Moonsick

by Tom O'Donnell, Ellie Gossage (Narrator)

Scream meets Stephen King in this fast paced debut YA horror novel about a girl trying to survive a world where becoming a werewolf is a contagious disease.

High school senior Heidi Mills seemingly has it a charming (arrogant) boyfriend, loving (wealthy) parents, and an acceptance letter to Harvard (well, not yet). With her mom and stepdad away on vacation, she’s going to host a rager at their mansion to celebrate the end of high school.

The party is tomorrow. But the full moon is tonight―when the worldwide werewolf epidemic that has run rampant for the past few years turns deadly, and the infected transform into beasts.

Safe in her home, with its state-of-the-art lockdown system to keep the monsters out, Heidi expects to wait out the night. But when two intruders show up to rob what they think will be an empty home, the life of privilege, ease, and safety that Heidi has taken for granted comes crashing down. Suddenly exposed to the realities of this virus and the way that the rest of the world has been living all this time, Heidi embarks on a dark adventure accompanied by the mysterious—but intriguing—boy who broke into her house. As she fights to survive the underbelly of a post-pandemic society, she'll learn that not all monsters have fangs.

With flourishes of Wes Craven and The Purge, this comedic horror novel is perfect for fans of Grady Hendrix, Adam Cesare, and things that go bump in the night.

Genres: Horror, Young Adult, Werewolves, Thriller, Paranormal, Fiction, Mystery

Audible Audio

Published December 15, 2025

About the author

Tom O'Donnell has written for The New Yorker, McSweeney’s, and several TV shows. Tom lives with his wife and kids in Brooklyn, NY.

Reviews

[TheConnieFox · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Moonsick” is a young adult horror fantasy novel where a werewolf turns the world into a very scary place! A High School senior named Heidi, who is privileged, must come to terms with her new reality of where becoming a werewolf is a terrifying contagious disease! Heidi’s parents go on vacation and she hosts a party at her mansion in celebration of graduating high school. With the full moon tonight and the party tomorrow, a worldwide werewolf epidemic happens and it turns into a very deadly situation! This book takes us on a journey of her trying to survive this epidemic!

I felt this book had an interesting twist on an epidemic! This is a fast paced read that I found to be mysterious and intriguing. It comes with a lot of adventure that kept me wanting to know what was going to happen next! I really enjoyed the overall structure and atmosphere of this book. It was thought provoking, flowed well and came with a clear thesis! It was easy to read and unique. This book is about survival, identity, transformation, social inequality, and explores the duality of monsters. Furthermore, this book also comes with a queer representation. This novel was well written and had clear themes! I was fully immersed while reading this. Overall, I give this a 4 out of 5 stars!

Content warnings include horror, transformation and fear. I think fans of the movies Twilight and Teen Wolf would really enjoy reading this book!

Thank you to NetGalley, author Tom O'Donnell and St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books for this digital advanced reader’s copy in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

This book is expected to be published on September 23, 2025!

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Creepy and thought provoking, Moonsick takes place when there is a worldwide werewolf epidemic! Everyone is aware of the existence of werewolves and how this epidemic can spread easily. Those who are infected will turn into, you guessed it, werewolves. They will then be hunted while the uninfected will do all that they can to avoid being infected such as having lockdown systems to keep werewolves out!

Heidi Mills is a high school student who plans to host a rager when she is home alone. The night before is a full moon and the while she is home alone, two intruders enter her home, and she is exposed to the virus! Yikes! But she will receive help from one of the intruders into her home as she confronts her new reality. What a reality it is!

Moonsick is a unique, original, and interesting take on werewolf genre and an interesting take on epidemics. Will COVID come to mind while reading this book? It did for me as well as a couple of epidemics that our world has faced. This book touches on themes of family, identity, fitting in, fear, survival, acceptance, and love. This book also felt like the haves vs. the have nots in terms of those infected vs. those who are not infected and trying to stay safe.

