This book was so entertaining. I was drawn into the story from the beginning and was involved until the end. The characters were complex and interesting. I found the story to be well paced and engrossing throughout the whole book. I was invested in the couple throughout the book and felt all the emotions through both the highs and lows of the story. The way th shifter world was used to show different political issues was genius. The chemistry between the couple was so amazing. The side characters were such an integral part of this story as well. This is the love story i needed to read at this time. If you want an entertaining and well written book this is it for you

So the cover is eye catching along with the title but it was the blurb that sucked me in .

What did I like? Neha and Joe start out on opposite sides of the spectrum but by the end they have gone the distance....together. The attraction is physical but Neha makes a great main character who doesn’t waiver in loyalty to Joe.

Would I recommend or buy? So this is my first by this author and it has way too much going on but since it’s the first in a series it’s allowed. My problem lies with tying everything together and I just grew bored. Besides Joe and Neha I couldn’t care less what happened to anyone else. I’m not sure I’d pick up another in this series, and I’m not sure who I’d recommend it to. Two and a half stars.

I received a complimentary copy to read and voluntarily left a review.

Snyder tells us that in this world “the day-to-day for the average white human citizen was as it had been a few years before,” but for the Black and Brown citizens, the shape-shifter, the LGBTQ, the sorcerer, the vampire, and the refugees seeking asylum—their classification is instant and unchallengeable. Those who are “other than” white cis-hetero men are not even afforded second class status; they have no status. They might as well not exist. If not surveilled and contained, they disappear into camps and then just disappear.

I really admire what Suleikha has done with this book - it does not shy away from the ugliness of our world. That was refreshing in a way, and also sometimes too close to home. The world-building was true to life, aside from the shapeshifters. The central romance didn't really work for me, but I'm intrigued by several of the side characters and I hope we'll see more of them as the series goes on!

Big Bad Wolf is a great shapeshifter story. I will read the next book in the series. The story and its characters kept my interest throughout the story, but I didn’t like the ending as much as I wanted to. It wasn’t exactly what I expected and it wasn’t as happily ever after as I truly wanted for the characters. If you like paranormal romance books, I would recommend this book. If your book club reads romance, I would recommend this book for your group. Just keep in mind that this story is steamy and does describe sexy and steamy scenes.

This was a disappointment. As a South Asian person, it hurts me, even more, to rate it so low.

Let me begin with the good parts.
- Good chemistry and steam scenes between the main characters
- Great South Asian and Punjabi culture representation
- Having lived in Manhattan as a South Asian, I loved the accurate portrayal of Jackson Heights and Jersey City Indian culture
- Love that cover
- Love that every character was so diverse.

That's about it.
I had several issues with this book that not only made me sad, but also made me exasperated and depressed.

1. The author notes in her Author's note that this book is her way of dealing with the 2016 presidency and everything that followed. This is a paranormal/dystopian world where not only every problem existing in the US is acknowledged but add in shifters and vampires that have been exposed.

2. This is not a shifter book where the shifter part is valued, loved or even appreciated. These are sort of medically injected shifters/lab created shifters. Our main hero is one of them. I had major issues with the hero. He was in the army where he had killed a lot of people, as a human and as an animal. I feel like he just hated having an animal inside him. There was no bond between him and his animal. The self hatred was so strong, that the hero had an EPIC case of "You deserve better" for the herione and CONSTANTLY pushed her away. Right till over 90% of the book.

3. Multiple POVs: I understand that this is the first in a long series. There was also a parallel story of another couple going on in this book. Our main couple barely had any relationship development going on (other than sex) so I don't understand why we needed another couple's story. So, not only did we have the two POVs of our main characters, we had another 2 POVs of this other couple. We also had anther 2 POVs of a potential future gay couple. So, total of 6 POVs was not needed at all.

4. This paranormal world was depressive af. I don't remember having a moment of happiness in the entire book. Yes, the hero and heroine had this intense instaLOVE connection (which was just unbelieveable despite this being PNR), there were no characters at any point that felt any happiness. This book highlighted the problems that each and every person faced in the US who wasn't a straight white man. And I was just so over it.

