I really don't want to write a long rant review so here are just some of my thoughts on why this book didn't work for me.

1. Writing - very dry and repetitive, it's accessible yes but there are so many repetitive lines written deliberately to makes certain points. It didn't work for me and I was truly very annoyed.

2. Plot - very subpar and predictable, it's literally all in the synopsis.

3. Romance- very problematic. I didn't have a problem with the age gap but the romance execution was not done well. It was also absurd how Ox's feelings changed from brotherly to sexual within a day. There is literally no build-up. Joe, the love interest is also very possessive, jealous and manipulative at times.

4. Its a very physical book as in all the characters are always touching, smelling and baring their necks to each other. It might be a werewolf thing but definitely not my thing. I could understand it between the main couple but it was weird having that sort of dynamic between all the characters.

5. This ties into the repetitive part of the story but the more the characters kept saying how special Ox was, the less I believed it. It was specially annoying because Ox doesn't believes he is special and then everyone keeps on insisting that he is - this actually might be the 10% of what this book contains.

Very disappointed by this book and it goes without saying that I wouldn't be picking up the other books in the series. This book might have actually put me off reading any werewolf books in the future.

Beautiful, cathartic, and succinct.

Klune is an extraordinary storyteller, and the short, staccato, dialogue-heavy style of Wolfsong fit the protagonist, Ox, so wonderfully it blew me away. I will preface this by saying I am not usually a huge fan of romantasy, at least not where romance is the primary focus as opposed to a subplot, yet I was inextricably drawn into Ox's world from the very beginning, and I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that Wolfsong is about love and relationships, not only romantic, but also focusing on the powerful platonic, familial and found family bonds people share, as well as the emotions that form those bonds.

Trauma, loss, grief, betrayals, and discovery are explored in a myriad of ways, where we see the reactions of not only Ox, but that of the people around him, and their reactions are all depicted in a way that is authentic, where the validity of their grieving processes are never regarded as less valid for being different.

While some elements of the primary romance made me slightly uncomfortable to begin with due to the age gap and growth elements, I thought that Klune handled it thoughtfully to show the changing relationships between Ox and Joe as they both aged and matured, with different kinds of love being portrayed between them at separate points in their lives, with a distance between the various stages so the characters and their emotions have space to breathe. In addition to that, I enjoyed how Klune depicts how love isn't enough to sustain a relationship, but trust and expectations must be managed and much of the book explores how Ox and Joe need to have equilibrium and get themselves on the same page of understanding before they can finally have a functioning, healthy relationship.

I haven't read such a good queer m/m book in a while and the prose in Wolfsong flowed so smoothly I didn't want to stop. Even though I can't say I've ever been that interested in stories about werewolves, I still got sucked into the story, which speaks to Klune's craft more than I can say.

TJ Klune, whom most might know from The House in the Cerulean Sea, wrote a werewolf series a few years back. The first book of the Green Creek series, Wolfsong, is being re-published in September 2022. It was first published in June 2016.

It is an M/M romance like THitCS or Under the Whispering Door and at the same time it is not. It is a slow build romance like in the other books, but it is much grittier, there is gore, there is very explicit sex and the story is definitely not as whimsical as the above mentioned two.

You need to have read or seen a few werewolf stories to truly appreciate this story, because otherwise you might be put off by the power dynamic between the two ‘lovebirds’ and the proprietary behaviour, not to mention the age gap between the two MCs.

Joe and Ox meet for the first time when Joe is nearly eleven years old and Ox just turned 16. Joe’s family moved into the house at the end of the lane and Ox becomes fast friends with the three boys. He is welcomed into the family from the start, which he finds odd at first. Though when Ox later finds out that the family is a family of werewolves and learns all about werewolf packs, pack wars, Alphas, Betas and Omegas, their behaviour starts to make sense.

When Ox is 22 and Joe 17 the romance really starts. But Joe has had his eyes on Ox for years and his proprietary behaviour towards Ox might not go down with every reader. It’s a werewolf thing, or should I say it’s a theme that comes up in werewolf stories? To give Klune and his characters credit, Joe’s family is completely okay with Joe and Ox getting together. Still, Ox insists that nothing physical should happen between the two of them until Joe is 18 years old.

