A review by keandrews95
Phased by Victoria Tecken

4.0

The author was kind enough to send me a signed copy of her book! Continuing on a werewolf kick, this book is full of them and offers a slightly unique twist to the typical werewolf stories. Val and Lyla were very interesting characters to me, and I loved getting this sibling bond in the story. They are two different personalities (although sometimes they acted very similar). I got a lot of Stranger Things and Teen Wolf vibes from the story, which I really enjoyed. The found family and the justice they got at the end were nicely done. Tecken does a good job of showing the tension of siblings but also the more tender moments between these two sisters. Tecken does a good job of creating well-rounded characters with their own distinct subtleties and personalities. There is a whole hierarchy within the werewolf culture that I wanted to know more about, and the ending of the book lends itself for a sequel. I did feel like there were scenes that could have been fleshed out more, especially in the beginning with the budding friendships the sisters made with their classmates and being in the actual school itself (I know, weird that I wanted to see more classroom scenes lol). I had a bit of a hard time gauging how much had passed in the beginning of their semester before they got to their holiday breaks. There is also a lot of tension between the Weres and the humans but not a lot of backstory is given as to how werewolves came about in this story, how tensions in the past were, and how this society as a whole function with Weres and humans living side by side (or how lycanthropy is spread). I wanted to know more of that backstory and wanted more information about what was in the Trueblood book. Some scenes I felt could have had more setting details, particularly at the school and the dorms. I did like the plot twist with Lyla and how smooth of a read this book was (especially after reading so many chonky books).