Introducing a new series, Werewolves of Boston, set in the same universe as The Beacon Hill Sorcerer!
Rael Morrow is a human-werewolf hybrid, and he's about to be kicked out of his pack. Unable to transform, Rael is left with few options. He can accept the Alpha's ruling and be banished, pulling his mother with him—or agree to a courtship with Jameson Mercer, heir presumptive of their Boston Southside Pack and the object of Rael's longtime unrequited crush.
If he mates with Jameson, he can remain in the pack, and he and his mother won't have to suffer the indignity of being forced to uproot their whole lives.
Rael reluctantly agrees to the plan. He's been in love with Jameson since he was a kid, and there's no way Jameson cares about him in the same way. Rael is afraid he’s setting himself up for a lifetime of misery.
But then begins a seduction that breaks down every preconceived notion that Rael had about Jameson, and he dares to hope.
Of course, things are never that easy. Jameson is the perfect alpha, and Rael's human heritage hides a secret that threatens his life. The Southside Pack is primed to fracture as power dynamics shift. And Rael is forced to reconcile who he always thought he was with who he could become.
WOLFSBANE is a 37,000 word novella set in the Infinite Arcana, an expanded universe shared with The Beacon Hill Sorcerer, but can be read as a standalone.
Soon to be retired former pen name of author Sheena Jolie. See that profile for more up to date info.
I will be moving all my titles over the course of 2022 to my new author name, Sheena Jolie.
If you have questions for me, and want an answer sooner rather than later, find me on Facebook or Twitter as Sheena Jolie.
Website under construction.
I also write as Revella Hawthorne. I write mainly gay romance and erotica, but I am branching out into polyamorous groupings and LGBT+ characters.
Saving Silas is my only contemporary. Everything else is paranormal, urban fantasy, or scifi/alternate universe.
I'm a nomad--I move a lot. My health is sporadic, so when I'm feeling well enough is when I'm writing. Which is good, as otherwise, I think my suffering translates to boring stories. ;)
I've learned the hard way that I can't do release dates until a book is 100% DONE. No projected dates anymore. For up to date and accurate information, find me on Facebook and Twitter. I RARELY come to GR. It'll be months before I'm back again.
Any books I have reviewed are my own opinions and done so without malice. I won't review a book anymore if I can't give it 3 stars or higher. Most of my reviews are based upon how a book makes me FEEL. Entirely subjective and personal. Exceptions are in cases of plagiarism and intellectual property theft or a massively horrible formatting job or erroneous content (ie the title and blurb don't match the interior.)
I wanted to like it, I really did, but something was missing here. It had little to no depth and I didn't really feel any chemistry or love between them; probably due to the lack of depth. The story didn't make me feel anything, nor did the characters. I wish Jameson was more alpha, more dominant and I wish it wasn't so predictable. While I can see the potential for this spin-off series, this first book in the series didn't do much for me. It was good to see Angel, how little that was. Overall, it felt like there was insta-love, yet it really isn't as they have known each other, I believe, their whole life but since I didn't really feel like they knew each other beforehand - Rael didn't even know what Jameson worked as - it felt more like insta-love as this story's timeline is only a couple of days, less than a week.
The Characters: → Rael Morrow (18), a human-werewolf hybrid. Going to collage - pre-med - going to be a doctor; has a full-ride scholarship to Harvard. → Scylla Morrow (200, though looks 40), a werewolf and Rael's mother. She's a nurse at Boston General. → Jameson Mercer (24), heir presumptive of their Boston Southside Pack and Rael's longtime unrequited crush. He was the nephew of Alpha Mercer, the son of Bertram’s deceased younger brother. He has his own business called Moon-Called Consulting; a company geared toward helping supernatural charities and non-profits run effectively, efficiently, and with transparency. Half of his employees were pack members from the Southside Pack, but the rest were a variety of mundane humans, practitioners, and other supernatural species. → Bertram Mercer, Alpha of the Boston Southside Pack. According to Scylla, he's an "asshole and a bigot" as over half his pack has human bloodlines, including his new mate, Abigail Lauder (23), and while they all could transform, Rael couldn't. Abigail hates Scylla as Mercer wanted her before he settled on Abigail as Scylla didn't want him back. Abigail is 8 months pregnant and hopes for an alpha cub as Mercer's previous children had been either betas and gammas. → Callum Redmayne, Rael's father who had died in a hit and run before Rael was born. → Saoirse, a fae artist who owns Inks & Stings where Rael work part-time. → Dr. Craig Cranston, a medical wizard at Boston General. → Lauder Senior, Abigail's father. Chad Lauder, Abigail's brother. Miles, Jameson's executive assistant. A fae; brownie. → Angelus ‘Angel’ Salvatore (30), the only necromancer in all of Boston.
