ARC Review--Bitten by Jordan Stephanie Gray

 

Crescent City meets Fourth Wing in this fast-paced and romantic debut, in which a teenage girl must survive ruthless werewolves, a glittering court, and deadly politics to exact revenge on the monsters who destroyed her.

After a vicious werewolf attack on the night of her seventeenth birthday party, Vanessa Hart loses everything she loves in a split second. Her best friend, her father, and even her home.

Bitten and imprisoned without explanation, Vanessa endures an agonizing transformation into the very beast that maimed her, and her captors make it clear she cannot escape: she will either swear her life to the Wolf Queen’s Court, or she will die.

With no other choice, Vanessa joins their enchanted Castle Severi—where flowering vines grow through the walls, gifts are bestowed by the stars, and a claw can break through skin as easily as silk—but she hasn’t forgotten what they stole from her.

Vanessa still seeks vengeance, scheming in the shadows even as she finds herself mesmerized by the golden prince Sinclair Severi, who threatens to steal her heart though he is promised to her nemesis. And by his brooding, disgraced cousin, Calix, whose smoldering gaze hides even darker secrets. Immersed in the magic of their whimsical yet cruel society, Vanessa soon learns not all is as it seems.

The Court is at war, and she may simply be a pawn in its lethal game.

For Fans of:
Forbidden Romance
Enemies to Lovers
Werewolves
Paranormal Romance

I received this ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest and voluntary review. I was in no way compensated for this review. 

If there was one debut author I was looking forward to reading this year it was Jordan Stephanie Gray! As a fan of all things paranormal I was craving her YA Werewolf Romance, Bitten, like you wouldn't believe! Luckily I received this ARC at an event that saved me the pains of waiting too much longer!

There's an intricate background to the werewolves in this series and we get some insight into it before the story kicks off. They very much live in "the shadows," you could say and don't often dwell long in the "human" world. They have their own hierarchy and status quos...it's pretty detailed and we aren't given everything in an info dump, so don't worry about that. It just helps to know ahead of time to prepare yourself for the story at large.

It was supposed to be a fun party at the beach. Vanessa and her best friend, Celeste were going to have a good time and Vanessa was hoping to dance with her crush before it all went horribly wrong. A fight breaks out among some of the teens, including Celeste and when they decide to leave afterwards, they are accosted by a wolf, a large and terrifying wolf. As we already know, only Vanessa walks away from the attack, but she's been bitten.

She's quickly rushed off to a school for werewolves that hides among a tourist site in Florida. After surviving the transition, she's informed by the Queen of the North American pack that she's been given a gift...of sorts. She's being allowed "to live" and learn to harness her new abilities all because her transition left her with purple eyes...a rarity among werewolves where eye color plays a part in some of their roles.

Vanessa is filled with rage though. She is not happy about her new life circumstances nor does she forgive that some wolf among this pack at the school killed her best friend. And she's gunning for them...whoever they are and she's got one major suspect in line already. If you know me, I am a bit of a sucker for a good revenge story! I don't encounter them too often in my genres, but I was salivating with this one! Of course, in this sense, it's more of a mystery for revenge as Vanessa has to find her whodunit. And then there's the matter of who bit her and thus putting her on this course.

Naturally, life at school is not easy for her as being a bitten one is looked down upon for the most part. But Vanessa just so happens to catch the eye of Sinclair Severi, the queen's very own son, the crowned prince and soon to be alpha. Sparks and passion fly between them, but naturally, Sin is already engaged to be engaged to another. Evie is the wicked girl who Vanessa has dubbed her number one suspect for murdering Celeste as it was Evie who Celeste got into a fight with. But she's going to need to find irreputable evidence before she can even think of going to the queen.

This book was so intriguing! I loved how it kept drawing me in inch by inch. The pull was relentless and I loved it! I love a good mystery and I love a good forbidden romance. Thing gets heated between Vanessa and Sin but he's of course "forbidden" since he's to be promised to another. It's a political alignment and Sin makes this clear to Vanessa early on. 

But then you throw in Sin's cousin, Calix and things get even more interesting. Calix is our brooding shadow. He's sworn to protect Sin and there's reasons for that that you will learn. It's a role he's always known he was meant for. While I feel like we were destined for a love triangle with this setup, I really didn't get that vibe. Yes, there were a few intense moments between Calix and Vanessa, but nothing that bordered love triangle territory where a "choice" was going to have to be made. Which I was extremely grateful for.

The pacing to this one was pretty moderate. Not slow, not fast paced, but a good moderate pace. We learn things, we get bombarded with shocks here and there, there's romantic interludes here and there. The mystery continues to build and it seems there might be someone conspiring against Vanessa in her quest to out a murderer and there are other plots at play! It's enough to give you a bit of whiplash, but in a good way.

And then there was the ending. I was not at all prepared for this ending! Yes, I began to make my speculations about this and that and while some of those proved to be true, there was still some things I was missing and those revelations were still pretty eye-opening! But I had pegged a few things down early on and midway that I loved feeling victorious about! Lol!

Needless to say that Bitten was a pulse racing read that kept me on my toes! It's was a book that kept me guessing and speculating and still took me by surprise by the end! Jordan Stephanie Gray is the ultimate debut author of 2025 and a has found a place on my favorites shelf for sure! Werewolves are making a comeback and Gray is their Alpha! Bring on the sequel as I am craving more!

Overall Rating 4.5/5 stars

Bitten releases September 30, 2025