Thank you to NetGalley for providing an eARC of this book, this is my objective review. Cassie, our fmc, was bullied in high school for her weight by the "cool kids" and is apparently a witch (much to her surprise). Seth is her childhood friend inexplicably turned high school bully and is apparently a werewolf (again, much to Cassie's surprise). They reconnect in her spooky hometown after her grandmother's death, and the story focuses on Cassie's self-discovery and her understanding her magic. And, of course, on her rapidly growing romantic feelings about Seth while helping him to manage his werewolf-ness. I've read this author before and enjoyed her humor, her dialogue is delightfully imaginative and her content overall is amusing and entertaining. (It cracked me up that Cassie's witchy familiar is a raccoon, it reminds me of The Witch of Tophet County.) The book is written as 3rd-person POV from Cassie's perspective, I would have liked more from Seth's perspective as well. I appreciated the content warning given at the beginning of the book. I'll be honest, I'm not sure I would have chosen this book if I'd known the extent to which the mmc was her former bully (regardless of how strong their childhood friendship had been). Mild spoiler: I really struggled with why Cassie was so quick to forgive Seth when he didn't really explain why he acted so horribly in high school (and saying he was tricked into the pivotal bullying event wasn't really explanation enough for me). Unless I missed something, I think the main explanation was that he pretended to go along with the jerky cool kids to protect her? I don't know, it felt a little muddled and I didn't really like the quasi-resolution of that major issue. The book itself is childhood friends-to-enemies-to-allies-to-lovers. The book is *very* open-door, which is probably obvious from the premise and description. Once the sexy times get going, they're fairly explicit (for me, anyway, your mileage may vary). There was a lot of talk about consent, which was appropriate for the circumstances. I think this book is the beginning of a series, regardless of my feelings about the bullying here I'm looking forward to the next installment. 3.5 stars rounded up to 4 stars.

I have not read anything else from this author but now I want too! I found this book to be too relatable in terms of how these situations have happened in real life. Since this is a series, I got lost in the context but a bit but overall liked it! Thank you for the ARC!

Cassie Camberwell came back to her hometown of Hollow Brook to clean out her grandmother’s home, only to find that she has actual magical abilities. Her ex-best friend Seth is hanging around with a goal. He needs her help to control his unruly werewolf nature, and he can teach her about the hidden world her eyes have recently been awakened to. But after he betrayed her to the mean jocks at her school in the most humiliating way possible, she can’t trust him. They’ll just have to keep it all business until strong emotions and needs rear their head and make it impossible to ignore their insistent mating urge.

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf is a delightful read. Both Cassie and Seth are such lovable, unforgettable characters. The interactions between Cassie and Seth are so satisfying on an emotional level. Flashbacks to their history as best friends are heartwarming, and the juxtaposition to their present situation makes their broken friendship all the more poignant, as it's clear how much they meant (and mean) to each other. Their powerful attraction and simmering chemistry heats up the page, making a reader root for them to get together. Cassie and Seth are one of those couples you just can’t wait to find their happy ending. The magical elements are so fun. Charlotte Stein gives a witchy storyline a delightfully unique and enjoyable feel. The same can be said for the exploration of Seth’s lycanthropy. Readers looking for a satisfying, cozy paranormal romance with witches and werewolves will find so much to love about this book. The introduction to this small town full of magic begs for more installments about other magical characters.

Cassie and Seth were best friends until he started becoming popular and ended up pranking, humiliating, and hurting her in high school. Cassie never forgave Seth and left town after they finished school. Now she’s back years later to clean out her recently deceased grandmother’s home. But soon she discovers that hunky Seth is a werewolf and she is a powerful witch.

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf is an entertaining rom com with a high school feel, complete with an awkward main couple and the popular bully bad guys. I adored Seth who is super dorky. He is happy and wants to make Cassie comfortable and happy. And he’s open and honest while slightly awkward. He is dedicated to earning back her trust and friendship because he knows they had a special bond. Cassie is equally sweet. She easily forgives Seth and longs to recover their bond.

Both Cassie and Seth each clearly has feelings for the another, yet neither will confess it. The story is shared via Cassie’s third person POV, so we only understand her side of the equation. Cassie is so worried that Seth will hurt her again that she constantly puts off any sexual advances as a byproduct of his werewolf hormones and not his true feelings. Without Seth’s POV, readers can’t be sure how he truly feels, but it’s pretty evident he’s also trying to cover up his true feelings out of fear she’ll leave him again.

While this back and forth play is honest and real, the author takes it too far. Cassie and Seth are cute together, and I was rooting for them. But then I just became annoyed with the constant reframing of their desires as something mechanical rather than true feelings. It took entirely too long (and way too many awkward sex scenes) for Cassie to get over her past and accept love. Stein took the warm fuzzies out of falling in love and made it an exhausting chore.

