First 8 Adventures for New Werewolf/Vigilante Sara Flores Collection: Seven short stories plus one novella
Abandoned. Nobody to show her the ropes of being a werewolf. Nobody even believes they exist. Journey with Sara as she discovers her mission -- to save innocents -- and figures out how. For example, Is it OK to kill evildoers? If so, is it OK to eat them? How about if she’s really, really hungry? Can she keep going into the dark, hidden places -- without leaving behind a piece of her soul? And... what does a werewolf do for fun?
WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR? Sara befriends a neighbor — an old Lupiti shaman — not knowing it would change her life forever.
A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING: Sara’s first night running with the wolves. Experience the strangeness and the astonishing thrills.
CHOICES: Can Sara save a woman from her husband’s psycho friend?
THE TOO-SMART KID: Sara pulls a half-dead kid from the river that runs by her house — only to be targeted by goons determined to finish the job.
WHY I NEED TO STAY AWAY FROM TEXAS: Sara investigates a Native girl’s death, only to find herself next on the kill list.
A WEREWOLF AT THE ZOO? A chance stop at an animal safari makes Sara loses her mind. She’s determined to rescue an abused wolf — no matter who has to die.
WEREWOLF SEEKS LUPITI WISDOM: Sara wants answers from the dead Lupiti Shaman who turned her. What could possibly go wrong with this idea?
CURIOSITY KILLS (Novella): Sara is in the crosshairs of a billion-dollar oil company exec determined to kill a college hacker who found their biggest dirty secret.
Did you ever want to be more than yourself? I always have. As a kid, I imagined I lived up in the clouds with a band of other kids. We would swoop down — because we could fly! — and rescue people in trouble. And we’d beat the crap out of their abusers. When I got older, I became obsessed with crime and mysteries. I wanted to know how someone could track down evil doers and peel back their false faces — exposing them to the world.
The day I quit my corporate job — my dreams came true. Today I spend my days throwing my character, Sara Flores, at one criminal mastermind after another — just to see what she can do.
And… I cheated. I let her be more than herself by making her a werewolf — the only magical creature in a world otherwise just like ours. Because I wanted to see what she could do with a wolf’s senses and strength. And wildness.
So join me for stories of ruthless criminals, suspicious cops, and Sara’s small band of misfits fighting to save us all. Test drive my world with a free story at SueDenver.com.
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I read WEREWOLF FOR HIRE first, and it’s been nice to read her origin and early years stories in this book. Well written with interesting characters. I’d recommend this book to lovers of paranormal and shifters.
Sue Denver has written a number of short stories starring Sara Flores, who was turned into a werewolf by one of her neighbors. In fact, the first story in the book, “What Are Friends For”, tells how she was turned, which is somewhat different than the normal turning by being bitten by another werewolf. Being a werewolf who didn’t have to wait until the full of the moon before changing, thank heavens, gives her an advantage when it comes to telling when someone is lying. In addition, her sensitive nose helps in tracking people and being able to tell where dead bodies are located.
The stories in this book track her adventures from the time she was turned. A lot of her werewolf skills were discovered by trial and error. For example, the first time she shifted, which was extremely painful, she had no idea how to shift back into a human. Recalling some of the werewolf books she had read, she decided to try eating meat, which did cause her to change back. The obvious lesson in this was that she needed to abstain from eating meat in her werewolf form until such time as she was ready to change. She also discovered that she needed to either strip before shifting or have another set of clothing available for when she changed back into her human form.
Sara more or less decided that she could best use her new werewolf skills to help people, particularly those who requested her help, such as a boy trying to evade the men who wanted to kill him. She also has a flair for vigilantism, as illustrated in a couple of the stories.
Having read other short stories written by Sue Denvers, I was delighted to be able to read the first 8 adventures in one book. The flow is such that it’s almost like reading different chapters in a novel. Sue has a succinct writing style, with stories that are tightly constructed. She leaves no dangling participles, meaning that all the threads in her stories are satisfactorily answered. Her stories are well written with plenty of suspense and unexpected twists in many of them. I really enjoyed this book and would like to see Ms. Denvers try this avenue in the future to construct additional books starring Sara Flores. I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys police type stories and mysteries.
