Femme Feral

by Sam Beckbessinger

Hyper-competent Ellie thinks she’s going through perimenopause, but discovers she’s actually turning into a werewolf in this feminist, dark-comedy debut

The head of a company she started from the ground-up, the worried mother of a troublingly secretive daughter, and the wife of an easy-going man who always has her picking up the slack—Ellie is already juggling too much. So, it's an inconvenient time to find herself beset by strange physical hair sprouting in new places, running hot, trouble sleeping, losing time, finding bloodstains in all her clothing. And underneath it all, a boiling rage that threatens to disrupt the life she's worked so hard to build.

Her doctor diagnoses perimenopause. But it's another twenty-eight-day cycle that's taking hold, one that involves fur, teeth, and a not-insignificant amount of howling at the moon—and that gifts Ellie incredible strength and speed. Her new power's thrilling, as is releasing the anger she’s suppressed for years—especially as it turns out that there are some problems that can be solved with The terrible new hire who is sabotaging her careful plans. The creep who's stalking her daughter. Only, the beast within isn't easy to control, and its bloody trail is getting harder to hide. With an obsessive hunter on her trail and a growing fear of what she's becoming, Ellie must find a way to yoke her fury before she tears through the people she loves.

A deeply gratifying, highly addictive and provocative read, Femme Feral is an exhilarating expression of feminine rage, with a If you swallow your anger, it's sure to come back with a bite.

Genres: Horror, Fantasy, Fiction, Thriller, Adult, Contemporary, Horror Thriller

382 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 9, 2026

About the author

Sam Beckbessinger is the author of the bestselling Manage Your Money Like a Fucking Grownup and the novel Girls of Little Hope (co-authored with Dale Halvorsen). Her interactive story about climate change, Survive the Century, was featured in New Scientist and Gizmodo. She teaches creative writing at Bath Spa University, writes kids' TV and picture books, once wrote for Marvel, and is weirdly obsessed with spreadsheets. Her perimenopausal werewolf novel Femme Feral is coming in summer 2026. She grew up on a farm near Durban with a pet donkey named Mr Magoo, but now lives in London.

Reviews

[Mikey ಠ◡ಠ · Rating 1 out of 5]

Use of ChatGPT from a writer is wildly disappointing. Automatic one star.

Another highly anticipated yet ultimately disappointing read. Use of ChatGPT from the author aside, this is a book that had an extremely promising premise that completely lacked any successful execution whatsoever.

While I understand the overall theme of the book was repression and the main character bottling up her feelings and having the play nice and adhere to social expectations, I just feel like once she turned into a werewolf we could have gotten chaotic with it and started confronting things in a more head on way. I also thought Brenda’s storyline was wildly more compelling in every way and I sympathized with her in ways that for some reason I couldn’t with Ellie. And I should have been able to more than I did, Ellie had A LOT going on, trying to run a company in danger of failing, parenting a daughter who had her own struggles (that again weren’t really addressed), running a household and taking care of her father in law pretty much completely alone, it was a lot! And for some reason I just couldn’t find it in me to care!

The most frustrating thing was there was no clear and satisfying resolution to anything that came up in the book, all of Ellie’s challenges were skirted around but never fully, meaningfully addressed in any way whatsoever. It all just felt pointless by the end; Ellie never learned anything. And sure, maybe I just didn’t understand the vision here but to me this felt like a book just trying to capitalize on the popularity of feminine rage without trying to explore beyond the surface level stuff.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a free eARC in exchange for an honest review.

[Sidney · Rating 1 out of 5]

edit: the author used chatgpt to write portions of the book so automatic 1 star.

dnf around pg 220.

I ultimately just feel like I have read or seen this same plot way too many times for me to get invested enough to care to push through. The writing is ok & at times I chuckled but this does not bring anything new or exciting to the "is it menopause or am i a werewolf?" trope. Not to mention Ellie was insufferable to me, it was like her entire personality is just complaining about things, which some of them she could have done something to fix the things she was complaining about???, like girl just stand up for yourself, confront your husband about his inability to help at all in life or the relationship, really anything other than just being passive aggressive 24/7

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for this arc in exchange for an honest review

[Jane ♱⃓ · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF at 200 pages


I didn’t find out until I was already halfway through the book that it was written with chatgpt.. disappointing.

