Mate, family, pack, home… can Quinn and Kellan have it all?Quinn grew up feeling out of place in the small town he calls home. Yearning for something he can’t name, he’s always felt different but never known why.Kellan is part of a nomadic shifter pack. When they set up camp in the woods near Quinn’s town, the humans are unwelcoming and suspicious of the newcomers. The moment Kellan catches … Kellan catches sight—and scent—of Quinn, he knows Quinn is special. But for the first time in his life, Kellan can’t trust his instincts. Quinn is human, and Kellan is a wolf shifter, so how can they ever be mates?
Their bond is instant and exhilarating. It breaks Quinn’s heart to know their relationship can only be temporary. Love isn’t enough when pack law forbids shifters to mate with humans. Tension explodes between pack and humans, and when Quinn discovers a shocking truth about himself that changes everything, he fears he’ll have to choose between the only life he’s ever known and the man he loves.
Length: 65.000 words approx
This is a standalone story with a satisfying happy ending.
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Welsh werewolves? A decades ago conflict between “shifters” and Humans has settled into an uneasy truce. Due to their genetics, shifters are humans-plus, but given their attitudes, tend to be secretive, insular, migratory and unwelcome in most “human” towns and villages. In this tale werewolf shifters are the modern day equivalent of gypsies.
Quinn, one of our main characters lives with his human aunt in a small Welsh village where he helps her run a news agent shop/convenience store. Quinn’s mom and dad both died long ago. He knows little about them, but he and his aunt Ruth get along quite happily – despite Quinn’s being the only out gay lad in the village. Quinn was outed as gay a few years back when caught “experimenting” with a school-mate.
But then a group of shifters arrive in the area. Quinn has always been a bit fascinated by the idea of shifters. He’s powerfully drawn to Kellan, a young shifter male, that he first spots skinny-dipping in the local quarry.
When Quinn forgets to take his “epilepsy meds” one day, and notices his senses seem to have improved. The story, and his fascination with Kellan, take a wild turn.
I grew up with a mom who was bi-polar, so this story spoke to me on a different level as well. When I was young Mom had some episodes where she went off her meds, snared by the euphoria that the onset of a manic phase engenders. But things can quickly get out of control. Most of the time she felt that emotional stability was worth missing some of the elation that that impending mania engenders. Seeing the disruption that “slips” like this caused first hand, I could really sympathize with Quinn’s Aunt Ruth and her decision. And yet, seeing how Quinn was deprived of making that decision for himself, for as long as he was, did indeed feel unfair.
Ultimately this is just a book that tells a good story. Enough drama to keep it interesting, with a literal “big bad wolf” posing a real threat, and some small-town, small-minded, “shifter-phobic” bigotry that made matters worse. But we’re dealing with basically good-hearted, if somewhat naive people. This has a happy ending that suggests that if we can come together and work toward the community good, things can get better.
I actually listened to the unabridged audio-book version of this rather than reading it.
As with so many other Jay Northcote books, Hamish Long does the narration of the audiobook version. He gives us great pacing and ably acted male and female voices. The distinctive Welsh accents were well done. There was just enough of that English verbal class distinction present as well.
Given that bigotry (and racism?) is such a factor in this story, the one accent that seemed just a bit off was the one “American southern” accent. That accent was attributed to Sam, a building contractor. It’s pretty clear from the text that he’s African-American. While his accent clearly sounded “American,” it had more of a creasotey “cowboy twang” of the west, rather than a molasses coated “southern” feel as suggested in the text. And while race isn’t always evident in an accent, it generally is a component. So much so that this mid-western born-and-raised “yank” has been surprised a few times to learn that a particular voice actor is black after hearing no clue in their vocals.
Whether in print or in audio, this is a great tale. This low angst tale of first love is definitely a title that will make it into my frequent re-listen queue.
*** Some notes following my third re-listen in as many weeks ***
This is quickly becoming one of my all time favorite audio-books. The tale, told with alternating chapters from Quinn’s and Kellen’s POVs just works.so well. This is one of the best constructed M/M romances that I’ve encountered in yonks. Chapter one sets up the romance and the premise and each chapter adds layers of yum as we see the two become more and more involved. Each chapter adds details, and intimacy and romantic entanglement at exactly the right pace. There are even a few points where the hackneyed becomes new again. References to Quinn’s feelings being “puppy Love” and the somewhat anti-human shifter being dismissed as “his bark is worse than his bite” really work.
Audiobook Review:
I have a soft spot for well-written shifter stories and was happy to discover a reliably favorite author of mine had one I hadn’t read before. The Half Wolf delivered and was a good listen with a talented narrator. I love the easy rhythm the narrator has and how it matched the tone of the book, making The Half Wolf easy to get lost in.
