Another reviewer described this as typical "quirky Stein erotica"--and, based on my reading of her previous novel, I wholeheartedly agree. If you're not comfortable with awkward (but hilarious) dialogue, a giant himbo love interest, and werewolf erotica (not until the 70% mark, though), you can skip this one. I, however, had a great time with Cassie, Simon, and their racoon son. (If you know, you know.)

This book was not for me and in general I don’t think second chance romances are. What Seth did to Cassie in high school is not okay and I am not rooting for them to get together. This also feels unnecessarily long and slow moving so I decided to DNF at 20%. Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the free ebook and audiobook for review.

While I was excited for a book with plus size representation, this book just missed the mark. I did not enjoy the fat shaming and information dump at the start and it was just truly hard to connect with the characters after the prologue. Additionally, a lot of the writing and perspective felt almost immature or adolescent in tone and nature. The story was not bad, I just felt as though this was not the book for me.

The cover and title are so cute that they immediately caught my attention. I think the author did a fantastic job with the world building and with the character development of Cassie and Seth. The tension and chemistry were well done. There was also a decent magical system that added to the story. This is definitely a cozy dead that's perfect for Autumn.

Cozy? Check. Supernatural? Check. Romance? Check check check! This was the absolute perfect October/fall read, and if you like alphas, fated mates, and witches, this is absolutely the book for you.

I wanted to love this, I feel like the synopsis brought so much potential, buy, unfortunately for me, I feel like the from the middle of the book to about the last 15% it was just flat with not much of a story going on.

Cassie seemed both clueless & curious at the same time and I just was not a fan. Things finished off nicely, but it felt like a rushed ending. I hoped for more, and this just didn't hit for me.

This romcom was about a girl who finds out she is a witch and helps a werewolf with struggles he is having being a werewolf. Not to mention the werewolf is her childhood best friend who turned into her enemy in high school. But now they're adults, and despite everything she's been through, she is kind and wants to help him. It was basically a friends to enemies to lovers story. This was a fun, entertaining, and a perfect read for spooky season! 🧡📚

Thank you to the author and to the publisher for this ARC of How to Help a Hungry Werewolf , in exchange for an honest review.

I picked up How to Help a Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein because I thought the cover was cute and the description sold me on this being a cutesy enemies to lovers romance. Honestly, I was pretty disappointed, which really made me sad because I wanted to love this. A lot didn’t make sense and didn’t care to make sense. Female main character Cassie was practically a doormat and dense as heck. Male main character, surprisingly, also a doormat. All the troubles were of their own making. It simply didn’t flow and didn’t do it for me.

Before I get into what didn’t work, let’s talk about what did. I thought the bits of worldbuilding we received were really interesting. Cassie and Seth visiting those tiny faeries in the woods was so interesting. I loved seeing this tiny little world and their reaction to bigger folks. I loved the relationships between the different types of supernaturals. Hearing Seth talk about how he’s almost a jack of all trades for their little community, collecting and selling things, was fun. I wanted to delve deeper into this. And I bet future books in this series will. Unfortunately, I don’t think I’ll be there to read about it.

Now, I want to start with one of the main gripes I had that hit very early on and colored everything afterward. Cassie is plus-sized and always has been. She was friends growing up with Seth and they seemed to have a bit of a will they won’t they until he left her high and dry for the people that bullied her. Then, after he convinced her to join their high school talent show, he called her a name over the loudspeaker as the talent she prepared (cake decorating – how very 4H) was sabotaged so she ended up with cake and frosting all over herself. The bullying and embarrassment after this became so bad that Cassie finished her senior year being homeschooled. I’ve read bullymances before and I’m pretty on the fence with them, but I can generally get behind them because we get the male POV. Through that male POV, we learn about how the bully is obsessively in love with the heroine and doesn’t know how to express it any other way and how no one else can bully her other than him. We don’t get that here. We get a group of boys being mean to this girl, no real explanation given at the time of incident, and no hint at his true feelings at that time.

