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Shifting Lanes: A Werewolf Romance
Robin Ng didn't expect to discover the existence of werewolves on his journey north, let alone make the acquaintance of one. When he misses a crucial transit connection, he has no one else to rely on other than the enigmatic Dusty Tedesco to take him to his destination. Over the course of the trip, the two face bumps in the road and dangerous detours all while growing closer, but will Dusty's nature cut short their blooming relationship?
More than just a road trip romance, this is a story about finding a connection across the perceived lanes that divide us.
More than just a road trip romance, this is a story about finding a connection across the perceived lanes that divide us.
141 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 3, 2024
1 person is currently reading
129 people want to read
About the author
Joanne Kwan
13 books31 followersArtist, comic creator, and now author, Joanne enjoys crafting uncommon characters with honest emotions. Their stories are regularly seasoned with history, romance, or elements that may or may not be beyond reality. They live in California with their husband and cat.
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Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews
February 15, 2025
This had a great idea for a plot, unique characters, and solid setting. However, something didn't quite work for me.
The writing style was not flowery or purple prosey, but there also were awkward flows and adjectives tacked on to describe everything that kept distracting me.
The POV switched mid chapter/paragraph/sentence to whomever it needed to, and it took me a while sometimes to figure out who's head we were in.
Robin, loved him, 10/10 stars for nuanced dude. Dusty... Besides being a weer and kind of old, his personality was just, there.
Pluses for beating up n*zis, casually just existing trans rep, and shifted sex.
Check out CWs!
The writing style was not flowery or purple prosey, but there also were awkward flows and adjectives tacked on to describe everything that kept distracting me.
The POV switched mid chapter/paragraph/sentence to whomever it needed to, and it took me a while sometimes to figure out who's head we were in.
Robin, loved him, 10/10 stars for nuanced dude. Dusty... Besides being a weer and kind of old, his personality was just, there.
Pluses for beating up n*zis, casually just existing trans rep, and shifted sex.
Check out CWs!
March 21, 2025
I really enjoyed the weer lore in this story because it was unique. Robin and Dusty had a relationship born of chance kindness and fumbled around some conversations when they related to being trans or weer. Neither of them saw the other as less than and it brought them closer. They were good for each other. Also enjoyed the just desserts for neo Nazis. The midchapter POV switches were awkward to me and would take me out of the story though.
Spice: 3/5
Triggers: transphobia including from parent, racism including slurs, isolation and loneliness, violence, gore and dismemberment, death, terminally ill parent, close call to car crash, neo-nazism
Spice: 3/5
Triggers: transphobia including from parent, racism including slurs, isolation and loneliness, violence, gore and dismemberment, death, terminally ill parent, close call to car crash, neo-nazism
March 30, 2025
2.5 rounded down.
it took me much longer than it should've to finish this. it has a loooot of things i love. a werewolf love interest, a trans protagonist. the werewolf is a werewolf during sex scenes! that's rare and fun. they have a big age gap, but it doesn't feel gross or predatory and is often extremely sweet because the older protagonist isn't the most up to date on things like transness or gender nonconformity, but the young trans man will explain things and he will take them in and nod along. there is a very sweet scene where he asks why the trans man doesn't cut his hair to pass better, and when it's explained to him he immediately understands and compares it to metal/rock guys who grow their hair out and don't have their masculinity questioned.
so. i have two problems that knocked this sweet story down to 2.5.
- the pov switches not just from chapter to chapter, or paragraph to paragraph, but sometimes sentence to sentence. it is EXTREMELY hard to keep track of whose head you're in. it feels sort of like it wants to be omniscient pov, but... it isn't? it's just switching very fast but it is limited.
