This was a quick and easy read.

Gina is camping with her brother when she's accidentally turned into a werewolf by Maverick. Mavericks community welcomes her with open arms and Gina soon finds she wants to be a part of their group.

These two fall fast and hard for each other and it's great to see them navigate this.

I really, truly, wanted to love this story. And it isn't like it's a bad story. I just felt like there was lot more that could have been added or even done with it. It was very slow for me, and I had a hard time getting into it-which made it harder for me to push and finish it. Parts of it were funny and did make me laugh but there were other parts that just had me in disbelief, because as a woman-I would never do that! But, like I said-it's not like it's a bad story. Some people will probably love it, it just wasn't to my liking.

Christmas Wolf Surprise is the third title in the Red Wolf series, which is a sub-series within the Heart of the Wolf connecting world. No, you don’t have to have read all of the stories within this world to enjoy Gina’s and Maverick’s adventure… but there are plenty more great stories should you want to dive in further, which I highly recommend.

I had fun with Christmas Wolf Surprise, but because of the shortness of the story, I don’t want to go into many details as I try not to spoil a book for other readers. I can say that the Bigfoot hunters were fun and slightly clueless, but Gina gets a surprise that keeps on giving when she believes she sees a dog on the frozen lake and tries to rescue it… not realizing that the ice is cracking around her – and that’s not a dog. Her life is about to change, and so is Maverick’s.

I can read a Christmas romance any time of the year, and this one is fun, quirky, with just a touch of danger. I love seeing familiar faces from other parts of this world as well as the earlier books. Overall, Maverick and Gina’s romance was a delightful romp in a world I love revisiting.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the publisher via NetGalley. That does not change what I think of this story. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

CHRISTMAS WOLF SURPRISE, Red Wolf Book 3
Terry Spear
Christmas Romance/Fantasy

When Maverick accidentally changes Gina into a red wolf shifter, he is surprised that he bit her without even knowing it. Gina has no clue what is happening to her and now must involve her parents, brother and his friends. As Maverick gets closer to Gina he realizes how much he likes her.

This was a great shifter book. I went in knowing nothing about the series and realized right away that this was a book that could easily stand on its own. With some sugar, spice, and everything nice thrown in, I easily give this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

Was a great read from beginning to end and so hard to put down. This is a heartwarming, action packed and emotional journey filled with engaging charters, witty dialog, heart racing twists and undeniable passion.

Basically a hallmark movie meets a paranormal romance. Great setup with a wolf running a reindeer farm and a beautiful woman endangered on a lake who thinks the wolf is a German Shepard dog. Had me laughing. Cute, sweet fluff for the holiday season for fans of werewolves and romance with a dash of danger. I posted a positive review on TikTok.

At once high camp and boring, Christmas Wolf Surprise reads like a Hallmark movie but furrier. This is about a hot male werewolf who accidentally turns an equally hot woman while she is hunting for Bigfoot and werewolves with her brother and his pals. What I love about Terry Spear's work is the complete lack of conflict. Any problem that these characters have is solved immediately, and the characters go on to relax by eating a delicious meal that is described in incredible detail. That's another thing I love: Terry loves food. These books have so much discussion of cooking and eating. It's like a recipe book. These wolves eat so many omelets and potatoes, and I envy that.

In all seriousness, this wasn't great. The writing is bland, and both main characters are warning. For some reason, the solution to all their problems is to turn the FMC's whole family into wolves. The reasoning is never clear. And these people are barely phased by people turning to wolves right in front of them, and then becoming on themselves. It's truly ridiculous. Also ridiculous was the smut, which was almost written like a scientific how-to. I never, ever want to read this much about pheromones again.

Still, I had fun. I can't rate this lower than two stars because of how much I loved talking about it with my sister and friends. It was a nice, cozy read, and it did exactly what it set out to do. Who can be mad at that?

This is a voluntary review of an advanced copy.

I always look forward to the next book in the Red Wolf series! It is even better when you get so see the previous couples included in the book - Josh and Brooke, Leidof and Cassie, and Adam when they need a cop.

This time, Maverick is rescued by a human woman, Gina, and in the midst of the rescue, he bites her. Good thing that they are attracted to each other and she is ok with being a wolf shifter! That part went much better than trying to stay ahead of Gina's brother and his friends who are out to look for Big Foot and werewolves. Since their friends died on a previous excursion and Sarge's body was never found, the group has been out trying to see if they run across werewolves and maybe some answers.

