The Accidental Werewolf

Marty Andrews is well on her way to success having worked her way up the Bobbie-Sue cosmetics chain. Marty has even gotten to the point where she can mentor Wendy and Nina. All Marty can think about is the moment when she will sell enough product to earn the coveted blue convertible and how well it will match her colour wheel. It all comes to a grinding halt when her toy puddle Muffin decides to attack her werewolf neighbour Keegan and Marty gets bitten trying to free the werewolf from Muffin, who suddenly thinks she is bigger than she is.

Before Marty knows it, she starts sprouting hair everywhere, cannot control her temper and there's a little issue with her tail appearing when she gets mad. Things turn from bad to worse when Marty show more finds herself kidnapped and forced into the back of car. Marty's a werewolf now and despite her desire to spend her life on colour wheels, things have to change and change fast. Then there's the issue of finding Keegan tempting as hell. Somehow, Marty has to get the hang of being a werewolf, trying to stay alive and figure out exactly what it means to be part of Keegan's pack.

At the beginning of The Accidental Werewolf, I was far from a fan of Marty. On one hand, it was nice to move away from the tough girl protagonist that we often find in this genre but on the other, Marty was simply speaking irritating. I simply couldn't take her seriously and building a career out of selling makeup and being obsessed with sending the appropriate message just irked me. I began to think differently about her when I learned that she ended a long term relationship because she wanted to focus on her career, though I still didn't take her career seriously. It irked me that she was more interested in lip gloss than figuring out what being a werewolf meant for the longest time. I will however say that Marty grew on me as the book continued on.

Marty of course is another protagonist with no family and a dead mother. This fact of course makes joining Keegan's family rather appealing. When Marty thinks about it, her focus on her career has made her extremely isolated. The only two people she can call friend are Wendy and Nina, who work under her at Bobbie-Sue and because of that, Marty has to wonder whether the word of friend is even appropriate to use with her. As it turns out, Wendy and Nina are both loyal to Marty and friend is absolutely the right word. I love Nina's take no prisoners attitude and Wendy's shy peacemaker personality.

As love interests go, Keegan is the typical alpha male werewolf. He orders Marty around, and withholds information for supposedly her own good. We are told repeatedly how handsome he is and that his scent drives Marty wild. We don't really get to know much about Keegan beyond his authoritative nature but I still felt myself feeling sorry for him every time Marty uttered the faithful words, "we need to talk." The amount of patience he showed her is remarkable, even if we take into account that he is responsible for her becoming a werewolf in the first place. Marty is quite literally a pain in the ass, and I have no idea how Keegan tolerated her, let alone fell in love with her.

The Accidental Werewolf is utterly predictable but that is to be expected from paranormal chick lit. I knew exactly who the antagonist was and why they wanted Marty out of the way. The big Perry Mason style confession didn't exactly come as a surprise. That said, I completely enjoyed the ride. If you go into The Accidental Werewolf in the right frame of mind, expecting light fluff, a little irritation and a few laughs, it's not a bad book at all. Predictability, the motivations behind the antagonists actions made perfect sense to me. I don't know that I would have gone as far as murder but a sense of betrayal for both the male and female antagonist made sense to me.

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I wanted to like this book so badly. Cute cover, cute premies, okay beginning. But that's where it stops. I don't think I made it past page 17 or 21. I can't even remember where I stopped because I started hard skimming at page 12. The female character (blanking on her name) was horrible. Incessant chatter that got nowhere and I felt like the werewolf sitting across from her looking at the chick like she was crazy. I get that was the point, but it was drawn out, like tied to a truck and pulled type of drawn out. And it killed it for me. I hope to go back and read it ( cause I paid for it!) but I just can't now, and it pains me.

A light, fun read, well-written for the genre. Although I wasn’t sure about the high-maintenance protagonist Marty, I was pleased to see her over-talkative, somewhat scatty personality develop over the course of the story. The council issue and Keegan’s relationship with them might have benefitted from fledging out a little more. Summer holiday entertainment.

The story of Marty, a bland 30-year old door-to-door cosmetic saleswoman, was not to my liking. Overall, it was too transparently formulaic. Handsome, rich man pursues scrappy hard-working woman. He struggles with losing his control while falling to her charms. She struggles to assert and believe in her place in his life since they are from different worlds.

I had specific issues also. For instance, the tangled way the author introduces both Marty and her accidental werewolf bite seemed to take forever and go nowhere. I would have quit around page 75, but I was intrigued by the blunt way Ms. Cassidy deals with the logistics and not too pretty details of actually changing from human to werewolf. It had enough pull to keep me reading, but show more I am glad to be done. No need to read any more in the series. show less

My Thoughts...

