The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong
Darkness Rising Book #1. 359 p. HarperCollins Publishers, April, 2011. 978-0-06-179702-6. (Purchased for school library collection.)
Sixteen-year-old Maya Delaney loves the life she and her adoptive parents live in a remote Vancouver Island community that is connected to a medical research facility. Her parents know little about her heritage, but she is part Native American. She also sports a birthmark in the shape of a cat paw and has an affinity for large cats. When she and her mother attempt to get her a tattoo for her sixteenth birthday, they are verbally attacked by the aunt of the tattoo artist, who called Maya, " Yee nlslooahii," which she later learns means shape shifter or werewolf.
There's more mystery though in this plot-driven, fast-paced beginning of a trilogy, including several unexplained deaths. Fans of Armstrong's earlier Darkest Powers trilogy will gasp at the connection and will eagerly lap this one up and pant for the next installment.
Me? I didn't love The Darkest Powers Trilogy, but I really enjoyed this one and will be reading book two, The Calling as soon as it's delivered with my JLG subscription this month. I don't know why I loved this one so much - maybe it was the setting or the lack of a disingenuous, waffling narrator (Maya is pretty kick butt) or the relative lack of romance. I just did.