A Wolf Steps in Blood

by Tamara Jerée

Yasmine is a red wolf girl stuck in rural Alabama. Her world is small: pick up shifts at the greasy late-night diner and endure her pack’s petty squabbles. She’s not good at being a wolf or being human, directionless in life and disconnected from her ancestors.

Blessed by a century-old enchantment, the local red wolves have escaped extinction by blending into the human world. But with the old witches’ blessing wearing thin, the wolves face an uncertain future.

An answer arrives in the form of an exiled blood witch whose magic is steeped in reckless grief. Kalta rides into town in her dead brother’s truck, prophecy following on her heels. Despite the danger Yasmine can smell swirling around the witch, a fated bond tangles their futures—and those of all the wolves.

After an accident threatens the wolves’ secret, Yasmine has no choice but to join Kalta on the road, carving a path through the South’s backroads and hoping the magic brewing between them is enough to overcome their bloody pasts.

Genres: Fantasy, Romance, Lesbian, Queer, Horror, LGBT, Paranormal

161 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2024

About the author

Tamara Jerée’s short stories have appeared in the Shirley Jackson Award-winning anthologies Unfettered Hexes and Professor Charlatan Bardot’s Travel Anthology. Their debut novel The Fall That Saved Us was a 2023 Indie Ink Award winner.

Reviews

[myo ⋆｡˚ ❀ *]

dnf @ 1%

i’m sorry im not in the mood for instalove for 150 pages i just can’t like i don’t get why authors write it

[C.L. Clark]

Love love love the way this book dealt with bodies.

[emily · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I had a good time with this! I personally love werewolves and anything to do with them, and there was a lot to like on that front, here. This is the second book I’ve read by this author, and I think I had somewhat similar feelings towards this one as their first. Their writing is really lovely. The themes they weave in and focus on are important and done well (some light trigger warnings for eating disorders in this one, it’s not the focus, and there isn’t much that’s explicit, but heads up). Though there is a romance happening, it felt more like a character study with a romance rather than a love story, if that makes sense. It’s a short and quick read that I would def recommend and it’s cemented that I will keep checking out whatever the author puts out next.

[Kenni D · Rating 5 out of 5]

TROPES:
♡ Red Wolf Shifter x Blood Witch
♡ Horror Lesbian Romance
♡ Fated Mates
♡ Fast Burn
♡ Set in rural Alabama

PROS:
♡ This being my first horror romance, I really enjoyed it! It had all the horror elements (bloody, emotionally gripping, taboo, and spicy scenes) but written in a way where someone like me who mainly reads romcoms can actually read it and enjoy it lol.
♡ The relationship between Yasmine and Kalta was so pure. Through all the bloody mess the two of them were supportive and non-judgmental. I also liked how both characters were outcasts in their own way and found a belonging with one another
♡ One of the things that made this story so entertaining was it being set in rural Alabama. I just really liked reading about characters that come from lower income backgrounds and just their day to day life in "unaesthetically pleasing" environments. I think readers who enjoy magical realism, gritty and down to earth environments will like the setting.
♡ The history of the red wolf pack and how Kalta became a blood witch was very unique and kept my attention
♡ The side characters were also great, especially Shiara!!

[beep ☀︎ · Rating 2 out of 5]

dnf @ 60% - so bored !

[Cleo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Immersive Sapphic fated-mate romance between a red wolf shifter and an exiled witch. This is an intense story about two messy, damaged 20-somethings.

I’m not usually a big fan of fated mate romances but this is the kind that I actually like - where the bond is immediate but it doesn’t solve all of their problems and they still need to learn about each other and how to be together.

I wanted a little more from the conclusion but I also feel good about the HFN ending.

Read the author’s content warnings - the book tackles a lot of tough themes (including an eating disorder) and is also pretty graphic. There are also a few descriptions of wolves hunting and killing animals.

