The NYC Werewolf Tales, Book One

A NYC Werewolf #1

by Bert Murray, Phyllis Fahrie

James is tall, handsome, blond and mysterious. Lucy, an attractive brunette and an art history major, discovers the dark secret that her classmate has been hiding from the world for so long. She risks her safety and security for a passionate and dangerous love.

With the help of an eccentric psychic, Lucy and James begin to better understand the supernatural powers that James possesses. Adding to their difficulties is an ex-boyfriend of Lucy who refuses to be shut out of her life.

From The Metropolitan Museum of Art to Central Park to Gramercy Park, the romance begins in the intoxicating atmosphere of Manhattan in New York City and continues on the sandy beaches of the Hamptons in Long Island.

Genres: Paranormal, Amazon, Fantasy, Fiction, Shapeshifters, Urban Fantasy, Novella

230 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 6, 2017

About the author

Bert Murray is an American author. Bert attended Princeton University.

You can find his books on Amazon here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/...

Reviews

[Barbara ★ · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

I really hate to give a terrible review as writing is hard, demanding work but this book is terrible. The writing is very simplistic and the dialogue is unnatural. Lucy and James are supposed to be college students but they talk and act like teenagers. James is what I would call a beta hero which I didn't like at all. The only way he can stand up for himself is to change into a wolf. While being a werewolf is an amazing thing, this isn't what I imagined. I thought it was unrealistic that James turned into a wolf in very public areas (a restaurant, central park) and no one noticed. I understand that New Yorkers take things in stride but seriously?

My main issue with this book was the insta-love between Lucy and James. Insta-love is my biggest pet peeve as it is such a cop-out, freeing the author from actually developing the relationship.

And WTH was up with the psychic sucking down hard green candies at every opportunity? This was just annoying and should have been disruptive to the whole psychic-spiel.

I'll read the next one because it came as a bundle from the publisher otherwise I wouldn't bother.

[Mandy Walkden-Brown · Rating 1 out of 5]

Back to the drawing board for this novella. Please.

In addition to this being a poorly written story with clunky writing, awkward phrasing, stilted conversations and so many inconsistencies in the plot that it irritated the heck out of me, it also sends some rather appalling messages to young women. That it's acceptable for one to be judged solely on physical appearance; that it's perfectly reasonable for an ex-boyfriend to stalk one and then apologise to him when standing up to his deplorable behaviour because it might have upset him, or caused the controlling lech a little inconvenience when he's splashed with water whilst trying to assault her. Seriously? What century are we in…

In no way, shape or form is this story anywhere near a standard yet fit for publication. I also fail to understand why the story ended where it did - story very unfinished and this would still be a short book if the two novellas ("books" 1 and 2) were combined.

[Kathryn Baron · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gack. Dialogue, plot, characters... None of it rang true for me. Oh, and the female protagonist states that "I thought it wasn’t right to violate the trust between him and me so soon." Rather than, just maybe, not violating the trust at all...

[Nadia Stephens · Rating 3 out of 5]

Misleading Discription

This book is free on Amazon and I received an ARC to read for my honest opinion. The NYC Werewolf: Tales, Book One by Bert Murray sounded like it was going be full of action by reading the book description but it wasn't. I do not care for dull romance books so I gave three stars. It was mainly about a love triangle between college students that act like elementary kids. I would recommend this book to anyone that enjoy reading romance books for young adults. Even though I did not like the first book I am curious about the second book to see what happened between the love triangle.

[Kim Roberts · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5⭐️ rounded up

I have no words for this book. I don’t remember why I got it for my kindle and even after reading I’m still trying to figure that out. This book required a lot of suspended belief and I couldn’t get past that. It left me with more questions than answers and some things were just too convenient for my liking.

[CeCe · Rating 2 out of 5]

It lost me towards the end.

[Lorene Kinslow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great story

This is a wonderful read. I liked the story line and it has great potential for more. Can't wait for your next part of this story.

[Kristy Halseth · Rating 1 out of 5]

I received this as an Advanced Reading Copy. The review is for the third book but the first two are provided and the reviewers are encouraged to read them first if they have not already read them. Here are my thoughts on Book One since I got them all in one bundle.

The genre is YA with the characters as college students. Even when I was that age, I had a higher expectation of the writing for a YA book.

I’m struggling through the first book as the characters come across as middle school kids having their first crushes. Not college students. The first book starts in the worst way possible, with the main character saying, ‘Hey, I’m so and so. I look like this. These are things I like.” It reads like a personal ad on a dating site.

The scene transitions are awkward. In fact, the scenes are really short. The dialogue comes across as unbelievable. I’m trying to give the author the benefit of the doubt and hope that this is a first book. Maybe the next two books will improve.