My rating: 5 Stars.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
Plot or Premise Sara Flores is living off grid after a divorce, and gets to know an Indigenous neighbour who teaches her about wilderness and remote living. He seems like a pretty good friend until he performs a ritual one night as he's dying and turns her into a werewolf without any warning or information.
What I Liked The collection of eight shortstories gives the backstory of how Sara actually became a werewolf (no, she wasn't bitten) and started figuring out how to use her newfound "gift" to help others.
I really liked The Too-Smart Kid who tried to get a job with some people who worked at a factory, only to accidentally trip over a drug operation. The "Werewolf at the Zoo" added some decent mythology to the story, with her communicating with a wolf. Similarly, "Werewolf Seeks Lupiti Wisdom" showed some of the backstory for the original werewolf and his links to his tribe.
The short novella, "Curiosity Kills" was relatively fully fleshed out and had all the elements for a more fulsome story (her being "hired", her getting involved, and her solving the case aggressively).
What I Didn't Like I felt the first story, "What Are Friends For", was good but way too short. I would have liked to know more about her and Joe before the "hey-now-you're-a-werewolf" moment without those actual words telling her anything. But "A Wolf In Sheep's Clothing" (running in the woods) and Choices (psycho friend of a friend) are even really stories, just short vignettes with some extra exposition. Finally, there is a pretty good basis for a longer story in "Why I Need To Stay Away from Texas", but it ends really abruptly and very oddly where she suddenly has almost ninja / special forces abilities but continues to talk about her not having any actual training. It didn't quite work for me.
The Bottom Line A decent premise and a good origin story
Sara has discovered her mission -- to save innocents. These are the first 8 adventures for new werewolf/vigilante, Sara Flores. Below is a review of one of the short stories to give you an idea of what to expect in this collection of seven short stories and one novella.
Titles included are:
🐺 WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR? 🐺 A WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING 🐺 CHOICES 🐺 THE TOO-SMART KID 🐺 WHY I NEED TO STAY AWAY FROM TEXAS 🐺 A WEREWOLF AT THE ZOO? 🐺 WEREWOLF SEEKS LUPITI WISDOM 🐺 CURIOSITY KILLS (Novella)
***Reviewing “A WEREWOLF AT THE ZOO?” *** Odd Rescue Missions . . .
Sara Flores, a werewolf, was driving home to Pawnee, Oklahoma, after a rescue mission. Alone in the car with her memories upsetting her, Sara saw a sign for “Wild Animal Safari” and decided to distract herself for a while since the sign said the animals roamed free. But among the list of zebras, ostriches, emus, wildebeests, antelopes and camels, they also promised bears, tigers and wolves! How could they manage that?
By the final mile of the drive, she saw cages with nothing but a wire-mesh roof to keep animals inside but provided no protection for the animals from the 100-degree heat. All of them were panting in the extreme temperature. Two were worse off than the others.
Determined to do something about this cruelty, Sara purchased a huge van and cages and went back in the dark to rescue the wolf and bear who were suffering the most. But a jeep drove toward her. Would she escape from the man? Or would the police arrive before she could take the animals to the sanctuary? Would the cruel owner turn around to see the final surprise awaiting him?
Newbie Werewolf by Sue Denver First of 8 Adventures of Sara Flores
What a fun collection of stories this proved to be! I can see a wide variety of readers enjoying finding out how Sara becomes a werewolf, what she does next, and how she spends part of the first year of her life with the amazing ability to transform from human to a paranormal werewolf.
What I liked: * Sara: middle aged, dog owner, friend of a shaman, unprepared for the changes that suddenly impact her life * The story of how Sara became a werewolf * What Sara decided to do with her abilities and how her values changed * Thinking about what it would be like to be a werewolf * The cases Sara chose to take on to aid those in need * The writing, plots, and location * That the stories were short and each one different * How Sara grew and evolved as a woman and werewolf * The inclusion of the senses used by Sara during each story * I felt that these stories could be read by young adult and perhaps a bit younger readers – if parents vetted the book first * The tie-in with myths, legends, and the tie-in to a fictional Plains Native American tribe * That I cared about Sara and wanted to know what would happen next * That Sara was not perfect but did her best * All of it really except…
What I didn’t like: * Who and what I was meant not to like – there were plenty of baddies to be dealt with in each story
Did I enjoy this book? Yes Would I read more in this series? Yes
Thank you to NetGalley and Books Go Social for the ARC – This is my honest review.