Lots of action and drama as they try to keep the wolves a secret, keep the competing reindeer company from using their marketing, and try to have a courtship! Great HEA and everyone ends up satisfied with the conclusion.

Red wolf shifter, Maverick Wilding owns a reindeer ranch and have very busy Christmas seasons. However when an animal could be in a dangerous situation he and his brother won't hesitate to rescue it.

Our hero is about to have the most chaotic Christmas to date after a slip up.

Gina Hutton is on a hunting trip with her brother and some friends, with no real expectations of finding the things they search for. They might however find something that will change their lives forever.

A paranormal romance romp through the season. Our wonderful characters love everything about Christmas and use it all to lift our spirits to match theirs. You can't help but fall in love with them all and smile your way through every page.

Great fun.

CHRISTMAS WOLF SURPRISE will, at times, have you rolling with laughter and other times holding your breath as you wait for what could possibly happen next.

Reviewed by Annetta Sweetko for Fresh Fiction

Complete review: https://freshfiction.com/review.php?id=79698

Gina is out with her brother and his friends when she is accidentally scratched by wolf shifter, Maverick. Now things are changing (literally) for her. Will she accept her new reality? What about her family? Luckily, Maverick and his family are there to help her.

A fun, light, and fast-paced shifter romance.

Many thanks to Sourcebooks and NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. My thoughts and opinions are my own and without bias or favor or expectation.

Christmas Wolf Surprise is a paranormal romance filled with action and adventure and a little spice. I had to focus to finish it, as it was slow and repetitive at times. The writing was simple, elementary and a bit wordy in my opinion. I liked the idea of it, but the story seemed very unbelievable to me. Who meets a man in the woods, on a hike looking for a reindeer and suddenly decide to go home with him and date him? A very trusting woman, I suppose. And the chemistry between Gina and Maverick just wasn’t there.

Reader, beware: the world building is not well thought out; there’s sex on the page; and the disregard for informed consent (on becoming a wolf shifter, not sex) is appalling.

This is the third and last of the Red Wolf trilogy; it also seems to be connected to at least one other of Ms Spear’s wolf shifter series, given the medium-sized infodump early on in the book. (see footnote 1)

I know I have read one or two of Ms Spear’s books before, but it’s been a while and I didn’t post any reviews anywhere I can find. However, I don’t remember the writing voice being this clunky (for lack of a better word).

So, here’s the setup: due to a series of innocent circumstances, Gina is turned into a wolf shifter, and now both her and the shifter who turned her need to deal with that. (see footnote 2)

When you read the second paragraph in the blurb, you imagine that there’s some tension, some danger in the novel.

It makes sense, right? You have a rather big secret to protect from the world: wolf shifters are real and they live among regular people! You really don’t want cryptid hunters stalking you, let alone governments.

And now you have this woman who’s been accidentally made ‘one of you’–cue high stakes crisis!

Except the writing never conveys that.

We get a lot of unnecessary detail about inconsequential things, such as the hair and eye color of secondary characters–in the middle of rescuing someone who fell into a frozen lake.

We get loving descriptions of someone putting together lobster rolls, and admiring mental notes about their kitchen cabinetry–at the same time they are discussing how anyone who becomes aware of the existence of wolf shifters is either turned or “eliminated” (actual word used).

There is no sense of urgency; even when Gina thinks about the potential consequences (“if I disappear, my family will come looking for me, so they’ll either be turned or killed”), she’s absolutely blasé about it. At the point I quit, there had been one sentence of concern about the ethics of planning on turning other people on purpose and without their consent.

One.

Shouldn’t consent be centered in genre romance? Shouldn’t it go beyond “let us not rape people”?

Not in this book or, going by the worldbuilding, this series.

Which brings me to the really weird way that language is used.

For example, we have an adult man explaining to Gina, that “wolves mate for life, so you can make love to a human without consequences, but going all the way with another wolf means you’re mated for life. No divorce.” Later, while they’re making out–naked–in the shower, we have this from his point of view: “(he) rubbed his cock against her, wanting to go all the way”. For her part, Gina is all over him, while “wondering” whether she’ll like “dating him”.

“Make love”

“Go all the way”

“Dating”

Not “have sex” or hell, “intercourse”, nope. Fucking? Completely out of the question! So we get these weirdly anachronistic euphemisms instead.