[Poppy || Monster Lover · Rating 4 out of 5]

Such a darkly beautiful book that dealt with heavy themes. Yasmine had an eating disorder and the way it tied into her shifting and inability to accept all parts of her body was well done. Kalta was more wild and impulsive, but struggled to feel like she belonged as well after the exile and death of her brother. Both were going through very different kinds of grieving and found peace and belonging with each other. They both learned to open their minds to other perspectives.

Spice: 2/5

Triggers: eating disorder, emesis, self harm (for blood magic), gore, hunting animals, police, grief, poverty, murder of past abusive partner (side character, past), absent father, family estrangement, implied homophobia, consumption of own heart, memory tampering

[Caitlyn (delightful.reading) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Changing up the review format to a like/dislike list one.

Likes:
- The mate bond actually felt all-consuming. Kalta and Yasmine meet and become obsessed
- Shiara. Just need more of her
- Complex family bonds.

Dislikes:
- How gory certain aspects are. The Wolf Steps in Blood is raw. Kalta’s a blood mage and Yasmine is a werewolf struggling with her identity. There’s a lot of blood in hunts and more romantic moments - more than I was expecting for a 160 page novella.

All in all, if you like your wolfs & blood mages a little gory and sapphic, try The Wolf Steps in Blood. I’m also looking forward to The Fall that Saved Us because of the author’s atmospheric writing style!

[Felicia Davin]

Absolutely gorgeous, hungry, dripping-with-blood prose in this little gem of a book, about two magic Black lesbian outcasts in rural Alabama who need each other to survive, and brilliant worldbuilding wielded like a knife:

Red wolves haven’t lived in Alabama since the 1920s. Our ecological status is extirpated, a fancy word for locally extinct. Sometimes, I think of those last maligned wolves from a century ago, hunted and poisoned and trapped as the world closed in around them. In our old tales, the last of us made a pact with witches in a desperate bid for survival. We had to adapt to a different world, a world that wanted us dead. We chose forms like the humans who had helped us only to learn that they too were hated by the two-legged world we sought to join. Even with our new hands, we could not enter the same doors as the lighter ones. Even though the woods were no longer our home, we couldn’t live in the same neighborhoods.

Yasmine, the narrator, is a werewolf suffering the violence of the world while viciously repressing her own animal needs for freedom and love and, yes, violence—but the natural violence of a predator that hunts to live. She’s trapped in Pickens County and trapped in her body, binging and purging and rarely letting her wolf out. She begins to accept herself when she meets Kalta, a witch in exile, and the two of them share an instant sexual and emotional bond. Tender like a bruise and very sexy, this was also beautifully crafted and really powerful.

[abi · Rating 2 out of 5]

I tried but the tropes in this are really not my thing.

[X]

DNF @ 16%. In general, good, but shifter instalove never works for me.

[monsterinthepages · Rating 5 out of 5]

⭐️ overall: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
📚 plot intensity: 📚📚📚📚
🔥 burn: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
💋 spice: 💋💋
🍬 sweetness: 🍬
🩵 the feels: 🩵🩵🩵
🤣 humour: 🤣
🩸 gore/violence: 🩸🩸🩸
👤 POV: 1st person POV (3rd person POV for wolf perspective)

━━ † ━━

Wow.

Just WOW.

I actually had to take a little bit to gather my thoughts before writing this review because this book left me REELING! It just impacted me so much with its almost poetic quality and its raw story of grief, healing and a love that runs deeper and more vital than blood.

Yasmine and Kalta’s stories were, at times, heart wrenching in their grief and sadness but left me with such a full feeling of contentment as they heal both together and on their own. Both of them have their own battles which have been impossible tasks to overcome alone, but their entwinement of each other becomes their strength and salvation.

It’s a story of finding your place, accepting and discovering your own strength and trusting in a greater power to guide you when you’re blindly stumbling forward. I am floored with how this beautiful story fits in such a short novella, but the pacing is absolutely wonderful and I devoured it in one sitting—I just couldn’t put it down! There were also tears with how this story moved me so perhaps keep a tissue or two at hand.

