Review: Becoming Alpha by Aileen Erin

Becoming Alpha
(Alpha Girl, #1)
By: Aileen Erin
Publisher: Ink Monster
Published: Dec. 17, 2013
Genre: YA Paranormal Romance
Rating:

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Tessa McCaide has a unique talent for getting into trouble. Then again, it isn’t easy for a girl with visions to ignore what she sees. Luckily Tessa and her family are leaving California and moving halfway across the country, giving her the perfect opportunity to leave her reputation as “Freaky Tessa” behind.

But Tessa doesn’t realize that kissing the wrong guy in her new Texas town could land her in far more trouble than she ever imagined. Like being forced to attend St. Ailbe’s Academy, a secret boarding school for werewolves.

Even if the wrong guy did accidentally turn her into one of “them” and doom her to attending the weirdest high school ever, Tessa can’t help her growing attraction to the mysterious Dastien Laurent.

When vampires attack St. Alibe’s and her visions pinpoint an enemy in their midst, Tessa realizes that boy drama and her newfound canine tendencies might just be the least of her problems.

Tessa’s life has not been easy. Ever since she was little she’d get visions/memories from a person when she made skin-skin contact with them. So suffice to say, she doesn’t have any friends. When her father gets a job in Texas, resulting in their move, she finds herself starting over. No one knows about her freakish ability or why she wears gloves. So she’s now making friends and hiding her abilities pretty well. But when a boy from the local St. Alibe’s school kisses her a little to roughly, she finds herself the outcast again. That’s not the worst part though. She’s sent away to St. Alibe’s which is a school for werewolves. Which is exactly what Tessa is now. Like she didn’t already have enough on her plate as it was.

Tessa’s had a very lonely life. So when everything goes down and she finds herself in St. Alibe’s, she starts to make friends. She isn’t the weird one anymore. However, it does take her sometime to get used to the school and there are a couple of times where she tries to run away. Which is where the cover comes in. There’s a scene where she’s running through the woods being chased by Dastien and other wolves to stop her from running away. (I just love when a cover connects with the story)

Dastien wasn’t my favorite as far as “heroes” go. He would be strong and stoic one minute and then turn tail abandon Tessa and run the next. Oh and the whole thing with him hanging out with his ex-girlfriend/best friend or whatever the heck they were was not okay. I liked Tessa’s character so much more for not only standing up to Dastien but to the girl as well. She showed a lot of backbone and she got a lot of respect from me for it.

Aileen’s debut novel is pretty awesome. The world building is stellar and the characters, whether likable or not, really shone through. I’m interested to see what comes next for Tessa, Dastien and the gang. This is a great addition to the young adult paranormal romance genre.

“My face was intently hot as he laughed. Holy Freudian slip, Batman. Leave it to me to tell the hottest guy ever that one of my favorite song’s chorus was a guy yelling about how he wants to fu– ‘do’ them like an animal.”