Bitten (Otherworld, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Jul 18, 2008 Christina rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: 2008-reads, werewolves, 2012-reads, fantasy

You know when you don't really expect to like a book based on the fact that you're prejudiced to its contents? For example, thanks to Twilight, I am completely Team Vampire (and I'm terribly ashamed at having brought Twilight up, trust me) so anything Werewolf-ish automatically sets off some inner resentment. Knowing this book was about werewolves just made me go 'blegh!' but I was suddenly determined to give it a chance, and so I did.

Oh. My. God. FANTASTIC. I was utterly absorbed by this book ...more

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Oct 30, 2008 Gaijinmama rated it really liked it

Shelves: fiction

#41 Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
rating 4 of 5
436 pp

This is the literary equivalent of eating potato chips. Not terribly filling or nutritious but lots of fun, and it sure is hard to stop once you get started. I have already read the author's third and fourth books, Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic and I have to say I wish I'd started here, at the beginning.
Note to self: read a series in order! Regardless of when you manage to pick them up at the used bookstore, forbear until you can begin at #41 Bitten by Kelley Armstrong
rating 4 of 5
436 pp

This is the literary equivalent of eating potato chips. Not terribly filling or nutritious but lots of fun, and it sure is hard to stop once you get started. I have already read the author's third and fourth books, Dime Store Magic and Industrial Magic and I have to say I wish I'd started here, at the beginning.
Note to self: read a series in order! Regardless of when you manage to pick them up at the used bookstore, forbear until you can begin at the beginning, otherwise you're just plain missing out.

Bitten is pretty unique. There are quite a few books out there with strong, female Witches or demon-fighters or vampire slayers as protagonists, but not many where the heroine is a bonafide werewolf. Actually, Elena is more of an antihero. She's not really a very nice person; that's why I like her! She's funny, grumpy, sarcastic, and has very little compunction about ripping up a rapist or pedophile. She also gets to engage in a couple of pretty hot love scenes (in human form, don't worry). Neither these parts nor the violence are overly graphic. I'd say this series would be OK for a 14 or 15 year old, since they see much worse than this on TV, but parents please use your own discretion with your own kids!
I think what I like best about this book is that Armstrong's take on werewolves is pretty sensible. Their need to Change is a biological function that is either genetic or contracted by being bitten. As one character puts it, it's "about as much fun as having a bowel movement." Well, he doesn't actually say "bowel movement," the vocabulary is definitely PG-13.
No need for silver bullets, either. Armstrong's werewolves can be killed in any manner that would kill any other living creature, including knives, regular bullets, or being run over by a truck. They don't magically return to human form after death, either. A dead werewolf is just roadkill. And human predators (see aforementioned rapists and pedophiles) are far scarier than anything the supernatural can produce.

All in all, a highly entertaining read. I'm in the mood to open another bag of chips and start right in on Stolen, the next book in the series.
...more

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Jun 01, 2015 Nancy rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: paranormal, romance, quiddich, still-owned

Oh Goodreads, what are you doing to me? First zombies, now werewolves? Never in a million years would I thought I would have read a book like this and enjoyed it but, barring a few little things (such as several typos in the edition I had), I really loved it. I guess that fact that Elena is a kick-ass heroine in an all-male environment helped immensely, but I will definitely read more of this series.

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Feb 04, 2009 Slayermel rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: canada, romance, fiction, own, fantasy, series, werewolf, paranormal, 21st-century, kobo

This book kept a great pace and had me hooked to the story right from the beginning. Kelly Armstrong managed to weave a great beginning to a series which I’m sure will keep me hooked for a while.

Elena Michaels is the only one of her kind, a female werewolf. A rare event on its own, top that with the fact that she is trying so hard to cut out a life for herself in the human world and you got yourself a rare case of a wolf indeed. Elena is forced to go back to her pack when some strange events th ...more

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May 12, 2008 Jenn rated it really liked it

Received through the give-aways from GoodReads.

Elena is the only female werewolf in the world. Trying to live as a regular human being, and utterly ignoring her wolven tendencies turns out to be a lot less easier than it sounds. She's living in Toronto with a human called Philip who has no knowledge of her extra-hairy nights of wandering.

Her yearnings for the Pack are pushed to the very back of her mind. Until she received a phone call, practically begging her to come home to New York. Under fal ...more

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Jul 12, 2011 Joanie marked it as to-read

Shelves: series, bookclub, from-the-library, to-finish-someday, summer-challenge-2011

Just what I need, another series about supernatural beings.

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May 17, 2008 Misty rated it really liked it

Shelves: read-in-2008, series, supernatural-paranormal, helluva-halloween, sci_fi-fantasy, read-in-2009, dorsch-book-club

Slow start, but worth it, some blush-worthy parts (though I am not a blusher, so bring it on), and good character development.

{edit at later date: rereading this for bookclub, feel pretty much the same. I was looking forward to the blush-worthiness this time around.. ;D]

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Jul 23, 2007 Jade17 rated it really liked it

Shelves: horror

I really, really enjoyed this book and I can't wait to get my hands on the sequel. Unfortunately, I've already scoured the libraries that I frequent and they don't seem to have it so I guess I just have to buy my own copy.

(2004 REVIEW) ...more

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