Then there is the magical side of the story. I loved Cassie’s wonder and awe of her new reality as she discovers who and what she truly is. That said, I was also a bit frustrated by how easily magic comes to Cassie. How she just knows what to do. And how she can do anything.

In the end, How to Help a Hungry Werewolf started as a very promising read with an adorably awkward, best friend couple. Cassie and Seth deserve to find their HEA. But the author ruined the story for me by making them so worried about wrecking what they have that it overwhelms and dominates the romance and story to the point of annoyance.

My Rating: C

Thank you NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review. This book I had high hopes for and really enjoyed it at first. Towards the middle the pacing felt off and it was hard to get to the end.

I am pleasantly surprised with how much I enjoyed this book! I really liked Cassie and even though Seth seemed oblivious sometimes, their chemistry was obvious. This book was spicier than I thought it would be too and I was happy about that. Downsides for me were I felt like the forgiveness aspect happened too easily, and I felt like a lot happened in the last ten percent of the book and it felt rushed. Overall enjoyable though and perfect for fall/spooky season.

Thank you NetGalley, the publisher, and the author for both the eARC and the audio ARC in exchange for an honest review!

Don't let this cartoon cover fool you! This book was hot and spicy! This might be one of my favorite examples of best friends to enemies to lovers ever! I read it all in one day and the audiobook added a lot to my reading experience! Highly recommend this book! Can't wait for more books by this author!

Tropes:
-M/F Paranormal Romance
-Witch x Werewolf
-Childhood Crushes
-Best Friends to Enemies to Lovers
-Slow Burn
-Plus Size Rep
-So Much Banter

This sounded great but the execution was terrible. Really hard to read and not a fluid story. The main character was infuriating with her waivering and kind of poor little old me attitude. It just didn’t work for me I’m afraid.

Thank you Net Galley and Macmillan for this Advancr Reader Copy. Now that the book is released I can rave about how much I loved this book! I previously read When Grumpy Met Sunshine by Charlotte Stein as an ARC, and I did not like it. How to Help a Hungry Werewolf was so much more my type of book and perfect for spooky season. This friends to lovers, with lots of miscommunication, was fun, sweet, and VERY spicy.

A swoon worthy romance between a witch and a werewolf? What’s not to love! This novel is a must read for spooky season and beyond. Although the characters are part of a paranormal universe, the writer has harnessed a real-world human look at the struggles and joys of romantic relationships. If you re a fan of romance and paranormal, give this title a try. You won’t be sorry!

Content Warning: This book has some mentions of negative body image, and a plot point that deals with fat shaming.

What happens when a werewolf needs help from his former best friend who just happens to be a witch? Sparks fly, of course. How to Help a Hungry Werewolf is a super cozy enemies to lovers romance that is perfect for the fall. Because of an incident while they were in high school, former best friends Cassie and Seth turned into enemies, but when Cassie comes back to their hometown, it turns out that Seth needs her help. Cassie and Seth settle into an uneasy truce, but what will happen as they start to reconnect?

I really enjoyed the characters in this book. Both Cassie and Seth are very likeable, and it was so much fun to see them develop throughout the book. Both characters developed somewhat throughout the story, but the characters themselves stayed pretty simple and true to themselves. There was not a huge development arc for either of them, but they were delightful to begin with, so not much evolution was needed in my opinion.

I also really appreciated that the author kept the cast of characters pretty small. As I have mentioned before, I sometimes have a hard time keeping up with a large cast, especially if I have to pick up a book and put it down a lot. Here, I didn’t really put this book down much, it was so sweet that I wanted to see what happened, but if I had to I feel as though I could have come back to it after some time away with little readjustment. The author seemed to know when characters were needed to further the story and when they were unnecessary. She did a great job at trimming the fat and keeping only those that were needed.

I also thought the story was really sweet. I enjoyed seeing Cassie and Seth grow back together. The author did a great job at working elements of their past relationship into their present to develop their story. This book didn’t make me think a lot. Although there were a few surprises along the way, I was able to sit back and just enjoy the story and the setting. While the story was super sweet, it was also laugh out loud funny. There were a few times that I was really glad that I was alone in my house rather than out in public. This book got me that tickled in a few places.
While the characters and the story were super quirky and funny, I will also say that Cassie and Seth were extremely awkward, and I mean this in a good way. I though their awkward natures really added to the story in a way that I can’t really describe without getting into some spoilers. For me, their awkwardness worked really well into the overall story. For others, though, I could see where this could be a little difficult. There are several places where it would be really easy to get second-hand embarrassment for one or both of them. I will say that there was a time or two throughout the story that I did.

