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BITE
“The bright light of the full moon shone high above the trees.
The night sky was clear, and the twinkling silver stars looked down through the tall trees of the woods. There was a calm wind which whispered through the leaves and the branches.
The night sky was pitch black, and the moon stood out in the sky.
The full moon. Shining high in the sky. It was beautiful.
And yet it is strange, how something so beautiful, can create something so monstrous…”
Kevin Baxter is just an ordinary 15-year-old boy.
He has friends and family, a pet dog he has always wanted, a girl he adores from afar.
But after a chance encounter in the creepy Wald Forest, Kevin develops a secret. A secret that will endanger him and everyone that he loves.
The night sky was clear, and the twinkling silver stars looked down through the tall trees of the woods. There was a calm wind which whispered through the leaves and the branches.
The night sky was pitch black, and the moon stood out in the sky.
The full moon. Shining high in the sky. It was beautiful.
And yet it is strange, how something so beautiful, can create something so monstrous…”
Kevin Baxter is just an ordinary 15-year-old boy.
He has friends and family, a pet dog he has always wanted, a girl he adores from afar.
But after a chance encounter in the creepy Wald Forest, Kevin develops a secret. A secret that will endanger him and everyone that he loves.
245 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 12, 2016
6 people are currently reading
13 people want to read
About the author
Keelan Berry
8 books7 followersI was born Keelan Stuart Michael Berry on the 23rd of September 1997 to Kelly Rotton and Michael Berry in Sandwell Hospital. I attended Harvills Hawthorn Primary School where I discovered my love for writing at a very young age before moving on to George Salter Academy and then studying A levels in history, politics and English literature at Sandwell College’s Central Sixth. I currently study a history and politics degree at the University of Worcester and intend to complete a PGCE too and begin a teaching career afterwards (unless I make a fortune off of my books!)
I am told I have always had a passion for writing and an imaginative mind from an early age which enabled me to formulate story ideas and write them down: from writing about monsters invading the Earth and haunted houses in primary school to where I am now, writing full-length horror novels like ‘BITE’. I have always had a desire to entertain, thrill and frighten people with my stories, but was always deterred from becoming an author by the idea of having to find a publisher and have my work edited and therefore taken away from what I originally intended it to be. So you can imagine my delight when I found Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing which has allowed me to publish my novels for free and for me to be in control of my own work and share it with everyone.
My ideas aren’t all horror, although that is the dominant theme of most of my books, I also have ideas involving crime, thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy and even historical/political fiction. All of my novel and short story ideas are saved in folders in my memory stick, which should keep me busy writing for a very long time, especially seeing as the lists just keep growing and growing…
I am told I have always had a passion for writing and an imaginative mind from an early age which enabled me to formulate story ideas and write them down: from writing about monsters invading the Earth and haunted houses in primary school to where I am now, writing full-length horror novels like ‘BITE’. I have always had a desire to entertain, thrill and frighten people with my stories, but was always deterred from becoming an author by the idea of having to find a publisher and have my work edited and therefore taken away from what I originally intended it to be. So you can imagine my delight when I found Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing which has allowed me to publish my novels for free and for me to be in control of my own work and share it with everyone.
My ideas aren’t all horror, although that is the dominant theme of most of my books, I also have ideas involving crime, thrillers, sci-fi, fantasy and even historical/political fiction. All of my novel and short story ideas are saved in folders in my memory stick, which should keep me busy writing for a very long time, especially seeing as the lists just keep growing and growing…
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 10, 2020
I was given this book by the author for an honest review in return.
I am unsure of the intended audience but I would classify this book as YA dark fiction.
The story is about teenage boy, Kevin, who while walking in the forest gets attacked by a wolf. Although he survives the attack, small things start changing, his anger sky rockets and he is struggling to sleep at night.
I think we know where I'm headed with this.
Kevin seems quite close with his parents but he hides the wounds from them and continues going to school each day.
Kevin's school life is what I struggled with reading.
