Fox Run

The Madison Wolves #1

by Robin Roseau

Michaela Redfur is a were fox living a quiet life in Bayfield, Wisconsin. She has a quiet job that gets her out of doors and avoids the werewolves as if her life depended on it. Which it does.

That all changes early one morning when Lara Burns, the Madison Wolves alpha, introduces herself, much to Michaela's chagrin. Lara explains to Michaela that "we only want to talk", but when a werewolf comes knocking on a tiny, delicate foxes' front door, Michaela knows talking is the last thing in the wolfy mind.

This novel is 93,000 words and is the first in in The Madison Wolves Series.

Genres: Lesbian, Romance, Paranormal, Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, LGBT, Shapeshifters

348 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 27, 2013

About the author

A writer by avocation, Robin has a renaissance interest in many areas. A bit of a gypsy, Robin has called a few places home and has traveled widely. A love of the outdoors, animals in general and experimenting with world cuisines, Robin and partner share their home with a menagerie of pets and guests, although sometimes it is difficult to discern who is whom.

Reviews

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

I actually read this book about a year ago but have hesitated before putting up a review for reasons I will explain.

This is an okay book, not great but not outrageously bad. I found it a little perfunctory in a number of areas but it was fine.

So why the low rating?

I call Catfish on this author as he was uncovered as being the heterosexual male author Joe Larsen. He is also apparently Julie P Lynde. Now I don't have an issue with anyone writing a book from any prospective they chose (see Geonn Cannon and Erik Schubach), but what I object to is the deceitful presentation of this author as one thing, when they are apparently something else entirely.

This is not a case of outing George Eliott, who needed to portray herself as a man to her readers in a bid to escape from the female stereotype of only being able to write lighthearted romantic fiction and achieve recognition for the quality of her work and not her sex. This is the 21st century not the 19th and the only reason for this portrayal is (I hope!) a desire to sell more books into the Lesfic community. We are not a big and powerful sector that needs to be subverted to allow other voices to be heard.

Rant over.

A big thank you to Trin Denise for wising me up to this on Facebook.

[Day S · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title should be: Lesbians Guide to domestic abuse. I would recommend a trigger warning. The main character is abused by her girlfriend constantly: forced to do what she wants because she has greater physical strength, isolated, and when she is finally treated in such a way that would have made me instantly think this is a book about empowerment and leaving your abuser, Lara apologizes and all is forgiven. So if the author was intending to write about domestic abuse, it was wonderfully done. But it's portrayed as romantic here. This book also had all the parts of Twilight I hated. Yes she's a fox and she stands up for herself as best as she can, but the relationship (even without the abuse) is inappropriate because it's clear that they aren't peers. It seems like it was written by a man who thinks that women get high off the sent of dominance and can't do anything for themselves. Even when she does take care of herself, it's viewed as a patronizing pat on the head "wow, isn't she so clever"?
I gave this a 2 instead of a 1 because if you removed all that there are interesting plot points and some of the writing is pretty clever in certain parts.
Lara is also a terrible Alpha. Just a terrible leader overall. Hers and michaela's characters are stagnant and no matter what happens Lara never grows or changes. She is petty, throws her weight around and gives orders and commands to her pack just because she can. Just because your pack has to listen to you when you say "do this now because I said so" does that mean you have the right to? That, in my eyes makes a terrible leader. She's just power tripping. I was rooting for the villain in this, not because Lara is a woman, but because she is an awful leader.

[Arn · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars.

Pros
■ New were culture aspects I hadn't read about before
■ Foxy Michaela is a really engaging character

Cons
■ Inconsistent characters
■ Repetitive
■ Insta love
■ Chemistry is lacking
■ Editing issues
■ Story lacks structure

I wanted to like this one but character inconsistency pretty much killed most of the enjoyment I had for this book. Michaela goes from "I won't forgive you another time!" to forgiving everything no matter how many times she gets abused or betrayed. And Lara goes from apologetic to "doing what's necessary, damn the consequences" which ends up with abuse directed at Michaela. Not to mention she imprisons Michaela at first to "keep her safe" and then does a 180° and sends her in dire danger to takes some photos for her... I'm just sitting there not believing what the F I'm reading.