A lot of things go on in this book besides the romance. For one there is this nasty Omega-wolf who is attacking the pack, because he wants to be Alpha. There is violence, there are fights, people come to harm, but also packs/found families are formed.

Probably not my favourite Klune book, but definitely one that I am glad I did not pass.

This book simply gutted me. So many emotions swept through me while reading this.

Tropes I loved:
🌲 Found family
🌲Shifters
🌲M/M romance
🌲 Cinnamon roll of a hero

This book is about love in all its complexities and variations. The love of a mother for her child, a child who loved his mom and had to now be the man of the house since his dad left them. Brothers by heart and not by blood love. It was love of an adopted family, The Bennets. Ox practiced and lived out this verb love like no other. Ox’s story broke my heart 10 000 times. Too big, too slow, too inadequate, too different. Holding everyone together because he has such a massive heart.

Ugh- it was just so good. Cries all over again!

Thank you Netgalley and the author for this ARC.

I read this over the weekend. It's book one of the Green Creek series and is told from the POV of Ox who becomes involved with the werewolf pack living at the end of the street. It's queer - the werewolves are fluid in their sexualities which was amazing - it made a lot of sense for them as they focus on their pack and their emotions.

The narrative of this book wasn't perfect, it had a certain messy human element to it which worked well to an extent since it's in first person. Ox (a human) was a lovely character to get to know and so were the Bennetts. The whole pack was such a wonderful found family it filled my heart and gave me Twilight vibes in parts - I loved when it got mentioned as well 💚🤣.

I really enjoyed The House In The Cerulean Sea and was very excited to receive Wolfsong as an ARC.

Klune is a very engaging writer who is strong on character and I love that they are an unashamedly queer writer. Having said that, this was not my favourite read. I found myself referencing the Twilight novels quite a bit here and they were really not for me. I also found the relationship between Ox and Joe a little unsettling at times. I appreciate that it is possible for people who were friends for years to suddenly wake up to the fact that they are more than that. It was more that the way that the early relationship between Ox and Joe is written makes what is not actually a massive age difference seem wider than it actually is. There is also the fact that the romantic aspects of their relationship are not given time to flourish here because their vulnerability and their coming of age has to take centre stage for the story to work so the transition, when it comes, seemed rather forced.

I really enjoyed the meditation on pack/family and the logical rather than biological family aspect of the book. It had some really strong elements which, for me, were rather muddied by the plot arc.

I’ve not been very good at sitting and reading lately - thank heavens for audiobooks. However, I started this and was hooked instantly. In fact I stayed up very late last night to finish it.

Ox lives in a small country town with his mom. He has no friends except at the garage where he has been ‘adopted’ by his dad’s old employer. The whole team look out for Ox and his mom.

When a family move into a nearby house, he’s overwhelmed at the welcome he receives. Especially from Joe; who describes Ox so endearingly - I’ll let you discover that.

Lots of pages and emotions later, I’m looking forward to book two! This book has been rereleased from its original date of 2019. I suspect it didn’t do as well as it should’ve. Klune has had two recent hits, with House on the Cerulean Sea timed beautifully to save us from the Lockdown Blues. Now that the public are more aware of Klune, this lovely book should take off.

There were tears; happy and sad. First loves, friendship, family, kindness and kisses. I kinda want to read it again.

The new cover is beautiful too as we’ve come to expect from Klune.

Thank you Netgalley and Pan MacMillan for providing this E- ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely adore all of TJ Klunes books, and this was no exception. I was drawn in right from the beginning. A highly entertaining read

I knew from chapter one this would be a five star read.

TJ Klune created an epic world where the characters and storylines are entangled in a really cleaver way. Absolutely brilliant! Honestly, I was not prepared for the emotional rollercoaster this book was, but I enjoyed every single page of it.

It is magical and awesome!

