All About That Werewolf - New Series with 4 books in the Works!

Howling werewolf silhuette McMullen Pack

Right now, I’m writing a series of short novels with a werewolf or three. Yes, you read that right. And if you know me even a little, you’ll know that is a surprise (it was for me!).

Writer Brain created a host of ideas after I read a hot shifter romance series and just clicked through to the next in series. And of course, I thought that hey, I can do that, and I can make it a really tight series with great read-through.

Never thought I would do it with werewolves, though, because I hate most of the common tropes for those hot werewolf shifter romance tales.

Werewolf tropes I hate:

The “Alpha Wolf” trope.
It’s totally not how real wolf packs work. I hate the macho aspect of it, I hate the bully aspect of it, and well… a lot of other things connected to that “big bad wolf” take on it.
The “Mating Rape” trope.
Seriously that is so awful. Yes, it’s probably a subset of the alpha male trope, but sexism is so widespread I really don’t need to promote it with something I write. I replaced it with a magical kiss. That’s much more romantic, right?
The “Full Moon Frenzy” trope.
Nope, nope, nope.

So you’ll find none of that in my stories. In fact, my wolves are the good guys. Mostly. I have a nasty guy in mind who will find his well-deserved end in book 3.

There is also very little heat or steam (aka explicit bed scenes). Yes, there is a mating at the end of each book, but it’s not explicit. It happens because this is Sweet Paranormal Romance, and there is a HEA (Happy Ever After), at least in the relationships. I do want to get the whole family to safety at the end of the series, as well, though.

Thing is, my wolves – refusing to play by tropes – also refused to create steam. And so, this is mostly a tale of adventure, courage, and the part that is always in my stories somewhere – the fight for the right to a full, accepted life in freedom.

The series background for my werewolves

The main characters are all members of one family. I chose a Scottish last name for them, McMullen. (And yes, I googled that, and it doesn’t seem to be used in a subtitle just yet.)

And the McMullen family of werewolves has fallen on hard times, they were rooted out by Hunters (gangs of humans who want to eradicate them all), and they have to flee. Mom has already disappeared, Dad is playing decoy to drag the Hunt away, and the three siblings Ben, Lizbeth and Vanessa have been sent to a region in North Carolina where allies live.

Each of them finds their own way to Asheton (which is Asheville in real life, but honestly, I cannot travel there to check locations), and each of them finds a mate – but as this is Romance, they have a lot of problems to overcome to make it there. And it is always a close thing, with much adventure, challenges and wounds. They have to tough it out. Fortunately, their werewolf superpowers are giving them an advantage.

I’m having fun putting a few new cultural phrases into the stories, creating terms and expressions that are specific to the werewolves. For example, they refer to themselves as “wolves”, without the were-. I think that is simply a classic example for shortening long words in everyday speech. (Yes. I’m a linguist. Why do you ask?)

These are the titles I have planned for my werewolf series

A Wolf’s Quest
A Wolf’s Fear
A Wolf’s Honor
A Wolf’s Love

Ah, you say, but there are only three siblings! Who is that last book about? Well, that will be about their mom, Cynthia. Their father, alas, won’t make it out alive…

Covers are, as always, a tricky thing. I had an idea and played around with it, but sadly, my GIMP capacity is not up to that idea yet. So I will have to commission them. Wish me luck.

Update – December 2021

Well, things have developed a little since I posted that. Which is a good thing.

First, there are 6 books now, they all have awesome covers, they are all published, and the titles changed a little:

Also, the mom’s name changed to Valerie, Val for short. As you can see, a few more characters demanded that their story should be told, and so I did.

Second, the series is finished for now, although I have more ideas. But I need some reader feedback and sales before I invest more time in those books.