There was a good bit of spice in this story. I’m fine with some spice, but there was enough that it could be an issue for those that don’t like spice in their books. I don’t really think that there was spice for spice’s sake, it worked with the overall story, but again, there is a fair bit.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book. I loved that it was a sweet and cozy fall romance that was perfect for spooky season. This is one that I would absolutely recommend to those that enjoy paranormal romance and rom-coms. It’s important if you read this that you’re ok with a quirky story, but I love quirky characters, so this was right up my alley!

Lastly, I want to take a second to thank St. Martin’s Press for providing a copy of How to Help a Hungry Werewolf to me via Neg Talley for review. Any opinions offered in this review are mine alone.

I gave up at 8%. While I occasionally read YA I tend to avoid YA romance and that’s how this was reading. Also very repetitive, here are a some examples just from the last three pages I read

“Rummaging around… as if that was an incredibly normal thing to do. When it was the opposite of normal in every single way. In fact, it was so not normal…”

“… he looked sick. Seriously horribly sick, in a way that was making him perspire. In fact, no. It wasn’t just something as slight as perspiration. This dude was sweating”

“And god, he seemed gray. Actually gray”

“…his left leg. It did not seem to want to stop jiggling. Massively jiggling, like someone was setting off firecrackers inside of it….said firecrackers seemed to spread to other parts of his body. Now his right leg was jiggling too”

While I can’t review the overall story, the writing is not for me.

I *SO* wanted to like this book! The cover and synopsis really grabbed me, and I like seeing fat heroines in romance. Plus, I usually enjoy the whole "supernaturally-amplified attraction"/"I'm in heat and you're the only one who can help" trope. But this one just did NOT do it for me. When you kick the story off with fat-shaming/bullying from the inevitable love interest, I'm gonna Nope right the heck out real fast. (I get that there's a huge audience out there that enjoys bully romances, but I most definitely DO NOT.) Also, the writing style just felt immature and more tell-y rather than showy, and the plot falls apart around the midway mark. Finished it purely because I had gotten too far to quit, but I read the last few chapters out of obligation rather than for entertainment.

I really enjoyed the premise and set up for this book but some of the moments of dialogue and actual plot happenings fell a little flat. I am not always a fan of the friend-to-lover trope, but the situation between Seth and Cassie was more intriguing to me and I actually really enjoyed it! I was a big fan of the chemistry between Seth and Cassie. I was also a very big fan of the magic elements in the story. Did they feel far-fetched? For sure. Did I eat it up? Absolutely. I

f you have the time I would suggest reading it!

This was a quirky, spicy read with a lot of fall vibes. I struggled a bit with some of the dialogue being more on the cringe side but overall it was a cute story!

Yes! A witchy rom-com that packs in all the spice and snark. When Cassandra returns to prep her Grandma's house for resale after her death she learns a lot of things about her and the small little town she lived in. I am absolutely hooked on The Sanctuary for Supernatural Creatures series and so look forward to book #2!

WOW was this book spicy. It started so slowly but once it got going it was a LOT. I generally liked the writing and storyline, though felt like the main character was a bit frustrating and oblivious at times. Also, their whole conflict could have been resolved much sooner and that also felt frustrating that it took a whole decade to explain what actually happened in high school...Loved the concept though and it was a quick read!

3.5⭐️ rounded down. I really enjoyed the premise and set up for this book but some of the moments of dialogue and actual plot happenings fell flat for me in some moments. I am not usually a fan of the friend to lover trope, but the situation between Seth and Cassie was more intriguing to me, which is why I gave the book a shot and I actually really enjoyed it! I was a big fan of the chemistry between Seth and Cassie. I was also a very big fan of the magic elements in the story. Did they feel far-fetched? For sure. Did I eat it up? Absolutely. Overall, like I said, 3.5 stars and if you have the time I would suggest reading it.

Cassandra Camberwell has had a bit of a rough time of it in High School, thanks to a nasty group of boys who insist upon humiliating her. When her former best buddy joins in, well, that just hurts. Seth Brubaker does something absolutely unforgivable.

This is a terrific premise for the story, and the beginning really pulls you into the story because it's just so hard to understand the cruelty that Cassandra experiences. When she returns to her grandmothers home years later, she finds Seth there, and it appears he's had some relationship of sorts with her grandmother. Talk about crazy stuff. There's some interesting paranormal activity in this town.

Overall, I thought this was a great idea for a story that just didn't quite hit the mark for me. There was too much internal narration from Cassandra that just brought the story to a halt. There is plenty of erotic content too, as Cassie and Seth come to their HEA. I don't mind explicit sex in a story, but it seemed out of place here for some reason. So there are some hits and some misses in this story for me and that's why I've rated it 3 stars.

This story had its highs and lows for me. Some parts I loved, while others didn't resonate as much. I will probably continue reading the series for the talking microwave and the raccoon.