Weregirl (Weregirl Series #1)

by C. D. Bell, Elizabeth Evans (Read by)

Overview

Teen Vogue's Top YA Book Pick for November 2016

The new best-selling novel from C. D. Bell will get your heart racing and blood pumping as you fall in love with Nessa Kurland. Part werewolf romance, part teen thriller, Weregirl tells one girl's story of growth in the face of danger, rivalry, transformation, and love. A beautiful meditation on coming of age, told through a fantasy lens.

Nessa Kurland is running for her life.

High school junior Nessa Kurland is a cross-country runner with her eyes set on one thing: a college scholarship as her one-way ticket out of Tether, Michigan, a town on the brink of shutdown since it was devastated by corporate polluter Dutch Chemical.

Talented teammate Cynthia invites Nessa on a nighttime run through Tether's overgrown forest trails. But she speeds ahead, leaving Nessa alone to discover a trapped wolf. Nessa tries to free the animal but is badly bitten, seemingly ruining her hopes for a strong fall season.

Instead, Nessa's freakishly quick recovery is followed by improved running times. All her senses are heightened. Nessa has transformed.

She has become a werewolf.

In her new state, Nessa learns that Tether has many secrets. What is really going on at the small-town clinic? Can she decipher what the wolf pack she's been running with is trying to tell her? Nessa must navigate true human darkness and the uncertainty of young love, all while making peace with her new, wild nature.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781543663457
Publisher:	Brilliance Audio
Publication date:	10/24/2017
Series:	Weregirl Series , #1
Product dimensions:	5.25(w) x 6.75(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	14 - 17 Years

Editorial Reviews

Weregirl is the YA novel you never knew you wanted -unlike any book you've read before.

Revelist

A heart-gripping story of danger and magical transformation.

Eliot Schrefer, author of Rescued

For those tired of the typical supernatural YA novel, this book is your answer.

Jennifer Lutton, Bookseller

From the Publisher

"Unputdownable!"

Bridgeside Books - Hiata Defoe

"Weregirl was surprisingly refreshing...three parallel story lines seamlessly come together for an action-packed conclusion. A classic werewolf story with a twist."

Young at Heart Book Blog - Alex Prekeges

"Weregirl is like a superhero origin story and a mystery wrapped in a supernatural guise."

Bookseller at VJ Books - Jennifer Lutton

"I literally devoured [Weregirl] in one sitting."

WanderedSouls Book Blog - Imogen Thompson

"A heart-gripping story of danger and magical transformation."

Two-time National Book Award Finalist and author of Rescued - Eliot Schrefer

09/12/2016
All high school junior Nessa Kurland wants is a cross-country scholarship to college in order to escape her small Michigan town. When she’s bitten by a wolf while trying to rescue it from a trap, she thinks her season is over; instead, she heals abnormally quickly and becomes faster and stronger. Soon Nessa discovers the awful truth: she has become a werewolf and must hide this new condition from the world while still pursuing her dreams. When she discovers that the powerful corporation that all but rules her town is hiding deep secrets, she becomes determined to get to the truth. This urban fantasy adventure, first in a planned series (and the first “linear” story from the publisher famous for its bestselling Choose Your Own Adventure books), introduces some intriguing elements, but in general this take on werewolves and evil corporations doesn’t stray too far from well-traveled paths. Written pseudonymously by a creative team that includes author Cathleen Davitt Bell, it’s a solid story with engaging characters, but it adds little to a crowded genre. Ages 12–up. (Nov.)

Publishers Weekly

10/01/2016
Gr 7 Up—Nessa is a junior cross-country runner in Tether, MI, a small town devastated by a corrupt pharmaceutical company polluting the water and sickening the children. She needs to win an athletic scholarship in order to attend college, but her running times are not good enough. After being bitten by a wolf during a late-night run, she changes physically, most notably with amazing running speeds. As Nessa breaks track records and struggles with her transformation, tragedy strikes Tether and the mystery of the sinister new clinic comes to light. This paranormal work has a rough, awkward start, often employing cliché; the main characters, who are white, are talented, pretty, and blessed by coincidences. For example, Nessa and her best friend are able to sneak into heavily secure areas and spy on a dangerous company without being spotted. Secondary Native American characters are relied on to explain the supernatural events and magically fix problems rather than to play authentic roles. Parents regularly allow their children with autism to go for checkups at a clinic in town. The kids are alone with the medical staff, whom the parents never meet, and the parents have no information about the treatment their children undergo. It's difficult to ascertain whether this is a medical thriller, a teen supernatural story, or a cautionary tale about powerful drug companies and corporate greed. VERDICT This is a decent initial effort by a team of authors (writing under the collective pseudonym of C.D. Bell), but overall, the result is uninspired and obvious.—Kristen Rademacher, Marist High School, IL

School Library Journal

2016-09-19
A white teen discovers a shape-shifting ability along with dangerous secrets. High school junior Nessa Kurland desperately wants a cross-country track scholarship to secure not only her access to college, but also her escape from her small, chemically polluted, no-future town. She needs to be faster and trains when she can around school, her job at the vet, and taking her autistic brother for treatments in the local clinic. But things change rapidly once Nessa is bitten by a wolf: the wound heals miraculously, her senses begin to sharpen, and her speed improves dramatically almost overnightthe downside being that she also transforms into a white wolf at the new and full moons. Seeking guidance from a Native American practitioner of shamanism (his tribal affiliation is unspecified) and spending time with a wolf pack in the woods, Nessa begins to understand why the wolves chose her. Nessas confrontation with the dark truths about her town falls flat in a rushed ending that seems more intent on a sequel than a resolution. Flatter still is the cultural dissonance. Despite its (generic) borrowing of sacred Native American cultural myths, the narrative is more invested in its multiple, complex wolf characters than in the two identified Native characters, who remain simple, expositional (and even magical) helpers, conveniently out of the way through the majority of the text. These characters rejection of a monolithic view of Native peoples is, ironically, undermined by the texts failure to acknowledge their specific heritages. A lupine spin on the typical, tone-deaf appropriation narrative. (Paranormal thriller. 13-17)

Kirkus Reviews