And then there's insta love. They talked a couple of times in a short time span and suddenly "I love you!" starts dropping and again I'm baffled about what the heck is happening.

The base ingredients and the author's writing style are good. A competent editor could have shaped this up into a good book. I hope the series get better later on so, for now, I'll continue reading.

[Victoria · Rating 1 out of 5]

hm

I finished the book and was kind of enjoying it. Until I saw this post on a review about the author

https://lesbianadvocatesagainstfraud....

A big NO

[MEC · Rating 3 out of 5]

Note: This review will cover my impressions of the first six books in the series.

The Fox series (I refuse to call it the Madison Wolves series, because the main character is a Fox ... who is desperately trying to stay a Fox amongst all the big dumb and sometimes lovable wolves) seemed to be causing a big stir in some lesfic readers' circles, so I figured I would give it a try.

Michaela Redfur is a werefox - a very rare breed as werewolves seem to like to hunt foxes down and kill them. As you can imagine, this social dynamic is a bit of an issue when she meets and falls for Lara Burns, alpha of the local wolf pack. The series follows the initial romance and continues as they build a life together - with more obstacles than you can shake a stick at trying to interfere. The series follows a definite timeline, with each book picking up where the last one left off.

It may seem contradictory, but I don't really like this series - and I've read all six books in it. The writer's voice is engaging and I think I just kept reading hoping that some of the things I enjoyed about the series would continue or take the forefront. I love the idea of a fox rather than a wolf as a main character - something you don't see in the Urban Fantasy books and foxes are so much more interesting in that they are crafty creatures.

Unfortunately, the annoyances I found in reading the book continued. The angst continued to be ratcheted up and I found the characters often inconsistent in their motivations and actions or one dimensional (Lara confounds me ... the love of Michaela's life, but my impression of her is a sullen grumpy werewolf who stomps around snarling "Mine" all the time. Some of the stuff that she does or allows to happen to Michaela early on is just unfathomable that Michaela would ever forgive - but she does). Michaela's transformation into Rambo-fox was also a bit of a surprise - and the backstory was perhaps just a bit too much angst for me (and I love angst).

Ah well - there's lots of people who love this series and devour each new installment as it comes out (and the books seem be issued within a couple of months of each other so if you do love it, you don't have that awful year long wait for the next book). Give it a try, and feel free to tell me I'm a idiot for not enjoying the series as much as others have.

[Jane Shambler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great find!

This book is a very easy and well written story. It's really easy to read and I loved it.

Basically, it's a story about a werefox. Her troubled past and her now peaceful, idyllic life. But then along comes a big bad werewolf. Then the adventure begins.

It's a story about trust, love, respect and family. It made me laugh and cry. Sometimes at the same time.
What I liked the most was that it was just a really good story.

This is the first book of a lengthy but enjoyable series. One I'm going to enjoy reading.
I vote you give it a try. I'm convinced you're going to love it.
Enjoy!

[Ruggedascent · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have to start by saying that I'm incredibly frustrated with this series.

*General but no specific spoilers*

**I've read up to the 14th book at this point so this is about the series, not necessarily this book in particular**

I really want to like it... and there are aspects of the story that I thoroughly enjoy. I find the mythology to be interesting and the overall storyline to be compelling...
My problem is the characters themselves. They are often one-dimensional and there is virtually no growth throughout the series. Add to that the fact that their behaviour can often times be erratic or straight-up out of character.
The most troubling thing by far, however, is the deeply abusive relationship that is central to the story; namely that between Lara and Michaela (although there are other terrible relationship dynamics to be found here, theirs is by far the worst).

