Title: Camp H.O.W.L
Series: Camp H.O.W.L 01 / Dreamspun Beyond 07
Author: Bru Baker
Genre: Paranormal
Length: Novel (238 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (1st November 2017)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: 💖💖💖💖💖 5 Hearts
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’s 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?
ISBN: 978-1-63533-800-3
Product Link: Dreamspinner | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Reviewer: Prime
Review: Camp H.O.W.L is the first book in a series by Bru Baker going by the same name. I’ve actually already heard the audio but I always love how there are things that I pick up in the text that I don’t in the audio and vice versa. I already enjoyed listening to the audio, so I knew exactly what I was stepping into. The only thing I didn’t know if this was going to be one of those where I prefer the book over the audio or not. In the end, although I rate them both as a 5 and I absolutely adored the narration of the audio, I felt I got a lot more out of the characters by reading this myself.
Adrian Rothschild is 27, his mother is one of the most powerful wolf alphas in the US and for reasons that were not found out for by shifter doctors he never experienced the Turn at 19. He has since resigned himself to be a human among a pack of wolves. A pack that, despite his family’s position, he doesn’t feel like he belongs to fully. Therefore, he’s happy to be away from his family to work. The problem is, when he takes a holiday far away from his pack and home, Adrian suddenly starts to get the symptoms of the change. Thinking it’s just the flu, Adrian pushes himself until he’s in trouble.
Adrian meets Dr Tate Lewis, a man he feels an inexplicable pull towards. Tate works for Camp H.O.W.L, a sort of hidden camp/school where wolf families send their teens about to make the turn to go through their first change. He’s one of the camp councilors because he doesn’t want other wolflings to go through what he had gone through as the son of an alpha with some perverse beliefs.
When Adrian and Tate meet, it’s assumed that the connection they have is one called a Turn Mate. Turns out that wasn’t quite right, though, because they are moonmates, which is basically a term for soul mate or mate as seen in other paranormal stories. Tate has a lot of baggage from his formative years and therefore is not ready to accept the bond with Adrian.
So when I heard the audio, I got annoyed at Tate because he was being a bit of dick by denying the bond and in turn was hurting Adrian. However, in reading the book I felt more of a connection to Tate and why he acted how he did. It’s not something that I can describe much better than saying it was just Tate’s vibe. My adoration for Adrian did not change at all.
Any fans of shape shifter stories will like this one. Just because this is set in a camp doesn’t mean that there is anything childish about the book. There is not outrageous alpha behavior, a lot of sweetness, a broody psychologist (I think that’s what Tate is?), some excellent chemistry and just a lot of fun.
I decided to read this because I was about to get to the next 2 books in the series and I am absolutely obsessed with reading series in order, particularly when I’m about to binge a number of books from a series. And I have to say, I am excited about getting to the next two installments.