When I first started this book, I did not connect to Marty in anyway. I thought she was a little vacuous and her quest to climb the Bobbie Sue hierarchy of colour wheels didn’t strike me at all. But the more I read, the more I fell in love with Marty as a character.

Marty is on her way to climbing the colour wheel hierarchy at door-to-door make-up sales company Bobbie Sue. She’s just landed the coveted role of lavender (so in her colour wheel) and has two new associates under her wing to train, albeit slightly uncooperative and lacking enthusiasm. But Marty won’t let this get the better of her and takes it all in her stride.

That is until one night she attempts to rescue her dog Muffin from the teeth of a rather large show more dog. Keegan Flaherty turns up on her doorstep days later claiming he is in deed the dog that bit her and that she is too, like him, a werewolf.

Marty refuses to believe that she’s become a werewolf, even if her hair has changed colour and she’s going through razors at a dime a dozen.

It’s not until someone decides to throw her into the trunk of their car, and she comes to realize things are not quite all right does she turn to Keegan for help and realizes life is not what it used to be.

The book actually opens up after the event and I was a little confused for a bit thinking I’d missed something completely. But all is explained a little later on through Marty’s recollection of the past weeks events.

Final Thoughts…

I don’t usually like my PNR mixed with comedy, it doesn’t sit well with me and it doesn’t always work. But Dakota Cassidy has managed to pull it through here. Though there were moments that I felt were a little cliché, I took it all with a pinch of salt. I was far too involved with the story to care.

I definitely think this is a book I’d pick up again and read! In fact, as soon as I was done I ran out to buy the next in the series, Accidentally Dead and can’t wait to sink my teeth into it (no pun intended lol)

If you like some light hearted PNR with a dash of comedy and contemporary romance then the Accidental Series might be right up your street. I urge you to grab a copy and give it a go! I dare you not to fall for Keegan, even if he is somewhat stubborn! show less

When Mary Kay-esque cosmetic saleswoman Marty Andrews gets accidentally bitten by a huge dog, her lovely, goal-oriented, color-wheel-organized life takes a turn for the dramatic. From celebrating making lavender suit level in Bobby Sue Cosmetics, the staunch vegan starts craving steak -- rare & bloody, and to make matters worse, she's losing her bubbly, happy, perky sales-sales-sales personality! Of course, who could blame her, what with having to shave her legs twice a day, and her professionally streaked and highlighted blond hair suddenly turning mud brown! When huge and hunky Keegan Flaherty appears on her doorstep claiming that he's the "dog" that bit her, and she's now a werewolf, Marty's state of denial is epic. Unfortunately, show more he's not about to go away.

A bubble-gum read, but not in a bad way. Marty's character is reminiscent in Katie MacAlistar's Aisling Grey or MaryJanice Davidson's Fred the Mermaid. show less

Read for Fun/Listened for Review(Paperback/Tantor)
Overall Rating: 4.00
Story Rating: 4.00
Character Rating: 4.00

Audio Rating: 3.00 (not part of the overall rating)

First Thought when Finished: The Accidental Werewolf by Dakota Cassidy was just as fun the 2nd time around!

Original Review circa 2010

What I LOVED: The whole freaking cast of characters. Marty made me giggle, Keegan made me drool, Nina and Wanda were perfect friends, and his family (Sloane and Mira) were fantastic. This was just such a fun read.

What I LIKED: I really liked that nobody was perfect. They all had flaws, issues, things to accept, and they all seemed to work through it. They did so in a way that was very real when dealing with family.

What was So-So/Didn't Like: Not show more a darn thing. Ok maybe not enough Nina :) (she is my fav)

Why I gave it a 4: Really it was nice to read a really funny, witty, cute story of boy meets girl, boy bites girl, boy turns girl into werewolf, and they all fall in love :) I would recommend this to any PNR lover that can handle the humor and lightness of a fun romance and also to any chick-lit lover who can handle the supernatural. It is well worth the read!

Review circa 2014

Second Time around thoughts: This was just as fun the 2nd time around! This is one of those books that just leave you with a smile on your face :)

Audio Thoughts:

Narrated By Meredith Mitchell / Length: 10 hrs and 14 mins

This is one of those times when reading the book first actually played a part into what I thought of the narration. I thought she was perfect for Wanda, pretty close on Marty, but way off in what I thought Nina sounded like. That being said, I thought the pacing and spunk were very good. I think as I listen to the rest of them, the audio rating will improve.

Final Thoughts: Fun beginning to this series. :) show less