Uncontrollable by S.R. Johannes Review

Uncontrollable by S.R. Johannes
(The Nature of Grace, #2)
Release Date: September 24, 2012
Publisher: Coleman & Stott; 300 pages

As Grace recovers from tragedy, her science class is chosen by Agent Sweeney at the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service to help with research on the new "Red Wolf Reintroduction Program".

While she’s excited about helping with the conservation of the endangered wolves, Grace knows this means being outdoors in the worst winter recorded, in a place she no longer feels comfortable. It also means working closely with Wyn (her ex) and his annoying girlfriend (Skyler), a girl whose idea of getting close to nature is picking silk plants and growing fake plants.

After a couple of wolves show up dead, Grace almost quits. However, when a fellow project team member goes missing, Grace continues the assignment under a renewed suspicion that someone might be sabotaging the conservation program. She quietly begins to hunt for clues.

Little does she know, she is being hunted too.

S.R. Johannes does it again (minus my ridiculous crying). I fell in love with Untraceable and it broke my heart at the same time. I actually can't believe it's already been ten months since I read the first book. I want to thank the author for not only asking me to be a part of her blog tour but also sending me a copy of the second book to read and review. I've been so busy with books to read that I've finally gotten a moment to read this book. I finished it in less than 12 hours (including a few hours of sleep and watching the Voice in there) - so that just shows you how addicting the book is. I fell in love with her characters, her world and the wildlife in the woods of North Carolina. Was curious as to how she would get Grace back out in to the wilderness after that happened to her in the first book. She is a girl of nature and there's no keeping someone away from something they're so passionate about. It took some time but she went back out there and this time instead of protecting bears, it's the near extinct red wolves that she's out to protect. I have a soft spot for wolves so I was eager to dive right in.

Grace is still hurting from many losses in Untraceable and the fact that her best friend (and ex-boyfriend), Wyn, swore he'd never talk to her at the end of Untraceable and he's been sticking to his word. He's all over Skyler and ignores that Grace even exists. Grace is jealous and hurt. She needed him more than ever these past few months and he pretends like she's not even there. You can't help but want to do two things. First being giving a Grace a huge hug and telling her you're there for her and second, knocking Wyn upside his head. He needs a swift hit to the head to set him straight. Things are tense for a good bit of the book before things get back to normal with these two...but that doesn't stay that way for long.

Six kids from Grace's class form two groups that are to go out and study these wolves. Study how they're adapting to being out in the wild and take notes. Something terribly goes wrong on the first day and they stumble upon a dead wolf. A young male. At first glance it appears he is dead of natural causes but nothing is that obvious when Grace is involved. It breaks my heart seeing these wolves, dying. You know it's not of natural causes but you don't know what or better yet who is killing these beautiful creatures. Grace does what Grace does best...she stops at nothing to uncover the truth, even if she puts herself in harm's way. I have so much respect for her strength.

I hate growing attached to characters sometimes. Even the annoying ones.

There are some aspects to this book that are predictible and some that you didn't see coming or at least don't see coming until they're basically smacking you in the face. I like that about a book. A bit of mystery for the reader to solve as well as the characters. There's a great balance of that throughout this book. Not to mention the ending is just perfect. Or rather, the epilogue. The next book is going to be epic. You know there's going to be a big showdown between Grace and her enemy from the first book. E.P.I.C.

Read this series. Especially if you're an animal lover. It feels real. It makes me want to go out in to the woods and just sit. (May be not in the winter like they do in this book...)