Reviewed by Christian (Brianna)

ITLE:  Camp H.O.W.L.

SERIES: Dreamspun Beyond, Book 7

AUTHOR:  Bru Baker

NARRATOR:  Dorian Bane

PUBLISHER:  Dreamspinner Press LLC

LENGTH: 6 hrs and 55 mins

RELEASE DATE:  January 12, 2018

BLURB:

Moonmates exist, but getting together is going to be a beast….

When Adrian Rothschild skipped his “werewolf puberty”, he assumed he was, somehow, human. But he was wrong, and he’s about to go through his Turn with a country between him and his Pack – scared, alone, and eight years late.

Dr. Tate Lewis’ werewolf supremacist father made his Turn miserable, and now Tate works for Camp H.O.W.L. to ease the transition for young werewolves. He isn’t expecting to offer guidance to a grown man – or find his moonmate in Adrian. Tate doesn’t even believe in the legendary bond; after all, his polygamist father claimed five. But it’s clear Adrian needs him, and if Tate can let his guard down, he might discover he needs Adrian, too.

A moonmate is a wolf’s missing piece, and Tate is missing a lot of pieces. But is Adrian up to the challenge?

REVIEW:

Adrian is a 27 year old human who was supposed to turn werewolf at 19. Tate is a camp therapist who is estranged from his pack. Camp H.O.W.L. is an expensive place where wolflings can go to get help during and after their first shifts. There are a lot of things to get used to as a new wolf. When Adrian passes out in the middle of a crosswalk the day of a full moon, he meets Tate in the hospital and they both feel an instant connection with each other.

Tate helps Adrian. He helps him through his first shift, getting around the camp, how to control his further shifts and to control his new heightened senses. They both have heard the term “moonmate” before, but neither of them believe in such fairytales. As their bond strengthens, the notion of a moonmate gets more real by the day. But Tate has a past that he keeps hidden, his family is worse than anyone has imagined. Can Tate get past his father’s tyranny and his former pack’s ways?

This book had me from the very beginning. This is my first book by Bru Baker; I will definitely be getting more books by the author! For me, this was written perfectly. It was intriguing and I have never read a shifter book like this… ever. I am really glad the book is both from Tate’s and Adrian’s point of views. It’s very interesting to see both point of views with the bond and the turning. This book goes into so much about how to get through this crucial point in a young werewolf’s life, it was very well planned and thought out.

Tate is a really smart therapist and is good with the teens at the camp. Adrian works hard at keeping himself under control and surprises Tate at times with how smart he is since Tate is never really around any over 20 werelings. There isn’t much sex in the book, but there is a lot of sexual tension. I got frustrated with Tate sometimes and wanted him to get his head out of his butt and go after what he really wanted with Adrian. But once they actually are together they are wonderful mates. The bonded pull towards each other and the love are real.

I have listened to a few narrations by Dorian Bane before and he always does really well. I feel like this book was one of his better narrations. He has wonderful diction and crazy inflection (in a good way). I stopped listening to his voice and actually heard the character’s voices instead. He does wonderfully distinguishing characters from others. He did have to do a lot of different voices. Women’s, older males, teen voices, and accents. They all were different and amazing. Sometimes it sounds like he gets a little over excited on the parts where the characters get excited, but it didn’t bother me too much. Instead Dorian made me chuckle as he made me  imagine the characters thought that way or spoke that way also.

All in all the book was really good, I was really excited to review it and tell everyone to go listen to it or read it! It was cute, funny and heartwarming. I wish it were a bit longer or that there would be a sequel to it, maybe with some different Camp H.O.W.L. leaders or teens. I definitely want to read more about this part of the world!!

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Audible

Amazon