5. It could have been a great novel. There were instances (in the beginnning) where I liked the concept. But then it just became a pool of problems and characters that came out of nowhere and that I was forced to read their POV.

This was an interesting story about a lawyer who has to defend this wolf shifter and things become complicated. I didn’t exactly like how the story ended, but it did wrap things up pretty well. I would continue reading the series and I would recommend it to everyone who like shifter stories.

This book was so much fun to read. It had a great cast of characters who were all dealing with a truly messed up. world (not unlike the one in which we live). Joe is a perfect anti-hero - a guy who does bad things for good reasons. I can't wait for the next installment in the series.

So excited to see a rival of Paranormal Romance! I have read some of Snyder's other books like Tikka Chance on Me and her Bollywood Confidential series, so I went into expecting some angst and a bit of edge. She did not disappoint! I would strongly recommend this for fans of Nalini Signs Guild Hunter Series, JR Wards Black Dagger Brotherhood, Jacy Conrads from Russia with Claws, or Shelly Laurenstons Call of Crow series. So glad to see some romance with serious bite!

This is an intriguing PNR that I read in one sitting. It's action-packed, engaging, with a wonderful cast of supporting characters. Despite enjoying a lot of elements in this story, there are also some things that didn't work that well for me.

This a paranormal romance set firmly in the politics of present-day America. I found the political messages, which I understand and fully support, to be very heavy handed in the text, very in your face, overshadowing the paranormal and romantic aspects in the story. Quotes from the news is not is not what I am looking for in PNR.

It's the first book in what shapes to be multi-book series and I felt the world building was very sketchy and was overshadowed by the thriller aspect. I am sad to say at times it read more like a mafia book than a PNR.

I did like the diversity of the cast, the fast pace and the whole secret operations/team of super soldiers aspect worked very well for me. There was tension and intrigue and humour, a side romance that I very much liked.

I have mixed feelings about the main romance though. It was steamy and the sexual attraction was off the charts. At the same time, I was not a fan of the danger banging and felt there is not enough substance in Neha and Joe's relationship. It was a fated mates sort of situation though both Neha and Joe very much insisted in entering the relationship on their own free will. Both Joe and Neha acted on their attraction their own, not just being led by some supernatural forces.

Yet, I didn't understand fully her attraction to him and they kept having the same argument over and over again of him not being good enough/worthy of her. It was repetitive and didn't really show any growth of their relationship beyond the sexual attraction.

I was not bothered by Joe being grumpy, surly, mostly unrepentant about his past. Giant surly heroes with the softest heart are my catnip. What I was bothered by was his lack of trust in her, no growth in their relationship.

On the positive side, I absolutely loved the side characters, all of them, Neha's friends/bosses and relative, the whole third Shift crew, they were all great, full-fledged and I can't wait to read more about them.

Overall, this book was not what I expected and it had both things that worked great for me and things that I found annoying, making it very hard for me to review it. It's very much a YMMV situation, so I would suggest you give it a try if you like high-stakes, fast-paces, PNR with strong political aspect and diverse cast.

This started out slow, but I really liked the characters, which kept me going. And by midpoint I was very invested in the story. The main romance is very insta-love and with the multiple character viewpoints, it had more of a urban fantasy feel than paranormal romance. The worldbuilding was very gritty and almost dystopian. It's definitely a United States I hope we never see. But, again, it was the characters that made this book. I enjoyed all of them.

In a dystopian alternate reality, where the 2016 election led to the USA becoming a tightly regulated surveillance state, pretty much at the same time as the existence of a number of supernatural beings were revealed, several big cities, including New York, are now a Sanctuary City for supernaturals.

Joe Peluso, an ex-soldier turned werewolf through military experimentation, is in prison for murdering six bear shifters with ties to the Russian mafia. His legal team is determined to give him a proper defense, but Joe believes himself beyond redemption. He has no regrets about the murders that landed him in prison, which were in retaliation for the death of his foster brother. However, he is haunted by his years as a soldier and all the lives he ended during his long military career. He has no intention of sharing any information or revealing anything to his lawyers that might help him get a lighter sentence and fully expects to be killed in prison by Russian mobsters soon enough.