- the sex scenes or anything more involved is. hard. it feels like the author dumped a scrabble box out and just stuck words together out of whatever fell out. i legitimately do not know what they were trying to convey. the words don't mean anything together. i know sex scenes are hard but they don't even read as purple prose, just.... word salad that doesn't twll you much of anything.
it makes me sad because if these things were cleaned up this would've been at Least a 3.5 for me or even a 4. it's sweet! it has a lot of promise! but it hurts itself. still, i'm glad it exists. trans romance is rare, so a niche werewolf m/m romance with a trans protagonist existing is important to me, even if it was hurt by its actual quality of writing and should've passed through an editor again.
it sounds crazy to rate a book 2.5 stars and then be like "hey, if the premise of a trans m/m werewolf romance intrigues you, please pick this up even if you don't end up vibing with it!" but hey, i stand by it. i'm still happy to have read this despite its flaws, because trans people deserve to read about ourselves.
it took me much longer than it should've to finish this. it has a loooot of things i love. a werewolf love interest, a trans protagonist. the werewolf is a werewolf during sex scenes! that's rare and fun. they have a big age gap, but it doesn't feel gross or predatory and is often extremely sweet because the older protagonist isn't the most up to date on things like transness or gender nonconformity, but the young trans man will explain things and he will take them in and nod along. there is a very sweet scene where he asks why the trans man doesn't cut his hair to pass better, and when it's explained to him he immediately understands and compares it to metal/rock guys who grow their hair out and don't have their masculinity questioned.
so. i have two problems that knocked this sweet story down to 2.5.
- the pov switches not just from chapter to chapter, or paragraph to paragraph, but sometimes sentence to sentence. it is EXTREMELY hard to keep track of whose head you're in. it feels sort of like it wants to be omniscient pov, but... it isn't? it's just switching very fast but it is limited.
- the sex scenes or anything more involved is. hard. it feels like the author dumped a scrabble box out and just stuck words together out of whatever fell out. i legitimately do not know what they were trying to convey. the words don't mean anything together. i know sex scenes are hard but they don't even read as purple prose, just.... word salad that doesn't twll you much of anything.
it makes me sad because if these things were cleaned up this would've been at Least a 3.5 for me or even a 4. it's sweet! it has a lot of promise! but it hurts itself. still, i'm glad it exists. trans romance is rare, so a niche werewolf m/m romance with a trans protagonist existing is important to me, even if it was hurt by its actual quality of writing and should've passed through an editor again.
it sounds crazy to rate a book 2.5 stars and then be like "hey, if the premise of a trans m/m werewolf romance intrigues you, please pick this up even if you don't end up vibing with it!" but hey, i stand by it. i'm still happy to have read this despite its flaws, because trans people deserve to read about ourselves.
January 18, 2025
I received an ARC of this book and planned to have finished it much sooner than now so I could write a review but life happened so I’m later than I hoped. Despite how long it took for me to finish the book, it was so incredibly good.
Definitely heed the warnings the author has provided; this book has topics not everyone would be comfortable reading and the transphobic comments from others in the cast could be distressing for some. Please be safe while reading; if something is upsetting to you please take a break or set the book down. It’s alright to DNF a book for your mental health.
That said, I loved this book. I loved the characters and the settings and the road trip aspect. I loved how they went from strangers to more (that’s one of my favourite dynamics). I loved how during sex Dusty was just as attentive to Robin’s needs and making sure everything was okay as he was outside of it, maybe even more. I don’t personally read much smut but I really appreciate when the sex scenes are gentle and attentive and have a focus on consent.
The characters felt real and deep and alive and I loved getting to know them better. I loved how Dusty treated Robin; not with pity or anything like that, but as a person. He didn’t treat him differently because he’s trans and he didn’t make a big deal of it which I loved. Dusty even told Robin, “I know you’re different, but so am I,” by way of explaining why he wasn’t bothered by Robin being trans and I thought that was super sweet. I loved all of their interactions from start to finish.
When I got to the last chapter I wasn’t sure where the ending was headed but once I finished it, it felt like the perfect ending for these two. I was a little worried it would be a bit rushed but I found the pacing worked very well and wrapped everything up nicely. It ends in what I feel is a hopeful ending rather than the bittersweet ending I was suspecting would happen based off earlier conversations between Dusty and Robin.
I feel that the author tackled the subjects they wrote about very well. The transphobic dialogue was uncomfortable (as it’s wont to be, truthfully) but the way the characters handled it was very good. The violence wasn’t too much and felt realistic in an action scene sense. The sex was handled nicely as well with a focus on consent which, again, I really appreciate in smut scenes.
All in all I would definitely recommend this book if you like monsters, especially in the sense of werewolves. You might even learn some new werewolf lore to adopt!
