A great Middle Grade book. Inventions, adventures, and growing up are just some of the themes young readers will enjoy. Well written and appropriately paced, with a solid cast. The Yellow Hoods are an endearing bunch and a great series. ( )

**I received a free copy of this book through a goodreads giveaway.**

I love fairy tales and adventure stories so this book was definitely my type of story. It starts fast with plenty of action and continues the same way. It did seem to be written for a younger age than the books I generally read (I'm well into my 40s but still enjoy YA novels most of all) but I wasn't overly bothered by that. At times it had an almost Lemony Snicket feel to it -- explaining ideas and terms that might be new to a younger reader without breaking the story flow. I truly enjoyed the way many different fairy tales were twisted into a new story world. It felt much like an explanation of where those tales came from, as if this world came first and the stories that were told of the events that happen in Adam Dreece's creation are the genesis of some of our more well-known fairy tales. I do wish the story had been a bit longer and had included some more description of the world and the characters but there are more books so I suppose I'll just have to read those now and see if I can get some answers to questions raised by the first one. I can't say I absolutely loved this book, there were some characterizations and story events that I didn't enjoy as much as others, but I can say that I did not at all regret reading the book and that I do look forward to continuing to read about the world the author has created. ( )

This book was pretty good. I loved the way it was like The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood and Robin Hood all rolled into one story. Tee is a very adventurous girl who apparently sometimes gets a little ahead of herself in her exploring. She ends up getting into trouble that she has nothing at all to do with. She goes on innocent enough journey to deliver something for her grandfather and gets caught up in fight between her grandfather and a man who wants to steal something he doesn't even possess.

I finished the book in just over a day and it was fantastic. I loved it and I can't wait to read the second book in the series and find out what is going on with all of the characters. I kept forgetting that it was set in 19th century style, with the way they were doing everything. I loved the characters and the style it was written in. It was well done. This book is fantastic on all counts when I read.


I gave it a 4/5 over all because I was not impressed with the inclusion of the first three chapters of the next book in the back. Normally it is only one chapter. This cut 15% of the book out when I was reading it because I don't like reading the 'preview' of the next book. Other than that it was great. ( )

(ARC was provided to read and review.)

The three friends Tee, Elly and Richy form the Yellow Hoods. Yellow Hoods because of the interesting cloak they are wearing which has a few tricks up its sleeve. Their advantage is Tee's grandfather, the famous inventor Nikolas Klaus, who provides the group regularly with useful and fun inventions. There's the sail-cart, which is like its name suggests, a normal cart fitted with a sail for extra speed and luckily the necessary brakes, as they can turn into real life savers during their adventures.

And there are quite a few adventures ahead for the group as Nikolas works together with a befriended inventor on some steam engine plans and the evil St. Malo wants to lay his hands on them and he has sent the nasty Monsieur LeLoup to steal them.
But LeLoup isn't off to a good start, as his first encounter on his way to Nikolas' cottage in the forest are the Cochon brothers, who try to rob him. Tee is able to interfere and save LeLoup, something she will come to regret a lot later on.
LeLoup does stop at nothing to achieve his goal and it's gripping to follow him and the Yellow Hoods to see who will win at the end.

Along came a Wolf is a highly entertaining mixture of fairytales, steampunk, adventure and there's also a bit of romance going on.
The story is fun, inventive and bursts with imagination. Just take a look at the character's names, as it's well worth it.
There's the villian LeLoup (le loup is french for the wolf) and the three "pigs", the Cochon brothers (cochon is french for pig). The given names of the three Cochons were a complete hit with me, Squeals, Bore and Bakon and because Bakon lays his eyes on one of the female guards, Egelina-Marie, we got Bakon and Eg going on a date.
The start of the story reminded me strongly of Red Riding Hood, when the Yellow Hood (Tee) takes a red box (maybe in a basket) to her Grandfather's house in the woods and has her first encounter with the "wolf". I just loved the way the author integrates fairytales into the story.

The other thing I really liked, there's a lot of action and there's fighting with swords and guns and even explosives, but nothing is bloody or gruesome, which makes the book very suitable for a younger age group.
The short chapters often come with fun headers like Huff and Puff, which even the otherwise reluctant reader will enjoy.
The character I loved most is Nikolas, he is warm hearted and always comes up with the most exiting ideas and he's just the perfect grandfather, always kind and encouraging. Tee is a strong willed and clever girl, but I felt there wasn't enough about her.
All of the Yellow Hoods form a strong bond and risk their life for their friends and I'm looking forward to read more of all of them.

Towards the end, the story picks up immense pace when a new character, the HOUND, is introduced and you can't help, but just want to continue with the second book of the series to find out what's happening next.

The Yellow Hoods are certainly off to an excellent start. Highly recommended. ( )