Thank you Netgally and Xpresso Book Tours (Black Spot Books)

I love Werewolves, I have always loved werewolves and will frequently ask if you could be either werewolf or vampire which would you be and I could go on hour long rants on why werewolf is the only option. From Underworld, Ginger Snaps, Brotherhood of the Wolf, heck even Rammstein's " Du riechst so gut "music video that has the band members as werewolves I've ingested so much werewolf pop culture that I was so excited when I came across this Arc. I've been saying for a while that I with there was more female werewolf stories as werewolves as a concept are so inherently feminine, that off the top of my head I can really only think of two female centered werewolf stories, Ginger Snaps (a movie focusing on two sisters that is a cult classic) and Blood and Chocolate (a wonderful book that was turned into an ok movie) so having a werewolf anthology that is written by female authors is great. It being a anthology there are some hits and misses but overall each story or poem was pretty good, some of my favs where " When we run we are all free" by Christina Henry and "A wolf like me" by Zin E. Rocklyn. The book is split into 4 parts with 4-5 stories in each. I took my time with reading this so I could savor each story, there are some trigger warnings as a some stories do deal with sexual violence or just general violence but knowing its a female lead werewolf anthology you can bet how the perpetrator ends up. I highly recommend this one!

Thank you Netgalley & Black Spot Books for the arc!

As an elder emo, horror fan, & feminist, I knew I had to read this anthology ASAP! I appreciated the different styles each author brought to their tale of lycanthropy & many were a beautiful gut punch. I also connected with the various poetry pieces as well & found them to be powerfully placed at the end of sections, especially the closing piece. I did find myself getting a little detached in the middle, not from the fault of any particular piece but I think just needing something different than short werewolf stories back to back to back. However, I was pretty quickly pulled back in. Overall, I really enjoyed this anthology & I think the care of the editors in choosing what to include & the overall theme is clear. I recommend this to folks who like horror, werewolves, feminist themes, & allegories!
3.5 🌟

Werewolves are such ripe pickings for metaphors, and werewolf women (wifwolves, if you will) are maybe even better for metaphors? Rage, not conforming to beauty standards, societally unacceptable sexual and other appetites, reproductive rights, mental health. You can really apply the wifwolf thing to so many topics, and it's fantastic. These short stories are all so good. Absolute bangers.

2.5/5

Short story collection focusing on werewolves and their connection to women and the issues we still face today. Here you'll find an assortment of tales that use the figure of the lycanthrope to symbolize everything from freedom to revenge to existing as a woman in society. You'll also find plenty of blood, gore, and guts. This was a mixed bag for me, perhaps I am a little too horror-pilled, forgive the expression, so I thought the horror in general was a bit weak. I also didn't like the poetry, but that one's on me and my inability to get it. I did enjoy how diverse the anthology was, you could tell the authors come from all sorts of backgrounds and the editors did a great job curating the stories.

This anthology packs a real punch! It uses the werewolf trope to explore all the crap women are subjected to; shaming, gaslighting, oppression, abuse and constant attempts at control, policing and isolation.

It also explores female rage, hunger, want, sexuality, freedom, community, self-acceptance, connection to self, nature and other women, the reclaiming of power, women helping women, and motherhood.

The collection consists of 23 short stories by a range of women horror writers, so there is something for everyone here.

Thank you to all the women involved in the making of this anthology; so many of these stories made me feel seen.

Thank you to Black Spot Books and Netgalley for giving me access to this ARC.

Thank you, NetGalley, for early access to this ARC — I loved it! If women weren’t already badass enough, these stories proved just how fierce they can be. Each one was fresh, terrifying, and had me drooling for more. This collection was perfect for getting me in the mood for fall, and it’s an absolute must-have for any horror enthusiast’s personal library.

I really liked this one! I thought it was super well thought out and I liked how the chapters were named after the phases of the moon.

It had a really awesome introduction by Rachel Harrison, whom I had just finished reading “Such Sharp Teeth” from not long ago. She had a quote I really liked in it: “woman and wolves will forever walk together in the moonlight.”

This book dealt a lot with trauma and the struggles of women, with them taking back their power and freedom through this werewolf side of themselves. A lot of the stories had a “good for her” vibe that I always throughly enjoy in horror. It was a good mix of super heartfelt stories and others that were more action-packed.

Like most anthologies, there were definitely stories that I liked more than others, but overall I really liked the book and would definitely recommend it for horror fans looking to read more awesome women authors!

I enjoyed this one, but like all story collections there were some hits and some misses, but overall I loved the variety of depictions of werewolves.