We then cut to present day and eventually he does explain, except the explanation makes zero sense. It felt like a cop out. No one is so dumb to not realize befriending bullies will put a damper on your friendship/crush. No one is so dumb that they’ll simply say something their friends ask them to without wondering why at the timing. Where the attempts to explain afterward? No letters explaining or begging forgiveness? No calling or showing up until he can explain? It was like we get hit with this horrible experience that has haunted Cassie her entire life and there’s not a single stitch of groveling. There’s him present day being self-deprecating and pitying himself for having lost her. That is not groveling. Heck, that’s not even acknowledgment of what was done. That’s self-absorbed and narcissistic behavior. If Seth had done anything with Cassie in mind, without himself as an alternative motive or those pointed comments he makes under his breath, I could’ve really liked him. He seemed like he had big, dumb, golden retriever energy.

Then, we have Cassie. Girlfriend can literally not stand up for herself if her life depended on it. She started off semi-strong, wanting to push Seth out. But literally, in the same breath, she thinks about how much she misses him and loves him and wow he’s still so hot. There’s no self-respect, which makes sense because he and her bullies beat her down so low how could she? When Seth tells Cassie the background story for the most traumatizing event of her life, she accepts it and forgives him and moves on. What? Excuse me? The explanation itself never makes sense, but then to just brush it off like it didn’t cost her her senior year of high school and all that encompasses? I’m outraged on her behalf. Having to miss prom, graduation? Leaving her hometown because of what happened, and suddenly it’s all okay? It didn’t make sense to me.

But then again, I wonder if maybe the reason we don’t get Cassie or Seth to develop to a satisfactory level is because the last 25% to 40% of the book is just sex. The spice was nothing amazing and nothing terrible. It was simply all encompassing, which makes sense when you understand the title of the book. But it didn’t feel like we built up the characters, or the bridge between them, enough to get that payoff. It’s the undercurrent of Seth feeling unworthy and hating himself, and Cassie feeling unworthy that makes it just a bit uncomfortable. Cassie acts like she’s taking advantage of him. That he doesn’t actually want her. It gives ick to read because, again, girl, a pittance of self esteem for yourself please.

There’s more I can talk about – the consequences of Cassie’s power, the combat scenes – but honestly? It wouldn’t make a difference. I went into How to Help a Hungry Werewolf by Charlotte Stein expecting a fun, steamy, and exciting paranormal, ex-friends to lovers romance. Instead, I ended up with self-hating characters that never fully develop and sex scenes that feel uncomfortable based off that lack of development. The worldbuilding that showed promise wasn’t enough to excuse the lackluster characters. Not sure if I can recommend this.

The perfect Sunday during fall read.

It just gives off a warmth similar to the irregular Society of witches. It’s cozy and adorable and makes you laugh and aww in all the right places.

Recommending this book is me giving y’all a virtual hug because that is this book sitting in front of a fire jumping into a magical small town that gives Halloween town vibes.

The best kind of punches to the gut because nothing does it quite like mutual pining and get rid of everyone in their way. They really ride together and they moments of trying to fight the connection are the funniest moments I’ve ever read.

With:

magic like Hoover vacuums 🤭

Their raccoon son 😍😍

Seth steal from the rich?! My kind of guy! 🤩

The Cabinet scene 🔥🔥🔥

I CANNOT RECOMMEND A BOOK MORE, especially in this season 🍂

When Cassie returns to her hometown after her grandmother's death, the last thing she's prepared to find is her former best friend/current mortal enemy breaking into the house...and is now a werewolf of all things. When Seth tells her she's a powerful witch, Cassie trades him information on the supernatural world for potions, but can she ever learn to trust him again? Hilariously cute friends-to-enemies-to-lovers book with a supernatural twist. #MF #slowburn #urbanfantasy #witches #werewolves

DNF

I guess if I had paid more attention to the author of this book, I wouldn't have requested it on NG. Alas, I did not.

And no, I do not have anything against the author, I just don't enjoy her writing style. I had similar issues with this book as I had with her other one that I read.

2.5 rounded up to 3

I don’t think Charlotte Stein books are for me. The pacing was off in the second half of the book, and I really didn’t feel the chemistry between the couple.

Scars from high school carry through to adulthood. At least that is the truth that Cassandra Camberwell lives with daily. It comes to head when she has to head home to clean up her grandmother’s house after her death. Cassie is ready for many things as she heads back to Hollow Brook, but is completely knocked over by her ex-best friend Seth at her grandmother’s house. He has been hiding something for years and is the cause of her worst moment in her whole entire life. But there is something between them that is unresolved.

