Terry Spear

A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry Spear has an MBA from Monmouth University.  She never figured she would some day be writing novels about romantic werewolves!  As an eclectic writer, she dabbles in the paranormal, historical, and true life stories for both teen and adult audiences.  When she’s not writing, she makes original, award-winning teddy bears, enjoys gardening with her son and daughter, and visiting medieval renaissance and Highlander fairs.

91 Comments

  1. Margay said,

    Terry, I really enjoy reading your posts here and in other spots in the blogosphere and I have a question for you on settings and making it real. What if you want to place a wolf shifter story in a place where wolves don’t dwell as much these days and you want to draw on Native American culture for richness but can’t find anything to back it up in your research? Would you make up a culture to suit your needs or put it in a setting you’re unfamiliar with? As you can see, I am in something of a dilemma here.
    Thanks,
    Margay

  2. terryspear said,

    Yikes, Margay! I didn’t get a message anyone had sent me a message here. 🙂 I’d make up your own culture. I make up my own settings when need be. I try to use what I can that works, but when it won’t work, then it’s your fantastical world. 🙂 You can always have that a specific group of Native Americans believed this as a local tribe and not the group as a whole. Sorry I took so long to answer! 🙂

  3. Stephanie Shaw said,

    Terry, I just love your books. As a military spouse, I am moving every few years and it’s nice to be able to have my favorite books to escape into while getting settled into the new city, state, or country that we’re transfered to. Please keep writing, so I can keep reading and escape into your literary fantasies!

  4. Karla Gautreaux said,

    Terry, I love your books. Please keep them coming.

  5. Terry Spear said,

    Thanks so much, Stephanie, and thanks for sending me that photo of the Navy SEALs rappelling from the Navy helicopter. 🙂 Definitely has to be Hunter and his team!

    Thanks so much, Karla!!! If you need book marks, just email me for my address and you can send me an SASE and I’ll forward the book marks!! 🙂 I’ve just proposed some more wolf books! 🙂 And I’m working on #10 right now! Thanks again!

  6. Jasmine said,

    Terry, you are my all-time favorite shape shifter author. I am obssessed with both of your series. I was wondering if you were going to revisit the Arctic wolves (Kintail and Caine’s packs) in the future. I really liked Legend of the White Wolf because it was a completely different setting and a different breed of wolf from the usual gray and red wolves. And what about Devlyn’s pack? Have you ever thought writing about a pack of black wolves?
    Can’t wait for the next wolf/jaguar couple to come out. Keep up the awesome and incredible work.

  7. terryspear said,

    Ahh, thanks so much, Jasmine!!! I totally am going to write about the Arctic wolves! I’ve had so many other projects that I was on deadline for, and I started a brand new Heart of the Cougar shifter series, starting with Cougar’s Mate, plus still need to write another Highland medieval story this year…but I am going to write about the white wolves. And yes, about Devlyn’s pack. I had started a sequel to that and then shifted gears because the Silver Bros Wolf Pack took off. 🙂 But it’s in the works. A pack of black wolves would be fun! Jaguar Hunt is up next in June, just got copyedits back for A Hero of a Highland Wolf, coming in August! Working on a SEAL Wolf for Sale right now. So lots more to come!!! Oh, and I want to write Call of the Cougar, next in the cougar shifter series.! Thanks so much for loving the stories!!! 🙂

  8. Jasmine said,

    Dear Terry,
    I’m trying to choose a name for this Native American werewolf hybrid I drew. I looked up Native American names but none of them fit. So I started looking at Eleven names. His mate has an eleven name Aerilaya (she is a hellhound). Here are a few names that stood out:

    Derek
    Ryland
    Riley
    Logan
    Gabriel
    Aesar
    Desoto
    Aaragon
    Valkaen
    Sovar
    I don’t know which one to choose. What should I do?

  9. terryspear said,

    I like Desoto. It still has a Native American sound to it to me.

  10. Jasmine said,

    I like the last Shaw. What do you think?

  11. Jasmine said,

    Dear Terry,
    Out of all the characters you have created and written about, which couple is your favorite or the most memorable?

    My favorite couple is Tom and Elizabeth because their story kind of reminds me of Beauty and the Beast. Tom is the beauty and Elizabeth is the beast. Like the Beast, Liz lives a solitary life because of what she is, a mixed breed and is shunned by both wolves and coyotes. Tom is the first person to see her for who she really is and not what she is.