There are a lot of little things in this book that annoy me. If you flat out tell someone to leave, it isn’t a hint. So saying the guy isn’t taking the hint is not correct. There was no hint.

Passage of time is erratic or not made clear. Are they seeing the psychic weekly or monthly? It feels like weekly but what college student can pay a psychic 100$ a week? Also, ask anyone on the street if they know what an Ouija board is, everyone knows. So I can’t believe these characters have never heard of it before. Why is there all this focus on the psychic popping green hard candy into her mouth and Lucy always paying the 100$ fee?

How is it that James keeps turning into the wolf with no one else ever noticing. It is always in a public place in front of people. This makes no sense. And how can people he has rescued from drowning not notice that it is a wolf they are holding onto? They should be able to tell the difference between an animal and a person.

The only think believable in this book is the behavior of the stalker ex-boyfriend. Yet no one bothers to call the police. The one night when they decide they have to do something about the stalker, they get up the next day and go to the zoo instead.

I can't recommend this book. Not without a lot of reworking.

[Georgen Charnes · Rating 1 out of 5]

Unless the author of this book is under 16 years old, this book should not have been published. To say it's poorly written doesn't even approach describing how bad it is. Any review here of more than two stars has to have been written by a friend of the authors. Clunky writing, lack of detail, a sketchy plot, poorly developed characters... this book has them all.

[Pat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Did not like the story line

It had no story line a kid loosing his them found out you are a werewolf, which he should have found out when he was younger to know how to handle it, now for Lucy she was a very very weak person she could not stand up for self she had no back bone which made story not interesting to glad when it ended, will not read book 2 if there is one.

[Kat · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story, on the whole is fine, the writing style, needs development. I'm not a kid reading her first "chapter book". It's almost like the story was translated from another language to English and had trouble with some of the words. Whatever it is the writing doesn't flow like it should. I'm curious how things work out for these two so I think I'll let Alexa read the next book to me.

[Carol Harris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great story

I enjoyed the story very much. But, it ended very abruptly . I had just started really getting into the plot when the story ended ,feeling like it should continue. But I still must recommend this book to anyone who likes the paranormal and romance that is not steamy but sweet and clean and some suspense.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute!

Basically a New York travelogue. A young couple visiting all the parks and the zoo. Unfortunately nothing really happens and the story ends abruptly. I guess you have to read more books. Not a stand alone.

[Janice perry · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book with an ARC that I read, I did not like how rushed the story was. the characters were not well described and the story was a bit boring.

[Virginia Gray · Rating 1 out of 5]

Very disjointed

This book was very disjointed in the way the story was told. I had a hard time finishing the book.

[Kimberly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pass

Wasn't worth reading.

I'm sorry that I wasted my time reading this book. I'm definitely deleting it from my Kindle Library.

[Kathy Brickert · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of excitement

This book kind of leaves you hanging. There isn't really an ending point, it just ends. Interesting read but not my favorite type of conclusion!

[Gina · Rating 1 out of 5]

I really don't like to give negative reviews because I know writing is hard and it's hard to put your work out there only to have people be mean and rude because they didn't like something in the book, like the person who gave a book 1 star when they liked the writing and the story but took issue with a character cheating on their spouse. It makes it hard to know if a book is good but a person has some moral hang ups or if the writing or the story is bad. I rarely abandon a book as well. I was not going to write a review as I did not read all of it, but thought perhaps I could give some constructive feedback for the authors to use for their next book (or they could rewrite this one). First, the dialog was awful. Not natural at all. For example, the cafeteria scene. James comes up to Lucy and says he noticed her staring at him. She replied that she didn't mean to offend him, he said that he thought it meant she liked him. She didn't know what to say so she said that she didn't even know him. Then he asks her out to see the museum that their college level history class had just taken a field trip to the previous week. Don't get me started on the college history class scene the book opens with. It was more like a middle school class room scene than a college class. I went to college, I went to university, classes are not set up like primary education. OK, let's skip forward to the reveal in the museum. 1st date, and remember Lucy said "I don't even know you" a few pages back back. But he has something he really wants to tell her. This was really some of the most awkward dialog between 2 characters I have ever read. Then he pulls her in for a hug and whispered in her ear "I'm a werewolf" she pulled away and screamed. Then said there was no such thing as werewolves and couldn't his parents afford a psychiatrist. Because you always scream when you hear something ridiculous, and of course, instead of thinking the person is joking, you immediately jump to crazy. This is where I had to stop reading. I had to fight to make it that far. Suggestions for the authors, rewrite the book but first go to a college or university and sit in on a few classes. Then observe how people talk to each other (go to the mall or something and just observe interactions). When you write a conversation between 2 people, play it out and see if it sounds like something people would actually say. Keep working at it until it sounds like something you would say to someone else.

