i thought this was gonna be so silly & fun but it wasn’t?? the plot fell flat… I didn’t enjoy the conflict & it felt so disjointed.

I feel like this book is so polarizing in the reviews. First off, I don't think you should take this book -too- seriously. I think that's part of the whole point. It's literally called Bored Gay Werewolf.

I quite enjoyed this one. It was quick, relatable, great message. I thought that Brian, as a character, was flawed and real and just trying to figure things out in life. The werewolf thing isn't a huge primary focus. It's almost like - Hey, here's this guy and he has no direction in life, but also he's a werewolf so he has to juggle that, too. I thought it was a nice spin on the werewolf genre.

The biggest message is this idea of relationships and their impact on who and found family played a huge role in this.

Were some things predictable? Sure, but I don't think it took away from the book itself.

"Bored Gay Werewolf" by Tony Santorella was an interesting read, but I found myself struggling to pick it back up each time I set it down. The story follows a werewolf who is feeling unfulfilled in his life and looking for something more. While the premise was intriguing, I felt like the execution fell a bit flat for me.
The characters in the book were unique and well-developed, but I had a hard time connecting with them on a deeper level. The protagonist's journey of self-discovery was relatable, but I found myself losing interest in his story as the book progressed. The pacing felt a bit off at times, and I wished the plot had more depth and complexity to keep me fully engaged.
Despite my struggles with the book, I still think that "Bored Gay Werewolf" has potential to appeal to other readers who enjoy supernatural tales with a twist. The writing style was easy to follow, and there were some moments of humor and heart throughout the story. While it may not have been my favorite read, I can see how others might find enjoyment in exploring the world that Santorella has created. Overall, I would give this book a low 3 out of 5 stars.

We all need a book about a mediocre werewolf named Brian. Brian is a typical millennial, struggling to make ends meet and working a crappy job, when he meets Tyler who pulls him in at the ground floor to a werewolf tech bro MLM. This book was irreverent, funny, and super relatable.

It's also the exact right length for the story that it is, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It may well be my new favorite werewolf book. Thank you to NetGalley and Atlantic Books for the ARC!

*I received an ARC via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thanks for the free book*

"Bored Gay Werewolf" is a funny novel about, well, a bored gay werewolf. Brian was turned, has zero control, drifts through life and works as a waiter. His two best friends don't know about his condition and when he meets fellow werewolf and Andrew Tate style masculinity influencer, he drifts further apart from them.

I think this novel had tons of unused potential. The world building could've been expanded, the ending was very rushed, Brian was a bit too stupid, the entire "let's murder people nobody will care" part was unrealistic and overall the majority of the characters felt over drawn and like caricatures?

Having said that, reading it was in parts fun and Brian grappling with toxic masculinity vs himself and his sensitivity was interesting to read.

A nice read but it fell a bit flat for me overall. It also felt like the ending was missing from my ARC? The three agree to join in with A. and then just ten empty pages? I should probably check out the Netgalley ARC on another device, the Shelf App just sucks...

3.5 stars

While I appreciate the writing of this book, I DNF it at 25%. I struggled to get into it. I am sure that this would appeal to another reader, but it just wasn't working for me.

Just like the werewolf in this book I was also bored . I had such high hopes for this book but I felt like the plot was going nowhere. It didn’t keep me interested enough to finish the book. Thank you net galley for the advanced copy.

This is definitely a solid read, but it's nowhere near as 'fun' as the title, cover, and some of the synopsis suggest. It's more 'sad boy fiction' but with a nice supernatural twist, I'd say.

Rating: 3.5 stars
Brian is apathetic, directionless, overwhelmed, alone, and lost. Ever since he was cursed with lycanthropy, his life has just .. stopped. Brian dropped out of college, much to the confusion of his parents, and hid at home until an inadvertent confession opened an even greater rift between them. Unable to stand the judgement, the fear, and the silence, Brian left and found himself a small apartment, a job, and then … stopped.

Brian has friends, Nik and Darby, but he learned all to well the lessons his parents taught them and keeps them firmly at arm’s length, ready to bail at the first sign of disinterest. Or too much interest. And then he meets Tyler.

Being with Tyler is like being hit with a train. He’s full of ideas, plans, and goals. Tyler knows what Brian needs to turn his life around — both his human life and his werewolf one, because Tyler, too, is a werewolf. He teaches Brian about strength and control, about finding balance between his two sides, and for the first time ever, Brian shifts without blacking out. He learns to stand up straight, to stop drinking so much, and to start taking care of himself.

Brian is so very good at doing what Tyler tells him. And Tyler is good for him! Tyler knows what he’s doing. He knows what Brian needs, what he should want, who he should be. Tyler makes being Brian so much easier. No more thinking, no more nights lost in endless ruminations, no more opinions that drive people away. And then Tyler introduces him to Mark. Mark who, like Brian, is so good at doing what Tyler tells him to do, at thinking what Tyler wants him to think, and for the first time in a long time, Brian starts having his own thoughts, like how much he doesn’t like always doing what he’s told.

