A race to save his lover—by becoming his own worst nightmare. Dr. Nick Sewell has it all. Good friends, a career as a Cambridge academic… and recently, a tendency to turn into a wolf every full moon. When a new student arrives from Germany, Nick is horrified by his visceral attraction to the troubled youth—not to mention his violent jealousy when he sees Julian with another man. He’s floored to … to find out Julian is a werewolf too. Unlike Nick, Julian has spent his life among other wolves, and in this subject, he’s the teacher and Nick the student. Nick struggles to adjust to this reversal of roles, especially since he’s an alpha and Julian a natural submissive. That dynamic just adds to the attraction smoldering between them, whether they’re in human form or wolf. But Julian’s pack and the abuse he suffered aren’t far behind him. And the pack wants to reclaim him. For Nick to hold on to his lover, he’ll have to come to terms with the violent acts of his past—and embrace the monster within.
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Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team
Veronica –
I’ve only read a handful of werewolf stories and Camwolf offered me something a little different from the previous ones. Nick is a university professor, Julian one of the university’s students. Not only are Nick and Julian werewolves, they also have a romance with a large age gap and, to some extent a student/teacher romance, so there are plenty of issues for our couple.
I enjoyed the romance between Nick and Julian although at times their inability to communicate was a little frustrating. I wasn’t as emotionally involved with this couple as I would have liked. I’m not sure if this was because of the age gap or just because I needed to spend more time seeing the story from Julian’s point of view.
I did like the English setting of the story. I love the way the English are so polite and proper, but I did think there was far too much time dedicated to what various people were drinking. I also liked seeing Nick, who is a new werewolf, dealing with his animal side and trying to integrate this with his human life.
Overall, Camwolf is an enjoyable story. Three stars from me.
Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Camwolf by JL Merrow to read and review.
Wow, JL Merrow completely surprised me with Camwolf. This is one dark and edgy tale with unique and unexpected plot twists that kept me guessing! While just as beautifully written as her other novels, it’s nothing like the sweet and charming romances I associate with Merrow’s work. (Please pay attention to the trigger warnings if descriptions of blood and gore aren’t your thing.) Fans of dark, paranormal romance? You’ve got to give this one a try!
Whoot, teacher-student romance, yes please. The story opens with Cambridge professor Dr. Nick Sewell drooling over one of his first year students, nineteen year old Julian Lauder. Musing about how Julian is completely out of his league, and feeling every bit the bumbling ridiculous older man, Nick is 100 percent adorable.
Julian is an Omega wolf. Although he recognizes his strong need to submit to Nick’s dominant Alpha straight away, Julian draws out the chase, making poor, clueless Nick really work for it. These fun and flirty scenes give no hints about the serious damage lurking in both their pasts, and this easy time doesn’t last long. Nothing falls into place for these guys, and the miscommunication between the two men is pretty spectacular, but they’re hot as hell together so it works.
Nick’s character starts to break down as his animal instincts become more pronounced. Though he’s enjoying some aspects of being a wolf, the baser behaviors have him completely freaking out. (Though the crazy-hot sex with Julian goes a long way in easing his distress.) This has Nick questioning his new reality: is a werewolf really a good choice to mold the young minds at one of Britain’s finest universities? Mmm, probably not.
The most interesting part of Camwolf is the way JL Merrow explores the phenomenon of lycanthropy. Sweet and playful, Nick and Julian enjoy chasing bunnies in the field one minute and revel in the kill the next. Nick describes the luscious experience of drinking the bunnies’ blood as being, ‘“Hot and thick, spiced with adrenaline and fear.”’ Eeew, well that’s some insight into the mind of a werewolf for ya.
While this is a truly creepy tale, glimpses of humor still make their way into this one. I don’t think Merrow can write a story without a few laughs here and there. She’s so good at highlighting the funniest nuances of British culture, in this case poking fun at the eccentric, stiff, and stodgy academics. It’s always a pleasure to read her work.
One unique aspect of Camwolf is how the story is told from three perspectives. In addition to those of the main characters, we get Julian’s best friend Tiffany’s view of things. Being Nick’s student and Julian’s peer, her observations give an insight we wouldn’t normally get. Between the age gap, the difference in their socioeconomic status, and the teacher-student dynamic, Tiffany’s observations help to emphasize the issues Nick and Julian face.
I’m so glad Camwolf was re-released so I could get the chance to read this dark and lovely tale I might otherwise have missed. JL Merrow is also promising to dust off the accompanying short titled Lonewolf, which has been out of print as well. Fingers crossed it comes out soon because I can’t get enough of her spin on dark paranormal erotica and I hope this isn’t the last we see of it, it’s such a blast to read.