Trapped

by Amanda Byrd

I'm a monster. A literal monster. But I'm a "good" kind of monster. You know, like the serial killers who kill the drug dealers, rapists, and general scum of the earth.

The difference between those serial killers and me? I'm only part human; two-thirds of me is werepire. That's right, werewolf and vampire. It's not fun, but I make due. I'm also a therapist; the one these scum pay to... talk to. I listen, sure. But then I have my own personal brand of justice. It gets messy, so if you plan to stick around, might I suggest you wear a rubber suit?

From the back cover:
I'm stuck - stuck in this body with two blood-hungry beasts who happen to be relatively clueless to what being human means. Luckily, I still have that part of me, too. I realized a while ago what happened to make me this way and now I'm on a mission to find a cure without killing myself in the process.

I also may have the opportunity to buy a castle in England complete with gargoyles. Am I going to? You bet I am! But while I was there, I gained a follower of sorts - a watcher. I don't know who it is or why, but my monsters inside are helping me to figure it out. The watcher even followed me home - I feel them.

At least I can get back to helping my patients and finding that cure to rid myself of this werepireism. How will I ditch the watcher before they out me for the monster I truly am?

200 pages, ebook

Published February 23, 2018

About the author

Amanda Byrd is obsessed with fictional serial killers. From Patrick Bateman to Dr. Hannibal Lecter to Dexter Morgan and every butcher in between, Amanda loves figuring out what drives fiction’s deadliest monsters. When she’s not busy writing, Amanda can be found reading, playing video games, or watching shows and movies like Mindhunter, Hannibal, and Dexter. She lives in Florida with her bloodthirsty, flesh-eating cat.


Sign up for the Deadly Insiders newsletter at
www.amandabyrd.net


Follow Amanda online:
Facebook: Author Amanda Byrd
Instagram: amanda_byrd_author
Bookbub: Amanda Byrd

Reviews

[Melissa ♥ Dog/Wolf Lover ♥ Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked this book from Netgalley because of the cover and the description! The cover is freaky cool and how cool would it be to read about a human/werewolf/vampire?!

So here I am, three months later, a werepire, yet still part human and doctor. Okay, fine, I am not a doctor in the sense that you come see for a physical or something like that. I am a psychotherapist, also knows as a psychologist. I get to help patients work past their insecurities, anxieties, and other issues all while being two-third monster, mentally and physically.

Of course, since then I have found you can get this on Kindle Unlimited so there you have it.

Anyhoo, at first I was all over the place at how I wanted to rate this and how I felt about the book. I went from 3 to 2 and back to 4 stars. There are some annoying things with the main character but overall it won me over; mostly due to the fact that she has gargoyles (real ones) and she takes out mostly evil people. AND the werewolf/vampire thing. I mean I want to be a werewolf myself, but I digress.

This is a bit gruesome when she's killing someone so take that in mind if you don't like that kind of stuff.

There is a good bit of snark and just regular times which I found fun!

*And thank you to Netgalley and the Publisher for a copy of this book!*

MY BLOG

AMAZON REVIEW

[✨Bean's Books✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very torn on this book....
Miranda is a human, a psychotherapist, but she is also two monsters locked within the same body. She is a werepire. She struggles to find a cure for herself to bring herself back to her normal human resolve.
On the one hand, this book is rather disappointing. The reason why (mostly) is that the cover art and the book itself is being labeled as a horror when it is anything but. It has moments where it tries to be of the horror genre but as much as it tries to get there it seems to not quite reach its target. The book constantly goes into the three personalities of Miranda in a back-and-forth sort of conversation that takes place within her mind and these conversations are written in italics. These conversations I found to be very disorienting and confusing and I even had to go back and re-read some of them twice and even three times in order to get the gist of who was talking and when. I found the main character to be very unlikable. She seems to have the attitude of "been there done that bought the T-shirt you can't hit me with anything new and nothing can defeat me" attitude. I would almost go as far as to call her a snob with the way that she acts towards others in the book. Teddy has the potential to be an interesting character but at this point in the series seems to be a little more than just background noise. Last but not least the prologue of this book sets you up for what could be a very epic story but this first book completely falls flat. This is definitely not a stand-alone book. You will have to buy the next two books in order to get the full impact of the story.
On the other hand, this is a very comically written book with lots of dark humor. This book would be on par with something close to the show Dexter or Santa Clarita Diet. It holds that brand of dark humor. It is a very interesting book in that the subject of a werepire, while having been done before under different names, is still a relatively new concept and was a delightful addition to the story. The way that this author was able to put all three different personalities into one single character was very unique and refreshing. Also the way that the author was able to seamlessly go from one book to another was very delightfully surprising. I would also like to mention that I love her curse phrase of choice "Oh seven hells". It made me laugh every time I read it. 😄
Although I think the book is being marketed incorrectly (it should be a dark comedy or paranormal book, not horror) I do think that this book has potential to be great. Perhaps it would be advantageous, dare I say, to combine all three books into one? I think that would make it easier for the reader to get into the characters and the storyline before they have to buy the next installment of the saga.
I would definitely not recommend this book as a standalone because honestly it does not stand alone in any form. But I would recommend this as a part of the saga.

