Jessica Aspen is a 'new to me' writer. Since the purchase of my first Kindle years ago, this reader has been experimenting with more new writers, looking for another to grace her own bookshelves along with her go-to favorites such as Gena Showalter, Karen Marie Moning, Lynsay Sands, and Charlaine Harris to name a few. Many of these experiments failed - reading book after book filled with poor spelling, grammar, punctuation, awful sentence structuring, and tense issues. In other words, no editing and little care from the writer as to how they presented themselves to their reading public. So please understand this reader's intense pleasure and shock finally finding a writer that cares about their words, putting that extra effort into normal editing. Add to that a creative mind retelling a classic fairy tale with an adult-oriented, erotic twist, and this reader was and is beyond estatic at finding Jessica Aspen. The setting descriptions were beautifully descriptive, allowing this reader to visualize the gorgeous mountain area. The main characters were detailed enough to allow this reader to empathize with them and cheer them on or want to slap them for not seeing what this reader saw. Aspen tells a fun tale that also happens to tackle bigotry, albeit wolf-shifter's towards humans, but bigotry just the same; and, she does so tastefully, creatively, humorously, and flat-out interestingly - without pushing a moral or even personal agenda onto her readers. This reader absolutely adored dimunitive yet spunky Red. Red's love interest, Evan, was not just a physical delight, but also a fully fleshed out character that this reader rooted for. This reader wished Grandma had had a bigger slice of the story, as this reader truly appreciated her homespun intelligence and common sense approach to problems - all given with obvious love for her grand daughter, Red, and with a certain touch of humor. Red's brother Seth was cast as the main antagonist, as the one that never wanted Evan and Red to be togethor. His misguided anger towards Evan and his horrendous attitude towards humans, or 'mundanes' as he referrs to them, brought out this reader's ire and desire for his comeuppance - which happens in the next book of the series, "Snow". This reader cannot wait to witness Seth's insides twisting into a knot when he falls for a human female! True poetic justice. To sum up, 'Red' is an erotic retelling of a classic fairy tale with highly engaging characters and beautiful settings. Jessica Aspen has a wonderfully creative mind that plays well with her way with words - a true storyteller. This reader highly recommends this writer, and welcomes her to this reader's bookshelves. ** Review originally posted to Amazon reviews on October 2, 2016. **
