For Ox, learning that there’s a pack of werewolves living at the end of the road is just the beginning.
He befriends a young Joe, and steadily grows to become part of the Bennett clan’s family. His mother eventually becomes involved as well, learning the secret about the Bennett family. As Joe grows older, Ox develops a massive crush on the young man he once knew as a boy. Then, several terrible things happen and Ox is thrown into a new life, one where he becomes a human Alpha to a pack mixed with wolves and humans.
Joe leaves.
After three years, Joe and several others return. Joe is more a man than a teenager.
Both Joe and Ox can’t deny their feelings. But so much has changed in the past three years. Can the two not only get along, but return to their budding relationship?
Wolfsong is a beautiful novel. It’s more about showing you Ox’s emotions, rather than just telling you. Ox and Joe end up having a rough patch in their relationship after Joe leaves his pack behind. For a long time, Ox waits. But unlike Bella Swan, he ends up soon taking matters into his own hands. He’s forced to make a choice and chooses because he looses faith in the man he loves.
As Ox grows older, he becomes more unlike his father predicted. “You’re gonna get shit,” his father once told him, as he drank. He told Ox that people would treat him differently because of how he acts, and how he’s a little slower than other people.
But, as Ox becomes a human Alpha and gains the trust and respect of his pack, he starts to prove his father wrong.
Wolfsong is definitely a slow-burn kind of paranormal romance. It allows the characters room to grow and become their own people, before thrusting them into a relationship. Yes, there are some tropes that come into play, but overall I feel like this novel is a winner because it let’s the characters grow before they start falling for each other. Some romances don’t even do half the necessary leg work.
The intimacy between the two main leads takes place much later, too. I like this a lot, because there’s nothing forced about Joe and Ox having sex. They are both consenting adults, and both want each other. While there’s a bit of possessiveness on Joe’s part, it’s not as bad as the possessiveness of the Twilight saga. There’s no forced marriage, or forced sex, either. This is important, because Twilight has a lot wrong with it from a relationship standpoint. There’s plenty of red flags in the other novels as well.
Ox and Joe are not Bella and Edward, nor are they Bella and Jacob. They are their own thinking, feeling people. This too is important. To have either of them be complacent and instantly forgive one another means that something fishy is going on, I would think. Ox and Joe have to work to get back to where they were, unlike the characters in the Twilight saga.
The importance of family and pack is a major theme throughout the novel. As the pack is unified, fractured, and then regroups as the years go on, the message that pack is one of the most important things remains the same. I really like this image, because it makes me think of the pack that I have with my own family and my dog Bentley. We refer to everyone being together as “the pack is all together,” for Bentley. She is our golden retriever and loves us dearly. Just this afternoon we got the tiny kennels ready for our new puppy–another golden retriever, and another girl. I’m very excited to have her become an addition to our family!
Love is another theme that is woven into the narrative of Wolfsong. Love is what ties Ox to the Bennett pack, as well as his friends at the car shop where he works. His mother is a big reason as to why Ox is full of so much love to give, because his mom stood by him even after his father left.
Wolfsong is an emotional roller coster, one you have to witness yourself.
The Nerdy Nook 
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