Reviews with content warning for Abandonment - Wolfsong

Okay so I absolutely love this book. I think it's beautifully written even if at first the writing felt childish - very similar to the Aristotle and Dante books. But that got better as the characters got older so I was able to get over it. I loved the characters, all of them, and how they interacted. I loved the story line and I loved Ox and Joe together eventually. Ox's story was so amazing and I loved watching him grow from the boy who idolizes his terrible father to the man who was able to lead the pack and care about them all so much. It was truly beautiful to see. The author did such a good job portraying grief and heartache throughout the whole book and I was so close to crying at work because of it. It was all really well done.
The only thing that made me a little uncomfortable was the age difference. When the wolf family was first introduced I found myself hoping that the love interest was Carter because it was mentioned that he was around Ox's age but it became clear that it was actually Joe really quickly and he was only 6 years old compared to Ox's 11 and that was incredibly icky to think about. I know the romance and attraction between them didn't start until Joe was 17 but Ox was still 22 at that time and that's still not really okay honestly. I think the author tried to save it a little bit by having Ox refuse to make it physical until Joe was at least 18 but it still didn't really sit well with me. He could have easily made him already 18. It wouldn't have made it completely okay, but it would have been a little better.
That being said, I still loved their relationship once they were older. I've always been a fan of friends to lovers and this one was done really well. I loved that Joe let Ox have his anger and sit with it even though he was dying to talk to Ox about everything and once they did finally talk, I felt like the communication was done well and they didn't jump right into anything which was nice to see.
Now I also have to talk about the elephant in the room. This is basically another version of Twilight except with werewolves and a mlm relationship. But I loved Twilight and I loved this one just as much honestly. I also thought it was really funny when the author even referenced it in the book. That was probably my favorite thing ever when I got to that part. It was so funny.

Content Warnings

tigersmurf's review

Go to review page

adventurous challenging dark tense slow-paced

3.0

Content Warnings

neetarattan's review

Go to review page

adventurous emotional funny hopeful tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘳𝘮𝘢𝘭 • 𝘍𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘴𝘺 • 𝘙𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦 ⁣
𝘘𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘳 • 𝘚𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘉𝘶𝘳𝘯 • 𝘉𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 ⁣
🌶️ 𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘱𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘰𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘤𝘦𝘯𝘦⁣

This book blew my mind in a transformational kind of way.

Many of the themes are common to books of the paranormal variety: shapeshifters who share minds with their packs, becoming the beast, forgetting one's humanity, the powers of good vs evil, alphas as the pack leaders, changing eye colours, the concept of a destined mate bonded for life. And yet.

So this shows my biases: I did not know before this that I could love a paranormal gay romance. 90% of the characters in the book are male. I didn't think I would appreciate it the same way as the hetero relationships/female MCs in many best-selling romance novels. I'm not sure why anymore. Maybe I thought I wouldn't completely relate or would be uncomfortable reading the spicy scenes.

Well, I am here to say I was wrong.

I loved Ox. I loved his simplicity, his straightforwardness, his shyness, his slowness with words, but mostly I loved his heart. I loved many of the other characters, including Thomas and Gordo, and of course the two mamas spoke directly to this mama bear's heart. The slow burn romance was my jam. It was a little weird the ages when the two MC met but in the end it did not bother me the way it was written (some people will disagree, and I'd welcome discussion).

I also appreciated how the book references other fantasy series to almost mock itself, including both Star Wars and Twilight. I enjoyed the witches who were men - another novel concept. Why must witches be women? Like I said at the start, this book made me examine and reconsider a lot of my assumptions, which is just what I'd want in a book.

Beyond all this self-introspection, I bawled. It was raw and emotional.

Werewolves and witches are the perfect October combo for your fall reading fantasy list, so def check this one out!

TW: there are many. I recommend reviewing triggers on storygraph or another platform prior to reading.

💬 Q: What was the last book that changed your world view?

Content Warnings