On Fire
Author: Nancy Holder
Published: 2012
On Goodreads
My Rating: 
Rated F for fire, friendship, and furry hormones of the teenage variety.
Dreams can come true.
Just not the good ones.
After a mountain lion attack at Beacon Hills High, Scott is feeling a little more than cautious. It wasn’t the mountain lion that attacked the school. It was the Alpha. Turned werewolf by him, Scott worries now more than ever that he’s in danger of being controlled by the Alpha and putting his friends in danger.
As if things couldn’t possibly get worse, Jackson is missing. Lydia is dead set on finding him and enlists the help of Allison, Danny, and even Scott. Meanwhile, Derek has no choice but to go to Stiles for help in keeping Kate Argent at bay while tracking the Alpha and Scott. Unfortunately, a trip down memory lane has him distracted.
This book dropped in the midst of season 1 of the hit TV show when it was still fresh and we had no idea what was coming later. Knowing that this book wasn’t half bad. It lacked a lot of imagination, but the characters were right on point. Scott was his typical sweet and innocent kid in his first relationship while his best friend was still sarcastic and stronger about the werewolf problems than he. And of course, Jackson was still an asshole I wanted to throat punch while Lydia was too good for him.
I will say that this book could’ve been more. It seemed that the author didn’t drive character growth but just enveloped the little bit she had from the show. It was unfortunate how little there was built up and that it was nothing except repeats from the show, but for a tie-in, I shouldn’t put in so much expectation.
One of the most exciting parts about this book for me was probably extremely minor to other people. And, that’s the fact that Danny had a big part in this. Or at least, I thought he did. LOL. Danny is my fictional best friend, so I get to be excited. He really deserved more in the show.
Knowing that Jackson’s adoption and birth parents were supposed to get explored and never did made his arc pretty good! These were two major highlights. While I adore Scott and the Alpha he became, he was quite the naïve puppy in the book, leaving me snorting and going, “Wooooow, the hormones are raging.”. Jackson’s identity has always been a huge plot hole so it was fantastic to indulge it. He was still worthy of a shit-ton of punches though. He’s such a dick. LOL.
And getting the front row seat to Derek’s past was heartbreaking. Getting thrown into the throes of innocence and young lust, caught by Kate Argent was sad. Where he thought he stood a chance, a hunter manipulated him and destroyed his life. Derek is one of the ones that has been through the most tragedy and pain so it hurt to see where it began. I also have to imagine this was at least 1-2 years after Paige…that or this is one version or possibility of the TW realm because of Paige and because of the hostile references to Scott’s dad.
Overall
Not the best, but not terrible. There were arcs that were worth it, but the writing of the characters was subpar and lacking. Maybe this is a book that was ahead of its time and not in a good way. Should’ve waited a season and then release a book because there should be much more to fill it out. Still, I felt tickled to dip back into Beacon Hills.
Quotables:
“In her opinion, the only good werewolf was a dead werewolf. And as for those so-called normal Hales who had died in the unfortunate electrical fire in their house? Better safe than sorry.” (Kate, p. 98)
“Rage was not her enemy. Rage got the job done.” (Kate, p. 167)
More to come soon…
-K.
Song Today? Bad Liar by Imagine Dragons.
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The Scarlet Reader 
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