I’m all for a wolf shifter romance (and to top it off this one is sapphic!) but this was so much MORE. It was the storie’s of the characters that drive this book forward. The side characters are also riveting and left me wanting to read more about them, especially Yasmine’s sister Shiara (who I felt a HUGE connection with and palpably felt her feminine rage) and Meyer & Chelsea.

This book isn’t OVERLY spicy, but the spice that is present is just poetic FIRE! I found myself captivated by the exquisite rawness and beauty in the writing that captured the deep, passionate and magical connection between Yasmine & Kalta.

There are a few triggers in this book that I’ll mention below, most of them revolve around the aspects of blood magic and wolf behaviour.

━━ † ━━

⚔️TRIGGER LIST⚔️

— FF/sapphic sexual content
— Vomiting (blood, food)
— Self-harm (blood magic)
— Blood & gore
— Animal death, hunting & consumption
— Grief & loss
— Brief mentions of murder (off page)
— Mild body horror
— Dysfunctional family dynamics

━━ † ━━

‘A Wolf Steps in Blood’ was a beautifully haunting, bloody, emotionally gripping & gritty novella about grief of one’s self and of family, about embracing the journey of healing, of a love that runs deeper than blood and of two souls inextricably entwined by fate to heal together. This novella was exquisitely crafted and has left a mark on my heart. I would highly recommend this book! 5/5 stars!!

[Cassie C · Rating 4 out of 5]

The writing in this book is often incredibly beautiful, feeling more like poetry at times with how it flows. The story is also one of beauty, as Yasmine works through her doubt towards self-discovery and self-acceptance. I do feel that perhaps the story was a bit rushed, especially when it came to the romance, and would have appreciated a bit more build up and development.

[Ada]

***why***
That cover is exactly why we need people on the cover despite me not really liking them.

I saw the cover and immediately wanted to read it. Seriously that cover is everything. The title sounds cool too.

THEN I READ THE BLURB!

Stop it. That sounds too awesome.

[Thistle & Verse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Liked the gruesome way Yasmine's turmoil about being a werewolf plays out and how Jeree used monstrosity to talk about the stigma around actual coping mechanisms. Wish story had set up the plot faster so that there was more time to spend with the unique aspects of the characters and world

[Corbin Bleu · Rating 3 out of 5]

a beautiful wish come true finally getting to read a sapphic witch x werewolf book

xx

[♡Jacqueline♡ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish they would've fallen in love despite the fated bond instead of because of it. They don't even know each other at all by the end of the book.

[Sean · Rating 2 out of 5]

Setting:
This story takes place in modern day Southern U.S.

Characters:
Yasmine: Yasmine is a weak willed wolf-shifter who has never really accepted the dual nature of her existence, seeing herself as human and her wolf part as a separate thing that sometimes takes over.

Kalta: Kalta is a young witch exiled from her coven for using blood magic.

Plot:
After work one day, Yasmine sees Kalta in the parking lot. She's instantly drawn to the young woman and very nearly leaves with her but panics when it's revealed that the witch practices blood magic. Kalta however is her mate and the two might just be destined for big things.

My Thoughts:
I'm not a fan of fated mates. It feels counter-intuitive to the idea of a romance story. It removes any of the growing to care and like a person and replaces that with a simple statement that these people love each other because the universe (ie. author) said that they do. That's it, move on.

It is probably due to this lack of emotional buildup that this doesn't really feel like a romance at all. It's honestly way more of a coming of age story for Yasmine as Kalta helps her adjust to the idea that she and her wolf are the same being.

The world building is fairly threadbare. Witches exist and they made wolf-shifters. The one interesting note is that the shifters were normal wolves blessed with the ability to hide as humans. That's an interesting way of getting shifters but it doesn't really mean anything for the story. The witches hate blood magic because the author said they do. I don't recall there being any better explanation for this. That's more or less the extent of the world building we get.