  12. terryspear said,

    I love that analogy, Jasmine!. I loved their characters so much. It’s hard for me to love one couple over another because I fall in love with each while I’m creating their story. So next up for me is creating A Silver Wolf Christmas and I’ll be back in beloved Silver Town again, only this time with featuring one of the Silver wolf cousins. 🙂

  13. Jasmine said,

    OMG!!! I absolutely LOVE the cover for Jaguar Pride! I just saw it this morning on your web page; it’s beautiful! What made you decide to make the delicious shifter into a black jaguar?

  14. terryspear said,

    I love black jaguars. They’re so rare. I thought it would be fun to have the brother and sister as golden and then Huntley is black. You see him in Jaguar Fever. I think I said his mother has the gene for that and his father is the usual golden jaguar, which is more typical of the jaguars. I love the cover. 🙂

  15. Jasmine said,

    In most of your books, it’s always the alpha and beta males who save the day and almost all the she-wolves are usually already wolves (with the exceptions of Tess, Faith, and Alicia); have you ever thought about reversing the roles (making the hero of the story a she-wolf who is an alpha or beta and having her mate be a human who was turned)?

  16. terryspear said,

    Yes, actually I have. I had started one early on where the female is the alpha leader of her pack and she has no mate. So maybe I can get back to that one of these days, IF I can find that version. I might have lost it in a computer crash. 😦

  17. Jasmine said,

    There’s one question that I have been curious about (actually it’s one of the many I’m curious about): if your wolf and/or jaguar series were to be made into motion picture movies how would you want the animal forms to be portrayed, CGI animation (Twilight, Bitten) or with real wolves and jaguar’s (Blood and Chocolate, The Vampire Diaries, Teen Wolf)?

  18. terryspear said,

    Absolutely real wolves and jaguars since I base them on the real animals. 🙂

  19. Jasmine said,

    Jaguar Hunt was an absolute joy to read! Who knew comedy could be sexy; especially with the playful, flirty, banter Patterson and Anderson had throughout the book.

  20. terryspear said,

    LOL, thanks so much, Jasmine! They were so much fun to write. 🙂 They just took off and I had hardly any control over them. And that made it even more fun. 🙂

  21. Jasmine said,

    Why did the texture of the book covers change when Heart of the Highland Wolf came out? All the books before that one have a shiny glossy appearance to them but all the others (with the exceptions of A Seal Wolf Christmas and Savage Hunger and A Seal in Wolf’s Clothing) it’s different.

  22. terryspear said,

    I think they’re trying different finishes to see if one appeals over another. I kind of like glossy, don’t you?

  23. Jasmine said,

    Yes. It gives the books a more desirable appeal. That’s what usually makes pick up a book in the first place (if I don’t know the author).

  24. Jasmine said,

    What inspired you to write about a pack of wolves who were of Scottish-Irish descent?

  25. Terry Spear said,

    My mother’s family were from Scotland and Ireland, so while I was doing research on them, I became really fascinated with them. I kept wanting to write a Highland medieval series, so did, and it just seemed natural to have a Highland wolf pack also. I’ve been asked if I’ll write about Highland jaguars, but they didn’t have jaguars in the Highlands, though I do have an idea of how to get around that. 🙂

  26. Jasmine said,

    That’s really cool. It sounds like you put a little bit of your family into each book in some way.

  27. terryspear said,

    It is! 🙂 ❤

  28. Jasmine said,

    Have you ever thought about writing a novel that involved a human who knew shape shifters existed but was never turned because he/she kept the secret to themselves?

  29. terryspear said,

    I have in both Legend of the White Wolf, and Zooman Thompson knows. 🙂 ❤

  30. Jasmine said,

    I wish white jaguar’s existed. I think that would make for a good jaguar shifter book.

  31. terryspear said,

    Same with white cougars! 🙂 ❤

  32. Jasmine said,

    Definitely. Did ever think about writing a werewolf/jaguar collaboration novel?

  33. terryspear said,

    I don’t want to give anything away, but something big is coming in the jaguar Christmas story in Oct, 2016. 🙂 ❤

  34. Jasmine said,

    Now I can’t wait for 2016! I’ve got a gazillion ideas as to what that novel will have in store for readers!

  35. terryspear said,

    LOL, I can’t wait to write it. My editor loved it. 🙂 ❤

  36. Jasmine said,

    Ok, so I just bought A Hero of a Highland Wolf (and reading it right now) and I gotta say, whoever said arguing isn’t a good sign needs to read this book. Who knew arguing could be that adorable?