And do not get me started on using “bachelor males” instead of “single men”, repeatedly, because the whole tenor of sex and gender dynamics made my teeth ache. (see footnote 3)

Beyond this and the huge, huge, lack of consent ethics problem, the worldbuilding just doesn’t hold in any logical way.

One guy accidentally scratches someone and turns them, now you have to disappear that first person and…all their family? How about their friends? their co-workers? employers? neighbors? How big does that circle get before you stop?

Telling me that this woman, and her brother, and oh, yes, her parents, and, shit, maybe the brother’s cryptid hunting friends too, are easy to absorb into the wolf pack because they’re freelancers or they’re retired, and it so happens the pack owns 30,000 acres, so what’s four or six more people this month…

That’s just not practical, but also, that’s not how actual people act or react–on either side of this crisis. You can’t tell me there’s a whole wolf shifter universe hiding among humans where there are no contingency plans other than absorbing or murdering nigh every human you come in contact with–because that’s what this boils down to.

You can’t tell me that Gina going, “oh well, my mom will hate not being able to dye her hair, but she’ll get used to it, because the food will taste delicious and she’ll be able to see in the dark”, when told about the “turn or kill” ~choice~ in front of her, is a believable human reaction.

You can’t tell me that her brother–the one who ran with werewolf hunters, mind you–going, “oh this is cool” when a man shifts into a wolf, fucking bites him, then shifts again and tells him, “now you are a wolf shifter too”, is a believable, human reaction.

And that last scene is where I gave up.

I read for the characters in general, but most especially in genre romance; here, the characters are flat and hollow, the worldbuilding isn’t interesting or coherent, and what passes for conflict (how to keep the pack’s secret) has already been blown to who-the-fuck-cares by said worldbuilding.

(Did I mention how they have multiple births, usually twins or triplets, but also quads every so often, because “wolves”? And of course, no one notices! because ::handwave:: because.)

Christmas Wolf Surprise is a definite DNF; I don’t know if or when I’ll tackle other books by Ms Spear hiding in my TBR.

* * * *

1 I checked Fantastic Fiction, my go-to site for this kind of thing, but it’s not clear there, so I tried to figure it out by going to Ms Spear’s website; I’m sorry to say that there’s no static page listing books by series or how series interconnect, so I’m still in the dark.

2 I generally try not to poke fun at character names, because I’m sympathetic to authors who’ve written more than a few novels just, well, running out of names. We readers generally don’t want to have main characters from different novels sharing a name, so after say, thirty books, it can be hard. With that said: Maverick Wilding? for an Oregon reindeer rancher who’s also a wolf shifter? ::incoherent noises ensue::

3 There’s a weird undercurrent of…well, Christian conservative politics in the worldbuilding, especially as it pertains sex and gender; queerness doesn’t exist apparently–but then neither does race, since everyone is white. (You know shit is weird when you have different *subspecies* of wolf shifters, with minute listings of the physical/appearance markers between them, but not one character who is explicitly not white.)

This is a fun read that has it all alpha male shifter that is gorgeous to look at hot tough female lead that has a life of her own Throw in a few characters from past books and the female characters family and you have a well rounded story that draws you in and keeps you engaged

The third book in the red wolf series This is the story of Gina Hutton a zoologist hiking with her brother and his friends they are hoping to find bigfoot and maybe a werewolf she just wants to relax and hike But when she rescues a trapped dog that turns out to be a wolf and he bites her by mistake her life is irrevocable changed. Now she will have to learn how to be wolf and Maverick the man who bit her will help Before long feelings are growing between them but can they have a future You will have to read to see

Werewolves and Christmas? Sign me up!
I am a werewolf girl at heart so I always get excited when Terry Spear releases a new werewolf book. I especially have enjoyed her Christmas themed ones. I'm glad to state that Christmas Wolf Surprise was another fun read!
I particularly liked the romance in this one. Although it was definitely insta-love I found the couple to be adorable and I liked them together. I also liked the conflict of deciding whether or not to turn Gina's brother and friends into werewolves. I thought it created an interesting conflict without being too heavy for such a light-hearted book.
I think lovers of holiday romance with low drama will absolutely love this book.