There were parts that I enjoyed and other parts that didn't quite work as well for me. This is a YA book but still has a nice amount of horror, blood, and gore; but it is never over the top or excessive. The dialogue at times didn't work for me - perhaps it will work better for the YA readers of this book.

I did enjoy the struggle that Heidi had. She wanted to hold onto her humanity while fighting the urges which come with being a werewolf. I thought this was done nicely. I also like how being infected, had her looking at her life and her choices, who she surrounded herself with, etc. She really does transform over the course of this book in more ways than one.


This book was just missing that little bit of something that would have pushed my rating higher. This is not a bad book by any means, as I mentioned there were parts that I thought were very well done. But there were other things such as dialogue in addition to t most of the characters that failed to resonate with me.

Others are enjoying this book more than I did, so please read their reviews of this unique and thought-provoking book!

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Wednesday Books and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All the thoughts and opinions are my own.

Read more of my reviews at www.openbookposts.com 📖

[joni ౨ৎ]

3rd goodreads giveaway i won ?!!

[Billie's Not So Secret Diary · Rating 3 out of 5]

Moonsick
by Tom O'Donnell
Horror
NetGalley eARC
Pub Date: Sept 23, 2025
St. Martin's Press
Ages: 18+

Heidi is a senior in high school and is waiting for her acceptance letter to Harvard, but when her parents are on vacation, Heidi goes to bed in her state-of-the-art home located in a gated community, thinking she is safe from the full moon and the creatures it draws out. But two thieves break in, looking for the family's silver dishes, destroying the once safe home.

Realizing she contracted the virus, Heidi, along with one of the thieves who was also infected, searches for a cure because if her infection is discovered, she'll either be locked away or killed.

But there are other monsters out there, and Heidi finds out that she has to take a side.


One of the listed genres is YA... No... There is a lot of violence, gore, death, and stuff not suitable for readers under eighteen. If a movie, this would be 'R'.

But it was good! Sure, it was obvious for a lot of the storyline, but it moved at a good pace, the characters were well developed, and the setting would hit with teens as it resembles a dark side of what COVID could have turned into. (But it even has the scary situations that resembled some of the things happening in the US in 2025.)

I enjoyed this story, and while the book ended, it did leave a little opening for a sequel, but I can already guess where that storyline would go, so I doubt I'd be interested in reading it.

3 Stars

[Pamela Jo Mason · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great!! A virus turns people into werewolves, the government created task forces to find a cure (or not), to full out eliminate the werewolves on the nights of the full moon by any means necessary, enforcing curfews and lock downs, putting infected into quarantine camps.

This storyline has been done in books and movies and are still hugely popular. And I understand why. I really liked it! Author, Tom O’Donnell puts a new spin on this storyline by bringing in an unlikely friendship between two infected young adults who are determined to find a way … to a cure? To acceptance? To death? The VCTF, officers in the task force charged with elimination of the beasts have a few on their team that want to take matters in their own hands. Both sides have their own doubts about what the government knows and its motive during this pandemic. A great read!!

Thank you to the authors, publishers and Goodreads for giving me the opportunity to read and review with an Advanced Readers Copy 😊

Disclaimer - I received this book as a Goodreads giveaway

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don’t know about the Scream comparison, and I’ve never read Stephen King, but Moonsick hits like a silver bullet. It's a fast, fun, blood-slicked YA thriller with some sharp teeth and surprising depth. It’s messy, chaotic, and honestly? A blast.

The setup is simple: a full moon, a high-tech mansion, and a girl named Heidi who’s never really had to think too hard about the world outside her bubble… until she’s attacked. What follows is part survival story, part self-discovery, and has just enough blood and grit to keep things tense. Heidi and Cam are both infected after a robbery goes sideways, and the story really kicks into gear once they’re forced to navigate a world that treats werewolves as dangerous and disposable. Heidi's infected, freaked out, and on the run with Cam as they struggle to maintain a sense of normalcy to find a cure.