Definitely heed the warnings the author has provided; this book has topics not everyone would be comfortable reading and the transphobic comments from others in the cast could be distressing for some. Please be safe while reading; if something is upsetting to you please take a break or set the book down. It’s alright to DNF a book for your mental health.
That said, I loved this book. I loved the characters and the settings and the road trip aspect. I loved how they went from strangers to more (that’s one of my favourite dynamics). I loved how during sex Dusty was just as attentive to Robin’s needs and making sure everything was okay as he was outside of it, maybe even more. I don’t personally read much smut but I really appreciate when the sex scenes are gentle and attentive and have a focus on consent.
The characters felt real and deep and alive and I loved getting to know them better. I loved how Dusty treated Robin; not with pity or anything like that, but as a person. He didn’t treat him differently because he’s trans and he didn’t make a big deal of it which I loved. Dusty even told Robin, “I know you’re different, but so am I,” by way of explaining why he wasn’t bothered by Robin being trans and I thought that was super sweet. I loved all of their interactions from start to finish.
When I got to the last chapter I wasn’t sure where the ending was headed but once I finished it, it felt like the perfect ending for these two. I was a little worried it would be a bit rushed but I found the pacing worked very well and wrapped everything up nicely. It ends in what I feel is a hopeful ending rather than the bittersweet ending I was suspecting would happen based off earlier conversations between Dusty and Robin.
I feel that the author tackled the subjects they wrote about very well. The transphobic dialogue was uncomfortable (as it’s wont to be, truthfully) but the way the characters handled it was very good. The violence wasn’t too much and felt realistic in an action scene sense. The sex was handled nicely as well with a focus on consent which, again, I really appreciate in smut scenes.
All in all I would definitely recommend this book if you like monsters, especially in the sense of werewolves. You might even learn some new werewolf lore to adopt!
December 5, 2024
This was such a special read - a slow burn romance between an older werewolf (weer) and younger Asian trans man on a road trip for (most of the book) mysterious reasons. Its a dark story - much darker than I was expecting - with a strong focus on racism and transphobia, as well as grief and aging. Thinking back, the plot is beautifully crafted, the glances between the MMCs, the headlights - without spoilering the story, the whole thing worked so well. I adored the ending - again I don't want to give anything away, but it felt like the only way the story could satisfyingly conclude.
This book is fairly short, but the writing was so rich I had to read it in small bursts. It took me a long while to adjust to the writing style, and even still there were points where I found it difficult to follow who's perspective we were reading or where in the action we were. This is my first book by Kwan, so I'm not sure if that's how they write all their books or if this was a deliberate style choice? I think I would have preferred to listen to the story, letting the at times over the top writing wash over me and just enjoying the story. There were a few times early on I wondered about giving up, but I am so happy I didn't as it truly felt like such a special story in the end.
For monster lovers - .
I read an advance copy of this book. My thoughts are very much my own.
This book is fairly short, but the writing was so rich I had to read it in small bursts. It took me a long while to adjust to the writing style, and even still there were points where I found it difficult to follow who's perspective we were reading or where in the action we were. This is my first book by Kwan, so I'm not sure if that's how they write all their books or if this was a deliberate style choice? I think I would have preferred to listen to the story, letting the at times over the top writing wash over me and just enjoying the story. There were a few times early on I wondered about giving up, but I am so happy I didn't as it truly felt like such a special story in the end.
For monster lovers - .
I read an advance copy of this book. My thoughts are very much my own.
January 12, 2025
If you take nothing else from this review know that it's a fun read with a heartwarming story, and there are a few twists to keep things interesting.
Before I talk about the details, I'll share the book's trigger warnings in case any of these are deal-breakers for you. There are neo-nazis; there is transphobia; the trans main character has some healthy, real feelings about his body and expresses some insecurity during the book. I personally think these things add to the richness and complexity of the narrative (okay, maybe not the nazis). I wanted to mention them, however, because you wouldn't necessarily expect nazis in your cozy werewolf romance.
I really enjoyed this book. Robin, the Chinese trans lead, was a really relatable cinnamon roll of a character and I want to protect him at all costs. Dusty, the older werewolf love interest, is the perfect blend of stoic and approachable for me to enjoy.
Their journey felt very natural and wasn't rushed or forced the way some romance books feel to me. Theirs is a gradual friendship turned attraction that I could have eaten with a spoon.