[Marta Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

The cover of this book struck me as something very different. I'm truly not sure if this is actually a horror story or just a piece that contains horrific events. Our heroine Miranda classes herself as a Werepire as she's human but didn't realise she was born part Vampire. Now the peculiar ideas don't stop there because Miranda had the ability to travel to other dimensions and whilst there got infected by a Werewolf hence my saying Werepire. Confused ? Well I wasn't particularly but I did still fail to be enthralled by this story. Why ? In spite of the author offering three sided mental conversations which were humorous at times I found the writing stilted and the protagonists one dimensional. Perhaps I expected too much from this story as I am left disappointed but understand not every book is exactly my cup of tea.
This voluntary take is of a copy I requested from Netgalley and my thoughts and comments are honest and I believe fair

[Elizabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

Trapped
Dr. van Wolfe Saga, Book One
By Amanda Byrd
Publisher: Blacksheep Press
Published: February 2018
ISBN: 978-1619848160
ASIN: B07H8Q5TKT
Pages: 198
book synopsis:
I'm a monster. A literal monster. But I'm a "good" kind of monster. You know, like the serial killers who kill the drug dealers, rapists, and general scum of the earth.

The difference between those serial killers and me? I'm only part human; two-thirds of me is werepire. That's right, werewolf and vampire. It's not fun, but I make due. I'm also a therapist; the one these scum pay to... talk to. I listen, sure. But then I have my own personal brand of justice. It gets messy, so if you plan to stick around, might I suggest you wear a rubber suit?
My thoughts
Rating:1 star
Would I recommend it : No
Will I be going on with this series: No
First off it was The cover that made me want to read it , and going by the cover I thought it was going to be good and scary , and the story was going to be good ,but sadly it's not , either good, or scary at all . It's not dones't even fit in the genre they say it is which is horror, like I said before there's nothing that fits in what a horror art is to be .And the main character is not a likeable person at all,in fact I hated her. With that said I would like to think Netgalley as well as the publisher for letting me read and review it exchange for my honest opinion .

[One chapter more · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was kind of a book that I requested out of curiosity. I thought I saw everything but it looks like I haven't seen yet a vampire/werewolf combo. Some things shouldn't be mixed and this is just that.

Add a bad writing and not a hint of horror and it's just made me DNF this story halfway through.

2 stars for a cover- only thing I enjoyed here.

Thank you NetGalley for sending me a free copy in exchange for an honest review, this just wasn't my type of a story.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found the plot for this story to be original and very interesting, I also liked the cover which is what drew me to this book first. I have no idea how it must feel to have 3 different types of beings inside my head and so it made for some interesting and humorous reading! There is a lot of action and adventure in this book as well, and it seemed to flow really well. I’m impressed with the first book that I have gotten to read by this author and it shall not be the last book I read by her!
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Aly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Horror SciFi & Fantasy eh? Sounds like my cup of tea!

Until it wasn't.

This book didn't have anything that screamed horror to me, unfortunately. I've read many types of horror (King, comedic, satire, gore, adolescent, etc), and this didn't really fit anywhere. Also, the werepire thing was...interesting? It didn't really take off for me though. I felt very conflicted reading this. I wanted to try finding something that would help me enjoy it, but I kept turning up blank. Didn't care for the characters, the writing style wasn't just for me, and it was so slow despite being a short book. I don't think I'd be able to reread this knowing that I found nothing interesting the first time around. I don't recommend it, which is unfortunate since it was a unique concept.

[Caroline Doig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amanda Byrd is a new author to me and this is such a fantastic story I loved it. This is the story of Miranda who is part werewolf, part vampire and I guess you could say she’s part human too, she’s also a psychologist who listens to other monsters then deals with them in the only way she knows how. There is a fight inside of Miranda with the werewolf and vampire trying to take control so she wants to find a cure to get rid of them. I loved this dark fantasy I also had a good chuckle some scenes were really funny, it’s a fantastic story a 5 plus ⭐️ read and I highly recommend this book it’s definitely well worth the read.

[Lisa Stethem · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved this book. Talk about taking fantasy to another level, move over twilight, Miranda has it all. I'm not going to spoil anything with details but this book is a fun, intense read with great writing and vivid details. Amanda Byrd has a way of putting thoughts on paper to where you can see what is happening in your mind. I would definitely recommend this book.

I received this book for free in return to an honest review. I am soo glad I did!!

[Scarolet Ellis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Trapped by Amanda Byrd is a wonderful story that I read. This is book number one in a start to a wonderful series and wonderfuls author I just found by reading this wonderful story. I am so glad I read this story, I never read anything like this story but I loved it. Believe me when I say I highly recommend this story if you like reading about shifters you will definately not be disappointed by this story.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Heather Bane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is definitely different from the vampire/werewolf romances I’m used to. This book is gory and scary the way vampire/werewolf books should be. The cover to the book is really cool and goes with the gory/horror theme perfectly!!! I like the characters in the book especially Miranda and Teddy. If gore, horror, vamps and werewolves are your type of thing you will love this book!!

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[The Endless Unread · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully descriptive and so imaginative. This author's imagination knows no bounds and it's like she has included as many aspects of a book that she can think of. So much adventure packed into one book you will never get bored of this read that's for certain. Really well written and deserving of 5 stars.

[Tanya · Rating 5 out of 5]

She is trapped in a body which has two heads of a blood hungry beasts. She is still inside and she wants to buy a castle. She even has a watcher who follows her home. Follow all her adventures as she goes through her life

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Pat Eroh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I just really enjoyed this story. Miranda, the main character, kept me laughing with her argument between the three parts of herself! The story was very intriguing and I really have to mention the book cover as well because it is pretty awesome.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Angel Hatfield · Rating 2 out of 5]

Miranda was only part human, part vampire and since the scratch part werewolf. Miranda had called on to save and merge two universes. Miranda was also a very successful psychologist. She got to help her patients work past their insecurities, anxieties, and other issues and still be two thirds monster.- mentally and physically. Teddy loved Miranda and they had been together ten years-they were married. Miranda hadn’t had human blood in over a year. She thought maybe go out and find a criminal for blood. Miranda had went into hiding and only came out to see her patients and animals were bred for slaughter. Teddy and Miranda were going back home to Florida. Miranda had their home custom built and loved it but had to go furniture shopping to add to what they had the movers bring from California. Miranda had earned a lot in California and had invested some money but also saved money. Teddy and Miranda had rocky times in their marriage but they had worked their problems out as they worked so well together. While they shopped at the furniture store Miranda decided they would get their salesman Norm to their home later to eat him. Teddy would take his truck and would get Miranda had a touch of compulsive obsessive disorder but she preferred to be called highly organized to a fault. Miranda wanted to find a cure from her two monsters. Her monsters let her know her age would quickly catch up to her and she would feel it and die. Right now she was eternally thirty nine. Miranda hated weekly shopping and thought about a grocery delivery service but was too particular and did not want someone else to choose her groceries. Miranda and Teddy were going to London to look at a castle Miranda wanted to buy. This was her first international trip and she was excited. But she did hate flying especially with other people. Miranda took the window seats and Teddy was in the middle seat. Than a woman her built sat in the aisle seat. She hears her monsters hiss and growl and they said that woman was as much a monster as Miranda. They sensed and felt it. Also this would not be the last time she’d see the woman. There was a reason she sat there and nowhere else. Miranda felt a growing sense of dread. This woman always seemed to be right near Miranda even in the short layover at the airport.
I tried and read about half of this book but I just couldn’t get into it. I couldn’t get into Miranda at all or even teddy. I wouldn’t rate this if I didn't have too, I am sure others will love it but his just didn’t keep my attention or interest and it just wasn’t for me.

[TheReadingCornerforAll Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Trapped by Amanda Byrd
June 13, 2018

|

Alex Lopez




Dr. Miranda van Wolfe is not the average woman. Aside from being a psychologist, Miranda specializes in saving the world, defeating monsters, and traveling alternate universes. But saving the fate of the multiverse came with a heavy price. After a dangerous battle, Miranda became something more than human. After battling monsters for so long, she awakened her own.



The once very human Miranda van Wolfe suddenly finds herself with a werewolf and vampire trapped inside her. While they are both vying for control, Miranda struggles to keep hold of her humanity. Even when that means some monster habits are surfacing.



While Miranda is trying to cope with her new reality and find a cure, enemies begin to appear and Miranda finds herself gathering allies for another impending battle.



Trapped by Amanda Byrd was a dark comedy that combined a lot of contemporary narratives like Twilight, Dexter, and Santa Clarita Diet. There are a lot of horrifying moments to appeal any fans of Bram Stoker and readers of the paranormal. This is a quick read that inevitably leads on to the next installment in the series.

[Frederick · Rating 1 out of 5]

Didn't make it past the prologue.

[Katarina Silva · Rating 5 out of 5]

NOVA Reviews

Trapped by Amanda Byrd is a Paranormal Fantasy book. It tells the story of Miranda, who´s part werewolf, part vampire and human in her quest to find a way to get rid of the monsters inside of her, whilst defeating some bad guys along the way with the help of some awesome allies. What’s not to love about this?

Even before she became a werepire-human, she was a force to be reckoned with. Miranda had a way about her, verbal decimation she called it, because she could shut anyone up at any time.



This is a badass book for sure. The whole concept of this story is pretty cool and original. I’ve never read a book with a story like this or with characters that aside from being totally crazy still manage to win you over. It starts with a prologue that really grabs you in, but the first few chapters after that are a little slow. They do redeem themselves because after chapter six or seven the story starts to add up and I couldn’t put the book down after that.

In the book, you get all the elements of fantasy you could ever wish for such as gargoyles, vampire hunts, werewolves in quests for revenge and a crazy battle at the end. All of this written really beautifully and well explained. And you also get Dark elements, such as explicit killing scenes, hunts and blood drinking. All of this put together was awesome.

Miranda has a dominant personality that comes across as rude all the time, but if I had two monsters inside of me, I’d be rude too. Not only is she tough and crazy AF, but her boyfriend Terry and best-friend Shiloh are too. All of them are characters that were really well written and though out. Always unpredictable and always interesting, whilst managing to complement one another in the story. I loved them, even though they weren’t exactly good guys.

Teddy shook his head and laughed. He was not evil in the same sense Miranda was, though he was just as twisted.

Overall, I’m left pleasantly surprised after reading this book. It’s original, cunning and different. The ending also left an opening for another book where the “cure” might actual exist. So, I’ll be counting the days until it comes out. If you’re looking for a small and good Dark fantasy book, then give this one a try. You won’t regret it.

*Arc Copy provided by author in exchange of Honest review

[Janet Newport · Rating 1 out of 5]

Thank you NetGalley and Blacksheep Press for this arc.

As godawful and grotesque as the cover is.....
The book is worse.

[Kuitarin · Rating 2 out of 5]

Trapped follows intrepid Were-pire, Miranda, in her transition from California to Florida. The internal dialogues between Miranda and her Were-pire alter egos made for a fun read. Byrd's mythology surrounding gargoyles was also entertaining. Unfortunately, the brief context the prologue gave the reader as to how Miranda found herself in the place she is at the beginning of the book is woefully insufficient. I feel like I might have enjoyed the characters more if I understood a bit more about Miranda's progression from human to were to were-pire. I strongly recommend reading the first few books about Miranda (though I have not, yet) if you want to get the most from Trapped.

[Kuitarin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This really isn't a book #1. This feels more like book #4 in a series. I pushed half way through this novel before giving up. If I'd read the books related to this series that precede it, then I might have enjoyed it.

[Tonya (Rustic Book Reviews) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I received this from the publisher via netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I liked the concept of this book. I don't think I have ever read anything "werepire." That was different. However, the plot was okay and the writing was okay, I just wasn't able to really connect with the story or the characters. I just felt like it could have been explored more. The book was a bit short so I felt like an extra few pages might have added a bit more detail.

I also think this is listed as Horror? I really did not get the Horror aspect of it. It may have had its moments of trying but it just did not reach the full potential of horror. Maybe more of a mystery or some part of thriller but not horror.