*Big Thanks to Jules Kelley, the publisher- City Owl Press, and Netgalley for an ARC of this book. All thoughts and comments are my own.*

I am always on the lookout for new paranormal books, so I could hardly resist snapping this one up after reading the snippet.

Edge of the Woods starts with new werewolf alpha, Haley, in Pine Grove, Montana. The new sheriff Leland stumbles upon a boy on the side of the road that was injured. Leland has no prior knowledge of the paranormal world. Haley and the local townsfolk that are in the know have to navigate the new sheriff and the associated-town political/legal systems to remain secret and under the radar. When the discovered boy is found to be freshly bitten and about to turn, well things continue to get really interesting.

First, I have to commend the author for the levels of inclusion in the book. The female MC is out and proud bisexual. There are other alphabet mafia characters in the pack and book overall. Plus, both the lead MC's are not all stick thin or ripped and muscled. They have curves, y'all. Curves!

Overall, I really liked the world-building in the book. Alphas were chosen. Again, there was inclusion in the pack but there was the familiar bigotry when applied to paranormal wolf-shifter books of made versus born. The overall mystery was interesting and the main romance between the two MC's was a little quick/insta-y but what can ya do?

I'm looking forward to the next in the series and or more from the author!

I love werewolf books, but unfortunately this one just wasn’t for me. I felt that the insta-attraction between the main characters seemed forced and was difficult for me to read. If you are a fan of paranormal romances you should definitely still give it a try because it might become one of your favorites.

Edge of the Woods
Moonrise, Book 1
by Jules Kelley

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first book in a series and a good set up for the continuation of a story with many open ended side plots. This is a great “own voices” offering in contemporary paranormal romance. While the primary romance is between a hetero couple the heroine is bisexual. One of the primary side characters is trans and another is gay. The gender fluidity and and variety of sexual orientations is treated within the book as run of the mill normal. Additionally the main couple are both curvy with love handles and belly creases which only increase their attraction to one another and the many of the leadership roles in the community are primarily held by women. The person that provides a packed picnic basket for one of their dates is a male side character who is a great cook. Nice to see normalization of non stereotyped characters.

This is a contemporary wolf shifter/werewolf romance. Vampires are also present but do not feature prominently though their is evidence that they may be more involved in later books. There’s a lot of action and some steam but nothing that goes beyond heavy petting though what does happen does not shy away from describing the full events but this occurs only 3-4 times if it’s something you’d bleeder to skip over.

Trigger warnings - bad parents, law enforcement ptsd.

4.5/5

Werewolf stories are either a five star read for me or a complete dud. This one I have to give three stars to. I really liked one couple but as soon as the narrative switched to another couple I found myself to be uninterested. The plot however was decent and if you like Werewolf stories then I would recommend it.

Edge of the woods was an absolute delight to read. With its diverse cast and unique paranormal plot, I was enthralled with this story from the beginning to the end. I love how Leland was so gentle and kind—so not the typical muscled up hero i’m used to reading about. I am all for dad bods and think that every hero who has one is incredibly sexy. Haley was a complete bada** but also the kind of heroine you can relate to with insecurities and all. The chemistry between these two characters was off the chart sizzling, and every scene in which they were together had me giddy smiling.

I cannot wait to read the next book in this series. Seriously. So good.

I love a werewolf book and this one was so nice to see a female alpha in charge of the pack. I loved the story, it hooks you and pulls you in , I also loved how much diversity there was.I liked the mystery, the romance between Leland and Haley and I definitely look forward to more books from the author

Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for a free copy for an honest opinion

It starts off slow and kind of dense, but once the action begins, it's hard to resist the story as it drives forward. It reads as a true epic, one that makes you feel the world really has been reshaped as you read it. Would recommend.

This book follows Haley, the new leader of her werewolf pack in Pine Grove, Montana. She must navigate through the tricky political aspect of getting to know a new sheriff who knows nothing about werewolves. A boy is found on the side of the road who was clearly bit. A mystery ensues with a romance thrown in along the way. I personally liked this books take on the history of werewolves and how in this area alphas were elected as opposed to “fighting it out”. This was a new spin for me from the overused aggressive and masculine werewolf stories.

Thank you NetGalley and City Owl Press for the copy.

I wanted to love this. The writing style is awesome, the plot itself looks good. But I couldn't suspend my disbelief long enough to enjoy it, and about a third of the way in, it became a jumbled mess, jumping around all over the place. Sigh. I expected more. I didn't finish it.

Pine Grove is a small town with a big secret: a pack of werewolves lives there.
Leland Sommers comes to this town to work as a new deputy. Haley Fern is the alpha of the pack that lives in Pine Grove and is instructed not to reveal the town’s secret to the newcomer. However, while on his way to Pine Grove from Arizona, he finds a naked and injured young man. As the young man is being treated, Haley recognises his injury: he has been bitten by another werewolf. How will she investigate the attack without arousing Leland’s suspicions?

The first thing that attracted me to this book was the cover, and as I read the description, I also thought I would like the story. I’m glad to say I was right. The story is gripping and the characters endearing. I also want to thank the author for bringing so much diversity into this book in such a natural way.