The transformation scenes are brutal in the best way, think Hemlock Grove or The Vampire Diaries, not glittery teen drama. Underneath all the violence and chaos, there’s a smart thread running through it: commentary about who gets protected, who gets ignored, and how the system only shifts when the powerful are personally affected. A moment tied to Cam's past really drives this point home.

The ending definitely leaves space for a sequel and keeps a few threads loose, but as a whole, the book sinks its claws in early and doesn't let go. It's just feral enough that when it winks and dares you to chase it, you probably will. I haven’t read YA in a while, and this reminded me how fun it can be.

Thank you to NetGalley for the e-ARC!

[Aileen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley for this ARC in exchange for an honest review. This was a super fun read for me. Story had you hooked within the first couple of chapters and didn’t want to put it down. Well told coming of age story werewolves style. Was also relatable when it came to the pandemic. Would recommend and looking forward to buying the book when it comes out to add to my shelves.

[Lychee · Rating 4 out of 5]

E-book ARC via NetGalley

The book starts off like an extremely cliche high school movie. I’m pretty sure the exact scenes have already happened countless times in media. But like, respectfully. This book reads like a super campy werewolf movie and it was really fun to read. It’s also extremely interesting to see how COVID has impacted werewolf stories.

It’d be interesting to see where the story may go after this first book, because I definitely don’t think I would’ve gone the way the main character did, and I’m wondering if I may change my mind a bit if there’s more development after the kids become a little less like….kids. I don’t have the moral conundrums Heidi has but I understand why she may have been written like that for a YA novel.

My only complaint about the book is just that there was a super unnecessary romance in there.

[Natalie K · Rating 2 out of 5]

Didn't really care for this one. The werewolves are supposed to be a metaphor for the coronavirus pandemic, I guess. And how the rich people weren't as touched by the pandemic as the rest of us. I will fully admit to being biased—I wish we could move forward without the shadow of covid hanging over us ALL THE TIME—but this wasn't for me.

Also, the dialogue was terrible. Teenage girls don't call each other "dude." Teenage boys, sure, but I was a teenage girl and know teenage girls, and that just struck me as an odd thing to include. It also was painfully obvious that all the female characters were written by a man. They just didn't ring true.

I received a free ARC from NetGalley.

[Justin Baumann · Rating 4 out of 5]

*Rounded Up From A 3.75*

Moonsick is one of those YA horror concepts that’s immediately legible: what if becoming a werewolf was a contagious disease, and society responded the way it often does to outbreaks, only dialed up into something more authoritarian and militarized?

This book is very intentionally Covid-inspired, not just in vibe but in the social architecture. The outbreak timeline mirrors what a lot of us lived through, except here the response includes a task-force-with-teeth energy (the VDTF/“judge, jury, executioner” arm of the state) that exists to track and eliminate infected people during the lunar cycle. And that framing is where the novel is at its strongest: it’s a story about infection, fear, surveillance, and who gets protected versus who gets targeted.

Our main character, Heidi, starts in the safest possible position. She’s wealthy, insulated, and from a zip code with basically a 0% infection rate. She has the kind of protection that makes a crisis feel like something happening “over there.” And then the book flips her world: Heidi gets infected after a break-in during the full moon, and suddenly she isn’t someone protected by the system. She’s someone the system is designed to remove.

That shift is the engine of the novel, and I thought it was a smart one. Heidi’s infection doesn’t just create physical danger; it forces her into the part of society she’s never had to see clearly. She ends up on the run with Cameron, who’s infected at the same time and comes from a completely different socioeconomic and cultural reality. Their relationship has a light YA romance thread, and while I didn’t think it was essential to the core of the book, it did feel believable. The book seeds the idea that Cameron noticed Heidi long before she ever had to notice him, and when you combine that with the intensity of survival, the connection doesn’t feel random.

One detail I loved is that the “infection rules” aren’t just the standard werewolf bite. Saliva can infect you, and the book uses that in a way that becomes more narratively relevant later on. That small craft choice made the werewolf element feel more “disease-like,” more transmissible, more frightening in a day-to-day way.