The writing was funny at times, cringe at other times, but overall nothing too bad. I found myself wishing for the physical book so I could tab all my notes because reading this was a fun experience. There’s a few moments where the way fear is described is nauseating and almost tangible. I loved the vivid grotesque descriptions that the author does at certain times that weirdly correlates perfectly with my contamination ocd thoughts (besides the detailed descriptions of cat mutilation. That I didn’t enjoy). The story eventually turns into a mystery, which I actually liked.

I appreciate how it touches on how little the scientific world knows about menopause and that opens up a conversation for how women have always been neglected by the health industry.

I’m not usually a fan of multiple povs because I always end up liking one more than the others and that’s exactly what happened here. I definitely preferred Brenda’s pov (the old lady). The book paints her as rude and straightforward to a fault, but honestly she’s more relatable and less irritating to read about than the main character.

A personal pet peeve of mine, but the whole “Male lazy suck ooga booga relatable right?” shtick is not new or entertaining to read.. just stop being a pushover. How does the main character supposedly have a happy successful marriage but can’t properly communicate with her husband.. girl STAND UP

Not even remotely important but one of my favorite moments from this book is when it describes someone wearing a leopard print jumper, pink tartan skirt, floor-length puffer coat, and pink sunglasses — and says she looks like “the unabomber on the way to Aldi”.. miss queen in what world is the Unabomber wearing that lmfao

Something that grates me personally is how this book is set up as a feminist novel but the main character is constantly side stepping herself for her husband. Like I get the nuance but it gets annoying SOO quick. She complains in her head nearly everytime she is with him and that is entirely unsatisfying to read.

Thank you to NetGalley and Viking Penguin for the ARC in exchange for an honest review

[Angyl]

Thank you to Penguin Books for providing me with an electronic copy of this book to review.

I was initially excited to read Femme Feral, a feminine rage transformation horror, which is usually something I love. However, after seeing other early reviews of this book, I became aware of the author's usage of ChatGPT in writing a certain section of the novel.

The author discloses this usage and tries to justify it at the end of an author's note following the story by stating that ChatGPT was used to demonstrate how unhelpful AI can be and she thought it would be "useful, interesting, and funny" to utilize ChatGPT as a way of mocking itself.

It is my personal opinion that no matter the reason, generative AI has no place in the creative space and should absolutely never be used in a novel, which is why I came to the decision that I would not be reading, reviewing, or promoting this book. The author urges readers who may be upset by the AI usage to "engage with your local representatives to insist that they push for better regulation of this industry" and states that she herself is against generative AI. My question is - you claim to be against this, yet you use it in your novel? How can I trust your word when you say all other written text is your own work?

I write this to warn other readers of this incident. Truly, I think the publisher should be taking responsibility with disclosing the AI usage and I wish the author was more upfront about it rather than tucking it away at the end of her author's note.

[Heidi Zuva]

A fun read, though I feel tradpub needs to take a really firm stance on no generative AI whatsoever, for any reason (even to give robots a voice) in books. The battle against AI will be an easy one to lose, and even the smallest concessions shift the norm until we've given more ground than we meant to. IMO AI shouldn't be used for brainstorming, research, plotting, storyboarding, or any other part of the process -- and certainly not for published text.

[thevampireslibrary · Rating 1 out of 5]

Why are we using AI

[Sally cosyhomelibrary]

There was a very particular part of this book that read as though it was written by chat gpt. It was one part and I kept reading because I enjoyed the premise and wanted to give the benefit of the doubt. I thought that perhaps I was wrong.

However I’ve found out since finishing the book that some of the AI dialogue in the book was in fact written by chat gpt and it makes me question if other parts were too. I’ve lost faith that if it has been used in some aspects why that would stop the author from using it in other areas.

This is the part that made me stop and think it was AI generated:

‘Yes, we're low on cash, but the rest? Every graph, trending upwards. User feedback, gushing.
The corporate module, two sprints ahead of schedule. Nothing visionary, sure, but bloody effective. I don't hold back or imply any false modesty. I've been killing it. It's all here, in black and white and Tranquillity-brand green.’

It reads like an AI generated paragraph and stopped me in my tracks.

I carefully considered whether to continue reading and I decided perhaps I was just jumping at AI ghosts, maybe I was wrong and to carry on reading it as it was an eARC and I trusted Bloomsbury wouldn’t have one of their authors use AI.