Quick basic facts: Genre: - (Adult) Paranormal Romance (M/M) Series: - Series, Book One. Love triangle? - Cheating? - HEA? - Favorite character? - Can I say Angelus ‘Angel’ Salvatore? Would I read more by this author/or of series? - Sure. Would I recommend this book/series? - Umm, not really. Will I read this again in the future? - Don't think so. Rating - 2.5/3 stars.
This is werewolf mates done right, capitalizing on alpha dominance in the kind but powerful Jameson, who only wants Rael to be his despite being only half wolf. Rael has a bit of a disadvantage, never having shifted fully, but what he doesn’t realize is that he’s half mage as well.
This was basically a fabulous tease to what’s surely to come, and Himes hits a home run with this new spinoff to one of my favorite urban fantasy series. Love the shout out to Angel and company! More please!
A cute romance set in the world of Angel Salvatore - so you know what that means? Yes, our favorite tiny dragon makes an appearance!
Not you.
In this book we have Rael, a human/shifter hybrid who can't shift, who has been in love with an alpha in his pack forever. The alpha, Jameson, steps in when their pack alpha tries to kick Rael out of the pack for being too human and says he will mate with him. Of course, there is then a romance, and magic, and attempted murder. You know, like the usual stuff when it comes to dating.
I liked both of the guys, even though Rael was a little timid and young for me. He's not worthy of book-boyfriend status, but maybe he could be a junior member someday. I am also happy that this is the start to a new series that will be set in the same world because I really love all of the characters in the original series.
2.75 Cute little novella. Unfortunately, I'm left dissatisfied when S.J.Himes writes anything less than a full length novel. It's just not enough. >_< If you're looking for a quick read and Himes usual effortless skill with fantasy/paranormal work, you'll enjoy it. For me, this left me pining for Himes' longer work and it lacked the depth I need to connect with the characters.
Quick, cute and sweet and a great intro into this new series and I rather liked it. That said, it didn't quite feel like a SJ Himes book at times, but that's probably me and the mindset I'm in lately 🤷
I don't like novella's, there is never enough time for character development and often times the characters just fall flat. That's what happened in this book. I didn't really connect to either of them, Rael was boring, Jameson was also boring. The sudden magical ability which I thought might make thing more interesting, didn't. An entirely forgettable read, I can't even remember if they had dual POVs for my shelf.
Gotta say, I hate rounding down to give this 3 stars, because it's SJ Himes and I adore Himes, but...I guess sometimes even with our fave authors we might read one that we don't love.
I know this was quick, it was a novella, hence giving it 3.5 stars instead of just 3 stars. Like you can't put a ton in such a short length.
But even for the length it was...I was just a little disappointed. I felt like there wasn't much of a focus on Rael and Jameson, the main characters and main romance, and more on pack politics and such - although we did get two cameos from Angel Salvatore, which made me happy - and then by like 50% I felt like we'd barely gotten anything between these two.
The build up wasn't as strong as I would have liked, and their connection in general just wasn't as strong as I would have liked. By the time we got to sexytimes later in the book, I wasn't feeling it much. Like yeah, Rael had a definite crush, but I needed more romance to get to the "I love you." And I was feeling bored at times by 50%, which I have never felt with this author, and I even contemplated skipping parts, although I didn't, and that's never happened to me with this author before either.
There was just something missing. I did like Rael and Jameson, I liked Rael's mom Scylla, who was badass. But I didn't love them, I wasn't riveted to the pages, nothing truly grabbed me throughout this story.
It had a somewhat strong beginning and the hint of these two was nice, but once we got it, I dunno, it just didn't "wow" me I guess. And the chemistry could have been better.
Overall it was still interesting at times and there were redeeming qualities here and there, and while I didn't feel enough with Rael and Jameson, I didn't hate them together or anything and they were quite sweet and loving with each other. I just needed more and I didn't get it, personally.
Still enjoyable, and I look forward to more in this series, but this first one wasn't quite a win for me.
This is the first book set in S.J. Himes’ new Werewolves of Boston series, and it was a pretty damn fun and sexy series starter, in my humble (and possibly slightly bias) opinion.
This novella length story follows human-werewolf hybrid Rael, as his suppressed werewolf genes finally result in his jackass of a discriminatory and unworthy Alpha trying to kick him out of the pack, soon after his eighteenth birthday, for presenting as predominantly human.
Thankfully, and perhaps surprisingly for Rael, the current Alpha’s nephew, and Rael’s long-term crush, Jameson—a sweet and entrepreneurial alpha wolf and the pack’s potential future leader—stops Rael’s eviction by proposing a courtship between them—one in which, if Rael is willing and eager, will result in him and Jameson becoming official mates, negating the Alpha’s attempts to get rid of a human pack member.