The midsection also leans into commentary about cures, access, and medical profiteering. Heidi and Cameron chase hope in the form of a supposed “cure,” only to be led into a weight-loss-drug-adjacent pipeline that feels like a critique of misinformation, desperation, and how quickly “miracle solutions” spread when people are scared and the official systems aren’t serving them. The book also nods at that wider feeling many people have had: if we can do this with technology, why do some diseases linger for decades without breakthroughs? The novel doesn’t claim a medical thesis, but it does capture the emotional reality of distrust and exhaustion.

Where the story gets the most interesting, though, is Rea.

Rea is a great foil to Heidi because she isn’t just “evil.” She represents a completely different response to oppression and illness: instead of seeking normalcy and safety, she pushes toward embracing the wolf and mastering it, even turning it into power. Rea’s motivations are rooted in anger at systems that harm her, while Heidi’s are rooted in returning to the life she’s been told is the only acceptable one. That tension is the heart of the book for me: not just “survive the infection,” but what does survival even mean when the system only values you if you’re clean, obedient, and useful?

On the other side, we have the task force characters, including Frank (and Reaper), who serve as the “boots-on-the-ground” view of what it means to hunt infected people. I understood why they’re there: to show the culture of enforcement, the macho normalization of violence, the “rookie’s first kills” emotional processing. But this is also where my main critique starts to form. Frank, especially, felt like a functional perspective rather than a necessary character. He didn’t add enough narrative weight to justify how much attention he occasionally gets.

That’s kind of the throughline of my 3.75 rating: this is a really consumable, fun read with strong ideas, but it occasionally skips the deeper nuance that would have made it hit harder. There were moments where I questioned character motivations or the intelligence of certain decisions, and I could feel the constraints of “short YA horror debut” in places where I wanted more breathing room. Honestly, another 50 pages of development would’ve elevated the emotional stakes and made the thematic commentary even sharper.

The ending, though? I liked it a lot. The story resolves with an escape to Canada, which works both practically (more space, more hiding) and thematically: the world can’t pretend this is a “poor people problem” anymore. The book closes with wealthy people getting infected too, and that final note lands because it forces the social commentary into the open. Systems built to punish “them” always panic when it starts happening to “us.”

Overall: Moonsick is a strong, accessible debut with an easy binge factor and a solid audiobook experience. It’s not “perfect” for me, but it’s definitely worth picking up if you like horror that uses monsters to talk about real-world fear, control, and inequality.

Recommended for: YA horror readers who want fast pacing, outbreak themes, social commentary, and a werewolf twist that feels modern.
Not for: readers who want deep character nuance or maximum plot realism in every motivation.

[Ty · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a pleasant surprise. I typically enjoy any story involving a virus and this one had a unique spin on things. The characters were interesting, sometimes a little angsty, but that’s kind of expected when you’ve got teenagers juggling relationship drama, friendships and colleges decisions on top of everything else. The author did a nice job balancing all that with the virus storyline. The pacing was solid and I liked the mix of horror and action throughout. I’m still not sure how I feel about the direction the ending took, but I’m definitely curious to see what this author does next.

I received an ARC copy for NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review

[Jack · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was so bad. Easily one of the worst YAs I’ve read in a while complete with incomprehensible neoliberal politics and world building inconsistencies. When I said I wanted more Covid-centered novels, I didn’t mean tripe like this.

Maybe it wasn’t such a great idea to have your werewolf covid allegory disease be transmitted through body fluids. Who are you, Rowling writing Azkaban? Get outta here

[OutlawPoet]

DNF @ 40%.

While the ages of the main characters would say YA, the storytelling is absolutely middle grade level. Our teens (soon off to college age) read extremely young and inauthentic. The main problem, however, was the world building, which is almost non-existent. Not for me.

[Mackenzie Mills · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ok I actually loved this!!! So fast paced and I had no idea where it would go!!

[Tor Domay · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love the premise and the pandemic influence etched into this. The narrative starts strong and feels like it stumbles a little towards the end, but it finishes on a good note that has me hoping for more. It's not every day you get a good werewolf book.

