost like there was a
template that said, "oh the book is ending, insert plot twist here". 



Despite the issues I had with this book, I did enjoy it. I am always,
up for a good werewolf story. Although the book dragged for me, it was
a quick read, so I still was able to enjoy it. I will probably read the
next book, hopefully the pacing will be better. I know a lot of other
readers really enjoyed this book, so maybe I am just the odd one out,
but I give this book 3 stars.

Reader reviewed by The Bookshelf Sophisticate

The paranormal genre is one of my favorites and 13 To Life was a book that fell into this category for me and has now been added to a list of series' that I'll be following in the future. Shannon Delany has a fresh voice for a YA debut author and I had fun while reading her work. She turned the science and mythology angles to her advantage when creating her world of werewolves. While some parts may have been predictable, other questions and curiosities were forming along the way for me, so much so that my interest was kept throughout each turn of the page.

Our main characters Jessie and Pietr were fun and interesting to follow along with, but I was often times frustrated with them as well. Jessie more often than not played the role of a martyr and at times that got old and even irritating. While I wanted to yell and shake Jessie more than a time or two for her actions and suggestions, I also found Pietr at fault for agreeing so easily with her decisions. It takes two to cause the confusion and trouble that they created.

But these irritations didn't stop me from reading on. I was just constantly hoping that Jessie and Pietr would snap out of it and start coming around to may way of thinking (I mean come on). While their "unrequited" love was distressing I also had sympathy for their situation and can only hope that they'll eventually get what they both want in the next book. I'm eager to see how everything unfolds.

With extremes thrown into the mix like the CIA's involvement and Russian Mafiosos pulling any strings they can, I think readers will be equally intrigued with how the plot points pan out. I also think Delany will quickly become an author with few equals as far as her cliffhangers and leaving questions unanswered goes. Delany left me pondering what Jessie's crush Derek has to do with the whole story? Will Sarah follow Darth Vader back over to the dark side? Are people who were thought to be on one side of the battle really just playing it cool until they're ready to show their true allegiances? Only Delany can answer these questions with her follow up installments to the 13 To Life series and I for one can't wait to read more to find out.