The cover art and the synopsis spoke to me and I thought that it would be great fun read, but somehow it missed the mark. I didn’t like the main characters but I appreciated some of the moments describing how it is to be a woman and to be take seriously medically, especially concerning “women’s health” issues such as menopause.

Overall I’m disappointed and I can’t understand why chat gpt was used to write parts of the book. It feels like cheating. Because of this I’m unlikely to read more of this authors work in future.

Thank you to Bloomsbury and NetGalley for the eARC.

[Georgie | The Pink Prose Parlour]

Thank you Netgalley for this ARC.

While I have previously DNF’d the book, I have changed my mind and now I actually want to finish it. I think it’s ok to question AI usage and to understand the context it’s used in. So I will be continuing this book and with that, broadening my understanding of how and why generative AI is used.

[Maddie Earl · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you to NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for my review.

This is a slow-buildup, multiple POV, women's-fiction horror that focuses on Ellie, a middle-aged woman in tech. The horror aspect of the plot takes a bit to build-up, but it's symbolic of Ellie's rage that simmers until she becomes "the beast" and once the action really began it was all-consuming.

“I feel two extra feet pounding heavy on the ground behind me, I cannot outrun them”

The not-so-subtle foreshadowing and zoomorphism that builds the story is clever and every detail beginning from the first page is fleshed out and comes back into play later in the book. It is obvious that the plot was well researched and thought out. Even the side characters' backstories that are both relevant and again, have a bigger purpose in the plot. Brenda, the other older FMC, has her own repressed rage and experiences similar to Ellie (and many women in real life), whereas she is constantly dismissed and overlooked by men. I wish I could also sometimes take my repressed rage and channel it into a roaming beast.

“Rage isn't the problem, they say, repression is. Repression is rage turned inward, and that the beast is the part of us that will no longer allow us to do that”

Why have I not connected the lunar cycle and the female monthly cycle together before? The message of the book is commentary on women's health and the lack of research in the field. The authors note exclaims that "the medical industry knows about as much about perimenopause as it knows about lycanthropy" which really encompasses the premise of the story. The author also acknowledges in her note that she minimally uses ChatGPT for one paragraph. If the negative reviewers actually checked context and read- they might realize that this was a genius move on the author's part. Ellie works in the tech industry, and her current project utilizes AI language models to create meditational messages. The author generated actual AI gibberish (and edited it) as the FMC did to highlight how ridiculous and harmful AI can be when not used correctly. This choice was a blatant display of authenticity and relevance.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and it deserves more praise than it’s been given.

[She’s Stranger Than Fiction · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I could give this book more than ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️, I would! Where do I even start? As a slightly past middle-aged woman, Sam Beckbessinger is the spokesperson I didn’t know I needed. Hell yeah to the female rage! Hell yeah to learning who you really are beneath all of the social conditioning! Women may not really be devolving into angry beasts (or maybe they are. I don’t judge), but we do want to be seen and to have our experiences validated. All of this soul-freeing beauty is packaged in a funny, immersive, dark, horrifying, and gory package, and I ate it up! Beckbessinger’s writing is provocative and crisp. Readers feel what Ellie feels, even when we know it’s irrational - and especially when we see something of ourselves in her. The pacing is perfect. The beginning, middle, and end are perfect. The plot and characters are perfect. I am craving more from the author. Cannot recommend enough!

This is an uncorrected proof I received from Netgalley. Thanks to Netgalley for putting this book in my hands, Penguin Books for providing this opportunity to read it, and to Sam Beckbessinger for creating it. I had a great time!

Opinions are 100% my own.

[Shae Bentley · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ - I adored this one. It’s such a fun and clever book that blends social commentary with dark humour and full blown feral rage.

We follow Ellie as she juggles work in the tech industry, family expectations, the invisible labour of keeping a household running, and the general societal expectation that women should quietly hold everything together without complaining. Then perimenopause hits. Except in Ellie’s case, the mood swings, memory lapses, and sudden hair growth might not be hormonal after all…

Ellie is a hot mess and often unintentionally hilarious, especially as her life begins to spiral in ways she definitely did not plan for. She’s trying so hard to balance work, family, expectations, and a body that suddenly feels unfamiliar. She’s constantly picking up the slack while being underappreciated both at home and at work, and that simmering resentment and exhaustion was always going to boil over eventually.

