My rating: ★★★★☆ (4 stars)
werewolves 🤝 folklore 🤝 "wait... why is this fictional almanac making me want to believe werewolves are real?"
okay but...i LOVE when authors fully commit to a concept and making an entire book read like a real werewolf field guide/almanac???yeah, that was such a fun idea!
what i loved was THE FORMAT.
this isn't your typical novel.
instead, it feels like you've stumbled across an old book that's been passed around by generations of werewolf hunters, cryptid enthusiasts, or maybe even werewolves themselves.
the entries are creative, immersive and packed with little details that make the world feel surprisingly believable.
i found myself reading "just one more section" over and over again.
i also really enjoyed how much inspiration the book takes from folklore.
it doesn't rely on just one version of werewolves.
instead, it pulls from different myths, traditions and legends, making the whole thing feel much richer than i expected.
as someone who loves mythology and folklore, that was easily one of my favorite parts.
and can we appreciate the illustrations and overall presentation? they add so much personality to the book.
it genuinely feels like something you'd find tucked away in the back corner of a dusty library and i absolutely loved that aesthetic.
BUT, because this is written like an almanac rather than a traditional story, it won't be for everyone.
if you're looking for a central plot, character development, romance or a fast-paced narrative then this isn't really that kind of book.
it's much more about exploring an idea than telling a single story.
i also found that some entries were stronger than others.
there were sections that completely pulled me in...and a few that felt a little repetitive or didn't grab my attention quite as much.
but that's also kind of the nature of this format.
overall this was such a creative reading experience.
it's immersive, beautifully presented and clearly written by someone who had a lot of fun building this fictional world.
i love books that experiment with format, and this definitely stands out from anything else i've read recently.
so if you like werewolves, folklore and mythology, fictional field guides, beautifully illustrated books
and a unique reading experiences...i think you'll really enjoy this one.

My final thoughts;
i came for the werewolves...
i stayed because apparently i'll read literally anything if you convince me it's a centuries-old field guide full of cryptid lore. 🌕🐺📖

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with an ARC!

I went into this not knowing what to expect, and low and behold it was extremely different than what i usually read.

BUT it was so damn good, the format was excellent, i love how it wasn't always linear.

August and Septembre chapter had me crying, December as well. I was unwell and just reading through the tears. It just goes how to show that even without a linear story we still got attached to the characters.

The numerous love stories in this were so sweet, the lesson to learn in this are hard hitting and sad, could be why i cried so much.

Beautiful story, great writing.

Thank you to netgalley for allowing me to read this arc, great experience all around reading this.

The cover and the premise honestly are what made me instantly click into this book, and I was not disappointed. I loved how the 13 chapters being sorted into types of full moons complemented the story— and when viewed digitally, the artistic renderings of each moon type were gorgeous.

The story is told through the eyes of Lyka, who has experienced a lot of trauma and hardships in her life. This is supernatural fantasy with found family and grappling with your identity. The interactions between the fur-folk as well as the humans are what drives this story at its core, and how major events in your life can shape how you perceive and interact with the world. There are jumps in time but the story always matches the theme of the moon established at the start of the chapter.

Be sure to grab a copy when it’s released on September 1, 2026!

Thank you to C.A. Boozarjomehri and Victory Editing Netgalley Co-Op for providing this eARC for review consideration via NetGalley. All opinions are my own.

Thank you to the author and NetGalley for the advance readers copy! All opinions expressed are my own 🖤

This wasn’t what I expected, it turned out to be better. This is a werewolf novel that tells one story from Lyka’s life for each one of the 13 full moons of the year, spanning from her childhood to seeing her own child grown up.

First off, the format was beautifully formatted and every story had emotional weight to it, even when they weren’t all in chronological order. The author did a great job of fleshing out every section with details that made the fur folk and others seem real and integrated into our current universe, with all the joys and ugly realities that would bring.

If you’re looking for a sweet romance or soft coming of age, this isn’t it. The exploration of grief and the darker sides of human nature are present and written well (I.e. this book made me cry but I’m happy about it??). None of the characters are perfect, but in all the grief and figuring herself out, Lyka also found how to create and appreciate moments of joy in an imperfect and cruel world, and that’s a message I needed to see right now.

Emotional and character driven werewolf story that has jumped to the top of my favorite reads of the year, absolutely recommend.

This book covered a lot of time and character development in a fairly short page count. I like how it was structured like interconnected short stories throughout the main character's life. I enjoyed the writing style and the characters. The aspects of world building included in the first parts were interesting but the later sections didn't have as much for reasons that made sense with the direction the overall story went. The jumps around in time from chapter to chapter were interesting and well ordered and told a cohesive story overall, but at times it was hard to tell if we were going forward or backwards in time (or sometimes how far in a direction even if I could tell which one) until context clues showed up several pages into the chapter. This is good for people looking for a cozy read that prioritizes the characters and the main character's arc more than a complicated plot line.

Thirteen Moons is a great read, but it certainly hurt my heart. This book reads like a memoir as though Lyka is telling her story with moments which defined who she is as a person. Lyka’s found family is full of ‘characters’ and loved. I enjoyed Thirteen Moons but be warned I had a serious ugly cry while reading the book.

(4.5 Stars is my real rating)

Wow! What a heartfelt story. I absolutely adored this coming of age story that is so much more than your average werewolf story. I loved how character driven the story was and really admired how the author had used werewolfs to mirror the LGBT experience of discovering found family etc.

5 stars no notes.

This book was so intriguing, I have never read another one like it. The format was fascinating to me.

It is called The Werewolf Almanac. Each chapter is a different moon (month) of the year. This book reads almost like a diary, if the person only remembered to write 13 entries over the span of their entire life.

We start out by learning about the main character's birth, then we see her adolescence. Then we see high school, then graduate school, and suddenly we are jumping into childbirth and then that child's wedding. It was so unique to see snippets of events, but you don't feel like you're missing out on anything. I really enjoyed this style of writing. I recommend.