Yasmine and Kalta, and thus the book, are pretty horny but the spicy scenes are relatively middling and blood does get involved in at least one of them so that will turn some people off.

On the whole, it's fine but not really anything special.

[Simone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Let me preface this with saying that this wasn’t what I thought it was going to be. And I’m the type of reader that likes to know what I'm getting myself into. That aside-I refused to dnf and that's saying a looooot for me. I REALLY wanted to love it and probably would have if a quick supernatural romp was what I went in for. So! If preamble and slow burn are for you, then skip this one because Jerée gets straight to business. The business in question- cosmic lust at first sight, bloody edging, visions of soulmates, and small town black girls destined to be chosen ones (a chosen pair?).

Yasmine and Kalta have all the makings of a wlw genre spin on Romeo x Juliet so it’s as if my favorite tropes were cherrypicked and thrown in a blender. And while the sapphic romance is very much in the forefront, it’s the tumultuous generational relationship between Yasmine & her mother and cousin that were the hero for me. There was so much rich intention layered into both the girls' family dynamic/history, at once universal for both the black experience and the feminine one. The reason for Shiara’s isolation (the “other” who refused to assimilate) and even for Kalta’s brother’s exile (the progeny who cracked under pressure) were both such powerful metaphors for POC walking through life with a simultaneous burden of expectation and limitation. I could’ve had 100 more pages of just those relationships.

Which brings me to my only real challenge: the pace. Both in general and within the central romance. I struggled believing their relationship because the nature of this universe’s wolf “imprint” leaves little time for the audience to catch up with the whirlwind these girls get swept up in.  The sex/physical pull of Jerée's bond magic, makes sense. The full fledged domesticated relationship in the span of just a couple pages, a bit less so. And the nod to them not really knowing each other three quarters of the way in does little to satiate the justification for a lot of their flowery dialogue. That said, if the only problem a book has is that you want it to take more time so you can have more of it, that’s not a bad problem to have. 

Could the evolution of the relationship have benefitted from even one more chapter/conversation to feel a bit more earned? I think objectively, yes. But is it steamy? Undoubtedly. Is the voice/prose fresh? Absolutely. Is the world building original and innovative? Definitely. 

I’d read more from Tamara in a heartbeat and you should too

[David Lenton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short story left me wanting more, in ways that were both good and bad.

My favourite aspect of the story was the relationship between the main character, a red wolf/human shifter, Yasmine, and her inner wolf. I felt like these were the moments where Jerèe's writing was at its most poetic, and where the themes of the story felt the most coherent. I wasn't always necessarily able to tell the difference between what was meant to be reality, a dream/nightmare, and/or symbolic, but the internal struggle to find self-acceptance and to find the balance while trying to straddle the lines between multiple identities was really well handled.

The insta-love between Yasmine and her human witch bonded mate was, uh, a bit too insta- for me; and I think this folds into my largest complaint about the story. In order to keep it a short story, it felt a bit like the plot was approached like a needle jumping across a record, sudden skips occurring mid-moment in order to shuffle things along. I just wish we'd gotten another 50 to 100 pages to smooth over some of these bumps, and flesh out a few more aspects of the story. But it's not like "I wanted more" is really that bad a complaint to have, is it?

This is my first time reading Jerèe's work, and it's left me looking forward to finally getting to some of her other books.

Rating: 4/5

TWs: self-harm, disordered eating, mild gore, animal death, grief, sexual content

[Nore · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well. I didn't hate it. I didn't love it. Despite its length, I put it down for months and did other things because I didn't find it compellingly readable, but I didn't particular find anything to dislike about this, either. I'd say it's a step above "it was okay," so three stars it is.

I appreciated seeing lesbian fated mates - not a trope you often see in a field steeped in heteronormativity - and the bond felt appropriately real and believable within the context of the universe. Kalta and Yasmine read like they are deeply in love, and they are obviously physically attracted to each other (whoo-hoo!). The sex scenes were vague but delightful. The way in which their bond is communicated feels immediate, painful, and pressing.

