I just finished reading Rosie Danan’s Fan Service, and it has reawakened my shapeshifter-loving heart. It’s a redemption story of a washed-up child actor who once played a werewolf on TV, and who thinks he’s turning into a real werewolf (and he just might be). The only person who can save him? His biggest fan. This rom-com is filled with wit, tenderness and self-forgiveness. If you love Buffy the Vampire Slayer and slow burns, Fan Service will have you howling for more. Spice level: mid.
My favorite shifter series these days is Helen Harper’s Cat Lady Chronicles. We meet unassuming cat lady Kit McCafferty and her magical moggies in Waifs & Strays (Book 1). I love all of Helen Harper’s heroines, but Kit is my favorite — a bundle of sass who secretly kicks ass. One of the most inventive and prolific urban fantasy writers out there, Harper ingeniously mixes cats, werewolves and Scottish mythology. You have time to gobble up Books 1 through 4 while waiting for A Killer Heart to arrive on Sept. 18. Low spice level.
Continuing the theme of “werewolves, but make it quirky!” we have Kimberly Lemming’s romp That Time I Got Drunk and Yeeted a Love Potion at a Werewolf from the Mead Mishaps series, all about zany, madcap adventures. In this book, our heroine is a cheesemaker named Brie who begrudgingly gallivants with demon pirates. While attempting to throw a drink at a creep in a bar, she misses and hits the playboy werewolf standing behind him. The drink just happens to be drugged… with a love potion. Now werewolf Felix falls head over paws for Brie, despite the fact that he is lactose intolerant. But are they really fated mates? And does it even matter when he’s willing to do all the chores? Love scenes come with extra spice.
I’d discuss Ali Hazelwood’s Mate and others, but this column isn’t long enough for me to be a werewolf completionist. For more beastly titles, search “werewolves” at search.icpl.org.
Melody Dworak is a librarian at the Iowa City Public Library, juggling two to three books at any given time. This article was originally published in Little Village’s September 2026 issue.