[Kimberly Tisdel · Rating 1 out of 5]

If I don't care for a book I don't usually review. But I read, forced myself, all 3 of these. Don't waste your time. They might be a good outline for a series but that's it. If fleshed out it could possibly be a good trilogy with a metric crap ton of work. Superficial story at best. It reads like a teenager for whom English is a 2nd or 3rd language and who hasn't read any of the genres that this might fall under. Barely paranormal, barely romance, barely mystery, slow, boring & even the cliffhangers were hardly intriguing. Dialogue was stilted & awkward & they REALLY need a proofreader/editor. The characters were supposed to be in college but it read like a young high school couple. Barely anyone shocked by a werewolf. I really am glad I got them all for free. Had I paid for them I'd be rightfully cheesed off. I really have to get over the idea that because I downloaded it/them, I have to finish them no matter how bad they are. If anyone gives it more than 2 stars, please disregard it. It was coerced, paid for or a friend/relative.

[Connie · Rating 2 out of 5]

The Authors Achieved What I'd Have Sworn Was Impossible

A worse werewolf fantasy than Twilight.

I should have DNFed when I hit:
"My name is Lucy. I have short black hair and I’m five feet six. Guys tell me I’m very attractive. I consider myself a true romantic. I read two or three romance novels every week and I listen to sappy love songs from years ago. I’m a college student and an art history major in Manhattan; the city that never sleeps. My favorite food is vanilla frozen yogurt with chocolate chips on top and my favorite thing to drink is the Caramel Macchiato at Starbucks." but I thought maybe I was reading her Tindr profile or something.

Nope. It went on in a similar vein until I pulled the lever and ejected a quarter of the way through.

[Jennifer Soppe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am voluntarily reviewing an Advanced Reader Copy of this book that I received for free.

Lucy and James are students at a New York University in the same history class. They have an instant connection, and Lucy is having a good time on their first date until James reveals the truth about himself. With an interesting take on werewolf lore, this story has a lot of potential. Unfortunately it seemed like there was too much jumping around without a smooth transitions with some scenes in the story line flow. I love the concept the author started with, I just think there is just a little work to be done to make the flow smoother.

A good concept.

[Rhonda Hicks · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't normally give a review that starts off with, maybe this needs a new teaser. When I read the description of "The NYC Werewolf: Tales Book 1, I thought this would be an exciting, heart throbbing adventure about full blown werewolf shifters. I was truly disappointed. It could just be me and perhaps it's a better genre for a YA audience. When I got book 1, I also got book 2 so I'll give it one more try. But I can't give this more than and E for effort which would be equivalent to 3 stars.

[Susan Otto · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about a werewolf and a girl.

The main characters are James can turn into a wolf when he's endanger, a girl who love James, and Josh who was the jealous ex-boyfriend. The story revolves around the love triangle and is a cliffhanger.

The story is in depth with the scenario and the other characters brought into the story. However, I think that the story should have gone longer and not stop where at the point in the story.

[Mary Ellen Torres · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am sorry to give a 1 star review but feel I have too. the story line was about college students who spoke and acted like elementary students. the main characters met and fell in love quickly. How can anyone expect it to be believable for a person to change into a wolf in a blink of an eye in very public places and not be noticed. the book also ended very abruptly. sad to say I have no desire to read #2.
I wish the writer much luck in future writings.

[Richard Goodrum · Rating 3 out of 5]

James is a loner in Lucy's college history class. As they build a relationship, she learns more about him.

This T&YA Werewolf & Shifter Romance tale is amusing. From this book, the series seems more episodic than complete stories in a title. The writing comes across as choppy. Nonetheless, I intend to complete the six titles in the series.

Easy-to-read. Entertaining. Great world building. Haunting. Romantic. Scary. Tragic. Unpredictable. Whimsical. Wonderful characters.

[Jeanie's Kindle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cliffhanger

Just when you get spellbound and wrapped up in the characters... screeching halt and the book is over. I loved the gradual evolution of character development. This will be a good series

[Jan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The reluctant werewolf, the college student, and the controlling ex boyfriend are the main characters in this fun read. Add in a psychic, a generous old lady, and some really odd happenings in upscale NYC and you have a quick fun read!

[Laurie Tarleton · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful

I barely got past the first chapter. This had to be written by a middle school student (in which case I give them an E for effort. The author needs to take some basic writing courses.

[Mark Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Who and why the wolf...

Lucy and james are in love,but Lucy's old boyfriend and his friend Peter are stalking them.a enigma tic wolf appears when there's danger...and there's a therapist of sorts that tries to help James get to the roots of his transformation.

[Tara Adler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good story

I really like that James werewolf comes out when it's needed most like a superhero of sorts. I think having a stalker ex would be terrifying. I'd be interested in reading the rest of the books.