A review by massivepizzacrust
Once There Were Wolves by Charlotte McConaghy

challenging dark emotional hopeful tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

The audiobook read by Saskia Maarleveld is outstanding! I usually space out during audiobooks but I was engaged the entire time and the narration added an new level of emotion to the story. This was sometimes a hard book to get through, and listening to the last 20% of it in the car made me forget to take my freeway exit. Definitely check content warnings before heading into this, it was more detailed than I realized.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Pregnancy, Alcohol, Sexual harassment, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Drug use and Sexual content

Minor: Vomit

Domestic abuse is a central theme of this book. On screen events happen in flashbacks but they are quite detailed.