Reviewed by Tori (Vicki)
TITLE: Under a Blue Moon 
SERIES: Camp H.O.W.L. #2
AUTHOR: Bru Baker
PUBLISHER: Dreampinner Press
LENGTH: 228 pages
RELEASE DATE: June 19th, 2018
BLURB:
Once in a blue moon, opposites find they’re a perfect match.
Nick Perry is tired of helping people with their marriages, so when a spot opens up to work with teens at Camp H.O.W.L., he jumps at it. He doesn’t expect to fall in lust with the dreamy new camp doctor, Drew Welch. But Drew is human, and Nick has seen secrets ruin too many relationships to think that a human/werewolf romance can go anywhere.
Happy-go-lucky Drew may not sprout claws, but he’s been part of the Were community all his life. He has no trouble fitting in at the camp—except for Nick’s stubborn refusal to acknowledge the growing attraction between them and his ridiculous stance on dating humans. Fate intervenes when one of his private practice patients threatens Drew’s life. Will the close call help Nick to see a connection like theirs isn’t something to let go of?
REVIEW:
In the first book in this series we learn that Camp H.O.W.L. is where teenage werewolves are sent during their first shift, so they can have a safe environment away from pesky humans. They stay for a month or so, practicing their shifting skills, taking a little yoga, maybe a little hiking or boating, some counseling…. all at the expense of their parents! The camp is mostly run by werewolves, but the occasional human is employed there as well.
One such human is Drew. Drew’s human mom married a werewolf when he was quite young, so he was raised alongside werewolf siblings, and learned how to do everything a wolf does, with the obvious exception. Drew has spent lots of time at Camp H.O.W.L, with his brothers and former boyfriend Jordan. When an opening for camp physician comes up, he is happy to take it, especially when he is able to buy a small medical practice at a nearby town. Off he goes on his journey to Camp H.O.W.L….
Werewolf Nick is a psychologist, having recently given up his private practice and accepting a job as a resident psychologist at Camp H.O.W.L. He didn’t attend that particular camp for his own first shift, but he is friends with Adrian who we met in the first book in the series, and has taken over for Tate, Adrian’s boyfriend and former psychologist at Camp H.O.W.L. Nick is happy to go spend some time in the woods playing with kids, and doesn’t seem bothered by the remote location. Off he goes on his journey to Camp H.O.W.L….
Drew and Nick intersect as seatmates on what should be their last leg to Indianapolis, but things don’t quite turn out as planned when the plane has to divert to Chicago due to weather. As part of their conversation, neither reveals to the other their final destination of Camp H.O.W.L., nor does Drew tell Nick that he knows Nick is a werewolf. The two do some serious flirting, and once the plane lands and their flights for the next morning are secured, they go to a hotel room and fuck for the night! After a quickie in the morning, they go their separate ways.
Imagine their surprise when they meet again at their first staff meeting at Camp H.O.W.L.! Where Nick turns into a total asshole, and treats Drew like crap.
The two continue to have a rough relationship for over half of the book, and it’s really later than that before there is any sign of friendship, much less love. This is really due to Nick’s continuing case of asshole-itis, and his unwillingness to accept that Drew does know what he is doing. Drew is just a great character, a caring doctor to his wolf patients as well as his human ones. I liked him early in the book, and he just got better for me. Nick on the other hand…. I didn’t much care for him, his redemption came way too late. His reaction to finding out Drew worked for Camp H.O.W.L. was just to over the top. I get that he doesn’t want to have a romantic relationship with a human, but that didn’t explain to me well enough why he’s such an asshole to Drew. I’m not a fan of that plot, the excessive reaction to a situation only used to create drama, it’s too similar to the misunderstanding/lack of communication only used to create drama trope. So I was kinda turned off by this pretty early in the book and it never really got to a good place for me with Nick. There was some good moments between them, then the asshole came back out to play, and I was annoyed again. The two start to get to a good place when a camper is injured, but it is short-lived. Only to have them start to get back to the good place until a bad thing happens to Drew, and then we get the jumping to the wrong conclusion moment. But it is a romance so we do eventually get a good ending.
As you can probably tell, I struggled with this book. It really did have moments that I liked, there were some fun times between Drew and Nick, and I don’t mean the times in bed, although those times were good. Drew was a sweetheart, and I liked the good times between them when I could see that Nick was a good guy. I did like the drama that unfolds throughout the story, a small thing happens with a couple of snarky wolves, then there is a bad thing with a camper, then a bad thing with a human, and some good things with some family at the end, and all of that was just fine. I really did like most of it, but Nick just rubbed me the wrong way, and that did affect my enjoyment of the book.
I haven’t read many books by Bru Baker, this may be the second or so I’ve read. All of the parts individually that I need in a book were there, an interesting plot, good sex scenes, good drama, good writing, and one good character! I usually prefer to like both of them, but…. you can’t win them all! I’ll absolutely read another book by this author, and if there is another book or more in this series I’ll happily read them.
If you are looking for a fun series with a bit of a new take on werewolves, I’d give this series a try, I will say that most of the world-building is in the first book. I did like this book for the most part, and just because I didn’t particularly like Nick, doesn’t mean that someone else won’t love him. Oh, and the blue moon thing was really cute!
RATING: 
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