Wow, I'm not even sure what to say, as I just raced through this in two evenings, and there's a lot in my head!

I'm definitely a fan of Klune's writing - exciting, heart-breaking, moving plot, and a cast of strong, characters with solid queer rep, as we always see from him. I was completely pulled along by this story, and will absolutely be buying the rest to read. I adored the cast and am excited to know more about their pasts and struggles, hopes and loves.

My only less-loved bits would be that there's a fair amount of repetition to some of the points - sometimes this works as you see the message evolving as the characters grow, and sometimes (maybe when you're reading it at pace) it can feel like it's drummed in a little much. The writing style is as beautiful and raw as ever though. The other is a trope preference - for me, I'm not a fan of the werewolf/pack trope, with all the growling and "mate" and all that jazz.

I knew to expect some of this going in, so any dislike on that is mine to accept as I chose to still read it. While usually I find these themes cringy, I found the story overcame that for me. People who don't like the trope will hopefully also find a lot to love about this book, and people who do like the trope, well, best of both worlds!

I'm joining the pack! Wolfsong was absolute perfection, it was 'epic and awesome', and I was completely drawn into this world of magic and shifters.
Ox and Joe's story is one of coming of age, of friendship and love, family and self acceptance, tragedy, self-sacrifice, and ultimately forgiveness. Ox's voice is very distinct - a simple, at times repetitive language, which gives his narration a style that is uniquely his.

I'd been eyeing the Green Creek series for a while, and having read Wolfsong, I likely won't have the patience to wait for the re-published hardbacks before reading the other books in the series. That said, I also know that these beautiful new hardback editions will find a spot on my bookshelves. Thanks to NetGalley and the publishers for providing me with an eARC of this book.

Okay I have to make a couple of confessions. Firstly I love anything by TJ Klune secondly I am yet to complete this book due to illness and an archive date coming up. What I have read so far just reaffirms my love for this author and the way the characters draw you in.
As with anything by TJ Klune I would say buy, read and treasure

Firstly I’d like to thank the publisher and NetGalley for the eARC 😍😍

I don’t even know where to start with Wolfsong 😅😅 I just love it. When I read the synopsis I knew I’d like it, it ticks off a lot of things I like in a book - it’s a romantasy (of course!!), it’s queer, it’s got werewolves (I mean 😍😍) and it just sounded so awesome but when I read the real thing I was just in awe.

Wolfsong follows the lives of Oxnard and The Bennett’s and life in Green Creek. Ox’s life completely changes one day when a stranger walks into his moms diner and strikes up a conversation. He doesn’t know it but he’s met someone truly special someone who, along with their family, will help him fulfil his destiny. He meets Joe on a dirt road and he gives him a stone wolf, Joe asks Ox to be his friend and they become inseparable, friends forever, best mates. ❤️❤️

The book is spread across many years starting from when Ox is 12 which I loved, it was brilliant seeing all of the characters grow up around each other ❤️❤️ T J Klune has created a masterpiece. Ox and Joe are everything. I cried. A lot. There were things that shocked me, things I thought might happen and things I thought might happen but never quite did (I’m hoping that they still might as it’s part of a series…😏😏). The emotion between the MCs just tore a MASSIVE hole in my chest. I can’t wait to read more about the pack and their life and what they’ll become.

The characters in this series are within me now. I was hooked by the book after about 5 pages but I gave my heart to the pack the minute Ox saw Joe on the dirt road. One of the easiest ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️s I’ve ever given ❤️❤️

