The Calling by Kelley Armstrong

Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the sign of what she truly is - a skin-walker. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows she will soon be able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents, including local bad boy Rafe, with whom she shares a powerful secret.

Now Maya and her friends have been forced to flee their homes during a forest fire they suspect was set deliberately. Stranded in the wilderness of Vancouver Island, only their extraordinary abilities can help them get back home. But can Maya really trust her friends? And can she learn how to control her dangerous gift, before it controls her?

I'm not too pleased with the beginning of this book, bad things happened that I didn't want to happen! But a Kelley book wouldn't be a Kelley book without bad stuff happening.

I enjoyed the progression of the series in this book. Maya is a very mature YA lead so she's very easy to read, a lot of YA leads are annoyingly immature and yes, I do know they're YA so they're supposed to be young but I mean annoyingly immature. Maya is a nice change from that, although it may also be that she's forced into taking a leadership role to help her friends.

I also really enjoyed the little drops of the Darkest Powers series in here, mentions of names and events and I really can't wait to see them meet up. I can almost picture how Derek will react to the new bunch of people showing up and I cannot WAIT to read that scene. Any Kelley fans will love this and any non-Kelley fans, I suggest you start with The Summoning which is Book one of the Darkest Powers series.


Book Depository: The Calling
Amazon UK: The Calling