Neha Ahluwalia, one of the lawyers on his team, as well as a trained psychologist, believes that everyone deserves a chance. She can't really explain her near-instant attraction to Peluso, which just seems to grow with each of their meetings. Falling for one of their clients, let alone a werewolf with a long history of violence is utter madness, but Neha can't stay away. On the day of Joe's trial, she agrees to a brief meeting alone with him, and they end up going on the run together after the Russian mob attempts to kill Joe and creates chaos at the courthouse. While he might not see himself as worthy of love or affection, Neha has caught glimpses of the wounded and vulnerable man behind the gruff facade, and she's determined to fight for their happy ending.

I had hoped to have this review finished by the book's release date last week, but my depression had other ideas, and quite a lot of the things I wanted to achieve have had to be postponed. My friend and fellow Cannonball reviewer Emmalita reviewed this back in December (and has already used one of my favourite lines from the book as her review title and made me very excited to get to this. I've only ever read Ms. Snyder's contemporary romance novella Tikka Chance on Me, so seeing her take on urban fantasy/paranormal romance was interesting and quite different.

There's a lot to like in this book, including the two main characters. I adored pretty much everything about Neha, including how completely unapologetic she was about was about embracing her desires once she admitted to herself that she fancied the pants off Joe. I could have done with a lot less self pitying, recriminations and angst from Joe (I have never had much patience with the oh woe is me, I'm so dark and unlovable because of my past dudes), but I guess feeling constantly guilty and not worthy of a wonderful lady like Neha is better than being an unapologetic sociopath who's full of himself.

It's quite clear that as well as the central romance between Neha and Joe, this book is setting up the wider world in which the Third Watch, the secret agency staffed by both humans and paranormals who end up helping our protagonsists on the run. There's a whole host of supporting characters, including an incredibly charming and very scene-stealing vampire, as well as a no nonsense surgeon, both of whom I hope feature in future books. There's a really nice focus on friendship and community thoughout the book and while I have a few niggles about the book as a romance (everything happens VERY fast between Neha and Joe - I would have liked a bit more time for them to get to know each other before declaring eternal love), I loved this as the start of a new paranormal fantasy series full of competence porn, great world building and interesting characters.

As far as I can tell from Ms. Snyder's Twitter, this series will be at least a trilogy. I can't wait to get my hands on more.

Judging a book by its cover: I absolutely see what the cover designer was trying to do here, but I'm not sure it entirely works.While I totally get that showing that just underneath the surface of our hero lurks a big, dangerous wolf, the actual effect of having two big yellow wolf eyes basically looking out at you from the torso of the muscular and very fit cover model is more distracting than enticing.

This paranormal romance is hot, with some real interesting takes on shifters. It's intense and doesn't hold back with the dark side of humanity, but that's refreshing right now. This book can definitely bring paranormal romance back and remind people why it's such a great genre! Can't wait for the next one!

One of the strengths of the paranormal fantasy is its ability to make the metaphors manifest, and then play with them in really concrete terms. One of my favorite werewolf stories, for example, is Ginger Snaps, a turn of the millennium film about two pubescent sisters, one of whom begins turning into a werewolf. The lycanthropy in Ginger Snaps works as this really extreme metaphor for all of the dangerous becoming that happens to girls in puberty: sexually, personally, socially. One of the reasons it works so well is that the actuality of puberty is going on as well — the lycanthropy is a metaphor, yes, but the real world thing exists too. The metaphor doesn’t erase the reality, it heightens it.

There’s this really great scene where the younger sister goes to the school nurse and begins describing the changes in her werewolf sister — sexual awaking, blood, hair growth — and the nurse clucks knowingly and gives her a pamphlet about “Your Changing Body!” or somesuch. It’s a gesture to how the literature about puberty is both accurate, physiologically speaking, and absolutely misses the mark when it comes to the lived experience of the average person at that vulnerable period. I don’t remember getting a pamphlet about dealing with sketch dudes on the bus when I was 14, but unwelcomed sexual attention is, unfortunately, a very real aspect of puberty for many girls & people assigned female at birth. The way the werewolf is used in Ginger Snaps doesn’t erase or replace the experience of puberty, it heightens it.

