Actual Rating: 3.5 stars 
 As I had said before, Marissa Meyer sure knows how to weave a good story. I pretty much flew through this one, the story being well paced. Then why only 3.5 stars? I'll tell. So, without further ado, let's start with the review! 
 The second installment in the Lunar Chronicles series is the retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. Synonymous with the story, Scarlet, our protagonist in this book is a girl who lives in Rieux, France with her grandmother. Her grandmother, who was once in the military, owns a farm, and grows the best tomatoes in town. Scarlet does the job of delivering the vegetables to the Rieux tavern. She is free spirited and brave, sometimes brash, loves wearing a red jacket and hides a gun. Sounds just about right. But there is more to it than that. Scarlet's grandmother has been kidnapped over two weeks, with no sign or clue left behind. The police are unable to trace her, and she has no family except her father, who has severe drinking issues. She is determined to find her grandmother. But who will help her? 
 Here comes Wolf, the part-antagonist of this book, a newbie street fighter in town. He decides to help Scarlet, when her father suddenly shows up saying that her grandmother is being held, because she is hiding some secrets. Scarlet and Wolf decide to board a train to Paris to retrieve her grandmother. But again, Wolf is not as trustworthy as he seems. There is a bigger picture. Meanwhile, Cinder is on the run with her accomplice, Captain Thorne and Iko, and the entire kingdom of New Beijing is on the lookout. Their lives are all interlinked, which unfolds as the story progresses. 
 I certainly loved the character development of Cinder here. She became much more wiser than she already was. Though the story mainly revolved around Scarlet, whenever Cinder came, she shone. 
 Scarlet, well....I found her to be a bit naive. She completely trusted a stranger, who could be vulnerable and dangerous at times. (She had already seen this in a number of occasions.). She was swept away by emotions, unlike Cinder, who thought things through. Also, she continued to trust Wolf when all he did was lie, cheat, and betray. I found Wolf to be pretty clever, manipulative, and seemingly violent, with a heart of gold, of course. I also found the whole alpha, beta, omega thing to introduce a wolf pack to be slightly silly. 
 This was a story of insta-love. The story of a good-innocent-but-brave girl who falls for the bad-guy-who-has-good-in-him-only-needs-some-love. Which we have seen in a number of contemporary romance novels. Somehow, I liked Cinder and Kai better. Nevertheless, Marissa Meyer has done a wonderful job of tying all the loose ends together in the end, weaving a tight and engaging plot, retaining the classic flavour. I finished this sooner than I did Cinder. 
 Now, I immediately want to start Cress because I am too excited to know what happens next!