I HAVE THOUGHTS and I think they may possibly be unpopular thoughts..
This book... was a lot of things and I am heavily conflicted by what I should rate it, on one hand I enjoyed it and I enjoyed the vibes and the characters and even the storyline. it’s got big found family vibes,, there is a strong sense of setting, and i can totally see how people could get attached to these characters, heck I liked the characters! ON THE OTHER HAND, It made me wildly uncomfortable and I don't think I enjoy the writing style, there was a lot of quotes that came straight from Tumblr but the writing style wouldn't have made me rate this books so low, 2 specific things made me rate this book so low and they are MILD spoilers below so if you don't want it spoilt maybe don't read any further but I need to get my thoughts and points out so that people understand why I am rating this book about bisexiual warewolves, a book that should have been an automatic fave, so low.
The main reason why the rating is so low is because of THE AGE GAP, sorry but as someone who dated someone in their early 20s when I was 17 I just can't read the whole book without thinking about it, they do wait till they're both in their 20s until they have sex but that's a whole other point I'm going to make. Firstly the age gap, Right Joe meets Ox when he is 10 and Ox is 16?! Their like relationship/Ox fancying Joe doesn't start until Joe is 17 and OX 23, but that's still WEIRD TO ME. Like you've been friends with this boy since he was 10 and now you're getting a BONER OVER HIM?? (authors words not mine) ALSO I would just like to say that once this happens, there is a few times in the book where it is acknowledged that the age gap is weird and wrong? OX EVEN SAYS AND I QUOTE 'HE'S ALMOST 18' and the explanation that's SLIGHTLY given is that 'wolves mature faster than humans' which just doesn't fly with me as it just sounds like the typical 'ohhh by girls mature faster than boys.' BUT WHAT MADE THIS EVEN WORSE IS THAT JOES AGE HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH THE PLOT THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO REASON WHY EITHER OF THE CHARACTERS HAVE TO BE THOSE AGES, ITS JUST DONE FOR NO REASON, THEY COUL HAVE EASILY BEEN THE SAME AGE OR EVEN A 2 YEAR DIFFERENCE OR SOMETHING WHICH I WOULDN'T CARE ABOUT THAT MUCH BUT A 6 YEARS DIFFERENCE!!!! FOR NO REASON, not that any reason would have been good enough AS THIS IS A FANTASY NOVEL AND YOU CAN JUST CHANGE THE RULES SO THAT NEITHER OF YOUR CHARACTERS HAS TO BE PREDATORY!!
Sorry, I am heated by this because throughout the whole book it ruined every single good bit because all I could think about was the freaking AGE GAP. And yeah sure I didn't feel an unbalance of power or Ox taking advantage of Joe but it's still weird ok.

The other thing that ruined it was quite frankly the smut scene, ONE SPECIFIC SCENE, and listen I LOVE SMUTTY BOOKS, I love em, I am open to many things and I have read gay, straight, ploy etc. scenes and thought they were GREAT. But THIS?! I did not need to know his PUBES WERE WIRY, I get they're werewolves but the obsession with body hair was a bit much and I mean if you're writing the words 'hairy' and 'pubes' so much that I notice it you're doing too much. Also the scene went on for entirely too long I mean I don't know how many pages but it felt like 30 minimum, and they weren't even having sex, just other things, which great cool love that for them but it was far too descriptive, I feel like watching literal porn would have been less detailed. See if this went on for like even 5 pages I'd have over looked it MAYBE, BUT IT WENT ON FOR SO LONG.

Overall I would call this book Mildly Traumatising, it's only getting 2 stars because I enjoyed the concept and the storyline but as you can see above there is many things I just couldn't over look.

Watch this book become my entire personality. I’m obsessed.

Wolfsong had me completely enraptured from the get-go, with TJ Klune’s trademark incredible writing style along with a main character we watched defy all odds and the ultimate found family, there was no way I could read this without becoming infatuated.

Was the age gap a little weird? Sure, but also, it’s a book about werewolves and witches so I’m not under the impression that this age gap was real etc, I am glad, however that Klune kept boundaries in place until everyone was legal!

If anyone needs me, I’ll be spending the entirety of autumn devouring the rest of this series and screaming packpackpack into the void.

I've been dying to read this for SO long, so was so happy to read via Netgallery! I'm a HUGE fan of all of TJ's work, and after reading all of his 'newer' books, this was next on my TBR anyway! I'm OBSESSED. Found myself lay in bed at night just thinking packpackpack! What an amazing read! Definitely different to the writing style I've grown used to with TJ, but theres was still enough wittiness and humour in it for me. Also, a little spicier that the other TJ books! Absolutely more adult content!! I've seen a few people comment on the age gap between the two main characters and whether it was needed or not, but I think it doesn't actually matter. I think the point is that you see the two grow together and to me, it was obvious they were to be intertwined from their first meeting :) A stunning book about found family and outgrowing expectations and becoming more than you were ever told you could be, all with a side of 'mystical moon magic!"