We also get another perspective through Brenda, an older woman who becomes determined to investigate the mysterious deaths of local cats in the neighbourhood. She’s a hilariously stubborn, observant, and determined old lady and I really enjoyed her chapters!

There’s a whole lot of rage in this story and it feels very earned. The book has a lot to say about how women’s health is treated, or more accurately ignored. It touches on how difficult it can be for women to be taken seriously medically, particularly when it comes to menopause, an experience that affects millions yet still feels ridiculously under researched and dismissed.

This story also explores a lot of heavy topics including ageing, the treatment of women in the tech industry, unequal labour in relationships, eating disorders, and mental health. It manages to tackle these themes while still maintaining a strong sense of dark humour, which I loved.

I laughed, I cringed, I got angry on Ellie’s behalf, and I was wildly entertained the entire time!

⚠️ I do want to mention that there are some difficult scenes involving animals. There’s a very descriptive animal death early on, and the theme of pet deaths appears throughout the story. It makes sense for the plot, but it was tough to read at times. 🖤

Thank you to Bloomsbury Publishing for the gifted physical ARC and NetGalley for the eARC. 🫶🏼

[Melanie · Rating 1 out of 5]

I want a refund fuck using ChatGPT to write books are you fucking kidding me?

[rachel x]

This was a highly anticipated release of mine, but the author's use of ChatGPT in the creation of this novel is an instant nope.

Fuck generative AI

[Holly · Rating 5 out of 5]

UNFLINCHINGLY BRUTAL & FREAKING BRILLIANT. 🐺🩸
Straight out of the gate, this is a 5-star read. Perfection, no notes. ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
It’s no secret I love horror and a good laugh, and Sam Beckbessinger weaves them together so naturally it hurts.

Femme Feral follows Ellie, a mid-forties "boss babe" who just got passed over for CEO by a walking caricature of white male privilege. At home, she’s the glue holding everything together; managing her easy-going husband, a father-in-law losing his mind, a struggling daughter, and a useless brother. And on top of it all, Ellie is feeling the effects of perimenopause!
Ellie’s life is a mountain of lists where she is always at the bottom. Her main emotions? Repression and resentment. And they finally come out to play during her monthly howls at the moon.
Then there's Ellie’s foil, Brenda: a fierce, hilarious curmudgeon desperately seeking justice for her slain cat. With barbs sharper than Ellie’s claws, Brenda’s life isn't exactly filled with family, friends, or joy. But driven by anger and a need for justice to uncover the truth behind the Walthamstow cat murders, she finds a reason to live again, and an unlikely friend.

The chapter that gutted me follows a male character who is stalked while walking home at night. Initially, he shrugs it off because he has no frame of reference for that kind of fear. Watching his transition from arrogance to clenching his fists to stop them shaking felt like pure vindication. Who among us hasn't walked with keys between her knuckles?

Femme Feral forces you to open your eyes, examine your life, and let out your inner beast. It’s a demand for happiness in a world that asks women to settle for lists.
My Verdict: Read it. It’s social commentary horror for the ages.

[Janalyn, the blind reviewer · Rating 1 out of 5]

I am so angry thatt I read this stupid book and then learned it was mostly written by AI. That’s so disappointing.

[Stay Fetters · Rating 2 out of 5]

"I dreamed I ripped through flesh and bones and delighted in the ripping."

When Nat Cassidy tells you to read a certain book… you read that damn book. You don’t ask questions nor do you read the synopsis. You just read it. That’s beside the point though because I love werewolves and books with ferocious covers, so I was sold automatically.

The promise of this book hits you in the face hard. Hard enough to break your nose. I was stoked to pick this up and I started it right away after getting it. Well, the letdown was hard and left me a mess. Between the poorly executed ideas and the use of Ai, I was disappointed.

What I did kind of enjoy were the transformation parts. The ferociousness of the wolves as they tear things limb from limb was definitely cool. Other than that this was pretty mediocre. At first, the hectic life of Ellie was something else and you find yourself easily connecting with her. Then it just gets extremely repetitive. That is where it loses its luster.

‘FF’ had a lot of promise but didn’t strike gold. There were too many things that I didn’t enjoy. This just wasn’t for me. *sigh* Maybe next time.