Anyway, point being, for every story like Ginger Snaps — which flawlessly combines both the metaphorical and the actual — there’s a dozen which treat the metaphor of the paranormal other as somehow more real than actual, legitimate, real world problems, prejudices, and bigotries. This is especially true when the paranormal identity is understood to be a persecuted minority and acts as a stand in for race. I’ve seen many fictions erase systemic racism in lieu of the simplified and ahistoric “prejudice” against their made up whatsit. It’s not that I don’t think people wouldn’t be bigots about werewolves/shifters/vampires should they be revealed to be real, it’s that I think they’d be racist about them in addition to all the stuff they’re already racist about.

Which is why Suleikha Snyder’s Big Bad Wolf is such a godamn breath of fresh air. So much — so much — paranormal fantasy takes place in a magical America which isn’t riven by bone-deep, brutal, and violent disagreement about who gets to count as a person. We’ve all seen the state violence — children in cages, Black people murdered by the police with no accountability — and that’s not even getting into the stochastic terrorism that makes up the background radiation of the Trump years. If, somehow in the last four years, supernatural beings were added to the population as a category of persons who exist, they would have been subject to the exact same treatment as every other minority. Which is to say: poorly, and worse and worse for intersectional identities.

Big Bad Wolf focuses largely, though not exclusively, on the relationship between Neha Ahluwalia and Joe Peluso. He’s a white former soldier who murdered six Russian mafia dudes, and she’s a Desi lawyer who’s been tasked with defending him in court. He was part of a super secret military unit which was changed through scientific fuckery into a wolf shifter, but for unknown reasons he never used his shifting abilities when he smoked the mafia dudes. Neha has a PhD in psychology in addition to her JD, so she’s sent in to try to get him to cooperate with his legal defense. So far he’s been anything but cooperative.

Joe and Neha have an almost immediate connection, one that discombobulates them both. He’s got a healthy dose of self loathing going on, both because of his military service and because he legit murdered 6 dudes in cold blood. Her motives are a little less legible — he is, after all, a murderer — but their dialogue is snappy and I’ll allow a lot of emotional latitude setting up a world this complex. At a certain point Neha has to decide whether to follow her intense reaction to Joe, or stay on the straight and narrow. She makes the leap, and ends up on the run with Joe, dodging the cops, the Russian mafia, and possibly the military.

Because that’s the thing: this novel takes place firmly in Trump’s America (though I’m reasonably sure he’s never named). As the child of immigrants and a lawyer, Neha has a richly textured understanding of how scary it is out there for brown people, for women, for non-Christians. Early on, Joe tries to pull some economic anxiety bullshit on her — you’re just into me because I’m working class — and she’s like pffffft, that’s nothing. I’ve survived the last four years; slumming doesn’t factor. Yes, absolutely, he’s seen some shit, and what was done to him was wrong. But his experience of being hung out to dry as a shifter once the military was done with him is just one injustice. There are so many others, and there’s no rules that say you only experience the one.

As the first in a series, there are a lot of people, organizations, and lore that need explaining, and the narrative feels occasionally cluttered with their introductions. Relatedly, because there are so many people, the character sketches of anyone but the leads are pretty rudimentary. This is less a complaint and more an observation. Even though there are a lot of moving parts, Snyder has a firm hand on her exposition — I never felt like, who the hell is this person, I have no idea how they fit in. Given the size of the cast, that’s no small feat.

Yesterday, I bolted down all 6 episodes of Staged, a pandemic-produced BBC series starring David Tennent and Michael Sheen. I’ve watched a couple other shows produced during the pandemic, stuff like Host (a pretty cute found-footage horror film about a tele-séance) and Locked Down (which I turned off after 15 minutes because of its fucking awful script.) Staged was absolutely pitch perfect, the pandemic production I didn’t even know I needed, coming at just the right time. Big Bad Wolf is exactly like this for me, a corrective to the sometimes ahistorical metaphorical landscape of the paranormal, coming at a time when history demands accounting. Put less douchily: It’s so welcome to see family and friends on the pages of of a novel, living in the same conflicted and dangerous reality, but intensified by a paranormal element that gives the everyday that much more freight.

This is a complicated review. So many elements are in my wheelhouse: shifters, a dystopian future, a competent heroine and a cast of characters. The problem falls into the way it was edited and organized..