[Cassandra]

first i saw this described as a twilight meets teen wolf read.

and then i saw it as a teen wolf meets the last of us read.

and now it's a scream meets stephen king read.





idk what kinda read this is going to be but i will be reading it for science.

[Becky Stephenson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I ordered "Moonsick" before I realized it was a "young adult" book, and boy am I glad I did! YA is not a genre I normally delve into at my big age, especially for monster stories because I like my monsters to be, well, monsters. Fear not! Tom O'Donnell fully delivers on that front. Despite the main characters being high school students and young adults, there's plenty of gore, swearing, dark themes, despair, death, and general monstrousness to be had, here.

Werewolves are a favorite of mine, and I'm generally down to read anything involving them. This book - aptly billed as a cross between Stephen King and "Scream" - puts a new spin on lycanthropy, taking obvious inspiration from the COVID-19 pandemic. It's set in what is essentially an alternative reality or not-too-far-off future where the government has taken the helm to reduce the spread of a rampant rabies virus that causes werewolfism. It's a refreshing take, and brings a nice, modern, and dystopian twist to the genre.

I loved the two main characters, the wealthy, privileged Heidi and the self-aware criminal, Cameron. O'Donnell did a great job bringing them to life and their humorous banter was a joy to read. Also, a meet-cute between the burgled and burglar was a fun touch. I very much enjoyed all the introspection involved in possibly becoming a werewolf right on the cusp of the teenage years and young adulthood. As someone else pointed out, it's curious how similar being a secret werewolf is to being a standard teenager.

The second narrative highlighting the exploits of the militant and possibly kinda corrupt Viral Containment Task Force (VCTF) through the eyes of the young rookie, dubbed Caveman, also shed light on the dichotomous world O'Donnell created, in which "the haves" and "the have nots" experience a very different reality amidst the werewolf pandemic. Lots of great commentary to be had, there. The early scene in which the VCTF removes a dog from a homeless camp served as a great way to foreshadow the story's events.

The pseudo-fictional Pacific Northwest setting was a fantastic backdrop for this dark and gloomy version of reality, and lots of care was taken setting the scene with "humdrum business as usual" strip malls, fog, dense forests, ominous ocean sunsets, and even abandoned underground bunkers (which I'm hoping were inspired by my old stomping ground, Fort Worden, in Washington State). O'Donnell really made you feel like you were there, collective denial, routine monthly security systems, forced spit tests, government conspiracies, underwhelming prom experience, and all.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable, well-written, and engaging read. I was always kept on the edge of my seat waiting to see what came next. My only real grievance was how suddenly it all ended, and some of the events that happened toward the end weakened a few of the characters in my eyes (I won't elaborate to avoid spoilers). It also seemed like the possibility of a sequel was kept open - and if that's the case, I'll be ready and waiting.

[Chelsea]

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advanced reader copy

Moonsick by Tom O'Donnell is a third person dual-POV YA urban fantasy set during a pandemic. Heidi was born into an upper class life and had all the advantages her class and race afford her, but when she doesn’t get into Harvard, everyone expects her to start spiraling. Not only did she not get into the school her mother was pressuring her to get into, Heidi is also bitten by a werewolf during a home invasion and now has to deal with hiding her new nature, her budding feelings for one of the people who broke into her house, her jerk boyfriend, and her mom. Senior year is going to be the absolute worst.

Moonsick is ultimately a COVID novel that turns the Corona virus into a werewolf one. There’s a curfew, there’s a hunt for a cure, there’s discussions around the impact of pandemics on young people, there’s quarantine, etc. There are a lot of pieces that make it obvious what this is without hitting the reader over the head that this is a COVID book. The main reason I think it’s worth mentioning the similarities to COVID is that there are still people who are in recovery of what transpired during lockdown, including young people trapped in abusive home situations, so while many readers might get catharsis from the story, others might need a bit more time before diving into something like this.