I was fully engaged in this story, with its sweet and sexy werewolf courtship, which was made all the better with the added bonus of some action and excitement, which was brought to the table when Rael mysteriously (but not-so-mysteriously) becomes the repeated target of dangerous and vengeful werewolf attacks that Jameson is determined to stop at all costs.
I loved the werewolf romance between sweet young Rael and slightly older and swoon-worthy Jameson. Their chemistry had all those growly, possessive, but deeply tender, and passionate mate-vibes that always make werewolf romances such favourites in my PNR and fantasy reading.
Although the story was short in length, and the plot and relationship were fairly simple in structure, I was still 100% entertained. I particularly enjoyed the way Himes’ interconnected series, The Beacon Hills Sorcerer series, was so effortlessly and smoothly fused into this story, with a clear expansion on the already pretty wonderful urban fantasy world Himes has created in her larger Infinite Arcana Universe.
Now, this is not to say that to read the Werewolves of Boston one must have already read The Beacon Hills Sorcerer books, but I felt my personal enjoyment was enhanced because I already have such a soft spot for the alt-universe Boston that’s been well-established in past stories, full of characters that will surely (and have done already) come and gone across many of the loosely connected stories.
Overall, this was a fun new addition to Himes’ collection and I eagerly await her next release, regardless of which specific series it comes from—I’m here for it all!!!
Rael is a member of the Boston Southside Pack. The problem is he’s eighteen and can’t shift. He’s a human-werewolf hybrid and it appears his human side is dominant. But his pack alpha is prejudiced and bigoted. And wants him out of the pack. Rael’s longtime secret crush Jameson offers a solution.
This book ticks all the boxes. Plus it features a cameo appearance from Angel and Eroch. So what’s not to love?
It was also interesting seeing Angel through Raels eyes.
There’s some fabulous new characters here. Scyila is brilliant and a mum you don’t argue with. Jameson is the perfect alpha male. Kind, considerate, strong, intelligent and of course handsome. And Rael is so much more than he appears to be. And I can’t wait for more.
My only problem...it just wasn’t long enough. But then when you find a great book isn’t that always the case?
I voluntarily read a review copy kindly provided by the author.
Reread May 2024 in preparation of new BHS book. THAT I can't wait for!!
This was sweet and pretty low-angst but it just didn't live up to Himes' previous works. It was cute but left me wanting more, like it was rushed. I will definitely read more in the series and I hope we get to see both Jameson and Rael again.
Rael is half werewolf and half human. As his 18th birthday draws nearer he knows his Alpha will banish him as he has yet to transform into a wolf.
At the moonrise pack meeting that he is required to attend after his birthday that is exactly what happens. Rael has always had a crush on the Alpha's nephew, Jameson. When Alpha Bertram gives his command Jameson surprises everyone by announcing his intention to court Rael for a month and then mate him if they find they are compatible.
When a werewolf tries to kill Rael he discovers he's not just human on his Father's side and now he must come to terms with the fact that he is no longer just a broken werewolf.
I absolutely love this book. I adore Rael and Jameson. Especially together. Rael's mother, Scylla, is definitely a mom to be afraid of when her son's life is threatened.
I thought that this was supposed to be the beginning of a series, but there hasn't been a second book out yet. Hopefully soon, because I'd love more of this series.
It is set in the Arcana Universe, in short – the same universe inhabited by the Beacon Hill Sorcerer which means that somehow you feel immediately at home. And, even more welcoming, we get a cameo by Angel and Eroch!
I thoroughly enjoyed this extension to a world I already love. As always SJ Himes is generous on detail and explanations how things work, this time in the realms of the werewolves of Boston.
For Rael who is a human/werewolf hybrid, life isn’t easy in a pack where the alpha clearly detests anyone who isn’t a pure bred. He’s just turned 18 and not quite ready for what’s thrown at him in this captivating novella. And that includes one massive secret that’s going to change his life forever. To me Rael felt very young and maybe too young to mate, but that’s what happens with wolves, I am told!
Just as well as the one guy Rael has been fancying ‘forever’ is totally on his side! Jameson is one of those tall, strong and inherently kind and thoughtful men SJ Himes is so good at writing, and you can’t help liking. No doubt he’s set himself up for a lot of trouble with certain members of the pack, and it’ll be interesting how this develops throughout the series.
All in all a very promising start! Looking forward to the next book!
Cute novella. It's low steam, low angst short with likable characters, predictable villain and a sort of HEA. The best part was reading about Angel Salvatore from another character's POV.