Thanks to Netgalley and Black Spot book for the Advance Reader Copy. It was a great pleasure to read this awesome anthology.


Howl is a darkly beautiful and feminist anthology of short stories and poetry starring female werewolves and animalistic wolfish instinct.

"We fear her because we are her: the feral, the wild, the mad."

It is a collection of beautiful and most of the time, difficult stories of women werewolves, from a transition due to violence, to a mean to escape, the stories show the hard truce of how hard it is to be a woman and how they transform themselves to survive everything. The symbiotic and hard, painful, communion between a wild animalistic nature and a powerful female representation!

These stories are sometimes particularly creepy and hard to read, but so dark and beautiful. I really loved it.

It's emotional, dark, and gut wrenching. An interesting ode to feminism and to all the bumped woman and the queens who managed to transform a difficult past or life, or to those who didn't.

It's sometimes turning into a monster and sometimes turning into something wild and beautiful as a mean to escape a difficult life, violence and life altering events. Mixing power and strengths to survive.

I loved some stories more than others but I always found something lovable in every on of the story related in this anthology.

I really recommend this.

So glad that Rachel Harrison’s excellent intro was included in this ARC! Sometimes that page is blank in the early copies.

This was a consistently solid collection! Becoming a werewolf doesn’t always mean surrendering to loss of control and turning into a monster. Often, it is a way of becoming more powerful, taking revenge, or belonging to a family. There are some beautiful stories in here. (I even got emotional a couple of times.) And yes, there is plenty of bloody violence to satiate those of us who love horror. (The wolves have gotta eat!)

The best thing about these stories was the creative interpretations of the transformation itself. Rarely is it simply a matter of an accidental encounter and a bite leading to a new wolf. Often, it's more complicated (and stranger!) than that. I appreciated the inventiveness on display. If I have any criticism at all, it would be that many of these stories share a theme of the werewolf transformation happening as a way of fighting back against abuse at the hands of men. It’s not every story, but it’s a lot of them. *I don’t have a problem with that*, and it’s done pretty effectively. It’s just a matter of repetition and redundancy after a while. (If you’re looking for horror with a Feminist twist specifically, this collection absolutely fits the bill!) And there were so many scenes of women protecting other women, and it was just really nice to see.

I found something to like about every single piece, though I will say that my lesser favorite stories were all towards the end. I even enjoyed the poetry, which isn’t typically my thing. (I think if I could find more gothic but modern, very horror-centric poems like the ones in this collection, maybe I'd be more into it.) I’m considering buying a physical copy of "Howl" when it’s published in November. It's the kind of thing I would love to have on my personal bookshelf and I will absolutely be reading it again.

As with any horror, mind the triggers as some of these stories do get pretty dark!

Thank you to NetGalley and to the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review! All opinions are my own. 

Biggest TW: Physical/Domestic Abuse, Sexual Assault, Mention of Loss of Pregnancy, Chronic Illness, Suicidal Ideation, Domestic Terrorism, Abortion

What an amazing collection of horror stories and poems by women of horror! Howl is definitely an anthology that explores the bond between woman and wolf, and I am here for it. I don't think that there was a bad addition to this anthology, and all of the stories/poems were solid. This was definitely a captivating collection.

Full review coming to Cemetery Dance (November) ! Thank you so much to the publisher for my advanced digital copy. Howl is the validation, fuel, and inspiration every woman needs right now. These stories are a fierce exploration and celebration of women's strength and resiliency.

The introduction from Rachel Harrison is the chef's kiss to this collection howling with horror. I recommend pairing this collection with Such Sharp Teeth by Harrison or Nat Cassidy's When The Wolf Comes Home.

This was a fierce anthology of horror stories and poems by women. Howl explores the primal bond between woman and wolf through blood, rage, and transformation.

There really wasn’t a bad story/poem, they were all instantly captivating pulling you straight in. They were dark, poignant and very relevant in today’s world.

Thank you NetGalley and Black Spot books for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Fierce! Howl is an anthology of original stories and poems from women in horror who highlight and fierce and animalistic nature of women.

I love how the werewolf lore was used to express feminine rage and the struggles of girl/womanhood. It also has stories about sisterhood and female sexuality. I enjoyed the combination of body horror and real life horrors that many women experience. Check for triggers.