But nothing really happens. Based on the blurb, I expected at least a nod towards a set-up for a greater plot beyond this little book; some indication that there will or at least could be changes on the way for the pack once this pair have worked out their differences and settled into their bond. Instead, this is a true romance novel which does nothing but explore the inner lives of Kalta and especially Yasmine. Which is fine, I enjoyed it well enough, but it wasn't what I expected. Shame on me for not looking closely at the word count, I suppose?

tl;dr: The blurb oversells the plot, fun read, would read something else by Jerée because I enjoyed the writing. Set your expectations accordingly and it's a fine book.

[Maxine Robinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

A super fast paced read. It dives straight in to the action, while building a solid picture of who Yasmine is. Kalta bursts into her life and brings a reckless energy that may turn Yasmine's world on its head. Werewolf meets Witch mate, while they both battle with their own demons and learn how to lean on one another.
They both have to face who they are and decide who they want to be.
It's a sweet romance.
I had some issues with the plot. I wasn't sure on how much time passed at one point. From Yasmine's pov it seemed like it had been days or weeks, yet from Kalta's it was only a day or two. It seemed inconsistent in places. I am wondering if this was on purpose though, as it could definitely play into how lost and disjointed Yasmine was.
Kalta was a lot. She seemed very over the top and i had a hard time liking her. After thinking about it though I realised 1. I don't need to like everyone. 2. She has some amazing character growth and if she didn't start out a little over the top and a little shady, we may have missed that.

Overall an easy read, a sweet romance with two women finding their place in the world. I loved the magic and the red wolf history. I really liked the way Yasmine began to understand her mum and cousin by the end.

Trigger warning: mentions an eating disorder and binging, plus self harm.

[Nenia Campbell · Rating 3 out of 5]

There is something so old-fashioned about this book that makes me think of the 90s grunge horror novels I used to love, by authors like Annette Curtis Klause and Kathe Koja and Tanith Lee. A WOLF STEPS IN BLOOD is a queer werewolf romance between a wolf and the blood witch who loves her. I loved the mythology, and the way that Black identity was interwoven into the story, as well as the way that sex was portrayed as this beautiful, primeval thing. Shiloh Sloane did the same thing with THEN, EARTH SWALLOWED OCEAN, and I think readers who loved the feral violence of that book will love this.

This book was more character-driven than it was focused on plot, which is not my personal preference, but works here because the characters are both interesting and complex and it's fun to see them falling in love. I was kind of hoping for more of the lore, or a twist involving the witch's blessing that made the wolves shape-changers in the first place, and also maybe reasons about why some of the wolves choose to live as wolves rather than humans. The ending was also a little abrupt and left me wanting more. I hope this author explores more of this world they built. They're very talented.

3 stars

[Collin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The book warns you in its trope list (ugh) that it's fated mates/instalove, so I have no right to be irritated that, yes, the instalove is there. I'm not joking when I say this is thee most insta of any instalove I've ever read. The real problem, though, is that there's not a whole lot of relationship building after the meeting, or, really, character building, either.

But I did finish the book, and there is a certain atmosphere to the story that I liked. It'll definitely find its audience, even if that audience is one that depends a little more on fanfic and defending "tropes" on TikTok than on libraries for their reading habits. I would say no shade but, well, a little shade. Well-meaning shade. Good-natured shade. I mean, I'm not going to dunk on Black lesbian werewolves from Alabama when that's all I've ever wanted from a shifter romance. I just wish the plotting and pacing and worldbuilding were tighter, more intentional, and I wish more work had gone into making the relationship convincing, instead of just fated.

[Sophia Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I finished this book, I set it aside, and for a moment I just felt puzzled. It took a minute for the pieces to fit together and help me make sense of everything that happened.

That's not to say it's a bad book, not at all. Just that much of the book is built from surreal/magical moments in between grounded moments, and at times when something happens it doesn't feel like there's a rhyme or reason to it, it just happens because magic.

