Howl at that Moon, Girl!

A Review of Katlyn Skinner’s “Tell the Wolves I’m Home”

Synopsis

Hazel has spent years avoiding her “Uncle” Rob’s sexual advances. When Hazel finds herself alone with Rob for a week she has no choice but to hide… until an unexpected shift gives Hazel the power she needs to fight back.
Suddenly, a world of Shifters reveals itself around Hazel when her best friend, Molly, is attacked by a mysterious creature. How will Hazel survive in this threatening new world? And who can she trust? David, a best friend from her past? Or Caden, a young man she can’t seem to stay away from?

Would you rather be alone in the woods with a bear or a man?

Months ago, this question fell into the internet and ricocheted into wild debates across the globe. Women everywhere were like, “Bear, obviously.” Men were aghast. The point, obviously, being that women know men to be more threatening than bears. Case in point: The google bot says that there are about 44 bear attacks per year, but 4.8 million women report intimate partner violence per year. And that’s JUST intimate partner violence. And that’s just REPORTED intimate partner violence. So yeah, bring on the bears.

Katlyn Skinner’s debut novel, Tell the Wolves I’m Home engages readers in a thought experiment that flips that bear/man question on its head. Let’s ask the men: Would you rather be alone in the woods with a bear or a woman?

Even writing that question, I start to get queazy. If he picks woman, is it because he plans to attack her? Who is this man? Can we trust him?

`SPOILERS AHEAD.`

At the start of Skinner’s novel, we find Hazel in a position we hate to recognize. Her aunt is trapped in an abusive relationship with a man named Rob, who has also been secretly abusing Hazel for the last few years. Both Hazel and her aunt feel powerless in this situation, and secrets bloom between them.

This power dynamic begins to shift when Hazel transitions into her wolf form. Her transition is simultaneous with the emergence of her own sexual desire. As she begins to become keenly aware of men her age, the wolf-part of her emerges.

At the same time, her best friend, Molly, is attacked and mutilated by a rival wolf-pack. Hazel’s rage at the injustice tangles itself with her emerging sexuality, and allows her access to the power she never knew she contained. Finally able to see herself as a predator, Hazel is able to overcome Rob’s advances and find freedom.

The brilliance of Skinner’s novel is the integration of dark, disturbing content, like sexual abuse and domestic violence, in such a soft-spoken way. This book is firmly YA, and you won’t get detailed descriptions of abuse, so it’s safe for teens who have more sheltered upbringings. For teens who have experienced abuse, this book will hand them a mirror that lets them see the wolf in themselves.

Skinner weaves two distinctly different sexual experiences into one cohesive character. Hazel has been abused, yes, and you can see the way that abuse has impacted her character. She is hyper-vigilant, quick to hide and protect herself from a threat. But then, with the emergence of her wolf-form, she becomes confident, powerful, and vicious. She’s still hyper-vigilant, but she isn’t afraid. She knows she has the ability to overcome any threat, or is at least willing to try, using her hyper-vigilance as a tool that further empowers her.

For someone like me, who grew up in the tail end of purity culture, this was a really meaningful portrayal of a healthy sexuality. In my experience, a lot of women, especially women who were raised in the church, felt that their sexuality was a target they wore. It marked them as prey. Skinner expresses the duality of the feminine experience; we are both prey and predator, but what we feed gains power. When Hazel realizes the power in her new form, she is able to recognize the weakness and cowardice of Rob. She can’t change the past, but she can change her perception of herself, which allows her to break out of his control.

Obviously, kids these days aren’t shifting into wolves every time they sense a threat, but I like to believe that Hazel didn’t need her wolf form to overcome Rob. She needed a perspective shift. The fangs and claws were just perks.

Tell the Wolves I’m Home is definitely one worth adding to your TBR. It’s well-written, plot-driven, has depth and authentic characters. The end will leaving you gutted. ANNDDD….. We have it in stock here at Inklings Book Shoppe – Bartow, so come see us!

SO… what about that bear?

All that being said, whether you’re a man or a woman, you should probably always choose to be alone in the woods with a bear. You never know who might shift into a bloodthirsty wolf and devour you, but a bear sure as heck won’t. Maybe just cross your fingers and hope for the Pooh type.

sarina r michel