E-galley Review: Truth or Wolf (Wolf Brothers #1) by Anne Marsh

I received this book for free from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Truth or Wolf by Anne Marsh
Series: Wolf Brothers #1
Published by Smartypants Romance on May 16, 2024
Genres: Adult Paranormal Romance, Adult Retelling
Pages: 376
Source: the publisher
Format: E-galley
My Rating:
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Blurb:

Welcome to Moonlight Valley, Tennessee… the secret paranormal sibling of Penny Reid’s Green Valley and a small town where bearded werewolves outnumber the unsuspecting human inhabitants.

Twin brothers Atticus and Ford Boone may share the same face and the same supernatural secret, but where Atticus is charismatic and charming, Ford is grumpy and reserved… and that’s before he shifts into his wolf. When hardworking citizen scientist Alice Aymes reluctantly returns to Green Valley to restart her stalled life, she’s sure she knows what to expect. She’ll save up the money she needs to escape to Nashville while nursing her secret infatuation with the ever-popular Atticus Boone—and fighting with her high school nemesis, his twin brother. Alice hates Ford, and he’s always hated her right back. But after a case of mistaken identity has Alice kissing the wrong twin, she does what any good scientist does and analyzes the facts.

Fact #1: It’s time to revisit her unrequited crush on Atticus. Who needs a white-knight fantasy man when there’s a rock-solid, beaded lumberjack in your personal space?

Fact #2: Stimuli and sensory input ahoy! Growing up, Alice saw Ford as the grumpiest, sternest guy in town. They fought for years. Apparently that now sends her amygdalae into sensual overdrive.

Fact #3: The more bearded the wolf, the more protective and possessive.

As Alice finds herself irresistibly drawn to the man she loves to hate, the question lingers: How much of her level-headed heart is she willing to risk in the face of newfound desires and supernatural secrets?

‘Truth or Wolf’, a Penny Reid Universe Reimagining, is a full-length paranormal romance, can be read as a standalone, and is book #1 in the Wolf Brothers series, Smartypants Romance Out of this World, Penny Reid Book Universe.

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Amazon US: https://amzn.to/48eZi8b

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CVKK533G

Amazon CA: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0CVKK533G

Amazon AU: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0CVKK533G

My Review

I guess I didn’t read the synopsis close enough because I didn’t realize this was going to be a kind of paranormal/werewolf Winston Brothers series retelling! And let me tell you that I am HERE for this! I loved this book so much! It’s been a while since I read through the whole Winston Brothers series, and so it was fun kind of rereading the whole Truth or Beard story but told with werewolves, and the Iron Wolves instead of the Iron Wraiths. It was fun realizing which characters would fill in for the characters for the other story. And funnily enough, they even mentioned Green Valley in this new Moonlight Valley, Tennessee world.

So our heroine in this boo, Alice Aymes, (Jessica James anyone?) only reminds me a little of the character she is a retelling of. Alice is so much more awkward to me, but that’s not bad, I enjoyed it for sure! And the back stories and families of all the characters aren’t exactly the same, but each have their own similarities that it is recognizable if you’ve read the original series. However even with those same parts, there are changes to the story and so many things I look forward to seeing how they will change if we get more books in this series!

Next we have Ford Boone, twin brother to Atticus Boone who Alice has always had a crush on. However Ford has always had a bit of a crush on Alice, and is the perfect example of that old adage (which I know that it is no longer considered PC) that boys pick on the girls they like. Turns out that when he comes to Alice’s rescue, she thinks it is Atticus and ends up kissing him. Then she finds out it isn’t him, at the same time she finds out he is a werewolf when his brother shifts from wolf to human basically right in front of her!

Now she’s in on a secret that of course can’t be spread around. Because even though there is the Iron Wolves, it isn’t a commonly known to everyone fact that there are really werewolves. Atticus and Ford also have the same amount of brothers and sisters as the original series. My favorite Cletus reimagining is Ranger, and he also enjoys talking about his sausage and sharing it with others. IYKYK.

As I mentioned the story basically follows the original series book but with its own paranormal aspects and differently imagined situations that would come along with those differences. I loved how the author used a quote from a paranormal/werewolf romance at the beginning of each chapter, including Twilight and even my favorite author Maggie Stiefvater! I am going to keep gushing and hoping that this book gets enough love that the author will write the next reimagined book in the series, just as I continue to hope for more of the historical romance reimagining by Lainey Hatcher of the Knitting in the City series by Penny Reid.

The new saying may no longer be “Get thee a Winston stat”, but “Get thee a Boone (Wolf brother), stat!”

About the Author

Anne Marsh is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of paranormal and humorous small town contemporary romance. She and her herd of rescue cats live in rural North Carolina full of neighbors who will pull you out of a ditch, bring you a truck of mulch, or fix your car just because they can. Who said heroes don’t exist in real life?

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