After the pieces fall into place, I think this book holds up better than it first felt like. It's an enjoyable, quick read. At times, it feels a bit like a YA book in its pacing, at other times more like an adult romance where the MCs are figuring things out.

I feel like the story had space to be told, but I feel like I also wanted more from it. There was important healing but so much more we could have learned and in a sense helped heal along with our protagonists.

[Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Yasmine is a wolf shifter who tries to resist the pull of her wolf form, and her appetite within, which usually ends with her in bad situations, as well as on a binge & purge cycle. But one day, at her job, she stumbles across Kalta, who she immediately identifies as a witch--and as Yasmine's mate.

This is a romance of letting go, but also of holding on, and it was really beautiful. My first shifter romance, I think, and definitely my first fated-mates book. I loved how the bond was portrayed, and just the love between Yasmine & Kalta. Yasmine's journey to self-acceptance is gorgeous, and the ending is just perfect, with arresting prose throughout.

As with The Fall That Saved Us, the world-building is fascinating, and I would eat up (aye) any more books in this universe. Everything with the wolf & witch community's relationship, wolf society in general, and also all the witchy politics in the background! Very cool stuff.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

i was expecting to love this more than i did and i regret to say that :(

however, i did really like the internal struggle yasmine has with both sides of herself. the dreams and visions manifesting how yasmine the human and yasmine the wolf feel were well thought out and fleshed out her character. i do think kalta's character could be explored more but it is a novella in yasmine's pov so it makes sense that we don't know her nearly as well as yasmine.

the ending has me intrigued and based on the world mythology, i can see more books with yasmine and kalta in the future. the prophecy interests me so i hope so.

i think why it didn't land with me as well is because it reminds me of works i've read and written on sites like ao3 and i think if i found it there, my expectations might have been a little different. that's nothing to do with the author or the work; its probably because i'm not a romance-is-the-main-plot girlie and the only time i seek it is on ao3 lmao

[Savannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I can’t say that this was bad and overall there was nothing really wrong with it, but I was definitely a little bored reading it. I felt like there were some details that were unclear and that kept me from fully following?

What was the timeline of this story? Why is Yasmine so …unclear about what being a wolf means? Why is she so resistant to it? Why can’t she do basic wolf things? Why is the killing of goats the catalyst for police (I think?) chasing you out of town?

Sure, I understood the larger picture of what was happening but the smaller details left me confused. For a short story, it felt long and by the end of it all I was skimming to be done.

Also, why so much blood? Why was blood in EVERY romantic encounter Yasmine and Kalta have? We get it! Yasmine is a wolf and Kalta is a blood witch!! The amount of times they kiss and it “tastes like iron” was sending me. Enough!

[K.C. Norton · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have liked this to be a bit longer, since it did feel a bit info-heavy and slightly rushed at either end. Overall, though, I loved the atmosphere and the metaphors for everything that was happening. Fated mates is not my favorite trope but I liked how it was used here to move the story along without skipping over emotional hurdles. The core of this story is really about the individual journeys each of the MCs was on, and how they supported each other through their growth.

In general, it's my opinion that good fantasy tells two stories at once: the literal story in the fantastical world, and the emotionally realistic analogue underneath. This novella certainly achieves that, though I'm looking forward to reading one of Jerée's longer works. This had a sort of dreamy Southern gothic feel to it, though without the opulence I would usually associate with that genre.

[Jamie (TheRebelliousReader) · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Gorgeously written and scenic. I’m definitely going to check out more by this author because this was fantastic. I loved the dark tone, the characters of Yasmine (a wolf shifter) and Kalta (a witch) were fantastic and I loved their romance. It’s insta-love but its because they’re fated mates and the author did a damn good job of making it work for me. I completely bought into it because they had great chemistry. I liked the way Kalta wanted the best for Yasmine and to get her comfortable with her human self and her wolf. It was cool. This was less than two hundred pages but it feels fully fleshed out and well developed which is super impressive. I had a great time reading this and would highly recommend it.