Heidi has a budding relationship with Cam, who she vaguely recognizes but can’t place when he breaks into her home while her mother and step-father are in Hawai’i on vacation. Cam never serves as an actual threat to Heidi and does treat her with respect, so this is not a relationship crafted after he kidnapped her or anything like that. They just met again under very unfortunate circumstances, including being bitten by a werewolf and now both have to keep it under wraps until they figure something out. The relationship is complicated by Heidi’s relationship with Luca, though it is fairly obvious that Luca is a jerk and Heidi is either too comfortable in her rut to leave him or it just hasn’t truly hit her yet that he doesn’t treat her well.

This feels very different from a lot of current YA and I think a lot of that has to do with the grittiness in the prose. I would actually put this in urban fantasy rather than paranormal because while they are similar, urban fantasy has a bit more of a rough edge to it while paranormal is more horror-leaning. While there are horror elements here, I think the grit kind of wins out. There is also a romance arc, but it could easily be turned into a platonic one and not change much, so I wouldn’t call this a paranormal romance or romantasy by any stretch of the imagination.

Content warning for mentions of abuse and gaslighting

I would recommend this to teen readers of urban fantasy and readers of YA fantasy looking for a COVID allegory

[Katarina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to St. Martin's Press/ Wednesday Book s and NetGalley for a reader's advanced copy of this book. Thank you for also sending me a physical copy of this book. I really do appreciate it.

Highschool Senior Heidi Mills seems to have it all, a charming, (asshole) of a boyfriend, loving rich parents, and an acceptance to Harvard, the acceptance letter hasn't happened yet though. Her mom and step dad are away on vacation, and she's about to host a rager at their mansion to celebrate the end of high school. The party is tomorrow but the full moon is tonight, when the worldwide werewolf epidemic that has run rampant for the past few years turns deadly and the infected transform into beasts.

The party is tomorrow, but the full moon is tonight where the werewolf epidemic runs rampant and the infected turn deadly. She is safe in her home with state of the art lockdown. Heidi waits the night out. Two intruders show up to rob her house which they think is empty. The life of privilege and safety that she takes for granted comes to a halt. She is suddenly exposed to the realities of the virus that she has taken for granted. She goes on an adventure, accompanied by the boy that broke into her house.

This book is interesting, the beginning of the book was kind of slow but near the middle it picked up and kept me interested. I will say that for parts of the book, I didn't know where it was going to go. I did like the ending of this novel, the ending made me happy. I liked how easy this book was too read. This was a young adult novel I would say that this is more adult only because of the descriptions of the gore, but as long as you have trigger warnings and all of that then I think it should be okay. This book did have some humour to it, even though the plot of the book was serious. This is a great novel for around Halloween. If this book ever did get turned into a movie it would be interesting. Scary but interesting.

Also Heidi's boyfriend got everything that was coming to him (he was such an asshole), I honestly don't how she put up with him for so long. However the boy that robbed her house we like, he seems sweet. I did like our main characters but her boyfriend could have died and I wouldn't have cared one but about him.

I would take Covid 19 over this werewolf virus any day, this is a whole lot scarier and there would be a lot more lives at risk. This virus is a lot more serious and I don't think people would know how to handle it. They also would have to figure out a vaccine for it really fast as well. It would be really stressful.

I think that they made some wiggle for there to be able to make a second book, but this is just me guessing I don't know anything for sure. This book has already been released to the public, so go pick up your copy your local bookstore, or at your local library. Pick this up you might just enjoy it.

Happy Reading!!!!!

[Karli · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is essential COVID times but instead of COVID, what if the world got infected by a virus that caused people to turn into werewolves. It follows a teenage girl, Heidi, who after her mcmansion is broken into on a full moon is bitten. One of the robbers, who is a boy she went to school with, is also bitten and the two of them are now on a mission to find a cure before the next full moon.

The summary of this book describes it as Scream meets Stephen King which hqs left me seriously scratching my head. Nothing about this book says Scream other then the fact they are teenagers and nothing about this book reminds me of King other than it being a horror. I think thats the worst comparisons I've ever seen of any book.