This shifter story moves fairly quickly, but there’s good development along the way so I was never frustrated or left wanting. I liked both characters and appreciated that the young men came across as “acting their age”—mature but a little impulsive and reckless at times. I also really liked how easy the romance between Kellan and Quinn is. Love at first sight is usually a negative for me, but I expect it a bit in shifter/paranormal romances and when it’s done as cleanly and openly as this book, it just works.
From the shifter universe standpoint, this world is not necessarily unique, but I did really like the way Quinn’s revelations come about. I wasn’t necessarily expecting some of it, and it only served to draw me further into the story.
If you are looking for a good shifter story with a moderate amount of action and a sweet, young love-style romance, The Half Wolf is definitely worth the listen.
*Reviewed for Bayou Book Junkie*
Independent reviewer for Archaeolibrarian, I was gifted the audio file of this book.
Quinn has lived in Wales his whole life. He knows of shifters and their nomadic lifestyle. He also knows that they suffer a lot of prejudice. Meeting Kellan, a wolf shifter who’s camped out in the valley, throws Quinn out of sorts: MORE out of sorts that he usually feels. Their attraction is obvious, but Kellan knows he can’t have Quinn. Quinn is human and wolves and humans do not mate, do they?
I usually write a bit about the book first, then the narration, but sometimes I can’t do that because my reviews often take a life of their own and this is one such time.
Hamish Long narrates. It’s so nice to NOT have an American accent in your ear, you know? Long’s talent is only just coming to my attention, and I LOVED the narration of this book. His reading voice is deep and clear, and I had no trouble keeping up with the tale. His voices for the different characters were, I thought, spot on. With a mix of Welsh, non-descript English accents fitting for nomads and even an American accent thrown in, they were varied but accurate. The voice for the rogue wolf was major creepy, but very apt. Long gets across all of Quinn’s continuing changes and feelings, and all of Kellan’s need for Quinn, but knowing he can’t have him, and how much it breaks Kellan to realise that he might have to walk away.
My only niggle, and it’s a personal one, rather than a technical one, was that at first, I thought it was Quinn and Calum, not Kellan. But at some point, there was a marked difference in the name’s delivery, and I noticed Kellan more. Might just be me and my rubbish hearing though.
The story itself is well written and well delivered. Different enough to be interesting and to totally hold my attention from start to finish. And trust me on this, that’s a tricky thing right now! (major book funk!) While I twigged something was a little different in Quinn early on, how that all played out was not how I thought it would.
The rogue wolf was called an omega here, and that’s different to other wolf shifter books and I did like that some things were tipped on their head, I really did.
Not especially heavy on the smexy stuff, but plenty of steam! It’s not really needed here, I don’t think. Quinn and Kellan have passion and attraction and that comes across well enough. It is violent though, when dealing with the rogue and I think that was needed.
Long seems to have narrated a fair few of Northcote’s books, I might have a few more hours listening on my audio list now!
4 stars for the book
5 stars for the narration
4.5 overall but rounded UP for the blog.
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
Audiobook Review:
Overall – 5
Performance – 5
Story – 5
An interesting and different shifter story.
I first read this book back in September 2017, right after Hurricane Irma blew through the area where I live. Because of that little storm, my review of The Half Wolf never made it to the Xtreme Delusions blog. The recently released audiobook has given me a chance to correct that. The hurricane may also have had something to do with how well I remember this. In any case, as has often happened for me, my rating of this book increased from a 4 to a 5 after listening to it.
Hamish Long has performed several books for Jay Northcote and I love everything I’ve listened to that he has performed, including a title under his other name of Joe Jameson (I highly recommend Boyfriend Material by Alexis Hall). The second name isn’t a secret as he revealed it quite a while ago on Facebook.
Hamish did an amazing variety of voices and accents for The Half Wolf – each of them very distinct from one another. I really can’t say enough good things about his performance.
My review from nearly 4 years ago holds up very well so I’ve only made minor revisions to it.
The Half Wolf is a different shifter story from others that I’ve read. With the plethora of shifter stories available these days, I consider that a good thing.
Kellan is part of a gypsy-like shifter pack. Quinn is a young man who works for his aunt; his parents are dead. When Kellan comes into the store where Quinn works, he is intrigued by the unusual scent that Quinn has. The two strike up a friendship that soon turns into more.
I liked the dynamics of this story; there seem to be a lot of metaphors for the lack of acceptance that people who are different face every day in real life. Quinn was brought up to accept shifters while many people in his town do not like them and don’t want them around.
It’s sad that it takes a major crisis for the townspeople to see that the shifters pose no threat to them. Unfortunately, this is how things often happen in real life as well.
This was a very enjoyable story from an author whose work I like more with every book of his that I read.
A copy of this audiobook was provided to me at my request but my review was voluntary and not influenced by the author/narrator.
***Reviewed for Xtreme-Delusions dot com***