The writing style is unique and I will admit it took a couple of chapters for me to get into, but once I was in I was hooked.
Before I talk about the details, I'll share the book's trigger warnings in case any of these are deal-breakers for you. There are neo-nazis; there is transphobia; the trans main character has some healthy, real feelings about his body and expresses some insecurity during the book. I personally think these things add to the richness and complexity of the narrative (okay, maybe not the nazis). I wanted to mention them, however, because you wouldn't necessarily expect nazis in your cozy werewolf romance.
I really enjoyed this book. Robin, the Chinese trans lead, was a really relatable cinnamon roll of a character and I want to protect him at all costs. Dusty, the older werewolf love interest, is the perfect blend of stoic and approachable for me to enjoy.
Their journey felt very natural and wasn't rushed or forced the way some romance books feel to me. Theirs is a gradual friendship turned attraction that I could have eaten with a spoon.
The writing style is unique and I will admit it took a couple of chapters for me to get into, but once I was in I was hooked.
November 23, 2024
It’s so rare to find good Trans PoC rep in MM Romance so I was excited to receive Shifting Lanes as an arc. Shifting Lanes follows Robin Ng and Dusty Tedesco as they travel to Seattle on a road trip filled with discovery, bonding and shitty inn restaurant meals. There’s a real sense of grit in this book, Dusty is weathered by time and his condition and Robin’s in an unfamiliar place making a journey that holds a lot of weight for him. I liked their relationship, it was unique and very ‘them’, there wasn’t any awkwardness around Robin’s identity and it was handled perfectly and accurately. There was a sad note of inevitability towards the end but it worked so well for the story that I didn’t mind at all. Their relationship was also realistic, the chemistry between two regular guys, a lot of the time MMCs are devastatingly attractive and described as such but these two felt real and that made such a difference to how deep their bond felt.
December 2, 2024
I really enjoyed this short novel! The tension (both romantic/sexual and the sense of dread…that’s all I’ll say) was built up really well throughout the story. I think both Robin and Dusty are well-realised, believable and relatable characters in their own ways. I liked their dynamic with each other, it was both hot and sweet. Dusty finally reaching for Robin’s hand at the end really tied it all up so well for me 🧡 Definitely make sure you check the content warnings before reading though, there’s some intense stuff happening!
I sometimes found the writing style to be slightly distracting, mainly during the fight scenes, the metaphors and pretty prose made those a bit confusing and harder to keep up with. But I sometimes find those hard to follow anyway, so it’s personal preference and it didn’t stop me from enjoying the book at all!
I sometimes found the writing style to be slightly distracting, mainly during the fight scenes, the metaphors and pretty prose made those a bit confusing and harder to keep up with. But I sometimes find those hard to follow anyway, so it’s personal preference and it didn’t stop me from enjoying the book at all!
November 20, 2024
This was a quick read with a great situational-ship combined with a road trip and plenty of heat packed into 142 pages.
For those of us in the queer community a lot of themes and content are going to hit home, harder given the climate. Make sure you check the content warnings before diving into this book.
While it's not listed as a dark fantasy romance, I think some of the themes and content could definitely qualify it as one. Additionally, if you like your monster romances a little dark in the way of touch-him-and-die themes can go, then this will definitely fit the bill.
Overall, a great story from Kwan, as per usual. Looking forward to what they publish next!
For those of us in the queer community a lot of themes and content are going to hit home, harder given the climate. Make sure you check the content warnings before diving into this book.
While it's not listed as a dark fantasy romance, I think some of the themes and content could definitely qualify it as one. Additionally, if you like your monster romances a little dark in the way of touch-him-and-die themes can go, then this will definitely fit the bill.
Overall, a great story from Kwan, as per usual. Looking forward to what they publish next!
November 2, 2024
The characters really shine in this story! There is a sweet and sensual romance that blossoms between the two MCs, and the writing style was both ethereal and matter of fact. Excited to read more by this author!
December 7, 2024
road trips and shitty diner food made me click the buy now button so fast
December 30, 2024
Cute short read! Really crazy b plot tho???
June 2, 2025
Enjoyable and inoffensive, and don't worry Robin, I'm a freak just like you lmao
Displaying 1 - 13 of 13 reviews