I think it really takes a very special plot for me to enjoy a pandemic based book and this one didn't really hit the marker with that. In particular with the special forces side where you see them going around trying to hunt the wolfs. Erik's chapters almost made me quit the book multiple times. Heidi was okay, I enjoyed the beginning when her and Cam were trying to figure things out but was less interested in them as the plot progressed. Also she has an extremely rude and disgusted boyfriend and it's infruitating how much shit she puts up from him the whole book.

There also seemed to be some inconsistencies. At the beginning before she's bitten, there seems to be a lot of roadblocks were people have to get a saliva test to make sure they aren't a werewolf but after she's turned they seem to just conveniently vanish?

I'm not sure about the ending, it really felt like it kind of ended at the peak of the book. Seems like perhaps it's setting it's self up for a sequel.

This wasn't a bad book, especially for a YA one. It had some interesting ideas. I just don't feel like it was especially memorial.

Thank you to St. Martin's Press | Wednesday books for the arc in exchange for my honest review.

[Abigail · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept of this book was so unique and interesting!
Heidi is a high school girl who has everything a girl could want. But with a world where an infectious disease is present, and has the world on edge. So, can you really have it all? During Heidi's senior year, everything is supposed to go according to plan, until one night throws everything off course. This night leads to Heidi deciding what to do and if truly the life she had was all it was planned out to be....

I found myself drawn in the first half of the book. I was eating it up and didn't want to put it down! For a Young Adult book, I found this to be a perfect book for them! It mentions gore, explicit language, and a verbally abusive relationship. So with these warnings, I say this is more of an older young adult book.
The beginning of the book felt very eerie and had me feeling on edge, wondering how the world works. It gives very COVID-19 vibes. When the world was trying to figure out what to do. It's a book that handles times of uncertainty well and shows how many people react differently. I enjoyed seeing the parallels to the real world during times of mass pandemic.
I will say the random profession of love I was not the biggest fan of. It felt oddly placed in and kinda made it all drop flat. I wish it had been something they simply developed from sharing the experience.
Overall, for a Young Adult book, I enjoyed it!

Thank you to NetGalley for allowing me the opportunity to get an ARC of this book and review it!

[G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Thanks to the publisher for providing an ARC in exchange for this honest review!

In Moonsick, sheltered, overachieving high school senior Heidi's life is flipped upside down when she's bitten by a werewolf during a botched home invasion in her gated community. Now a werewolf herself, she and the would-be burglar who was bitten alongside her must figure out how to hide their condition and survive in a society that segregates and imprisons its werewolves.

I honestly don't have too much to say about Moonsick, and most of it feels like damning the book with faint praise. It's got themes, such as "abusive relationships are bad" and "privilege keeps you blind to the suffering of others" (maybe the REAL disease was the affluenza we struggled to overcome along the way.) Is this book particularly scary or horrifying? No, but neither is it totally bland or anything. I didn't feel like I was particularly connected to the characters, nor that they were particularly connected to each other, but I was rooting for them in a "gosh, I hope the underdogs (haha, werewolf puns) successfully stand up to injustice" way. The pacing could definitely have used some work—it's a lot of going back and forth talking about things, and then suddenly what should have been the main arc of the story is packed into the last 10-15% or so.

But it wasn't bad by any means! Overall a simple, perfectly competent book.

[Caitlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars! Thank you to NetGalley and St. Martin’s Press for allowing me to read this arc in exchange for my honest review!

The description of this book read “The Last of Us meets Teen Wolf” and I knew I had to give this a go. It truly lived up to that too! I thought this was an interesting take on werewolves and pandemics. The way he touched on social issues during pandemics and how emergencies are handled out of fear was spot on as well.

For being a YA Horror novel, I was surprised to see some of the language used so I think this will lean more towards the “New Adult” side of YA. But I enjoyed how he wrote his characters, even though I thoroughly despised some of them. The fact that I didn’t enjoy them at all means he did something right while describing them!

