Title: Under a Blue Moon

Series: Camp H.O.W.L 02 / Dreamspun Beyond 22

Author: Bru Baker

Narrator: Dorian Bane

Genre: Paranormal, Shape shifters

Length: 6 hrs, 40 mins

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press LLC (26th October 2018)

Heat Level: Moderate

Heart Rating: 💖💖💖💖💖 5 Hearts

Reviewer: Prime

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 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 Drew’s private-practice patients threatens his life. Will the close call help Nick see a connection like theirs isn’t something of which to let go?

Purchase Link: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK

Review: Under a Blue Moon is the second book in Bru Baker’s Camp H.O.W.L series for Dreamspun Beyond. To be perfectly honest, I remember that I’ve read the first three books in the series when they came out, but when it came to the audio all I could remember was the basic premise of the series and that I enjoyed the books. Regardless, I’m always keen to rediscover books in audio form as I feel I get details that I missed in reading and often a wonderful narrator makes the audio better than reading the book. This is a series that I recommend listening to (or reading) in order, because while they are mostly standalone books, there are a number of references to previous instalments that may be tricky for the more detail orientated people.

The book was narrated by the always wonderful Dorian Bane. I love the tone he brings to the books he performs and really has a way of getting the characters just right. His deep, husky voice is one that I find absolutely perfect for paranormal/shape shifter romances. Under a Blue Moon was no exception.

The series surrounds the lives of the doctors/counselors who work at Camp H.O.W.L as they do the work they love, protecting the young wolflings who are going through their first and very traumatic shift in a summer camp type of setting and somehow finding love while undoubtedly fighting the mating bonds that are forming almost every step of the way.

Under a Blue Moon starts with Nick, a counsellor who wants to get out of private practice and kids going through the Turn. Then there is Drew. He is a medical doctor – a human raised by his human mother and wolf stepfather, surrounded by his three wolf step brothers. The guys meet each other on the way to camp and things get hot and heavy – and at this point they don’t even realize that they are travelling to the same place, let alone going to be work colleagues. I don’t want to go into things too much, I don’t want to completely spoil the plot, but Nick finds it hard to reconcile that he has a mate bond with a human, and that being human doesn’t mean that Drew can’t survive life with wolves.

As I said earlier, a common theme in both book 1 and 2 is that at least one of the men in the romantic pair tries his best to ignore the mate bond and push away his prospective mate. I find that trope a little frustrating at times, but in my opinion, it worked well for this story. Meanwhile, I loved Drew and his family. Drew is a wonderfully relatable character – fearless and smart as a whip.
If you loved the first book or shape shifter romances, you’ll no doubt love this.

Title: Camp H.O.W.L 01

Series: Camp H.O.W.L / Dreamspun Beyond

Author: Bru Baker

Narrator: Dorian Bane

Genre: Paranormal, Shape shifter

Length: 6 hrs, 55 mins

Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (12th January 2018)

Heat Level: 💖💖💖💖💖 5 Hearts

Heart Rating: Moderate

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?

Product Link: Audible US | Audible UK | 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 didn’t know what to expect. I wasn’t 100% sold by the blurb – I was concerned that this was going to be a fluffy story with not a lot of substance. The one thing that I did look forward to was Dorian Bane’s narration. I really love Bane’s narration and I believe that his husky, deep voice is perfect for alpha shifters. He also has a gift of adding the appropriate level of emotion through the tone of his voice and in this book it really helped me to relate to both MCs.

However, all my worries regarding the book were for nothing. I was immediately pulled into an interesting world of werewolves who struggle with their second puberty where they finally shift into their wolf counterpart on the full moon near their 19th birthday.

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.

I will admit, I got a little annoyed at Tate and that was because his angst and brooding was hurting Adrian. I absolutely adored Adrian. I reckon that’s a pretty good indicator of a book. 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.