Between the self-hate repetition--some just pages earlier--and a lack of zapping chemistry made the fated mates trope fall flat. It felt like empty space between the plot points. How do I invest in a character (Joe) that is nothing but self-loathing to the point even a honest, conscientious heroine (Neha) can't make him real?

I love a strong world. One of my top catnips for any genre. Give me a spiraling world with a lot of complex systems. The problem was that the world overtook the romance as a character driver. In truth, it felt more like an urban fantasy instead of romance. Love urban fantasy. But that wasn't what was presented when reading the synopsis or marketing.

I hate leaving a not-so-positive review because I love Suleikha Snyder's writing. But the lack of emotional connection pulled away from the romance. I didn't believe in the love. Joe was too self-hating, too negative, against Neha's burgeoning optimism. Sex isn't the only form of intimacy in a perilous world.

I needed to believe in them and Joe wasn't a hero I could like in any way. Had he been the hero in the second book the concept could have worked better. A space where readers could see him previously dealing with his obvious PTSD at the Brooklyn Hilton in counter to Neha's forced PTSD from being a Sikh in a rising nationalistic white Christian United States. But there was zero focus on the commonalities of a harsh world, even though readers spend at least 45-50% of the book with his regrets and shame spirals.

Absolutely loved Neha's friends and her family network. And the outcome of being honorable in a world with not enough grey spaces for people to survive in. Auntie network thrilled me. Love a good community build up. That's something a lot of people can understand: found families in a world that isn't kind. Pretty much a base line for the current romance market. Again: catnip.

And the use of different shifters, like the Naga, which show that it's not just Western Europe that loves a good paranormal shift. Kind of hoping for some werehippos in the series, honestly. A different kind of apex predator.

I have to give the book a solid three stars. That's for concept and worldbuilding, mostly. Neha had potential but I think she was wasted on a man without layers...beyond lust. The interconnected subplots didn't necessarily hold my attention because I wasn't invested in the world. I know Snyder writes better. I'm hoping a different editing shift in the next book will let that shine through.

Thank you, Suleikha Snyder, Sourcebooks, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review the book.

I really enjoyed BIG BAD WOLF. I don't read much of this genre, but this novel changed my opinion. The plot was entertaining, and the characters were what I expected. I really, really enjoyed this story. I would recommend it, especially to people who love a good werewolf story.

I received an ARC of this book to read through NetGalley. All opinions are my own. Big Bad Wolf is the first book in Suleikha Snyder’s extremely steamy new science fiction/fantasy series Third Shift. I’m always going to remember reading The Stand when I was home alone and suffering from what turned out to be pneumonia, and I will always remember reading this book that takes place in a dystopian world where democracy has ended and a right-wing fascist regime has taken over the United States, when right-wing fascists attacked the Capitol building, and doom scrolling on social media seemed to echo the world in this book. When his foster brother was killed, Joe Peluso, an army veteran and wolf shifter sought revenge by taking out some of the Russian mobsters responsible. Neha Ahluwalia has degrees in both law and psychology, and her part on his legal team is to find out what makes Joe tick. A failed courtroom hit by members of the Russian underworld who are bear shifters has them on the run, and their only chance to survive may be with the help of Third Shift, a mysterious organization made up of shifters and other supernatural creatures. This is definitely a book that will keep you avidly reading long past your bedtime. Steam Level: Very Hot. Publishing Date: January 26, 2021. #BigBadWolf #SuleikhaSnyder #SourceBooksCasablanca #SteamyScienceFictionAndFantasy #WolfShifter #ScienceFictionAndFantasySeries #bookstagram #bookstagrammer

So many thoughts on this one. It's intense and engaging and thought-provoking and just all-around exciting. A perfect genre hybrid that brings together romance and thriller with some killer supernatural elements thrown in to make it extra exhilarating.
Having the heroine be a kicka** lady from a traditionally marginalized part of society and having her fight tooth and nails for the hero in a world where being a were is basically a death sentence is a brilliant move that brings to light a lot of contemporary societal problems.
Unfortunately, that was my one point of contention with this book. Snyder went deep into the worst possible outcome of where the political climate was as she was writing this book. It turned my escapist reading into a bit of an anxiety-inducing, oh-my-God-this-can-actually-happen tailspin.
That said, the story of Joe Peluso and Neha Ahluwalia is full of steamy, smexy chemistry that adds an extra layer of brilliance to the heart-pounding elements of the story. And theirs isn't the only relationship that has you wanting to know what comes next. There really are so many layers to what this story contains.
It's a well-plotted, well-developed story that kept me turning pages and worrying about the outcome. Not many books manage that lately.
Definitely something I'm recommending even with the anxiety-producing elements.