Overall, a solid spooky season read and I’ll be interested to read more of his work as it comes out!

[Paige- TheBookandtheBoston · Rating 4 out of 5]

For a book where owning a dog is illegal, I enjoyed this one a surprisingly lot! Okay to give a little background, in Moonsick, the world has been hit with a pandemic similar to COVID… well maybe not that similar, as the illness that is spread is lupinovirus - which turns people into werewolves. And apparently dogs are passive spreaders, so no one’s allowed to own them anymore. I honestly had trouble getting past that part, lol. But thank goodness there is no death of any dogs in this book.

Okay anyway, I thought this book was extremely fun. Besides the no-dog thing, I thought the concept was original and fresh. I had some minor beefs with it, as the blurb made it sound like the MC would be on the run, yet she returns home immediately. And not quite unique to the YA genre, but there was a lot of me yelling at the characters because of dumb choices they were making. Teenagers… sigh.

I liked the messages this book had, and I appreciated the easier read. Overall I enjoyed this and was kind of sad to see it end.

𝑾𝒉𝒐 𝑰'𝒅 𝑹𝒆𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒐:
Lovers of YA reads with paranormal aspects and a bit of gore.

4.25/4 rounded down

[Raelyn Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5⭐️ rounded up! I love this situation of making the stereotypical “werewolf” troupe and making it like a disease. It’s not the most complex or overly complicated concept, but it works well and I fully believed the world that Heidi & Cam were experiencing. I really had a great time overall, but my biggest issue is, the pacing is FAST & I could not care less for the Erik side plot. I’d much rather the Dogwatchers remained a more invisible threat rather than getting a pov. If there’s a sequel, I hope the author takes a little more time and just focus solely on Heidi, Cam, & the world building (and maybe some more characters but no more povs pls)! Highly recommend :D

[Amber · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.75⭐️

A pandemic commentary meets Teen Wolf, a murky but predictable plot, a sprinkle of insufferable characters, and a very predictable breakup is what’s in this book.

The story felt like it had some good and juicy ideas, but it barely touched them, and fell flat on the ones it did touch. It had me wanting more substance. I did enjoy it a more than I thought I would, it’s entertaining in the way reality shows are. However, I probably would not pick it up again.

Thank you Net Galley for the eARC.

[charisse ♡ · Rating 2 out of 5]

˗ˏˋ 2 stars ⟡ ݁₊ .

honestly i just didnt like any of the characters in the book so it was quite hard to get into it. i can see that the werewolf virus is a metaphor for covid as well. i mean i get it but at the same time, can we all just move on from it? also i cant really wrap my head around the fact that teen girls are calling each other dudes lol, it was quite obvious that a man wrote this book.

⤷ thank you to netgalley, the publisher and the author for providing me an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

[The Paperback Place · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thank you to Wednesday Books and NetGalley for copy of Moonsick in exchange for my honest review. This was an incredibly fast paced horror novel. I really ate this up. I liked the SciFi element of the virus and how this drew a lot of parallels with the response to COVID in our country and almost inspiration from the purge in a way too. I felt like the horror and gore element was perfect. I also like both Heidi and Cam. I did feel like the ending wasn’t nearly as strong as the rest of the book and that did disappoint me a tad but still highly highly recommend this one!

[Sammy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was sooooo good.

Imagine a world where instead of catching COVID you catch werewolfism.

Heidi is a senior in high school who has it all figured out - perfect boyfriend, going to Harvard, rich, happy EVERYTHING - till all of a sudden she’s getting robbed at gunpoint.

I absolutely devoured this story and I cannot wait to buy it when it gets released. I’ll be recommending this to all of my supernatural loving friends!!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC read ❤️

[Eric · Rating 5 out of 5]

Delightful. A fun read. Very easy to relate to the characters and the world the author has built here (almost like he's had recent experience with pandemics... and werewolves?).
Anyways, looks like there might be a second book coming and, if so, I'll be sure to read that as well.