I am very excited for this new series! I love the Beacon Hill series and I am thrilled this is set in the same universe. Rael and Jameson were a great couple. I loved that Jameson stood up for Rael when the alpha was trying to kick him out.
I know Rael was insecure esp. about Jameson, but also about being a hybrid. I am glad Jameson took it slow to let him realize that he was serious about him. Rael's mother, who was a secondary character, was a spitfire and she adored her son
It was great to see Angel and I hope he makes more appearances throughout the series.
I don't normally rate SJ Himes' work any lower than four stars...
This is a good read. Good. Not great. I probably won't ever even reread it, and that's saying something since I've reread the Beacon Hill Sorcerers series too many times to count. But this was just... Not on. It didn't really engage me, I couldn't connect well with any of the characters, and the attempted chemistry between Rael and Jameson fell flat. I'm also a little annoyed that this went through edits and no one caught the flubs and inconsistencies with Rael's chosen profession.
Hopefully it's a small blip and the rest of the series goes a little better.
As a fan of the Beacon Hill Sorcerer Series i just had to read this spin off. And (as expected) i really liked it. A light, fun and sweet short story about two very likeable wolves in the same universe as my favorite necromancer (who has a cameo in this book).
I really liked Jameson. He is not your usual overbearing, possessive alpha werwolf, instead he is caring, understanding, never demanding. He would do everything to make his boy happy.
*Jameson knew how he felt about Rael. Falling in love for him had been a quiet, easy glide into adoration for Rael‘s stubbornness, pride, and determination to survive in a hostile pack environment. Rael cared about other people, and his drive to become a doctor was something Jameson admired in someone who would live for centuries - Rael knew what he wanted, worked hard for it, and got himself into Harvard on his own merits. What wasn‘t to love?*
All in all a great start to a new series, although I would have liked it to be longer.
Werewolves and magic, what can I say? That's my jam.
'Wolfsbane' is a novella spinoff within the expanded universe of the Infinite Arcana, encompassing the Beacon Hill Sorcerer, Werewolves of Boston, and two additional series Himes plans to debut soon. Apparently you have to read this before starting the next in the Angel Salvatore series (Beacon Hills #7), however new readers will be able to enjoy this without needing Angel's backstory.
Not bad. Definitely great to be back in this universe. Except it’s a little too predictable 🙊 what’s it with me and having such snobbishly high expectations all of a sudden?? 🤦🏻♀️
3.5 It surely works as an enlarged teaser for a new series but I miss what makes S.J. Himes S.J. Himes - no character development, only a straight forward plot and a romance that feels more like a crush than love but there's a cameo of Angel and Eroch and there are enough untapped ideas that I still believe the next part could get the attention from the author which it needs.
Or in more detail and better English: same as haletostilinski
Rael Morrow knows he is not wanted in his pack, but his Alpha’s rejection hurts him anyway. Luckily, there are those willing to stand for him, and protect him from becoming a lone wolf. But Rael is soon to discover that he is not as defenceless as everybody thought he was… What a great first book in a series! I love the Beacon Hill Sorcerer series, and I jumped at the chance of another series in the same Universe. And it did not disappoint. The characters, the plot, the stellar appearance of our favourite badass sorcerer… It is a charming story you cannot put down. My only complaint is that it was too short. I needed more! I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review
The story is undeniably tedious and overused. I expected more from this book because I love the author writing style and imaginary world, but this book was anything but. It was predictable.
Przyznaję, że kiedy zobaczyłam Wolfsbane, które jest spin-offem Necromanty Angela, byłam bardzo podekscytowana. Niestety po jakże zachęcającym początku, reszta książki była dla mnie wielkim chaosem, jakby autorce gdzieś bardzo się spieszyło. Wszystko toczyło się w takim tempie, że kompletnie nie czułam chemii pomiędzy bohaterami. Miałam wrażenie, że pomiędzy uratowaniem Raela przez Jamesona, a ich wyznaniami miłości minęło mgnienie oka. Poza tym, działania końcowe ich wrogów były tak nielogicznie głupie i bez sensu, że przecierałam oczy ze zdumienia. O ile "The Beacon Hill Sorcerer", jest jedną z moich ulubionych serii, o tyle "Werewolves of Boston" okazał się wielkim marnotrawstwem naprawdę dobrego pomysłu. Mam nadzieję, że to tylko wypadek przy pracy i kolejna książka osadzona w tym świecie nie okaże się równie krótką nowelką, a będzie godna głównego cyklu :)
I love the series and therefore this spin-off. Rael and Jameson are a great couple and although I think they would have been fine with a whole book, this was a good read and a good story. Can't wait to read more about them and really hope they still get to have more of Angel and his crew