The Alpha of a werewolf pack falls in love with a fierce and independent werefox. Interesting dynamic... The werewolf then spends the next several years of their relationship using emotional, psychological, and physical bullying as well as her authority as a pack leader to strip her partner of everything that makes her fierce and independent. Through broken bones, incarceration, horribly manipulative behaviour and a variety of other methods, the alpha takes the fox's home, her job, her choices and her freedom. And the fox is quick to be convinced that it was all for her own good, forgive, and have make-up sex every time.
If this is supposed to be romantic then i am truly concerned for the author and anyone who buys into it. This entire series reads like a manual for domestic abuse (I'm serious). The author seems to have some notion that this behaviour can be likened to a D/s relationship. Absolutely not.

Relationship dynamics aside, I also have a comment on the various sex scenes that appear in the books... As a lesbian reading lesbian sex scenes, I have to say i feel zero interest when I hit them in this series (whereas I'm normally quite interested). I'm left to wonder if the author has ever actually had lesbian sex or at least consulted a sexually active lesbian/bi woman in the editing process?

I'm a completist. Once i start a book or series, I'm compelled to finish it. That definitely became a problem here. There are many times that i became so deeply frustrated with this series that i wished i could put it down.
Despite the decent storyline and mythology, I would never pick up another book/series by this author. Domestic abuse simply isn't sexy or something i want to read about.

[Sam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I will preface this review with the admission that paranormal fiction is generally not my cup of tea. I prefer other forms of speculative fiction and I think part of it is because paranormal fiction tends to have romance central to many plots and there is often some sort of imbalance in those relationships (human dating a vampire; human dating a werewolf; vampire dating a werevampire hybrid, etc.). This is the story of Michaela Redfur, a werefox, whose life as an employee of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in Wisconsin is disturbed by a group of wolves looking for information about another pack trespassing on their territory.

The Good:
I honestly felt engaged through the novel and finished it after staying up ridiculously past my bed time.

Lesbian romance is most always a plus for me and what was wonderful about this book was the fact that the tension did NOT stem from any of the characters stressing about coming out. There is one line later in the novel from the antagonist about going against the natural order, but it doesn't make the bulk of his disagreement with the protagonists and doesn't become a whole tirade against homosexuality. I really appreciated this. It's part of why I very rarely enjoy YA LGBTQ novels. I personally don't like reading coming out stories.

I also appreciated that it had a plot! That I actually cared about! It was a romance and there was some fluff, but it didn't sidetrack into porn without plot (it was actually rather tame and I appreciate that as well).

Room For Improvement:

As is the case with many self-pubs, this could have used some editing of various types. There were typographical errors as well as some pacing issues, especially where the relationship was concerned (I think things were forgiven too easily).

The thing that bothered me the most and why I didn't give it 4 stars was the relationship imbalance between Michaela and Lara. It was addressed multiple times, but it still gave off the feel of an unhealthy relationship. I don't expect immediate perfection, but there were some things that Lara did where I felt she should have conceded more, Alpha or no.

I don't know. I might have to think about it some more. Overall, it's a decent read, especially if you enjoy supernatural/paranormal fiction.

[Fernanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I sooooo love the paranormal genre and when this come with a good lesbian romance I'm in heaven..well this book is wonderful in both ways!

I found always more difficult to relate to a 1st person speaking book but this have controlled all my attention right from the start.
In this book we have a funny, vain and intelligent little werefox, that talk to us about her life and her adventures.

The story start when Michaela, the little fox, have her house invaded by 5 big bad werewolves...wolves love to hunt, and little foxes are always interesting preys..so Michaela try to flee but the wolf Alpha catch her easily.
Lara don't want to eat Michaela she is there with her wolves only to ask for Michaela help and here begins an amusing relationship between the little fox and the wolves pack.

Robin Roseau have done an excellent work in portrait not only Michaela thoughts and actions but giving the readers also a deep vision of how Lara and the others wolves think and interact.

The characters are well developed and absolutely three-dimensional, this help the reader to empathize with them.

This is a book written in an impeccable manner, I have loved it from start to end.

And like I always say: in the 1st book of a series the best that an author can do is to make the readers want to read the next installment....well after have read this I have gone directly to buy the second...and have started to read it not more than 5 minutes after ending "Fox Run"...really Robin Roseau could not have done a better job!