  37. terryspear said,

    LOL, Jasmine, I had so much fun with those two. 🙂 ❤

  38. Jasmine said,

    I mean seriously I don’t think I have laughed that much reading a romance book.

  39. terryspear said,

    They were fun. I don’t know. Sometimes the characters are just so much fun. Call of the Cougar was that way too. She’s a real wild cat in that one. And he has a time keeping up with her. 🙂

  40. Jasmine said,

    Have you ever thought about making one of your characters like Lucille Ball (accident prone, clumsy, magnet for trouble)? That would make for one heck of a fun ride.

  41. terryspear said,

    Nah, not as in accident prone or clumsy, but a magnet for trouble? Absolutely. Call of the Cougar is a totally wild ride and if the EMTs are called, it’s usually because Tracey, a Special Agent for Fish and Wildlife Services, is in the middle of it. 🙂 ❤

  42. Jasmine said,

    On pins and needles for the next 2-3 years; the titles that you’re toying with (Jaguar Jingle Bells, She Wolf, and Billionaire in Wolf’s Clothing) have me very excited!

  43. terryspear said,

    LOL, thanks, Jasmine! 🙂 I’m hoping to have another book out that was turned down by my editor. I had to rewrite the whole book, but the few who have read it, loved it, so after revising again, I will finally be able to publish it. Next year though. Just finished proofing Her Highland Hero audiobook, need to do Huntress for Hire, and still going over A Silver Wolf Christmas. 🙂

  44. Jasmine said,

    Huntress for Hire sounds like it will be a hell of a good read; and I just saw the cover for Seal Wolf Hunting……love it! Most shapeshifter authors don’t include machine weaponry on the covers, just the usual claws and fangs. I hope that one day we will see a she-wolf on the cover (not that mind the distracting six pack alpha males).

  45. terryspear said,

    Thanks on Huntress for Hire, Jasmine! I agree on SEAL Wolf Hunting, love the action in that one. And the guy. I do wish they would include a woman. They did on Savage Hunger, but that was it. I love that cover. Looks more like an urban fantasy romance. 🙂 ❤

  46. Jasmine said,

    Is Huntress for Hire a shifter/paranormal novel or a different genre?

  47. terryspear said,

    Huntress for Hire is a vampire romantic suspense. I also have Forbidden Love, Killing the Bloodlust, although no really good vampires in that one, the other are vampires and hunters mixing it up, and Deadly Liaisons. 🙂 ❤ They are hot blooded, not dead. 🙂

  48. Jasmine said,

    I don’t know what’s worse: getting dumped by someone over the phone while they’re in another country or being dumped by a gay guy.

  49. terryspear said,

    🙂 I think being dumped in any manner is upsetting! 🙂 Which is why I love the wolves. They mate for life. 🙂

  50. Jasmine said,

    That’s the first time I have ever read about a situation when the person you’re dating is homosexual and you find out in a very awkward way. Being dumped isn’t a funny matter, but Melissa’s break up scene was kind of funny.
    I think it would be interesting to read about your shifter couples going up against a female antagonist or a mated couple that are antagonist. Most of the bad guys have been male.

  51. terryspear said,

    I didn’t want to do the same old thing–another woman breaking up the relationship, or in Huntley’s case, another man. And for her to break up the way she did, argh. This happened to someone close to me–his wife calling while he was in Afghanistan on his birthday, no less, and saying she wanted to call it quits. She didn’t have a lover on the side and though this happened way after I wrote the book, it happens enough that I wanted to show a woman taking the coward’s way out and not talking to him like she should have when he was home and she was home. In Melissa’s case, he just knew something wasn’t working for him in the relationship and he finally came out. I thought it was important to show that this happens too. That he wasn’t a bad guy, and that they remained friends. I’ve known several cases like this–some where they remained friends, others where they didn’t, and some where they even had kids between them.

    Both were completely different for me to to write about, in addition to the hero and heroine both working together and having these relationships at the same time. It was really important for me to show that they were interested in each other, but didn’t act on anything until after they were no longer in a relationship.

    I like the idea of going up against a female antagonist, though in Legend of the White Wolf, the female was definitely the trouble. I hadn’t ever thought of a mated couple. I like that. Hmmm, got to think about that. 🙂

    Thanks, Jasmine, always appreciate your comments! 🙂 And I’m always trying to come up with something new so that readers never know what to expect. 🙂 Hope you had a great Easter! 🙂

  52. Jasmine said,

    On pins and needles for A Seal Wolf Hunting!

