64 books like The Wolf's Hour

Ordinarily, a werewolf novel with a strong emphasis on the romance angle wouldn’t rate so highly with me, but Kelley Armstrong’s book was the right one at the right time. Elana, our heroine, is the world’s only female werewolf; her job has been killing rogue shapeshifters. She gets tired of that and tries to retire and live as a normal human, but that doesn’t work out.

What I liked about this was that it was my first exposure to a werewolf novel that really dealt with the political and social dynamics of a worldwide werewolf pack. Fortunately, Armstrong is a great storyteller, so there is more here than politics or romance. Her worldbuilding is fantastic, as evidenced by the fact this became the first in a long series of Otherworld novels.

As research, I read a lot of books about werewolves. Some were bad, some were decent, and some were too academic. This one was, in the words of Goldilocks, just right. I loved that it was written in a language anyone could understand and that it wasn’t focused on just one geographic location or culture.

Douglas presents everything from Greek mythology to Norse, Japanese, American Indian, and others. He keeps his personal commentary to a minimum and presents the reader with much information. I see this book as a primer for understanding just about everything about the shapeshifter in legend and literature. If the fiction author has done his/her job well, the shapeshifter will have roots in something Douglas has told us about.

Little Red Riding Hood may have been a prostitute who chose the wolf. I love how thorough Zipes is in his collection of (nearly) all things related to Red. The story is much older than the Brothers Grimm and as new as…well, this was published in 1993 and featured pretty new cartoons.

Unlike so many modern stories where the werewolf is simply a monster “out there” hunting and killing people, the story of Little Red Riding Hood is full of symbolism and metaphor and has been endlessly retold and reinterpreted across all mediums. Was she an innocent girl tricked and eaten by the wolf? Was she a curious young woman lured into the world of prostitution? Was she saved by a woodcutter? Did Grandma escape, or was she also a prostitute? The answer is almost always yes in some form of the story, and Zipes includes it here. This was… show more.

Werewolf stories are my favorite sub-genre of horror, whether it be books or movies. Brandner’s book set the stage for one of the greatest werewolf movies ever. The writing, the characters, and the setting are all top-notch.

For a fun experiment, watch the movie and then read the book, or vice versa, and compare what was changed and whether the movie made improvements. In my opinion, it did, but the book absolutely stands on its own.

If you’re searching for a book that serves up monstrous werewolves in Paris’s catacombs and opera houses, then I highly recommend picking up this book.

I loved how Susan J. Morris used references to Sherlock Holmes and Dracula in her characters, who are racing to find a man-eating beast in 1900s Paris. This was a taut, twisty-turny read!

The entire Immortals After Dark series is a delightful slip into a darker paranormal adventure that you won’t be sorry to have fallen down into. 

Cole takes the reader on a sexy-as-hell journey through a paranormal underworld full of darkness, desire, and sexy hijinks. Stumbling upon this series completely changed the trajectory of my reading habits and I am not mad about it. 

This series is a little darker than the others on my list, but in no way too dark to jump into.

This was my first foray into reading Urban Fantasy, and it made me very glad I did. This is the story of Lucy, a woman transformed into a werewolf, who must navigate the task of being Alpha of her new pack as well as adjusting to the new, often violent, world she’s a part of. I love how Heather deals with Lucy embracing a job she didn’t choose for herself. The interplay between the characters makes this a fun read with some very laugh-out-loud dialogue, especially in the interactions between Lucy and her Wolf, Esme. I think the whole ‘fish out of water’ thing speaks to all of us. Who hasn’t daydreamed, what if I could do magic, or had superpowers? The real question is, how would you cope if you suddenly could and it changed your life completely?

Oliver, a financial analyst befriends a stray cat who begins talking to him one night. And then things start to get really strange.

This is an ‘all the myths are true’ adventure fantasy set in modern-day San Francisco, where absurd things just keep happening while Oliver runs for his life from an inhuman assassin, and finds himself allied with a werewolf with excellent baking skills and a grumpy gunslinger who take orders from an (apparently) immortal child.

I love this story not only for the talking cat (though admittedly it’s what made me start reading), but for the way Oliver is forced to rethink his perceptions of both the world and himself. 

Ever wonder what would happen if paranormal beings were ousted on social media? Kinney explores this enticing idea in her Texas Shifter series, where she’s created a gritty new existence for vamps and wolves. With one of the MCs a freshly-bitten hot mess, and desperate to avoid eating her family, she seeks help from her equally troubled (and broody) ex. Cue the drama, sass, chemistry, and steam. What I enjoyed most is how the more hard-hitting, sobering themes of this book are balanced out by the spice and sarcasm. But best of all? No damsel in distress! 

Hunt gives us a different type of werewolf. One who is just trying to find his place in the world. His journey gave me all the feels. I loved being a part of Josh’s journey and seeing him find a life instead of just going through the motions of day-to-day life.