The world that Stein creates is very surprising and filled with the supernatural. Both of her main characters are rich and fully developed. I did really like her original title How to Help a Horny Werewolf. I would come back for more.

Cassandra returns to her small town and is greeted by her childhood best friend turned high school bully who needs her help. He's a werewolf and has to convince her that 1) she's a witch, 2) he never meant to hurt her, and 3) they have something special.

CW/TW: Parental neglect, bullying, abandonment, fatphobia, low self-esteem

You like this if you like:
- Single POV
- Paranormal Romance
- Childhood Friends
- Enemies to Lover
- Second Chance Romance
- Small Town Romance
- Golden Retriever MMC
- Plus Size FMC
- Cozy read
- Witches
- Werewolves
- Groveling
- Spicy
- Fated Mates

What I didn't like:
- Miscommunication!!!! So much miscommunication.

Overall - Lots of tongue in cheek humor, great spicy scenes, and a pretty good read. Solid 4 stars.

4.5⭐️
Charlotte Stein is in the running for favorite recent author 😍
As someone who married her high school sweetheart, I adore stories that include high school love. It always feels so cute and nostalgic, and I can’t get enough!
Obsessed with the syrupy sweetness.
The spice gets spicy but holy moly, it’s good! (If it matters to you, there’s no 🪢)
Just read it 💁🏻‍♀️

How to Help a Hungry Werewolf should have been great. Small town romance meets down-to-earth supernatural elements, witchy self discovery, and a raccoon familiar named Pod. And the first half was genuinely fun! Because it was all of those things! But unfortunately, it all fell apart in the second half.

Cassie Camberwell is an unambitious drifter (according to her parents) whose high school best friend publicly shamed her and ruined her self esteem forever. But now she finds herself moving back to her hometown to clean up and sell her late grandmother's home, only to run into said ex-BFF, who happens to be a werewolf now. And also hot. And also he need her help, a process which ends up catalyzing her embrace of her witchy powers.

Like I said, the first half was fun, in the way that a silly and fluffy romcom is fun. The banter between Cassie and Seth - and their gradual rebuilding of trust - was genuinely enjoyable, and the way Cassie's magic was specific to cooking and baking was a nice twist. But the second half...

I've read a lot of romance, so I mean it when I say that this might be the horniest book I've ever read. A solid third of the book is just Cassie and Seth lusting over each other in increasingly unhinged ways, to the point where I felt myself skimming because it was genuinely too much. Too awkward, too chaotic, just basically Too Horny. The plot disappeared. All that was left was horniness. Sure, there's something about the mean boy clique from high school turning out to be evil werewolves and wanting to kidnap Cassie, but the point of that was buried below the deluge of paragraphs about how much Seth and Cassie wanted to be having sex but couldn't possibly be having sex because obviously they didn't have those kinds of feelings about each other. Everything else skidded to a halt, and not even Pod the raccoon or the sentient microwave could save it.

This book gets a 3/5 mostly because the first half was fun and vibey, but man does it fall apart. Disappointing.

3/5

This was an interesting book. I found myself laughing a lot. It also had some pretty steamy moments toward the end. The two main characters were so sweet, and I'm glad they were able to repair their friendship. I would definitely read the next book.

This was a read that was good. I like that the author had a little trigger warning at the beginning, it allowed me to understand the main character.

This paranormal romance is filled with so much spice, swoon-worthy moments & laughter it is an absolute delight to read! I was entertained the entire time and there are many hilarious laugh out loud moments. There are very few paranormal romance writers that can me laugh as much as I did with this book. I have to recommend reading (even listening) to this book!

Cassie & Seth were best friends when younger but eventually turn into enemies after an incident at school. Only after she returns to town because her grandmother has passed is there a reconnect between the two. The renewed friendship eventually leads them to being lovers yet here are many twists that lead to this moment. Be ready, there is so very spicy sizzle behind all of these twists. And despite Seth being a werewolf he does the sweetest things for Cassie who swoons over it all. She is so convinced that Seth is only her friend so she can help him yet this is never his true intention.

This book is simply to delightful, hilarious & magical to pass up!

This was fun, quirky and a little steamy. The characters and the world building were my favorite part of this book but the writing was a little disjointed at times.