This collection is an incredible value with a novella and seven short stories. The collection is organized and easy to move between the stories.
I first became aware of Sue Denver’s lady werewolf series in January 2022 when I read the novella, Curiosity Kills. I loved it because Sara was using her werewolf skills to fight corporate crime. Sara obtains important information she needs in this story from a college student who is hacks into computers for her. I was so impressed with Curiosity Kills, that I soon read Werewolf Seeks Lupiti Wisdom. I purchased the other short stories in this collection and began ordering stories in the series as they were published.
My favorite story in the series, and it was difficult to choose, is the recently published Too-Smart Kid. One of the reasons I like this short story is that Sara continues her personal mission of fighting crime when she breaks up a cocaine distribution ring and saves a teen from certain death.
Book 1 NEWBIE WEREWOLF by Sue Denver is a keeper. Sara Flores is ‘turned’ by a Lupiti shaman just before he dies. So, she gets no help on how the change is controlled. Her goal is to use her new strength to help abused animals and to make bad guys pay for their deeds. She lives outside of Tulsa which is what attracted me to the books. I grew up in Tulsa and never saw a werewolf (>grinning) but thought it would be fun to read a story set in my former hometown. Sara is a loner but she makes friends along the way but to share her secret could cause her to be kept in a cage for study purposes or killed by avid wolf hunters. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this new to me series. I’ve always wished that werewolves were real….who knows…..maybe they are. More books to read in this great series.
Sara Flores is "turned" by a friend who dies shortly thereafter, leaving her without a mentor. This collection of eight stories looks at her early life: Turning is painful, but it doesn't require a full moon, though she has to watch out for silver bullets. She leaves her old life and begins rescuing people--also animals from a wayside zoo. Well-done perspective from Sara as a human and as a wolf.
Good background; and she doesn't flinch from killing assorted nasty villains. Of course she has to be prepared with fresh meat--and fresh clothes. Well written. I enjoyed the stories and there are novels waiting. This book stood out from the books I'm always checking on.
Well written, you learn almost immediately how Sara becomes a werewolf. There is not a lot of time spent getting the reader to that point. Details like how Sara "earns" a living are briefly but sensibly explained, i.e., "dead bad guys don't need their ill-gotten gains" and as Sara discovers her powers, the reader discovers them along with her. One also can see that as her story develops, there are hints of a future team in the making. It will be fun to see where this adventure goes.
Sue Denver's Sara Flores is one of the best characters you could find in the world of cozy/paranormal/mystery/thriller. Denver has developed this character and her supporting cast into an entertaining, yet dynamic team that protects the innocent. I recommend them often and everyone who has read them recommends them too.
This was a great boxed set filled with short stories that will keep you entertained from start to finish. The character work and story lines were well written.
I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
I’d give it more stars except for words being doubled up on multiple occasions. It’s distracting when it happens as you get to the meat of the story. I really enjoy the premise and will continue reading the series.
Loved this series of short stories about a newly made werewolf. Quirky with great characters and storylines I couldn't put it down. I immediately bought the first book that is a novella.
This woman weaves Avery intriguing story that you can't wait to see how it turns out. This first book is a collection of short stories of be beginnings and finding purpose with her new self.
Love backstory So many questions answered in this collection. More to go. Really interesting characters, plots, and settings. Ready for more, and hope they continue. Consider asking to join Sue Denver's FB page. Highly recommend the stories of Sara Flores, werewolf.
I highly recommend the books. I would rate them as for adults. So far, no sex. But there is death and violence. The deaths are handled briefly and efficiently without lingering on the details.
I love werewolf, shifter and vampire books and these about Sara are some of the best that I've ever read. I love that Sara is always willing to take on a case where people have gone missing and will only charge one dollar.
These books are facinating with a knowledge about American Indian tribes and how Sara the main character deals with crimes committed by evil men from a very different view. Thoroughly enjoyable read.
The stories are interesting enough that you want to read the next one but the actual writing is not yet up to par with more mature writers. I think with time and experience she could get there.
Fun and different. Werewolves still mostly in the closet. Very Short stories. So moving on to the next, Werewolf Vigilante - three more shorts, next in the series.