But he’s part of a pack, now. He has a place to belong. Until Tyler takes what’s between them — already frayed from Mark’s introduction — and decides they need more wolves. And if they can’t be found, they should be made. Brian has to make a choice, a hard one. Is Tyler the man he wants to follow? The man he wants to obey? Is Tyler’s path the one Brian wants to follow, or is it time he finds his own?

This will not be a book for everyone. For one, the werewolf aspect is muted in the background, showing up in a few moments here and there, but it’s not the focus of the book or even Brian’s life. For another, there’s a lot of Tyler in this book, and Tyler — so well written — is such an annoying twat. I very much did not like him. While he has ideas, they’re all stolen from other people; all his clever turns of phrase are parroted from other men. Tyler wants to be an Alpha, to be served and obeyed, and has the money to make that happen. There is also no romance in this book. Tyler isn’t a friend and certainly not a lover; he’s an authority figure, a replacement father who pats Brian on the head when he does well.

Through the whole book, Brian has never really chosen anything. He’s always doing what he’s told, keeping his thoughts quiet and accepting invitations without ever extending them. Nik and Darby, his friends from work, often extend invitations to come out and drink, go to a party, hang out with friends and sometimes Brian accepts, sometimes he doesn’t. They forgive him when he flakes or when he vanishes, sharing his taste in music and entertainment, laughing at the same jokes, and they ground and balance him.

Tyler has never listened to the word “no” in his life, and Brian’s rather tepid please leave me alone doesn’t make Tyler stay away, it just proves to him that Brian is weak enough that Tyler can still bully him into doing what he’s told. When smiles and offers to forgive him fail, Tyler turns to threats, not to Brian but to Brian’s friends. And that’s when Brian has to make a choice. Brian may not be willing (or able) to stand up for himself at the moment, but he’ll be damned if he lets Tyler hurt his friends.

The book is told in third person present tense and, as I mentioned, spends a whole lot of time with Tyler, with Brian’s admiration, acceptance, and then slowly growing distance from him and his ideas. Tyler is an asshole of the highest order and the book spends a great deal of time showing how people like Tyler can win over people like Brian, people who don’t like making scenes, who don’t want to cause a fuss, who are willing to go along with the flow even when they’re starting to drown. When Tyler shows off his bigotry, misogyny, and cruelty, Brian doesn’t stop him and doesn’t really call him out. He lets Tyler get away with it again and again because it’s easier than making a fuss, especially when there are parts of Tyler’s cobbled together and half-plagiarized ideas that do call to Brian.

The world building is vaguely there, but it’s never the focus of the book. Instead it is about Brian being swept up in the toxic masculinity and then trying to decouple himself from it. I found the pace to be a little dogged, trudging resolutely to the ending at a very steady beat; there’s no real rising or falling action to liven things up, but that’s partly because it’s told through Brian’s eyes. Brian who does everything he can to not have to feel anything. For me, personally, the ending didn’t work. There’s a character introduced, Abe, Darcy’s boyfriend, who hovers in the background and does nothing but take away from Brian’s story. When Brian faces down Mark, and then Tyler, he does so desperate to protect other people. It’s a moment in his character where he’s choosing, on his own, to do something … but it turns out that he might as well not have. Brian has spent the whole book letting other people do things for him, and the one time he tries to do something for himself,

Spoiler title
. You can say that Brian making the choice to stand up to Mark and Tyler is the point, but it still leaves Brian inactive.[end spoiler]

Overall, this is an interesting book. It’s well done, well written, and I did enjoy Brian and even Tyler as characters, and enjoyed watching Brian decide to think for himself. However, its sense of humor slid past me and I’m not sure who its audience is. But, as ever, if you give it a chance, I hope you enjoy it!

Thank you Netgalley for the arc of this book!

What a fun spin on a coming of age story! I wouldn’t necessarily call this horror, though it can be horror adjacent. This is more of a black comedy.

This book is really fun. The main character is a depressed, gay werewolf who ends up involved in a werewolf pyramid scheme. It’s an utterly ridiculous plot premise, but isn’t ridiculous in its execution. The characters are really interesting and well-developed. This book plays with generic conventions in interesting ways. The plot is interesting and well-paced. The ending does get absolutely ridiculous, but it’s kind of just really funny. The last scene jumps the shark, but the rest of the book is fantastic and so fun.

I am so thankful to Atlantic Books, Tony Santorella, and Netgalley for granting me advanced access to this laughable yet suspenseful novel before it hits shelves on February 27, 2024. I was such a fan of the prose and can't wait for others to check this one out.

BOOK REVIEW - BORED GAY WEREWOLF by Tony Santorella

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Thank you, NetGalley, Independant Publishers Group & Tony Santorella, for providing me with an eARC for review.

This book is so much fun. I had a great time with this story; Brian is adorable. The story plot is somewhat straightforward, but Brian is incredibly hilarious. Reading Brian and exploring his life as a 'going nowhere 20-something-year-old' is a joy. The wellness craze has even hit the werewolf community!

I highly recommend it for people exploring life and what their next steps are. It is a fun and quirky way to explore life.