I thought the author would have known school yard politics and how teenagers communicate with each other, their parents, and through messages but it all seemed so juvenile and the writing unsophisticated.
This book is four years old and the author would have been about twenty when he wrote it. Although I didn't love the book, I didn't hate it. The concept was good, the execution needed more work. I would probably read more from this author just to see if his writing has improved.
I am unsure of the intended audience but I would classify this book as YA dark fiction.
The story is about teenage boy, Kevin, who while walking in the forest gets attacked by a wolf. Although he survives the attack, small things start changing, his anger sky rockets and he is struggling to sleep at night.
I think we know where I'm headed with this.
Kevin seems quite close with his parents but he hides the wounds from them and continues going to school each day.
Kevin's school life is what I struggled with reading.
I thought the author would have known school yard politics and how teenagers communicate with each other, their parents, and through messages but it all seemed so juvenile and the writing unsophisticated.
This book is four years old and the author would have been about twenty when he wrote it. Although I didn't love the book, I didn't hate it. The concept was good, the execution needed more work. I would probably read more from this author just to see if his writing has improved.
April 15, 2020
Awesome
Awesome
I truly love this book
I love how Kevin story was build up including how he worked hard to get his girl and how the beast inside him took no s*$# about enemies. I definitely recommend this book to werewolf book readers.
Awesome
I truly love this book
I love how Kevin story was build up including how he worked hard to get his girl and how the beast inside him took no s*$# about enemies. I definitely recommend this book to werewolf book readers.
August 18, 2020
Genre: Young Adult | Fiction | Horror | Dark Fiction
3 out of 5 stars
Interesting werewolf twist!
Kevin is your typical teenager dealing with life, school, sports, friends and of course a girl! One day a couple wolves escape the local zoo and Kevin doesn’t think there is any chance he will come by them… until he does and one of them attacks!
Shortly after the attack Kevin starts to experience changes with his body. He becomes more aggressive, more agile, he has so much more strength and all of this contributes to being better in school sports. Kevin has an ideal of what is happening to his body but searches for more answers.
I enjoyed Keelan’s concept on werewolves and the angle he took with how they come to be. I also enjoyed the journal/documentation format Keelan put in place with Kevin’s best friend as well as a doctor Kevin comes into contact with later on in the story, discussing and leaning more about the changes his body’s going through. Keelan was extremely bold with the end of this read, this is where the blood and gore truly came out and Keelan was even willing to kill off some strong characters. This is not easy for an author to do because you don’t want to anger your readers but you also need to keep them on their toes and keep that excitement.
Although in the end I was searching for more of the horror aspect. I wanted more werewolf, more blood, gore… more screams! I found the lead up to this to be very long and the majority of the story was around Kevin and his feelings towards a girl he adores who doesn’t see him in that way and is dating other guys.
I wouldn’t say this book is amazing or mind blowing. It certainly has some neat ideas to it and the ending went out with some true intense crazy! However if this is a glimpse into Keelan’s writing from 4+ years ago than I am certainly intrigued to read more of Keelan’s work knowing he will have grown as an author and had a bit more experience with it all.
Keep up the great work Keelan!
Publisher: Independently published
Release Date: August 12, 2016
And of course thank you all for reading
Your Howling Book Worm
-Nichole
You can check out my video review here:
https://youtu.be/lm-chO--4GU
3 out of 5 stars
Interesting werewolf twist!
Kevin is your typical teenager dealing with life, school, sports, friends and of course a girl! One day a couple wolves escape the local zoo and Kevin doesn’t think there is any chance he will come by them… until he does and one of them attacks!
Shortly after the attack Kevin starts to experience changes with his body. He becomes more aggressive, more agile, he has so much more strength and all of this contributes to being better in school sports. Kevin has an ideal of what is happening to his body but searches for more answers.
