Jenna Baner gives Little Red Riding Hood a blind heroine, a witch worth trusting, and a friendship worth protecting.
I’ve always wondered how Little Red Riding Hood could look straight at a wolf in a nightgown and think, Yep, that’s Grandma. So when I found out that Arden Hood, the heroine of Jenna Baner’s Girls Walking with Wolves, is blind, I laughed at the irony. Then I got curious. What happens when the girl everybody wants to warn about the woods already knows her way through them?
Thank you to the author and Page Street YA for the book and my honest review. This book is a part of a book tour sponsored by Toppling Stacks Tours.
I love the creepy versions of Little Red Riding Hood. I remember hearing a werewolf version where Grandma is a werewolf and Red becomes one, too. Then there’s the familiar story with the wolf dressed as Grandma and the huntsman coming to the rescue. In another telling I remember, Grandma gets stuffed in a closet while the wolf waits in her place. Whichever version you grew up with, somebody is having a very bad day at Grandma’s house. I picked up Baner’s YA retelling, published by Page Street, because I wanted to see what she’d do with those familiar pieces.
A walk to Grandma’s house takes a turn
Arden Hood has been blind since birth and walks deep into the woods every day to care for her ailing grandmother. The villagers tell stories about witches in the forest, but Arden has made that trip plenty of times without meeting one. She wonders if her life will always consist of quiet evenings with her father and days at her grandmother’s bedside.
Then Arden meets the Queen’s hunter at the market. He’s interested in her and evasive about what he’s hunting. That same evening, a wolf attacks Arden, and a young woman named Myra comes to her rescue. Myra turns out to be the last witch living in the woods. She’s also kind, and before long she’s the best friend Arden has ever had. The girls keep their friendship a secret, which gets harder to do when the Queen’s hunter is determined to catch a witch.
Arden makes this Red Riding Hood her own
I loved Baner’s decision to make Arden blind. My old joke about the wolf’s terrible disguise got me interested, and the care Baner took with Arden’s day-to-day experience made the choice work for me. Her walk to her grandmother’s house is a good example. To someone hearing village stories about witches, a girl walking alone into the woods might sound like the beginning of a cautionary tale. To Arden, it’s a route she knows and a trip she makes because somebody she loves needs her.
I also appreciated how Baner showed people reacting to Arden’s blindness. I was interested in what Arden made of those encounters, especially when somebody’s response told me more about them than it did about her. That felt especially fitting in a story where people have strong opinions about whom Arden should trust. I liked being along for the moments when what she learns about somebody clashes with what she’s been told.
Myra and Arden reminded me of my own close friendships
Myra and Arden’s friendship was the part of the book that stayed with me. I loved that the person the village stories would teach Arden to fear turns out to be someone she’s glad to know. There’s something sweet about watching Arden discover how kind Myra is for herself. There’s also something sad about having to keep a friendship that makes you happy a secret.
There’s a romantic element to the story, and I can see how readers might connect with it. I read the bond between Myra and Arden as more platonic. It reminded me of close friendships in my own life and how much it means to find someone you trust enough to let into your world. That was the kind of love I felt most strongly between these two. By the time the hunter’s search started to threaten that friendship, I was already invested in what would happen to both of them.
The hunter kept me turning pages
I usually think of the huntsman as the guy who shows up when Red and Grandma need rescuing, so I enjoyed seeing him become the person I worried about. His interest in Arden made me uneasy from the start because he kept his reasons for being there to himself. Once I cared about Myra, the fact that he was hunting a witch felt a whole lot more urgent.
The switch felt familiar as retellings go, and I had a good idea where the danger would come from. What kept me turning pages was wondering what that danger would mean for Arden and Myra. I knew whose side I was on. I wanted to see what the two girls would do once keeping their friendship a secret could only get them so far.
My 4.5-star verdict
If you like your fairy tales with creepy woods and a reason to question the person who’s supposed to come to the rescue, I’d give Girls Walking with Wolves a try. I picked it up to see what Jenna Baner would do with Little Red Riding Hood. I finished it thinking about Arden and Myra, and about the friends who make our own worlds a little bigger.
Which version of Little Red Riding Hood did you grow up with? And did you ever wonder how that wolf got away with wearing Grandma’s nightgown? Comment below.
About the book:
Genre: YA Fantasy
Publishing date: November 10, 2026
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Rep: LGBT+, Lesbian, Aro/Ace, Blind
Synopsis:
Arden Hood, blind since birth, is not afraid of witches.
Every day Arden walks alone, deep into the woods, to care for her beloved, ailing grandmother, and she’s yet to come across a single witch.
Arden believes her life may be this small forever―quiet evenings with her father and days spent at her grandmother’s bedside―until two encounters alter the course of her life. One day at the market she chances upon the Queen’s hunter, who develops an interest in her yet won’t say what he’s hunting; and that same evening, she’s rescued from a wolf attack by a mysterious young woman named Myra, the last witch still living in the woods.
Myra is nothing like the witches in the villagers’ stories―she is good and kind and soon she becomes the best friend Arden has ever had. The girls hide their friendship, but they cannot hide forever. The hunter was sent to these woods for a reason, and he won’t leave until he’s captured a witch…
Also, according to Page Steet YA the first edition of this book will come with sprayed edges. So be sure to pick yours up soon before they’re gone!
Meet the author:
Jenna Baner is a debut author who specializes in character-driven Young Adult and New Adult fiction, with a particular passion for spotlighting queer, acespec, and disabled female characters.