[Zoë · Rating 2 out of 5]

Femme Feral - Sam Beckbessinger
2.5 & 1 ⭐️
Ebook ARC

I’ve split this review into two parts - please read the full review to see why.

46-year old hyper-competent tech CEO Ellie's already juggling too much. It's an inconvenient time to be beset by mid-life symptoms: coarse hair in new places, hot flushes, insomnia, finding bloodstains on all her clothing, howling at the moon. Her doctor diagnoses perimenopause. But it's another 28-day cycle that's taking hold. One involving fur, teeth, and a significant amount of rage. Suddenly the troubles in her life - seem almost... bite-size.

2.5⭐️: This book really intrigued me and I loved how original and crazy the concept was. Menopause that turns you into a werewolf? I love that, sounds hilarious. Sadly I don’t think it was executed all that well. It took a bit too long to really get into the story where Ellie fully embraces being a werewolf, and when she did it was kinda fun then kinda weird. It didn’t end how I expected and assuming it would be a funny book, I didn’t really find myself laughing much. A fun story but didn’t quite execute it.

1⭐️: It’s important to address the use of AI in this book. In the author’s note (see second slide), Sam confesses to using ChatGPT3 to write one AI meditation for the book, and Apple predictive text for another one, and then editing them both for the book. I respect the honesty and trust that no more AI was used to write this book but any use of AI in the creative arts is unacceptable. It’s just one paragraph that’s been edited by Sam - just write it yourself?! So I cannot in good conscience recommend or rate this book higher than 1 star for that aspect of it. My advice to the author would be to apologise publicly, promise to never use AI again and stick to that as this will drive lots of people away as AI is such a big no no in the creative arts.

Thanks to those who made it to this paragraph. You might think why don’t I just go “1 star AI” and leave it at that? I feel it is important to review a book in more depth and it was my choice to review the whole book and then discuss the AI since 99% of the book is original.

Thank you NetGalley and Bloomsbury for the ARC.

[Aga · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you publisher and netgalley for this ARC.

I was super excited for this one. Perimenopause and 46yo woman who does it all. It was supposed to be funny and yet it did not deliver.

The story was written chaotically and I just couldn’t relate to Ellie. She is such a force of nature at work yet she seems to not be able to have a good relationship with her husband.

The use of ChatGPT for creating meditation app felt wrong in my opinion.

I am dissapointefd with this one as I was asking myself what do I read. It wasn’t funny, Ellie turning into a werewolf- not sure if that supposed to be a metaphor but did not work for me at all.

It is a miss for me.

[Mel · Rating 4 out of 5]

The allegory is strong in this one…. Obviously modern women are tired of not having their ailments dismissed by their doctors, but despite the frustration Ellie really believed she was on her way to menopause and starts tracking her symptoms on an app. Brain fog? Memory loss? Irregular bleeding? All possible symptoms. Though, when she starts waking up naked and caked in dirt and surrounded by bloody body parts, she considers that there might be something else going on entirely. Put Werewolves of London on the top of your playlist and give this one a read.

[Shubnum Khan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun!

[myreadingescapism · Rating 1 out of 5]

What the actual fuck....

[Howard Gorman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this book. Packed with characters that are painfully relatable in all the best imaginable ways, it’s as fearsomely ferocious as it is ferociously funny – paws down the most entertaining, terrifying, hilarious time I’ve spent with a horror book all year.

[Sam · Rating 1 out of 5]

My Selling Pitch:
Nightbitch meets Don’t Fuck With Cats for a mediocre female rage horror novel, but the author’s pro AI and used it to write portions of this book ‘for the lols.’

On my do not read list.

Pre-reading:
… I’m never beating the werewolf books only allegations.
If my tagline for this book isn’t just menopause is a bitch-

(obviously potential spoilers from here on)
Thick of it:
I love that the chapter titles are a symptom list!

Oh, fuck this main character. If you’re not gonna be a girl’s girl, if you’re gonna insult old women-

Her what pajamas.

Oh, so this is wannabe Nightbitch.

This audiobook’s emphasis is very well read.

Wait, that's so sad. She dressed to die because she was abandoned. Humanity is so cruel. I don't understand it.

Going blind is one of my greatest fears.

I do like that this book is calling out privilege and how people who have nothing are more likely to give the very little that they have. Like there’s commentary on the marginalized of society- older women and immigrants.