[Emma · Rating 2 out of 5]

The only things stopping me from giving this book 1 star were the fact that there was no annoying tension/plotline due to Lara and Michaela's sexuality and that the storyline itself was decent. Unfortunately, those are the only positive things I can say about Fox Run. By all means, give this book a read if you relish controlling and abusive relationships in which the abuser is continuously forgiven quickly, and protagonists who are stripped of their initial strength of mind, freedom, and will. Personally, I think I'll go find some lesfic that doesn't need a trigger warning.

[M · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really dont know why I finished this series, I was always waiting a change with Michaela's situation, but Jesus... Lara is a controlling freak.

[Coyora Dokusho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some rocky bits, but I really loved it a lot!!!! It was really funny and there were cute parts as well.

[Emil · Rating 1 out of 5]

Victim of extreme trauma ends up in a horrifyingly abusive relationship

There is some good in these, which is why I kind of stuck with it and just finished the 3rd book. I don't think I've ever felt this bad after reading a book before.

I get what the author is going for with dominant wolves, the importance of "strength" in pack etc. But this is just insane.

We have Micaela, a victim of extremely violent trauma since childhood and through her entire life. She ends up in relationship with the "alpha" of the local werewolves pack. Her partner is 100% in control all the time and completely ignores any boundaries Micaela tries to set. This does not change in the books I've read, Micaela is always supposed to suffer through all kinds of violence and other abuse from her own pack to prove she is "strong" and "worthy" of being the mate of the alpha.

Violence in the pack, between family members etc is completely normalized - rather than tell someone off for being a little bit cheeky, beat them.

[Celine · Rating 1 out of 5]

Lesbians for the male gaze

[Linnea Johansson · Rating 2 out of 5]

(Apologize for bad gramma, English isn't my first language)

Eh... The book was okay, somewhat. I read a little from other reviews before picking it up, mostly out of curiosity, thought I try to not let others option determine if a book is good or bad or if I should read it or not (everyone likes different things). However, to the point of the book itself and the story, there were good and bad things:

- The Story Idea -
The story itself was interesting. I found it fascinating in a way of how the characters human shapes still takes after the instincts of the animals. It was an interesting "world build" of how the supernatural world function. With that, I however didn't like the plot that very much. It was somewhat... empty. The story gets pointers for some cute scenes and interesting conflicts between characters. However, the plot line itself wasn't all that good and I found myself thinking "why" more times than "wow".

- Characters -
The characters were good - for starters. It got worse at the end. In the beginning, the characters were alive and had personalities, but somewhere along the road they lost both personality and character. It was in a way "the same thing repeatedly", like they didn't change with the story or developed. I liked the background story of the main character Michaela, but I believe the author failed to represent how her background actually should have affected her even thought it had been years. The characters lacked the feeling of being "alive" at the end.

- Writing -
Thought I myself don't have English as my first language, I'm fairly better at reading than writing in English. With that said, I think it was bad that even someone who doesn't have English as their first language to get stuck on errors and words missing. It was easy to follow along the story, and read - if not for the missing letters and (few) poorly built sentence.

----
The story had cute scenes and interesting building of how the supernatural world worked as well as background for the characters - at least the main character. However, the story was mostly poorly written and lacked the plot line that would had taken the book a star up. My personal thought is that the author had this good idea, alright characters and (if better editing) a good writing style - but they lacked the plot line in everything but how it would start (wolves knocking on the fox door). This only result in scenes that didn't add anything to the actually story and poorly developed characters.

2 of 5 stars

- Will I continue to read the serie? -
While I'm a little interested in continue, I found it is mostly of curiosity to see if the plots get better or not. But no, I won't continue to read this serie - at least for now. Perhaps I will continue it when I've finished all the other books that I've planed to read.