I’m not necessarily a big fan of mysteries and investigations, but I was still drawn into this story. While the romance between Leland and Haley had a lot to do with it, I still wanted to know what happened to Diego and what was going on at the preserve.

I’m really looking forward to the next book and will probably read the previous books by this author.

I give it a 4/5.

I recommend this book!

A queer friendly werewolf book? Sign me up!

Haley Fern is a new to being the alpha of her pack - she's passionate about her community and is working to live up to her mom's legacy.

Leland left something bad behind in Tucson to take a job in the middle of nowhere Montana. He lands in Pine Grove hoping for a quieter life - and promptly runs in to an unexplained death and a naked teenager who had been attacked by an animal.

I loved that this book featured a bisexual heroine and a probably bisexual hero. It also had a trans character and other LGBTQ representation. I also loved that neither Haley or Leland are idealized versions of themselves. They aren't six pack abs and model worthy air-brushed bodies. They also aren't idealized in the way they interacted. Leland is shy and not great with women and relationship interactions. Haley is overwhelmed with her responsibilities and not sure how to deal with the fact that she is keeping a big part of herself from Leland. Overall - it all felt very relatable - even given the fantasy nature of what was happening.

What I didn't love - and I know this is the first book in a series - is that I kind of felt like I was left hanging. The book ended at a natural stopping point - but there was so much left hanging. I also felt, throughout the book like I had missed a chapter or backstory or something.

I give this one a solid 3.5 stars and I am interested to see where things go. Especially between Diego and Val.

I received this as an ARC from NetGalley, but these opinions are all my own.

I have to say I love paranormal romance novels and this book delivers! It was refreshing to have a werewolf story as I feel that most times they are secondary creatures in novels. It was wonderful to see wolves take center stage for once. I cannot wait to read the next novel in this series.

Edge of the Woods, Moonrise Book 1, Jules Kelley

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: General Fiction (Adult), Romance, Sci-fi & Fantasy

I love this kind of fantasy, and was keen to read this book. A whole new series, love that idea. I did enjoy the story, do want to read more but felt there were things here that ( for me ) could have been better.

Haley – love her but...she's Alpha but it takes til right at the end before she really seems to believe or act like it.
Leland, the new sheriff, was a great guy, loved the interaction and attraction between him and Hayley but....I do find stories where the supernatural is hidden a little hard to take. That's personal on my side, of course, but it just seems so difficult to ensure a secret of that magnitude stays secret.
Diego, he's a great kid, coped well with what happened and I do hope the tentative moves towards a romance follows through. Given who the other person is that would really tie supernatural ends together.
,
I'd like to see more of the Pack, we really only meet Hayley, Michelle. Jo and Diego and I would like to see more interaction with other members. I didn't guess who was moving things, driving the murder story line and would have liked to see more motivations. There was some explanation but it wouldn't have been the whole story. It felt a little out of character from the little we learned, I wanted to know the back story.

Of course first books in a series have a lot to ask, a good story line to keep the reader engrossed, while delivering a new world setting and group(s) of characters. That's tough, and I think this novel delivers pretty well, my comments aside. I'm a reader, not an author – that's something way beyond my skill set!
I'm looking forward to seeing where this story line goes next.

Stars: Three and a half, its a good start but I have a few things that didn't sit well with me.

ARC supplied by Netgally and publishers

I love a good werewolf story and this was exactly that. Pretty predictable as far as werewolf stories go but I found it all very interesting with the side tangents of science and the wildlife. I really empathized with Diego and the chaos he was brought into and wish we got to see more of him.


Pack dynamics. I wish we got more of this. The pack is hinted to be have been small but it wasn’t digested as well as I would have liked. Diego seems to only interact with Haley and Michelle and I would have like to see him interact with other pack members and become a part of the pack through these these dynamics rather than just from sole acceptance of Haley.
Diego. He is thrown into all of this chaos and reacts so realistically. Confusion. Anger. Acceptance. He can’t help but miss his old life and wants to be feel normal again but it is subtlety hinted that his past life wasn’t a slice of cake as well. Would this life be better for him? Will he find a family who loves and cherishes him? This was a big question that was answered through implications of a pack but I wish we again got to see more interactions of acceptance of Diego into pack.
Romance. The romance between Haley and L was love at first sight. It may seem like they found love because they were the only two available in this small town but their banter and connection made a lot of sense. L doesn’t know about werewolves which keeps Haley on her toes. She’s challenged which is interesting to watch. Their romance is awkward at times. Consent is very big in this book which I appreciate but sometimes it felt like you awkwardly asking your high school crush to touch your boob. I was rooting for them though. Very cute.
A CRUMB OF ROMANCE FOR DIEGO. What I THINK is a crumb of romance happened. But I don’t want to spoil. This makes me very eager for the sequel which I hope focuses on Diego. I understand why this wasn’t dived into deeper because ultimately this novel is about Haley.

LONG STORY SHORT, this is a quick fix of werewolf romance if you are looking for it. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and hope you do too!