Don’t present that as the rule. I’m not tolerating that in my partnership. I would rather be alone. This book is aggressively millennial.

Etiolated like a potato is crazy work.

If it doesn’t affect him, why bother doing it? That’s all the lung problems and none of the payoff.

I like cryptics, but it takes me forever to get them. I would not have gotten that one.

Girl, stop parenting your husband and tell him to get it together.

Brenda’s autistic

Not the AI push.

This book isn’t bad. It’s just kind of generic, and then it’s really bumming me out because it’s just like life is bad for women and minorities and the whole world is bad.

There’s a lot of animal violence in here that I wasn’t prepared for.

Morbid crouton is crazy

Me at the doctor's right now.

GIRL.👀
her: why is my husband bad?
her husband: my magic dick turned her straight!

I’m kind of bored

Poor old lady. I don’t think you’re surviving a fall like that at 82. She’s gotta break a hip, no?

Olivie Blake would eat this author alive.

Yeah, so an apology for posting revenge porn is not gonna cut it. Tributes are a form of sexual harassment. You have to go so far down the red pill hole to get there. That’s disgusting.

Detritus sin

This book’s messaging is so warped. Rage is not the solution. Anger is not productive.

Daniel better not be dead.

Post-reading:
Don't patronize authors who publish AI slop.

Look, I was given the arc for this by the publisher, and I like to go into my books blind so I never Google the book or the author until the end, and when I sign up for an arc, I feel morally obligated to finish and critique or praise the material I was given. This author admits to using AI to write portions of this book in her author’s note. She claims that she allowed AI to generate the text of her book’s AI messages because it would be ‘so funny.’ It’s not funny. I don't know how you ethically use, let alone promote-because homegirl literally wrote a how to guide for creating Gen AI art on her blog- a system that has cannibalized the work of your peers. How do you tell an artist it's okay that their work has been stolen and used without their permission because it made you giggle? She makes me sick.

And even setting that aside, I still don't respect this book’s content. It’s a weaker Nightbitch, and I'm not a huge fan of that book to begin with. It’s got some pretty toxic messaging in it, and the author once again tries to issue the disclaimer that her main character’s views aren't necessarily her own, but also states that she identifies with the character and wrote this book as emotional catharsis for herself…bitch, the call is coming from inside the house. This is peak tone deaf feminism. You don't hit 40 and realize overnight that misogyny exists, and that's unfortunately what this reads like. It is willfully plugging your ears to the inequalities of the world. And it's complicated to critique because I think this book actually does do a very good job at illustrating elder abuse. It starts to empathize with the invisible members of society like the homeless and how the medical system dismisses women’s pain to the point of malpractice. But its eyes are way bigger than its stomach. This book does not need any of its AI plot. It would be a smarter and sharper book without it, not only because the author’s an AI publishing shithead who can’t cobble together her own word salad to impersonate a machine, but because she's not ready to genuinely critique AI. The book actually promotes its use. I'm just coming off another book that pointed out how AI therapy is a recipe for a disaster, but even without that book in my rearview, it doesn't take a genius to realize that a system encouraging people to act on their violent fantasies is bad. The author tries to argue that indulging in these text based rage fantasies is like violent video games for girls! And good god, there’s so much problematic material to unpack there-the inherent sexism to that statement, the fact that it’s scientifically unsubstantiated, and just that this book’s core messaging is that people should get righteously angry.

A repressed society is bad, but an emotionally volatile one is no better. A more correct interpretation should be that society needs to feel its feelings and then metabolize them in a healthy, productive way. And to be clear, that is NOT this book’s message. This feels like it was written by someone halfway through their therapy arc. They’ve had one breakthrough and are now treating this new extreme as law, when the real healing comes with more balance.

There’s an irresponsible revenge thriller aspect to this. The author wasn’t prepared to write an incel character from a place of empathy, and then fails to give the revenge porn of a teenager the denouncement it deserves. She actually tries to walk it back by giving the audience a chapter from his perspective, and it reeks of lost little boys will be boys. They deserve a second chance. Fuck thatttt. Y’all know me. I am never a good for her girly, and even I wanted her to eat the fucker.

But where this book missteps the most is the fact that it treats the main character's assault as something beneficial. She needed it. She should’ve wanted it. She was just too repressed to ask for it, but now she likes it. Like do you hear yourself??? This book’s a consent nightmare!