Having read several of TJ Klune’s stand-alone novels, I knew that I was likely in for some heartache along with a soaring romance - and Wolfsong didn’t disappoint.
The narration style took a while to get used to - Ox’s voice develops and changes as he grows into himself and the bonds of the people around him, and his changing relationship with Joe. As a protagonist, you can’t help but root for Ox - his insecurities, the need he feels for connection and for family.
I loved the world TJ Klune has built, especially the wolves and the magic. It’s easy to care about them as individuals as well as the group.
The nature of Ox and Joe’s relationship took a bit of time to settle with me - obviously the development of romance and sex only kicks in once everyone’s of the right age, but there was something that felt a tad.. icky.
As with the rest of Klune’s books, once I started I couldn’t put this down - and that says it all!

I FINALLY get the hype around T.J. Klune! So yay me!

This is the third book from Klune that I've attempted to read but the first one that I actually managed to finish. The House in the Cerulean Sea had not enough stakes for my taste and was just an overload of sweetness. Under the Whispering door basically had a jerk for the MC, which made it hard to follow the story. That left me with this one, I told myself if this one didn't work I wouldn't give him any more chances. But surprise surprise, I finally found a Klune book that I actually enjoyed!

I think I like Klune more when his books are heavy on romance. I'd be honest, from the first few pages, I was reading this book with a lump in my throat. The beginning is very sad but also very compelling. It was so nice seeing Ox go from that humble beginning to finding his own people and finding his place in the world. The found family trope is very well-done in this book.

Then there's the romance. I was just in the right mood for reading a slow-burn, angsty romance with a friends to lovers arc. This book totally delivered on the angsty part, but in my opinion, it didn't deliver on the slow-burn part. I kind of expected there to be more of a slow-burn, more of a will-they-won't-they thing going on. The thing is that, right after Ox sees joe in a new way they become an item. I just expected there to be more yearning before they start to date. Also, I think I would've enjoyed this more if we could get Joe's POV as well.

The other issue I had was that some parts got kinda boring. Especially after Joe goes away, there are some very long chapters detailing what happened in his absence. Since this was a romance, I got tired of reading all those pages when one of the MCs just isn't in the picture.


All that said, I did very much enjoy most of the story. It's a compelling romance with a strong emotional pull. I liked the characters and I cared about their story. So I will probably continue with the series, and definitely would recommend this one.

Wolfsong

I have no words ! Another heart warming amazing read from T J Klune. The relationships in this book were just EVERYTHING ! All I have to say is where is my PACK ! I need one.

Thank you to Netgalley, Pan Macmillan and T.J Klune for an advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest Review

Wolfsong is the story of Ox, who is abandoned by his father as a young boy after being told he is going to get s*** in his life. Ox takes these words to heart and it'll take a certain wolfish family to realise he can be so much more than what his daddy believed he could be.

Okay guys. This book. What can I say about this bizarre, adorable, bonkers, absolutely heart-breaking book. If you like found family you need to pick this up right away. Because it's Klune and he KNOWS how to create a found family. The emotion and connection these characters share is just 👌👌

And the humour. My gosh! TJ Klune is the master of humour in written form. He nails banter in every book I've read by him and there were so many times I was sat giggling to myself whilst reading this one. The banter is second to none and those Kelly boys were on FIRE with their come backs 🤣 and the garage boys and their ribbing of each other 😂 I don't annotate books but if I did I would have so many passages highlighted because the language and characterisation is gold.

This book just made me so happy, even after all the drama and heartache, there were so many warm, loving moments. The Kelly family, Ox, the garage gang, all of them have my heart and I can't wait to continue their journey in Ravensong ❤️