I really enjoyed the emphasis on friendships in this book I love reading books with queer representation but that typically shows the characters as their sexualities or even gender identities through the relationships they are in. Now dont get me wrong I LOVE a good queer romance but this felt like somthing special becasue it was queer on its own without the datning relationships and I loved that and it now has me hopeing to read more books like this.

An unfortunate DNF from me on this one at the 10% mark

I didn't vibe with the writing style was too wordy. As in Stephen King level over worded and the characters were not likable in my head. I couldn't get into the story enough to want to continue reading.
That 10% took me over a week to get too.

4 Stars
Genre - Satirical urban fantasy, queer fiction
Tone - cheeky, morally grey, issues-driven
Tropes & devices - found family, werewolf as metaphor
Reps - Gay MMC, NB secondary character, Filipino first gen secondary character
CW - sexual content, adult language, alcohol and drug use, homophobia, violence

Brian is finally figuring life out when he first turns. Pivoting desperately, he drops out of college and finds work waiting tables in the city, spending each night drinking with coworkers he's afraid to let in on his secret. Each day, he wakes up to cringe and examine the damage - either from a Grindr hookup, or - on a full moon - in the news. Hiding his condition quickly becomes complicated, and more experienced werewolf Tyler - charismatic entrepreneur investment bro - shows up at work and offers to teach him to mindfully channel his power. Little does Brian know, Tyler has a much bigger scheme - one that asks the reader to examine masculinity, capitalism, cult mentality, belonging, and more.

This book was a quick read. The present tense took a little adjusting; but once I got in the groove, the pacing was great and the plot was engaging. Brian's problem behaviors were constantly frustrating, but his humor, relatability, and earnest stumbling redeemed him for me. I found his experiences with mental health recognizable (especially the cult-like energy that can spring up around spirituality and wellness routines and ideologies). While aggravating, his striving to fit in with Tyler is at times endearing. His work buddies - Darby and Nik - are really enjoyable and make Brian's mentorship with Tyler all the more painful to watch. My biggest - maybe only - real complaint with this book was the very ending; it felt a little off-tone from the rest of the novel, and like it functioned mainly as a setup for a series. That said, I'd read a future installment! In the mean time, I'd point fans towards Boys Weekend for more paranormal tech bro cults and discussions of masculinity; The Free People's Village is an issues-driven pick with queer, morally grey characters and an MC looking for belonging.

I received this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Thank you netgalley for the ARC! This was very different than I thought it would be but it was still very fun. It took me a while to get into because Brian is a fairly unlikeable character but he has really good growth throughout the book. It was entertaining to find this as a werewolf pyramid scheme plot line which was unique. The side characters, especially Darby, are amazing. I'm kind of hoping we get a sequel based on the ending. I think it's lacking a decent epilogue if there is to be no sequel cuz I wanna know how this all goes on.

The character work in this was excellent. The author really has a talent for painting a broad-strokes picture of the type of people we've all met, without making the characters feel like clichés, or surface-level.

The pacing was a bit off, however: a lot of world-building was crammed at the end, and the climax didn't pack as much of a punch as it could have. There were also some plot-threads that weren't given quite as much space as I would have liked, such as the fact that the protagonist sometimes blacks out on the full moon and murders an innocent person. I thought this would end up really affecting the story, but it barely does beyond providing a catalyst for Tyler to track him down.

Overall I quite enjoyed this, and I'll keep an eye out for other books by the same author. Recommended if you like magical realism, social satire and found family dynamics.

I have to admit, it did take me a while to get into this book. I kind of wish the book started about 50% in and still had about 50% to go after it ended. I was more interested in the rag-tag team of paranormal fighters than anything Tyler had to say.

Even though it wasn’t a scary book, it gave me super creepy vibes. Like the videos that were popular in the early 2000’s where there’s a car peacefully driving down a lovely, windy road and you’re just waiting for the zombie to flash up on the screen and scream loudly in your face. I was on edge the whole time just waiting for the jump scare.

Tyler, as a side character, gave me the ick right from the start. He is not at all the kind of person I would spend my time with, at all. So that made it a bit painful to read about him cause I just wanted Brian to punch him in the face and tell him to shut the fuck up.

I liked the discussions around the way that straight people feel they have a right to information about queer peoples love/sex lives. How they feel comfortable asking invasive questions in group settings that you would never ask a straight person you had just met, or offer up that information about yourself.

It’s books like these that make it impossible for me to DNF a book. Because although I wasn’t enjoying the book at the start, I really was by the end and it would have been sad for me to have missed out on the good parts.

Thanks to #NetGallery and publisher for a copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Genre: Paranormal
Format: Digital
POV: Single
Spice: 🌶️ /5
Age suggestion: 18+

This book was OK, it had a great bunch of characters. I thought it was a fairly decent plot line. Only thing that was annoying and dragged a bit was how much the main character ignored red flags and didn't get out sooner. The lead up to the resolution was pretty good and a perfect pace. I was just left wanting a bit more. I feel like a good amount of the conflict in this story was brought up and escalated but not necessarily to the full extent it should have. Just seems to be missing a bit of heart or emotion or something.