This book was never going to get anything above a one since it uses AI, but even ignoring that aspect of it, I’m still left in one star territory because of this book’s misguided fake feminism. Don’t give this author your time or your money.

The audiobook narrator did a phenomenal job reading this, and I hate that I have to tell people not to patronize this piece of her work because this author was such a shithead.

Who should read this:
No one. Don't support AI work.

Ideal reading time:
Anytime

Do I want to reread this:
No

Would I buy this:
No

Similar books:
* American Werewolves by Emily Jane-historical, urban fantasy, horror, revenge thriller, werewolf, queer, social commentary
* Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder-magical realism, mommy horror, werewolf-ish, social commentary
* Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth-lit fic, psychological horror, unreliable narrator, social commentary
* Normal Women by Ainslie Hogarth-lit fic, mommy horror, domestic thriller, social commentary
* Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake-lit fic, academia, horror, revenge thriller, queer, cults, social commentary
* A Tidy Ending by Joanna Cannon- revenge thriller, unreliable narrator
* Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter-lit fic, satire, psychological horror, family drama, social commentary
* Startup Hell by Caitlin Rozakis-urban fantasy romance, family drama
* Bat Eater and Other Names for Cora Zeng by Kylie Lee Baker-paranormal horror, revenge thriller, social commentary
* Mary by Nat Cassidy-paranormal horror, revenge thriller, cults
* When the Wolf Comes Home by Nat Cassidy-magical realism horror, family drama, thriller, werewolf
* What Hunger by Catherine Dang-lit fic, revenge thriller, horror, family drama, queer
* Veal by Mackenzie Nolan-lit fic, classic retelling, psychological horror, family drama, queer, social commentary
* The Witch of Willow Sound by Vanessa F. Penney-lit fic, gothic horror, family drama, cult, social commentary

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[sarah · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF at 14%

I originally was going to mark this as "will not be giving feedback" because the formating for this book was borderline unreadable. There were no chapter headings and the POV changes were happening in the middle of paragraphs, leaving me very confused. I went to Goodreads and NetGalley reviews to see if anyone else was having a similar issue and they were full of reviews talking about AI usage in this novel. In the author's note, Sam Beckbessinger admits to using generative AI in portions of this book to "show how ridiculous AI is" and that just leaves a bad taste in my mouth. This is not the flex the author seems to think that it was. Using generative AI for anything, even something as small as what it allegedly was in this novel, is still using generative AI. I, like many other readers, are very anti-AI in creative spaces. AI models steal from real people, destroy the environment, cause harm to the communities the farms are built in, and are poluting water sources. I'd like to believe an author is capable of using thier own creativity to write passages that read like AI slop so I will not be continuing this book and I will be hesitant to pick up anything from this author in the future. After seeing the treatment of a WOC author after alleged AI usage, I am very disappointed to see a white woman "get away with it". Admission of guilt is not a free pass to use AI, but apparently being a blonde white woman is. Publishers need to do better and keep AI out of publishing!






eARC was provided by Viking Penguin and Penguin Books on NetGalley.

[Lydia Hephzibah]

DNF @ p.74

setting: UK
Rep: n/a

I was into this at the start but there's a VERY descriptive brutal cat death scene that recurs and I wish the synopsis had hinted at that. the blurb makes it seem like it will all be human death and violence. it felt gratuitous and unnecessary. also, just in general, this feels like stuff I've read before. I mean, I literally read another book in the last year that had a near identical premise of a woman unknowingly shifting and killing cats in the night. this doesn't do anything new, and it really doesn't help that the only way to read the arc is via the netgalley app on my phone with no option to increase the font size. publishers, do better!!! it is such a small ask!!

[Charlie Helton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This feminist horror is packed with dark satire, sharp humor, and all the rage of being overlooked, underestimated, and expected to keep it together while life is very much not keeping it together. Add in perimenopausal chaos, tech-company drama, a mediocre marriage, tension with a college-aged daughter, and the discovery that you’re now a werewolf? Yes please.

This was such an entertaining read with a ton of personality, dark humor, and bite. It was a quick, easy read that still had a lot to say, and I had a great time with it. Highly recommend if you love feminist rage, horror with humor, and messy midlife monster energy

[BookishKB]

🐺🌕 Femme Feral 🌕🐺

📖 Bookish Thoughts
I’ll be sharing my full review closer to publication date.