Many happy thanks to NetGalley and Sourcebooks Casablanca for the read!

I straight-up loved Big Bad Wolf. It’s just that simple. It’s the type of PNR that I cut my teeth on in this genre more years ago than I’d like to admit to. This is a gritty world, one that (sadly) reflects, in a fictionalized way, what I believe my country could have become given the right circumstances (and we were far too close for my comfort in reality and in my opinion)… and that was clear from the start.

I believe you have to go into Big Bad Wolf with the belief that you are at the beginning of an ongoing saga, that this is a world being built word by word that has many stories to tell in the future. There is worldbuilding here, there are several points of view, and there are all types of paranormal beings to be introduced to… friend and foe. And it is also steamy, sizzling sexy with what may not always be comfortable for every reader. (In my opinion, just skim past what you’re not comfortable with and get on with the whole story.) There is also more than one romance going on here, and the hint of more to come. So, as I said, this is a world being built and, frankly, what an amazing world it is turning out to be.

Joe and Neha make an extremely interesting couple from many sides. Yet, they fit, they work together as a couple. I’ll admit that I’d have liked to see them on the page more often, but it isn’t my book to write. The secondary characters grabbed my attention almost as much as the main story/couple – they are diverse, interesting, and well, let’s just say unique as I’ll let you discover all the people and beings you are about to meet in this story. What you really need to know before picking up Big Bad Wolf can be found within the cover description blurb, the rest I believe you should discover for yourself firsthand.

I had an absolute blast with Big Bad Wolf. If you love a really good paranormal world setting then you’d feel right at home here. The writing is smooth, the characters interesting, and the plot full of possibilities. I’d definitely recommend getting in on the beginning of the Third Shift world, I know I can’t wait to return soon I hope.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher, Sourcebooks Casablanca via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

"The day-to-day for the average white human citizen was as it had been a few years before. Most people got out of bed in the morning without thinking about how The Empire was in charge."

This quote from paranormal romance Big Bad Wolf hits on two of my favorite qualities in this series starter: political awareness in the form of biting commentary and geeky pop culture references. In this barely alternate reality, the 2016 Catastrophe included a certain fascist outing the existence of supernatural creatures as soon as he had access to the information. In New York, we find Joe Peluso waiting trial for the murder of 6 Russian mobsters. Made a wolf shifter in military testing, this hit was personal and unsanctioned. Defense attorney and psychological profiler Neha Ahluwalia hopes to crack open his motives and feelings, the man behind the highly redacted records. As something builds between them, an attempt on Joe's life before his court date leaves them on the run together.

What I most treasured about this book was the way the author didn't use the paranormal as an allegory for real world problems. Wholly human racism, xenophobia, and police brutality are discussed side by side with the parallel supernatural biases concocted by Snyder. She doesn't supplant reality but burrows in and gives us more. It's not all doom and gloom, though. This is a romance novel, after all! The broader cast of characters, whom I hope will provide fodder for future installments, form a diverse coterie in terms of racial and supernatural backgrounds, religious and queer identities, romantic interests and personalities. And I'm obsessed with all of them.

The romance itself was the only thing I wasn't sold on. I was more intrigued by a secondary romantic plot and future endeavors than what simmered between Joe and Neha. They both recognize that their whirlwind affair doesn't make sense, is inadvisable, and transitions quickly from lust to love. While this acknowledgement is appreciated, my skepticism didn't dissipate at this dose of character self-awareness. I think it's a matter of personal preference in terms of what tropes I tend to enjoy.

I am excited about what this series offers, however. Those who love the genre should especially check out this new series for the world-building and unexpected dose of realness. Looking forward to see where the world and the characters go next!