- Remember that this is all my personal thoughts and there are those that would hate the book, but also those who would like it, if only for something to read. -

[Char Dafoe · Rating 3 out of 5]

I enjoyed this story. The chase scenes or any action scenes were very well written, and I appreciated the research the author did for Michaela's job. The budding relationship between Michaela and Lara had me frustrated at times. Just when I thought things were progressing between them, something would happen and their steps forward in the relationship would have to step back. I respected Michaela for making the alpha wait before having sex, however frustrating it was for me, someone who thrives on sex in a story, but I totally understood where she was coming from. Michaela was her own alpha as a fox-were, and respect had to be earned by the alpha of the wolves because of the trust issues Michaela had towards wolves. Having witness her parents' death at the 'paws' of wolves, it was completely understandable of her actions. This is my first time reading a story with a shapeshifting fox, it's actually the first time I had even heard of fox-weres, but I am glad I discovered this from fellow readers online. I'm looking forward to the sequel and hope the relationship between the protaganists continue on building.

[M L Brooks · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brilliant start to a brilliant series

So I've read all these books and came back to review this one to give people an idea of the series as a whole to see if it's worthwhile.

To start there's only one book in the series I disliked (fox fate) and one I had mixed feelings for (Omega life) due to the actions of certain characters.

Now the good stuff. This series is excellent. The main character for the majority of the books is the wonderful Michaela Redfur, a brilliant, intelligent character with a deeply sad backstory that unfolds through the books. The side characters are great and I especially love the budding romances in the background (such as Angel and later Monique) . The plot of each book tends to deal with a particular problem in an over arching story between the whole series. so I'm summary great plot, excellent characters, sad moments, happy moments and very racy in parts.

[M · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very reminiscent of the Mercy Thompson series, but less expansive. This is a nice enough story about shifters, but I found myself aggravated by Lara's attitude and need for control. She is easily swayed to violence and I found her kinda bland overall. Michaela puts up with a lot of bs, and given what we learn later on, I don't think her reaction to the wolves was significant enough when they first meet. It feels a bit like that was something written in halfway and the beginning was never expanded/updated.

The main threat was eliminated pretty easily and the book focused a lot of times when people were shifting and playing around. I was much more interested in Michaela's platonic relationships with other members of the pack than the romantic one with Lara. The book may have benefited from other POV chapters from Lara, but it wasn't a big deal.

[Alison Patten · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the 2nd time I've read this. This is an interesting fun start to a series. It's a paranormal romance with two women who are both shifters. It actually focuses on their relationship instead of most paranormal romances which seem to focus on when the two main characters will have sex. The characters are endearing and the world is interesting however I would like more world building, and a lot of time doing inconsequential things like playing poker and kayaking. In the first book it adds to character development, however it becomes almost painful in book 2, where I found myself going "can we get back to the plot please?" Otherwise it's a fun light read with shifter lesbians all things I like.

[Ian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Michaela is a fox shifter living in werewolf territory. She keeps her head down, doesn't make any trouble and avoids the wolves. That all changes when the alpha of the Wisconsin pack comes calling. Wolves are invading her territory and she calls on Michaela to help hunt them down.

It took me a long time to get through this book. I started in May and I finally finished a couple of days ago. It's not bad, if it was I would have walked away. But it wasn't a book that demanded my attention either so I would put it down, move onto other books and then come back to it.

Finally at about the 70% mark it sucked me in and I pushed through to the end, and it was pretty good. Entertaining fluff. Good enough that I'll probably read the second in the series.

[Nyki Mancera · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just Lovely…

I have never read such cleverness and cunning dialogue. This fox is just that and more. I have never met a character like that. I was intrigued and pulled right into her little sneaky palm. Lara NEVER stood a chance. I am enjoying this book in the series immensely. I am sure the rest of it will be just as wonderful. I am definitely Team Michaela. She’s tough, but I love how Lara responds to her physically, mentally, emotionally, and through their conversations and how Lara refers to her no matter how frustrated she can make her.

I would love a relationship like this one.