🩸What to Expect
• Perimenopause
• Werewolf horror
• Feminine rage
• Dark comedy
• Workplace sabotage
_ _ _ _

📅 Pub Date: May 12, 2026
📝 Thank you to Viking Penguin, Penguin Books, and NetGalley for the advanced copy. All thoughts are my own.

[Crush Critiques · Rating 1 out of 5]

I find it so disheartening that authors are using AI to write books. Had I known about Sam Beckbessinger’s choice to have AI generate text for portions of Femme Feral, I would never have requested it from NetGalley.

I honestly don’t understand the author’s logic for using ChatGPT. According to her author note, she “thought it would be useful and interesting (as well as funny) to have ChatGPT itself generate the nonsense meditation that appears”, yet in the same breath states that, “texts were then heavily edited by me.”

Using AI to generate text that you are then going to considerably edit is a waste of both resources and time. Plus using it for some but not all of the meditations just proves how completely unnecessary it was. It seems like Beckbessinger knew that any amount of AI use would be a major point of contention for a lot of people, and therefore would create more buzz for her book.

What’s additionally disappointing is that Femme Feral is a book about feminine rage that never really rages. Even as a werewolf Ellie is incredibly repressed, so I don’t really see what Beckbessinger was going for other than wanting to “cash in” on a popular trope. She seemingly used the “sensitive point” of AI and the likening of menopause to becoming a werewolf motif to create hype for the book, rather than letting her writing speak for itself.

Femme Feral is nothing new. It’s not particularly insightful and any potential social commentary is hindered since there really isn’t any character growth outside of lycanthropy.

I also want to point out that telling readers to contact their local representatives and insist that AI has better regulations is wildly tone deaf coming from an author who used it to write fake mental health meditations.

I received an ARC of this book via NetGalley, Viking Penguin, and Penguin Books, however this review is my own unbiased personal opinion.

[Brianne]

I'm so bummed to say I won't be reading this book because of the use of generative AI.

While I appreciate that the author said she used AI, I wish it had been more prominently displayed and shown at the beginning of the book rather than at the end. I also wish the publisher would have included this somewhere in the blurb or something.

I understand Beckbessinger's argument/explanation for using generative AI; however, I don't believe it should have been used. (Beckbessinger wrote a book about a perimenopausal werewolf, so I believe in her creativity to write tech-sounding meditation guides without using AI.)

This book sounded so interesting and I was so looking forward to reading it, but I will not be reading it.

Thank you to Viking Penguin and NetGalley for the opportunity to read an ARC.

[Rachel the Page-Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wow! This book is definitely one of a kind. As a lady of a certain age bracket, I too am going through “The Change” and could relate to a lot of the protagonist’s struggles. I haven’t started growing fur though, so I don’t think we have to worry…yet.

Ellie works for an app called Tranquility - ironic, because her life is anything but tranquil. Her husband, Mo, is a caregiver for his ailing father, but she always seems to be the one making sure Yusuf is being taken care of. Her daughter worries her for multiple reasons, and work at Tranquility is driving her crazy. A bit more crazy than is normal…

After a doctor tells her she’s in perimenopause, she starts to understand the hot flashes, sleepwalking, new hair growing all over, expanding waistline, insomnia, etc. But is it normal to now have unbelievable physical strength, a new, uncanny sense of smell, and an abnormal taste for meat? Is it normal to go to bed and wake up, inappropriately dressed/undressed, covered in blood, miles from home? Curious to find out what is happening to her, she starts downloading apps, buying “anti-menopause” items, and even joins a support group, where she meets Carol, a woman who understands all too well what is happening to Ellie.

This book is very different than a normal werewolf story, and I love the author putting menopause into the book because, let’s face it: it can make us all a bit feral! We also have a side character, an 82-year-old woman on a quest to find out who’s killing cats around the neighborhood. Brenda, along with Ellie and her daughter Paige, are all great characters, and though Brenda isn’t related, I like that it’s intergenerational. This is great horror with a feminist touch and some dark humor throughout. It’s very unconventional, and I liked it that way. 3.5 stars, rounded up!

(Thank you to Random House/Penguin and Sam Beckbessinger for the ARC in exchange for my review.)