I enjoyed Keelan’s concept on werewolves and the angle he took with how they come to be. I also enjoyed the journal/documentation format Keelan put in place with Kevin’s best friend as well as a doctor Kevin comes into contact with later on in the story, discussing and leaning more about the changes his body’s going through. Keelan was extremely bold with the end of this read, this is where the blood and gore truly came out and Keelan was even willing to kill off some strong characters. This is not easy for an author to do because you don’t want to anger your readers but you also need to keep them on their toes and keep that excitement.
Although in the end I was searching for more of the horror aspect. I wanted more werewolf, more blood, gore… more screams! I found the lead up to this to be very long and the majority of the story was around Kevin and his feelings towards a girl he adores who doesn’t see him in that way and is dating other guys.
I wouldn’t say this book is amazing or mind blowing. It certainly has some neat ideas to it and the ending went out with some true intense crazy! However if this is a glimpse into Keelan’s writing from 4+ years ago than I am certainly intrigued to read more of Keelan’s work knowing he will have grown as an author and had a bit more experience with it all.
Keep up the great work Keelan!
Publisher: Independently published
Release Date: August 12, 2016
And of course thank you all for reading
Your Howling Book Worm
-Nichole
You can check out my video review here:
https://youtu.be/lm-chO--4GU
August 9, 2020
This book is absolutely terrible to say the very least. I would have given it zero stars if I could. I decided to read this book during being bored in lockdown however this simply made me want to rip by hair out. A complete and utter waste of time.
Mediocre writing skills. The author gave the impression that the book was written by a 12 year old.
Awful. Just awful.
Please, do not write anymore. For the love of humanity. 2020 has already given us much misfortune, please do not add to it.
Mediocre writing skills. The author gave the impression that the book was written by a 12 year old.
Awful. Just awful.
Please, do not write anymore. For the love of humanity. 2020 has already given us much misfortune, please do not add to it.
December 30, 2020
Mini-review ⭐️⭐️💫 (2.5 rounded down)
BITE revolves around 15 y/o Kevin and how his life changes after a seemingly chance encounter with some wolves in the forest.
While I like the premise, I didn't connect with this one. I'd describe the writing style as YA which I sometimes struggle with, being several years beyond that myself. It could just be that I'm not a fan of werewolves🤷🏻♀️ I am #teamedward.
I did like the multiple points of view, the epistolary format included throughout, and that the author took chances with the ending. If YA/horror/werewolves are your thing, this could be a good fit.
BITE revolves around 15 y/o Kevin and how his life changes after a seemingly chance encounter with some wolves in the forest.
While I like the premise, I didn't connect with this one. I'd describe the writing style as YA which I sometimes struggle with, being several years beyond that myself. It could just be that I'm not a fan of werewolves🤷🏻♀️ I am #teamedward.
I did like the multiple points of view, the epistolary format included throughout, and that the author took chances with the ending. If YA/horror/werewolves are your thing, this could be a good fit.
May 12, 2024
A good horror story, sloppily realised.
I'm going to preface this review by saying that I've read a couple of the recent short stories on the author's website and the writing has improved a great deal since the release of this debut novel.
With that being said, the writing in this novel is simply not up to par. There's so many paragraphs that simply repeat information from the previous paragraph, or provides more information than is necessary. The author needs to trust the reader to intuit and read between the lines.
However, I think the action scenes are where Berry really shines. Nearly every action scene - and there are a handful, scattered just the right amount across the book - was a joy to read through, with the tension and gore escalating steadily across the book like a pressure cooker, finally exploding in the final chapter.
The character development is a weak area, though, which I think may be the biggest drawback that stops Bite from being of a better quality. All of the lead characters are too bland and one-note, and the main character Kevin doesn't have a clear enough characterisation for me to really discern his journey through this book. For most of the story he was a fairly dislikable character, but I cannot tell if this was intentional or not.
