Reviewed by Jess
TITLE: Camwolf
AUTHOR: JL Merrow
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 204 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 13, 2018
BLURB:
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 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.
REVIEW:
J.L. Merrow is such a quintessentially English romance writer that I am immediately swept away by the atmosphere of her books. I don’t know much about Cambridge or English university life, but I immediately settled right into the high-class academic setting. However, the actual romance mixed with the werewolf element just ends of clashing with the excellent setting, making this an all-around average read that never found its footing.
We get a nice, slow introduction to Dr. Nick Sewell’s life as a respected Cambridge fellow, including seeing his home and meeting his friends. I enjoyed this pleasant glimpse into sort of a stuffy, straightforward character—and his hopeless crush on a very attractive and much younger student made me smile in sympathy. But once the werewolf element was introduced, I got a little whiplash. The two distinct tones just never worked well together, making me wish this wasn’t even a paranormal story.
I was surprised by how little chemistry Nick and Julian actually had together. Julian is so prickly and distant that dating him seems like it would be more like dating a pinecone than a submissive werewolf. And Nick just comes off as clueless and self-centered, always letting his dominant side take over even when it is obvious Julian needs a little TLC. The two men never seemed to be on the same wavelength, and even animal instinct couldn’t make up for the fact that they didn’t even seem to like each other.
This book also loses steam when Julian is kidnapped and taken away from Nick at about the halfway mark. I don’t think we got enough buildup towards their romance for the kidnapping to have a very big impact on us. We hardly got to see them get together, and then they’re immediately torn apart. Instead of making me more invested, it just made me lose interest in the story.
Though this book is well-written and the setting is fantastic, I never felt a ton of chemistry between the main characters. I wasn’t even that fond of either man by themselves—Julia is far too waifish, and Nick is far too pompous. J.L. Merrow is an awesome author, but this isn’t one of her greatest hits in my book.
RATING: 
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