My top 10 stories:
-The Devil Has No Dogs by Kailey Tedesco
-All The Men Who Cried Wolf by Ai Jiang
-When He Could Have Me by Erica T. Wurth
-Origin Story by Shannon Robinson
-Our Howls Like Dirges, Our Eyes Like The Moon by Gwendolyn Kiste
-Hunger by Polly Hall
-When We Run We Are Free by Christina Henry
-Bone Marrow by Lindy Ryan
-Dark Justice by Alexandrea Weis *my favorite story!*
-It’s Only Natural by Delilah S. Dawson

Thank you, NetGalley and Black Spot Books/Xpresso Book Tours, for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley and Black Spot Books/Xpresso Book Tours for the e-arc!

Rating: 4/5

Like most anthologies there’s going to be stories you connected with more than others. But overall I liked how none of the stories shied away from the body horror inherent in werewolf lore, and the way women specific issues were connected to lycanthropy.

I do think that there was an opportunity for a wider breadth of stories - the beauty of werewolves is that they’re a great metaphor for so many things, but especially queer stories. I would have loved to have seen some more trans and sapphic werewolves included (my favorite story in the anthology, 13 Times I Swallowed a Full Moon by Stephanie M. Wytovich, does include a sapphic werewolf). Queer women do share a lot of the same feminine rage as their straight counterparts, but there are unique experiences that would have been fun to seen explored through a werewolf lens.

I loved how the anthology was broken up into the phases of the moon for the different sections - Part Four: Waning had most of my favorite stories.

My top story from each part would be:

We Women Speak of Wolves
A Town with Too Many Girls
Vestigial
13 Times I Swallowed a Full Moon

There are different trigger warnings for each story, but in general: sexual assault, domestic violence, gore

Such a great collection of powerful stories & poems from women!! The range is divine. Perfect for spooky season & lovers of the weird and unusual horror.

Thank you Netgalley and Black Spot Books for this arc! I’ll be recommending it to everyone!

Rating: 3.5

•Wolf Bite by Stephanie Valente- 3
•The Devil Has No Dogs by Kailey Tedesco- 2.5
•Silver Boots by Donna Lynch- 3
•All the Men Who Cried Wolf by Ai Jiang- 3.5
•We Women Who Speak of Wolves by Cynthia Pelayo- 3.5
•When He Could Have Me by Erika T. Wurth- 3.5
•Origin Story by Shannon Robinson- 3.5
•Werewolf Girl Swallows the Moon by A. C. Wise- 3
•A Town With Too Many Girls by Jessica McHugh- 2.5
•Our Howls Like Dirges, Our Eyes Like the Moon by Gwendolyn Kiste- 4
•Waxing Moon by Shannon Marzella- 3
•Vestigial by Kristi DeMeester- 3
•Hunger by Polly Hall- 3
•When We Run We Are Free by Christina Henry- 4
•The Clearing by Christa Carmen- 3
•Bone Marrow by Lindy Ryan- 3
•Dark Justice by Alexandrea Weis- 4.5
•Wolf Like Me by Zin E. Rocklyn- 4
•The Wolf Line by Wendy N. Wagner- 4.5
•It's Only Natural by Delilah S. Dawson- 4
•Super Moon by Katrina Monroe- 3.5
•13 Times I Swallowed A Full Moon by Stephanie M. Wytovich- 3
•Mad Woman by Shannon Marzella- 3

Fierce, poetic, and feral. This anthology tears through tropes with claws out—some stories are raw and bloody, others more lyrical and haunting. Not every piece hits the same, but the overall vibe is primal and powerful. If you like your horror wild, mythic, and unapologetically feminine, this one bites hard.

A great anthology of short stories showcasing the real struggles of womanhood in an emotional, gutpunching way. These are stories of feminine rage, of protecting ourselves when no one else will, and avenging ourselves when we are put into horrible situations again and again.
The authors of these stories used werewolves as a beautiful and horrific metaphor, and I enjoyed every minute of it.
This book made me feel so many emotions. Which is why I would say it's best enjoyed peicemeal, a story or two at a time, otherwise it gets a bit overwhelming.

Not all stories reverberated with myself personally, but I think there is likely something for every audience here.

My favorites WERE (All 5✨)
2. Hell has no Dogs
3. Silver boots
5. We women speak of wolves
14. When we run free
17. Dark Justice (I actually need this to be a full novel please and thank you)

But I don't think there was anything in here I would rate less than 3✨

A huge thank you to NetGalley and Black Spot Books for providing me with an ARC copy in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own, and I appreciate the opportunity!

A lot of these stories were really dark but non really scary but I enjoyed reading every one though some were better than others.

I enjoy werewolf books.
I was always team Jacob .

Women as werewolves was a really interesting team.