The female characters suffered the most - they are often reduced to mere plot points or objects of desire, with little agency provided to them until the very end. There's also one character who is only ever seen interrupting the story with excerpts from his own fictional book to provide Werewolf lore relevant to that particular chapter. I think this character should have been dissolved into one of the existing teenage main characters in order to provide more opportunity for character development. In general, there are a tad too many interruptions from other characters' perspectives, which dampens the pace of the novel.
The pacing overall is fairly good, though. I've already spoken about the action being spread well throughout the book, and I found myself eager to get to the turn the page despite the poor writing. It speaks to the potential of the core plot and the general intrigue that's built up over time. I still had a good time with this novel, but I just wish it had gone through a lot more drafts, and a better editor too.
I look forward to continue through this series, and I'm eager to see how Keelan Berry's writing develops over time.
I'm going to preface this review by saying that I've read a couple of the recent short stories on the author's website and the writing has improved a great deal since the release of this debut novel.
With that being said, the writing in this novel is simply not up to par. There's so many paragraphs that simply repeat information from the previous paragraph, or provides more information than is necessary. The author needs to trust the reader to intuit and read between the lines.
However, I think the action scenes are where Berry really shines. Nearly every action scene - and there are a handful, scattered just the right amount across the book - was a joy to read through, with the tension and gore escalating steadily across the book like a pressure cooker, finally exploding in the final chapter.
The character development is a weak area, though, which I think may be the biggest drawback that stops Bite from being of a better quality. All of the lead characters are too bland and one-note, and the main character Kevin doesn't have a clear enough characterisation for me to really discern his journey through this book. For most of the story he was a fairly dislikable character, but I cannot tell if this was intentional or not.
The female characters suffered the most - they are often reduced to mere plot points or objects of desire, with little agency provided to them until the very end. There's also one character who is only ever seen interrupting the story with excerpts from his own fictional book to provide Werewolf lore relevant to that particular chapter. I think this character should have been dissolved into one of the existing teenage main characters in order to provide more opportunity for character development. In general, there are a tad too many interruptions from other characters' perspectives, which dampens the pace of the novel.
The pacing overall is fairly good, though. I've already spoken about the action being spread well throughout the book, and I found myself eager to get to the turn the page despite the poor writing. It speaks to the potential of the core plot and the general intrigue that's built up over time. I still had a good time with this novel, but I just wish it had gone through a lot more drafts, and a better editor too.
I look forward to continue through this series, and I'm eager to see how Keelan Berry's writing develops over time.
August 1, 2020
This was an interesting twist on the werewolf/coming-of-age story, with quite a few plot twists to boot. I honestly didn't see the ending coming, though it was satisfying in a dark and twisted way. The use of epistolary interludes adds extra perspective every now and again, reminiscent of SK's Carrie.
The writing wasn't as crisp as I would like, but I think Keelan wrote this when still in his teens. I'm confident his voice will have matured in the years since publishing this book (his first). It's a bit circuitous at times, but remains a fast-paced, easy read. As a student of creative writing myself, I admit I'm probably more pedantic than the average reader; maybe a few years ago I would have given an extra star.
I've also read this author's short stories and can say that he has some very original ideas, which I think we'll see more of over the course of his career.
The writing wasn't as crisp as I would like, but I think Keelan wrote this when still in his teens. I'm confident his voice will have matured in the years since publishing this book (his first). It's a bit circuitous at times, but remains a fast-paced, easy read. As a student of creative writing myself, I admit I'm probably more pedantic than the average reader; maybe a few years ago I would have given an extra star.
I've also read this author's short stories and can say that he has some very original ideas, which I think we'll see more of over the course of his career.
October 23, 2020
Bite by Keenan Berry is a 3.5 ⭐️ read for me. I struggled during the first 2/3 of this book. It was repetitious and it seemed like part of the story was missing. I did enjoy seeing things from the young wolf’s perspective. The last 1/3 of the book things really pick up pace and holy hell breaks out. Which I didn’t see foresee happening like it did. And that ending. Didn’t see that coming either. Bite is an average read. It was fun and the way the curse was passed was different. I’ll def be getting the sequel.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews