Wolf

State Changers #1

by Chris Fenwick

"Wolf" is the story about a girl. Alone in the world, Casidhe Keneally is frightened to unravel her family’s secret, a secret her own body has been reporting in disturbing ways. She must travel far from the only home she has ever known, to uncover the clues her dead parents left her.

Tracked to a sleepy pub in Butte Montana, Casidhe locates the strange people who can reveal the truth, but the discovery could, quite literally, kill her.

Amidst all the changes she struggles to assimilate, Casidhe meets Dana, a woman who simply cannot exist, sparking a fire inside herself, she cannot fight.

Her travels take her deep into the realm of the Fae, the powerful and ancient Irish mythological beings, whom she realizes still endure. But some Fae are angry she has returned and will not stop until she follows the way of her parents.

In "Wolf," Casidhe discovers her true identity, finds her people, but also finds cruelty and danger as she learns what real magic looks and feels like.

"Wolf" is the first book in the State Changers series, following the extraordinary life of Casidhe, as she learns about love, magic and the veritable power of her own spirit.

Genres: Fantasy, Paranormal, LGBT, Romance

253 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2019

About the author

I am a mother, a spouse, a writer, an editor, a marketer, and a part-time farmer. I grow, build, remodel and fix things. I spent over 25 years in a tech career that I didn't love but still excelled in. Now, I make books. Some I write myself. Some are the works of others. I live in a hollow surrounded by trees, a little piece of paradise in Pennsylvania, with my wife, our last teenage son, goats, chickens, dogs and occasionally pigs, turkeys, deer, ducks, and many other varieties of birds and wildlife.

Writing the State Changers series was the most fun I have had professionally, ever. The process of writing is like coming home. It is powerful and humbling at the same time. Casidhe became so real to me, inspiring and guiding me as we found our way through the words and pages together. I sincerely hope readers love her story as much as I have. I heard a quote recently and it made me think of writing this series. "If it delights, it delights." Writing the State Changer series truly delighted me.

I have always loved books, and almost never can part with them once they find their way into my library. I can think of no other job I am more clearly suited to. Sunbury Press' moto is, "Continue the Enlightenment!" Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?

Reviews

[Karin A · Rating 3 out of 5]

At the beginning of this book, I was a little bored by the matter of fact way of (almost) reporting instead of storytelling. That changed when mc Casidhe got in to contact with her new world. Where the beginning dragged on a little too long, further on in the book some events seemed to happen in fast forward when they could have written with a little more depth.

The events with Casidhe and her aunt Colleen could have been more heartbreaking if I, as a reader, had some more insight into their relationship. Maybe it's weird to say that at first, for me she could have been a foster kid with a foster mom: there was love, I just didn't feel the depth of it.

Because enough happens in this book, I kept reading and wondering what's next. A lot of happenings at the beginning come back later. Like Casidhe dreaming about a girl. When Casidhe meets her people, she also meets the girl from her dreams: Dana, daughter of Kelly and Lesslyn (alpha and alpha she of the pack). Their chemistry is through the roof and Casidhe doesn't understand how that can be so intense. But she probably hasn't read books about werewolves yet, because instant and unexplainable attraction without knowing each other is pretty common in those. With the difference that usually there is more suspense there because mc's don't want the attraction and in this case mc's sure did.
Note that this is a coming of age story, so although there are some sex scenes in this book, they are pretty innocent, not graphic and won't make your blush while reading. Unless you blush easily of course, haha.

I've read quite some werewolf stories already, this was different. In this book, werewolves have extra gifts besides shifting, given to them by the Fae world. The Fae world is very connected to the werewolves in this book and not necessarily in a good way. That gave a different dimension to the book and can make this a very interesting series (no pressure for Fenwick).

As this is a first in a series, there is no HEA in this book, but know that it does end happy and there is no cliff hanger. You can pick this op and read it as a stand-alone with no harm done after finishing. Curious as I am, I probably will pick up the second in the series. And that's no heartache because while reading I got more into this book. Let's say it grew on me and I hope to get to know the characters better in the following book.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Gabriella · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a free copy of this book from BookSirens in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, this was a nice surprise! I’m already sucked into this world.

I really liked Casidhe as a character. She’s a shy person who hasn’t had many relationships with other people, and she has to reconcile this fact with her newfound status as a member of the Keneally pack. I like how her personality doesn’t change the second she’s welcomed into the pack — she is who she is! A lot of information is thrown at her over the course of the book, and Fenwick portrays that overwhelming feeling very well.

I also enjoyed the other characters in this book. For the most part they were warm and inviting, but you can tell they’re complicated, multidimensional characters, which I hope will be explored in later books. Besides Casidhe and Dana, I really liked Blaire — it’s always great to see disability rep.

My absolute favorite part of the book was the initiation scene. God, it was so vivid. I could feel the pain, the shock, and the overwhelming instinct right alongside Casidhe. I was also touched by the ending scene.

I was entertained thorough out the book (it kinda lagged at the 40-50% mark, but not for very long), even though most of the book was basically just setup for events that will happen later in the series. Fenwick’s descriptions are concise and never become cumbersome — it’s like I’m actually in this world and discovering things right alongside Casidhe.

The romance between Casidhe and Dana...well, it’s pretty much insta-love on an extreme level, lol. That kind of romance isn’t really what I enjoy, but it made sense in the context of the story and I’m excited to see how Fenwick will develop their relationship further. Also, there were a few convenient coincidences in the story, and while they made me chuckle, I didn’t really mind. And then there were some jarring instances of head-hopping into Dana’s POV, but that may be because I received an ARC version of the book, idk .

Solid, enjoyable 4+ stars! I will be looking forward to reading the next three books in the series.

[Treessing · Rating 1 out of 5]

I would like to state that the premise of this novel sounded exceptional. A high school girl who, through the aunt she has lived with since her parents passed, finds out she's part fae-wolf? Not to mention, the LGBT+ representation I would assume would be great for a lot of LGBT+ readers. However, I had many personal and critical issues with this novel.

I do want to say I DNF'd this novel at 31%.

The pace of the novel in the beginning is slow as for the first four chapters we see the main character experiencing strange things about smell and hearing.. and that's about it. Every page we see a breakdown of her day and that's it! It's... a bit of a snooze fest and left me wondering when it would pick up. The dialogue is very choppy, it doesn't flow and it sounds mechanical, humanoid. The sentences don't flow either and I can't help but feel like I'm reading a textbook.

While the characters and relationships are explained well, I don't actually feel anything towards the story, and the spelling errors pull me out of it.

Moving on, the story moving. We see the main character deal with a lot of responsibility that.. is sort of unbelievable for a seventeen year old still in high school. Working two jobs, cleaning and emptying the house, going to school. It all seems unreal. And while this may be the real case for most people, I know, it just seems to happen to the character, with no choices given until she sets out to get answers.

While the history is cool, and the info dumps about Ireland are interesting when they first appear as she travels... there isn't much happening, but somehow I'm almost half-way in? And I assume if I continued, I'd be plunged into the million family members, danger, some wolf transformations and insta-love. Now, that might work for some people.. but I am not some people.

While I feel some people may jive with this structure and story plot, I don't. The pace is messy, the dialogue is flat, the writing style is unpleasant... and I don't see this book as anything monumental. I think it will be okay to some, good to others, but I think it needs more edits and more reruns, from editors and the author. This just doesn't seem done or thought through.

I wish I could have enjoyed this but unfortunately, despite wanting to push through, I realized I needed to move onto books I could love instead, even if it meant leaving a bad review. To the author, I hope it works out well, but it just isn't done well to me.

[Susie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Needs time to grow on you

*I received a free ARC via NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.*

In the beginning, I was bored. The constant one-sided POV, with no intermittent dialogue, just dragged. What made it worse was that there were tense inconsistencies: moments of internal monologue in italics written in past tense, or a mixture of the two; moments when the tenses were confused amongst the rest of the story. As the story is all told from Cassidhe’s POV, you have to get used to her voice, and it didn’t warm to me at all in the beginning. Even when the first dramatic event happened, it was near impossible to empathise with her.

Things appear to change when she meets the wolves. The story starts to gain more depth, Cassidhe herself appears more interesting, as well as others that she meets. Although, even then, it takes time for the characters to appear more than one dimensional. The best part of the whole story, for me, was the final dramatic event where, even though Cassidhe was completely on her own, she finally had more character than she had had for the majority of the rest of the book. It’s for this reason alone that my rating finally reached four stars, rather than the two to three it was struggling with at the beginning.

An interesting upcoming point is how the pack is going to deal with the sexuality of the heir, when a key part of pack dynamics is based on the ability to produce children and secure the pack’s future.

Also, a side note is that the cover doesn’t really reflect the main characters, with their described colouring being different from what is shown. A minor niggle, if any, but I do like it when a cover helps to assist me in how to imagine the characters.

Final rating: ★★★★☆ – Really liked

[MiskaCZ · Rating 3 out of 5]

An ARC copy was given to me from BookSirens for a honest review.

This book was really a suprise for me. This book is part lesbian fiction and comig of age story, but I was caught from the first chapter. Casidhe discovered that she is a state changer and try to find her friends in the world after the death of her aunt.

She find her pack and her partner Dana, but she discover there is a danger about knowig the truth.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoy paranormal fantasy, especially shapeshifters, so I was happy to find this book. It’s a little rough in places, and the beginning is slow. Cassidhe starts out as a self-described loner who lives with her aunt and seems to have only one sort-of friend. She does have some inexplicable things happen. After the aunt dies, she learns about her family from her aunt’s writings to her.

This is entirely from Cassidhe’s perspective so there is some moping (understandably) and questioning for the first third or so. Once she gets to the ranch, the pace picks up and it gets more interesting. We learn about her shapeshifter abilities along with her as she discovers them. Sometimes the explanations are a bit dull, but there’s enough intrigue and romance going on to keep me reading. It’s a bit different from other shapeshifter stories because the wolves are also part Fae, so there’s an added and unusual element.

[Kris · Rating 5 out of 5]

It’s not very often that a book delivers exactly what I want, so I am so pleased that Wolf did just that. The lore of this story and the Irish roots were very interesting. The characters were perfect, Casidhe is exactly what I want in a protagonist and her Chemistry with Dana was amazing. Blaire was also an extremely fun character to read. I loved just about everything about this book including the style of writing in which Fenwick had only three scenes where time is skipped or montaged. The rest of The book you follow Casidhe from morning to evening and while that may put off some people I absolutely loved it. The world building and plot were also superb. The emotions this story was able to evoke was really impressive. I went through an emotional roller coaster and loved every minute of it. There were some structural issues such as a couple small typos and weird spacing but I am unsure if I read a finished product and in no way should it deter you from reading this fantastic story. I look forward to the rest of the State Changer Quartet.

[Amanda · Rating 3 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of Wolf in exchange for an honest review. I'm hoping this book goes through another rigorous edit before being released in order to take care of some consistency issues (the protagonist repeatedly saying she's vegetarian but repeatedly eating bacon and sausage as well as several of the characters using nearly identical language that makes it difficult to distinguish their voices). I like the concept of a queer werewolf story, and the author puts her own spin on that mythology, blending in some Irish folklore and fae components. It was also nice that the wolf pack seems generally accepting of queer members and queer mated pairs. At times, the book almost reads like a cozy mystery in that many of the settings are homey and comforting. However, the writing is very functional with few efforts at lyricism or at making dialogue sound like real people would actually speak it. For all the time I spent with these characters, there's not much I can say about them and their inner lives beyond a few surface level tidbits (Casidhe is a loner, Dana is sexually magnetic, etc). I hope their characterization deepens as the series continues.

[Gail · Rating 5 out of 5]

Book 1 in the State Changers Series.
I took time reading this book - rereading some parts to get a better feel for the paranormal, shape shifting romance storyline but once into the plot, main character Casidhe pulled me along willingly. With her Aunt Colleen's death from cancer - friends and support systems put in place by Colleen help to get Casidhe on the path to finding the family she was not aware of - in Butte, Montana. Tragedy can make or break and in Casidhe's case she becomes stronger. Ms. Fenwick's descriptions of enhanced senses and confusion tied in with fear of the unknown but longing for knowledge of family and her ultimate destiny, kept me hooked. Dana is perfect in the role of Casidhe's soulmate - a minx at heart but steadfast in her love. Secondary characters in Blaire, Kelly, Lesslyn and Saoirse fleshed out the plot which was action filled...initiation ceremony, dreams, love and possible treachery .
Looking forward to Book 2 with an ever expanding world of wolves, fae, humans, fuath and good/bad gods.
Some editing needed.
I rec'd a copy through Booksprout and this is a voluntary, unbiased review.

[Sandy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wasn't sure what to expect with this book. I am not usually a paranormal YA reader but the LGBT content tipped me into reading it. I was pleasantly surprised. The story is a coming of age urban fantasy with likable characters. We only get deeply into the main character in this first of the series, but you know there are back stories to be told as the story hopefully continues. The young woman, a loner finds herself truly alone when her aunt dies leaving her a mystery that she travels to unravel and finds a family of shapeshifters living in Butte, Montana. Throw in Wolf Packs, Initiation rites, the mysterious Fae, leprechauns, curses, Irish history and a bit of seemingly most mythological lore and you have yourself a story. The love story is hot without being explicit and belongs in the story. All of the characters could use some additional depth but the story is engrossing and I plan to read the second book.

I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Angela · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm going to go with the majority on this book, and say: It takes time to grow on you. I mean, if you can get through the one dimensional boring first part of the book you'll come to part that slowly starts to get just slightly better as more characters come into play. Also,this book needs a good editor to point out the extreme lack of character development and depth when it comes to just mc Casidhe; I felt like I was reading a news report instead of just enjoying some good old' fashion storytelling in the beginning. The tenses were mixed up and confusing at times, too. I almost DNF'd about 5 times to be honest, but I didn't because I received this free pdf copy in exchange for my honest review, so I'm holding up my part of the deal. Like I said, when the story began to introduce other characters it got a little better. Ultimately, I'm interested to see how the pack will deal with this new leader being a lesbian... since, you know, its very important for mating to occur and for offspring to continue the bloodline.

[DR · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW! Fae and Wolves and Humans oh my! As with Casidhe, I had a difficult time wrapping my brain around who she was and her family history. I definitely had to suspend my belief about fairies, wolves, and the Old Ways of the Irish. However, since I do the same for Sci-Fi I will continue.
This was a well written story of a young girl coming of age into her family history. I learned just enough to understand, from her point of view, her heartbreak at her aunt's death, being an outsider in her community and her confusion in learning her family history.
The bond between her and Dana's yet to be fleshed out but I'm sure that'll come later.
I learned there are four books in the series so I do believe I'm going to stop reading with this first book in the series because I'll lose the continuity I enjoy when reading a book. I'll read all four at once and then I won't be frustrated at cliff hangers.

[J.R. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A shy orphaned girl grows up stronger!

A interesting tale of shape-changers who take in an long lost missing person. Together with their fellow pack members a young woman finds that she has powers that need to be controlled before injuring someone. In the meantime she finds her mate who is the daughter of the Alpha and his Alpha-she. Enjoy! Book two should been as good as the first one.

[Tory · Rating 5 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book

If I could dream up my favorite book it would have all the elements of this one. I can’t express how much I loved the whole thing. A bit of magic, a loner, someone who you dream of and a community that inspires you. How potent a combination! Please read if you want to imagine a wonderful world that can take you with it.

[Anna Van · Rating 5 out of 5]

State Changers are awesome

This is a little different then a werewolf story. Did I like it? You bet I did…. I loved the flow of the story, the characters were believable and I can’t wait for book two.
I am going to thoroughly enjoy reading this series.

[Trippentigger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well worth settling in for a read. Took a bit to hook me but by the end I was thoroughly involved in the story. Hoping the next book is coming out sooner rather than later in 2020.

[Mayra Luria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great read! It caught my attention from the beginning and I couldn’t put it down. The characters are wonderful and the story line is dynamic!

[Saundra Wright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite a unique take on the shifter genre. I love the characters, excellent world building, and riveting plot.

[Heather Bennett · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wolf has a strange writing style but a interesting storyline. The characters are interesting and I would read more by this author.

[Shaunette · Rating 3 out of 5]

Grows on you...

I didn’t realize I liked this book and wanted to finish it until I was about 40% into it. It was difficult to get into at first because the protagonist really didn’t seem like a 17-year-old person.
I honestly want to see where this story goes! Cas has learned so much about herself and her potential. Hopefully with this being a possible four book series we’ll get to learn more about her and the other characters in the story as well, especially Dana!