Terry Spear's wolf shifter books are extremely popular, and with good reason. The heroes are good-looking and good hearted, and the heroines are smart, tough, and beautiful. This time around the story focuses on Maverick Wilding and Gina Hutton. Maverick is a red wolf shifter and owner of a reindeer ranch. Gina is a zoologist hiking with her brother and his friends as they search for Bigfoot; Gina is only there for the hiking, but the guys are really hoping to find something unusual, maybe even werewolves. A series of coincidences and accidents lead to their encounter and Gina winds up accompanying Maverick back to the ranch where a romance blooms (of course).

One of the things that makes Spear's books appealing is that the characters from other stories continue to appear and the storylines cross and mesh. So in this story we also have Josh and Brooke from <i>Joy to the Wolves</i>, Sarge from <i>Legend of the White Wolf</i>, and even "Zooman" Thompson from <i>Heart of the Wolf</i>, as well as other members of the red wolf pack. Seeing how they interact and support each other as they try to keep their furry secrets from the rest of the world is part of the fun. Both Josh and Maverick's stories are made more fun with the holiday feel and the inclusion of the reindeer ranch. Who wouldn't want to snuggle up with a story where the HEA ending is guaranteed and there are also cuties such as the reindeer calves named Silver Antlers, Jingle Bells, Sugarkin, and Glistening Hooves?

Christmas Wolf Surprise by Terry Spear is the third book in the Red Wolf paranormal romance series. This one features Gina Hutton and red wolf shifter Maverick Wilding. Gina, her brother, and two of his friends are hiking, camping, and looking for Bigfoot and werewolves in an Oregon state park when an accident brings danger, adventure, and more. Maverick and his brother are managing the holiday activities for their reindeer ranch when he hears something that means danger, and tries to warn Gina while in wolf form.

Gina and Maverick are likeable main characters. Gina is tenacious, fun, friendly, and a zoologist. However, how will she handle changes to her life? Maverick is patient, responsible, playful, but has secrets. The secondary characters are a blend of characters from the first book in the series plus some new additions, which gives continuity but keeps things fresh. Their connection is handled deftly, but happened a little too quickly.

Spear does an excellent job of blending romance and high stakes. Set around Christmas, this novel has a quick pace and lots of steam. My biggest quibble is that I wanted more suspense. The ending was wrapped up well, but it seemed too unrealistic. Nevertheless, the book captured the holiday spirit perfectly and was definitely enjoyable.

Overall, this was a fun and entertaining novel with some humor to go with the danger, holiday events, and romance. I enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the next book in the series.

SOURCEBOOKS Casablanca and Terry Spear provided a complimentary digital ARC of this novel via NetGalley. This is my honest review. Opinions are mine alone and are not biased in any way. Publication date is currently set for October 11, 2022.

The third book in the Red Wolf series by Terry Spears has all the fixings for a perfect cozy shifter story. There are wolf-shifters that own a reindeer ranch, it’s Christmas, and the heroine is a zoologist-what is not enticing about that? There are a lot of aspects to the plot that are attractive and it doesn’t just concentrate on the romance between the two main characters, but actually has a story to go along with it.

I will say that this book was just not for me, but I do not want to deter anyone else from reading it because I think it is due to taste. It was a really quick read, and as stated above there are a lot of very attractive things about the plot. The issues that made it a lower rated book for me were that I did not find either of the main characters all that interesting, the writing style was a tad repetitive and, ultimately, I did not believe in the romance between the two MCs.

Funny loving Christmas read with shifters, some steam and the feeling of family. Book 3 in a series can be read as a stand alone. Gina is a zoologist who went camping with her brother and his friends who are hunting for big foot and werewolves. Maverick is a wolf shifter who with his brother and pack have a reindeer farm. How cool is that? When she is accidentally turned saving Maverick in his wolf form things change, decisions have to be made and there is family. There is also steam, I mean hey need to see how mating might be, right? This is a quick entertaining paranormal read with steam and Christmas spirit. Pull up a chair, make some cocoa and let yourself be taken away from all the troubles in our world. Thank you for the arc. I freely volunteer my thoughts and opinions. #christmaswolfsurprise #terryspear #sourcebookcasablanca #netgalley

It's a long time since last I read a paranormal romance by Terry Spear and I enjoyed this one.
It's fast paced, action packed novel featuring likeable characters and sweet romance.
Festive and entertaining.
Recommended.
Many thanks to the publisher and Netgalley for this ARC, all opinions are mine