  53. terryspear said,

    I just love that cover. 🙂 ❤

  54. Jasmine said,

    ……aaaaahhhhh!! I just saw the cover for A Silver Wolf Christmas and I like it a lot. Your hero looks like an adult version of Dylan Spraysberry (Liam Dunbar of Teen Wolf, high school Clark Kent of Man of Steel). By the way, just got done reading Jaguar Pride and I swear every book you come out with is better than the previous one. That was a fun wild ride! If the book that I’m reading doesn’t have me making an array of facial expressions then its not catching my attention. Lets just say my face kind of hurt after reading JP.

  55. terryspear said,

    LOL, thanks so much, Jasmine!!! I wanted to start them off in the jungle as shifters and I had so much fun with it. He was such a hunk. 🙂 ❤ The next jaguar one will be just as much fun. Can't wait to write it. I love A Silver Wolf Christmas cover also. 🙂 Just sent in the marketing materials for the next 3 book covers so anxious to see how they turn out.

  56. Jasmine said,

    Just saw the cover for your next cougar shifter book and I like it very much. I haven’t read that series yet, but are your cougars based in the same world as the wolves and jaguar’s? Do they turn their human mates (or any human who knows of their existence like your other shifters)?

  57. terryspear said,

    Thanks, Jasmine! I loved that cover. Beautiful. Yes, they are the same kind of world based this time on cougars. They run their own town, which makes it fun. No one knows of their existence. 🙂 Off seeing wolves, so just now getting internet service!

  58. Jasmine said,

    What is the title of the next Heart of the Cougar novel called?

  59. terryspear said,

    Taming the Wild Cougar. 🙂 And then I’m also working on a novella that is called Covert Cougar Christmas. 🙂

  60. Jasmine said,

    Just read the sneak peek for the upcoming Heart of the Wolf novel: Seal Wolf in Too Deep and I gotta’ say its nice to see the human world mixing it up with the wolves again; haven’t seen that since To Tempt the Wolf and Legend of the White Wolf. Feels like I’m reading a classic.

  61. Jasmine said,

    P.S. just saw the cover for both Seal Wolf in Too Deep and Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply…….OMG!!!! I looooooooooooovvee both covers and that’s the first time that a female has been placed on the cover of a Heart of the Wolf Novel, very appealing! Cant wait to read them both! Off to read Silver Wolf Christmas!

  62. terryspear said,

    awww, thanks, Jasmine! I had a ball with writing SEAL Wolf in Too Deep. You’re going to love it!!! Aren’t those covers to die for? Totally love them! Have fun with Silver Wolf Christmas! 🙂

  63. Jasmine said,

    Meant to ask earlier, is the wolf from the cover of Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply one of CJ’s brothers?
    Grey wolves have triplets, red wolves have twins what about white wolves? Haven’t really learned about their offspring.

  64. terryspear said,

    Yes, Eric Silver’s story. I’ll have to write about his other two brothers also. It just depends on the wolves. Some gray wolves have more. They had quadruplets as in CJ’s brothers, and in the Highland wolf stories. I’ll be telling about the white wolf ones soon. 🙂

  65. Jasmine said,

    How do you come up with the cover designs? What is the inspiration?

  66. terryspear said,

    From the story, Jasmine. Like with Billionaire, that I don’t have a cover on, I hope he’s in board shorts with a beach scene. That’s how she first meets him. 🙂 So I try to take it from something in the book that will give the right feel to the story. 🙂 Ultimately, the art dept decides though.

  67. Jasmine said,

    You know as many times as I have read the Heart of the Wolf series I just now realized that most of the characters are brunettes and red heads (with the exception of Lila from Legend of the White Wolf). LOL

  68. terryspear said,

    Cameron and Faith in Legend were also blond. lol Most of the models are dark haired or brown haired. My editor didn’t like it that everyone was blond. It’s really hard to find a male model who’s blond. Isn’t that funny? I don’t know whether it’s just that more men who model are dark haired or what.

  69. Jasmine said,

    Now that you mentioned it, most models are dark haired. That really is odd.

  70. terryspear said,

    Yeah, it really makes it hard to have a blond hunk on a cover! lol They’ll cut off his head instead.