[MiserableFlower · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nice to see a lgbt were story that is a little different and not quite so cookie cutter predictable. That being said it wasn’t an amazing story, the execution left much to be desired. A little too much focus on trying to make Michaela come off as crafty and sly but instead I found that to be rather off putting and redundant. I don’t particularly care for the dynamics and honestly found more chemistry between Michaela and Elisabeth and even that was iffy. Idk this had good potential but fell short of my hopes

[Jennifer Reaves · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent story. I have read a few Were books and this one was better than some. I do find the wolves to all be bullies. The dominance games at times are a bit much. The fox has her pride at the wolves seem do do nothing buttry to beat her down. I will most likely continues for a bit with the series depending on how the characters grow

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've read a lot in this series, though I stopped before the last few books. I liked the first one and the next few but I would recommend stopping after that. They get a little repetitive with the dominance games and sometimes made me a little uncomfortable.

[Ariel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A good start to the series. An interesting switch in the usual shifter romance. Can see the hearts flying but can also see problems that will have to be addressed in the future. Still solid start, looking forward to more.

[Keith Wilson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lawyers Writing Logic Exercises

If this then that unless this other thing, but if another thing happens then do whatever...
You get the picture. Too much explaining and hypothesizing and stilted, unnatural conversations. It's like a math/philosophy textbook for college freshman.

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unusual book

I have never read anything like this before. I really enjoyed it. The characters were fun and really caught my imagination. I can't wait for the next one thanks😊

[Stephanie Patterson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing

I apsolutely loved these books. This was my second time reading this one and I plan to read them all again.

[Sara · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute and entertaining

I should have finished it over a long weekend and not a shorter one. I kept trying to sneak reading it at work.

[Tatiana Alejandra de Castro Pérez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I found this book through the tag system of Goodeads: it was tagged as fantasy, paranormal and lesbian, so I give it a try... and I fell in love with it. Our beloved protagonist is Michaela Redfur, a werefox that works for the government as a scientist controlling some natural places. However her peaceful life will be shocked with the appearance of Lara Burns, the leader of the Madison Wolves' pack. She said that she wanted to talk to Michaela, but Redfur is going to be dealing with wolves much more than what she would like to. This first book present the characters, specially Michaela Redfur and the pack of Lara, and also introduce quite some troubles for both "forces" to make them work together and have a power struggle. There is a relationship, but is more romantic than a sexual one and is quite strange after all. However, this is not a bad point. I loved the way the characters met, how they struggle for their own space and with their duties and how people is connected among them. I think it is a good starting point for a saga, much better than the one presented in Dark Guardians saga, for instance. I would love to see this books printed :)

Parece que siempre llego de relativa casualidad a los libros que más me gustan. En este caso descubrí Fox Run, el primer libro de The Madison Wolves, gracias al sistema de etiquetas de Goodreads, ya que tenía varias que me llamaron la atención: fantasy, paranormal y lesbian. Partiendo de estas "ideas" pensaba que podría ser algo en la línea de Los guardianes ocultos, aunque por suerte es más en la línea de la saga de Kitty Norville. Robien Roseau presenta en esta primera novela a Michael Redfur, una cambiaformas zorra que vive tranquilamente como científica que hace muestreos de algunos parques del gobierno. Su mundo cambia por completo cuando aparece Lara Burn y su manada de hombres lobo, a pesar de que la alfa solo quiere hablar con Michaela. A partir de aquí habrá demasiados lobos para gusto de nuestra querida raposa, un montón de problemas e intrigas y bastante acción para los lectores. Roseau sabe combinar las escenas tiernas y graciosas con otras de gran tensión e incluso sabe dar voz a los diferentes personajes, a los que podemos llegar incluso a coger manía o a querer como si fuesen nuestra propia hermana. Me parece un buen comienzo para una saga, aunque es una lástima que no se revisen estos libros para una publicación en papel, porque me ha gustado mucho lo que he leído. ¿Es un poco especial la relación que presentan? Si, sin lugar a dudas, aunque tampoco creo que haya que exagerar como en algunas reseñas, donde no tienen en cuenta que los cambiaformas tienen ciertas costumbres de los animales a los que cambian, cosa que siempre queda patente con Michaela y sus instintos zorrunos de huir, correr más que los demás, etc. ante el menor peligro... y no diré más para no chafaros la lectura ;)