Sisters Red, by Jackson Pearce

Sisters Red comes with an interesting personal story. It was a Top 16 Reading List book my senior year of high school, and the author, Jackson Pearce, was invited to my school’s library to talk about it. Apparently, I read the book just in time, because I scrambled to get my teachers’ permission to skip class the day she came to my school. Long story short, the frantic scramble to fill out that permission slip was worth it!

Sisters Scarlett and Rosie March have been on their own ever since a werewolf attacked them and their grandmother many years ago. They now live in their late grandmother’s cottage, hunting werewolves, or Fenris, in the surrounding woods. When they get word that Fenris wolf packs are growing and now on the hunt for a special new recruit (called a Potential), they move to Atlanta to continue the hunt. But the sisters’ friend and hunting partner, Silas, has returned, and Rosie’s feelings for him have grown complicated.

Through all the bloodshed and action and romance in this book, the focus remains on the bond between Scarlett and Rosie. While they are very different people, they share experiences that only the other can understand. Plus, their strengths complement the other in a hunt. Scarlett is the stronger, fiercer hunter, while Rosie uses her beauty and softness as bait to lure the wolves into a fight.

I love their development as sisters too. Hunting werewolves is what keeps them together, but Rosie, having grown up a little and fallen for Silas, wants to experience life outside of the hunt. Except she worries that wanting a normal life will sever her tie with the person she loves most in the world—her sister. Scarlett and Rosie have a lot more to learn about each other than they think, and their journey is emotionally compelling. And it’s this central relationship that brings me back to this book.

Of course, Rosie’s little romance with Silas is cute too. Reading it a third time, I really picked up more on the hints suggesting a future romance, and it is a sweet little side-plot to all the blood, guts, and tension.

The fun thing about this book is that it’s actually the first in four books that share the same universe. Three of Pearce’s other books retell fairy tales, but they are all connected with the same people and their encounters with the Fenris. So if you enjoy literary universes, this could be a fun stepping-stone into Jackson Pearce’s multiverse.

So, I love this book—not only because it comes with a fun story of meeting the author, but because the sisters are written very well, and it’s an introduction to another world stretching across many connected stories.