Thornhill by Kathleen Peacock

Thornhill by Kathleen Peacock
Hemlock #2
Release Date: September 10, 2013
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Source: Bought
Star Rating: 4
Rating: Enjoyable

Mac can’t lose another friend. Even if he doesn’t want to be found.

The ripple effect caused by Mac’s best friend Amy’s murder has driven Mac’s new love, Kyle, to leave Hemlock and disappear from her life forever. But Mac knows that Kyle plans to enroll in a rehabilitation camp, where he can live with other werewolves. She refuses to accept his decision, especially since the camps are rumored to be tortuous. So she sets out in search of Kyle with a barely sober Jason—and Amy’s all-seeing ghost—in tow.

Clues lead Mac to find Kyle in a werewolf den in Colorado—but their reunion is cut short by a Tracker raid. Now Mac and Kyle are trapped inside the electric fences of Thornhill, a camp for young werewolves. As she devises an escape plan, Mac uncovers dangerous secrets buried within the walls of Thornhill—and realizes that the risk to the people she loves is greater than ever before.

Some rooms looked better in the dark.

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I can't believe Thornhill is finally out! It feels like I've been waiting for it for years. Kathleen Peacock, y u no write faster? Are you too busy watching Doctor Who? Ehem. So, anyway, I adored Hemlock, so much so that I recommended it to Tatum. I was actually surprised that she loved it so much, because she does have trouble with some YA and first person perspectives. Weird, right? But she adored Hemlock as much as I did, so that was, to me, a sign from the heavens that Peacock is as fabulous as I thought she was.

Thornhill feels a lot shorter than Hemlock; it seems as though little happened in comparison. Thornhill was still action packed, but it all went by so fast, and I missed the steady mystery that had me hooked in Hemlock.

In addition to feeling shorter, Thornhill also feels a lot darker. I know what you're thinking: how can you get darker than a serial killer, right? Well, Thornhill, the place, is actually a prison for werewolves. A lot of horrible shit goes down behind those electric fences, and it gave me shivers. I do wonder how some characters are going to come back from that, because a lot of stuff was done to them.

I hadn't seen Veronica Mars before I read Hemlock, but now that I am a giant VM fan, I can totally see the connection between Veronica and Lilly, and Mac and Amy. As soon as Amy turned up in Mac's dream in this one, I was all LILLY KANE IS THAT YOU. So yes, Amy continues to show up in this one and give Mac ominous messages and confusing advice. I wish we could have met Amy before she had died, but this was good enough. Amy is hilarious and I love her.

I really like the main characters in this series, and I sympathise with all of them, even if I might not adore them all. Mac is, of course, my favourite. She remains tough in this one, even faced with so much. She is locked up with a bunch of werewolves, she has no parents, she has been torn away from her home in order to find her runaway boyfriend... There's a lot of stuff happening here, and I love it.

In Thornhill, we learn a bit more about Mac and her father's relationship. If you recall, he left her when she was younger, and they haven't been in contact since then. I really enjoyed reading about Mac's feelings towards him, and I totally cried over them. I sobbed at the airport.

I loved Jason in this book. I can't remember my feelings towards him in Hemlock, although I do know that I wasn't on his side in the love triangle. The triangle is still slightly present in Thornhill, and for once it didn't annoy me. In fact, I found myself rather enjoying it, and getting feelings from both sides. To be fair, it's not even a proper love triangle because everyone knows that Mac and Kyle are MEANT2B, but this just made it worse for me because I was sympathising with Mac and Jason over their confused feelings for each other. It was just so hopeless.

I do wonder if - if there's a third book, which there had better be - Jason is going to step up. In Hemlock, Jason was depressed, irrational, and angry over Amy's death. In Thornhill, he really improves as a person, and I'm hoping that he will continue to go through a lot of character growth and become a hero in the third book. Logan Echolls, anyone? God, Tatum is going to kill me.

As for Kyle... Well, was he even in this book, aside from at the beginning and the end? I don't think he was. He didn't do much other than growl in a wolfy manner and try to protect Mac a lot. I would have liked to have seen some more development with him, rather than having is flung in at the end when he tells everyone what he really wants. I still like Kyle, but he needed to be more involved. He's the whole reason Mac and Jason left Hemlock in the first place, for crying out loud!

So, yes, I really enjoyed Thornhill. I missed the murder mystery that was present in Hemlock, but the dark psychological stuff in this was great, as was the character development. I cried, which is always a sign of a good book. If there isn't a third book, then I give up. On everything.