  71. Jasmine said,

    I was thinking about Heart of the Wolf and throughout the whole time I read that book I absolutely despised Volan. More than any other antagonist in all of your novels. I wanted to rip him shreds myself and I’m human! I’m surprised the whole damnable pack didn’t turn on him. He didn’t treat any of the packmates with respect or decency. How in the world did you come up with a Gillian like him?

  72. terryspear said,

    lol, I don’t know. They just do. Another I despised was the female antagonist in Legend of the White Wolf. 🙂

  73. Jasmine said,

    Tell me about it….can you imagine the damage those two could have done if they had been put together as partners?

  74. terryspear said,

    lol, bad news!

  75. Jasmine said,

    ….I just git the word…..POLAR BEARS??!!!! That’s going to make for an interesting story considering polar bears live in the arctic.
    Also, I didn’t realize just how busy you’ve been until I looked at the release dates for upcoming novels…you’ve got 3-4 novels coming out back-to-back next year. How do you keep yourself from going crazy with that many plots?

  76. terryspear said,

    It’s been wild. I was working on The Viking’s Highland Lass, but got edits for A Very Jaguar Christmas, and a day or so later, edits for A Billionaire in Wolf’s Clothing, and requests for promo blogs for the upcoming Feb release, SEAL Wolf in Too Deep. And all of this with Christmas next week and all my family’s coming in to stay with me. lol On the polar bears, I was going to make them in the Arctic near where I had researched a wolf story, Yellowknife. But then I found that polar bears aren’t in that region. However, they’re in Alaska, They have polar bear/Northern lights tours, so I figure that’s how it all begins.

  77. Jasmine said,

    So why polar bears?

  78. terryspear said,

    I love bears. I make them. Have a collection of bear stuff. I’m from the great bear state of California. So I will be writing about other kinds of bears also. But the first shifter story I ever read was about a polar bear prince, cursed to live as a bear during the day and a man at night, a Norwegian fairy tale: East of the Sun and West of the Moon. In honor of that book and my first love of a shapeshifter story, I wanted to write a polar bear shifter book first. 🙂 ❤

  79. Jasmine said,

    I read that story and saw the movie based off that novel. Great story. Personally I liked the novel version better than the movie.

    You made one of my wishes into a Christmas reality. I just read the synopsis for Alpha Wolf Need Not Apply and …..a female alpha!!!! I’m so excited! It will be interesting to see how a male wolf handles a very powerful she-wolf.

    What other animal shifter would you write about if you had to write another shifter series?

  80. Jasmine said,

    Hurray!! Finally returning to the white wolves!

  81. terryspear said,

    Sorry missed your other comment!! I was in the middle of moving and such. I have in the YA The World of Fae, dragon shifter fae. 🙂

  82. Jasmine said,

    Just got done reading SEAL Wolf In Too Deep and….LOOOOOOVED IT! Normally we read about the relationship between the hero and heroine blossom as a wolf couple so it was a really smart writing decision to explore Allan and Debbie’s relationship while she was still human throughout majority or the story. It was also really nice to hear about the pack that started it all, the Greystoke pack. I also love how you have at least one human in the world that does know about wolves and is keeping their secret. The more I hear about Rowdy the more he starts to grow on me!

    So two characters that I definitely want to read about are Vaughn Greystoke and Rowdy. It would be ironic if Rowdy were to fall in love with a she-wolf while he was still human.

    I know there are alpha and beta wolves in a normal wolfpack. There are also Omega wolves as well which are considered the more submissive (lower in ranking) members of the pack. Do Omega wolves exist in your world of wolf shifters as well? And when will the polar bear shifter make its debut?

  83. terryspear said,

    I had sooooo much fun writing their story! 🙂 Yeah, I’ve wanted to get back to Devlyn and Bella’s pack in forever. Same thing with the Arctic wolf pack. You will read about the Arctic wolf pack in the October release of A Very Jaguar Christmas. And I’m working on Vaughn’s story in SEAL Wolf Undercover right now. I need to get back to Rowdy too. I fell in love with him. 🙂 Yes, on omega wolves. There’s one who is in Leidolf’s pack who had intended to kill the Arctic wolf shifters in Legend of the White Wolf. Instead of killing the human like they had to do with his cohorts, they turned him and took him in. But he’s at the bottom of the totem pole. 🙂 I hope to have the polar bear story ready by Dec. I’m working on Vaughn Greystoke’s story now, have a cougar shifter, Highland novella, and another wolf Christmas story to write. That will be the Arctic wolf pack’s story also–A White Wolf Christmas. So after I finish those, I plan to have the polar bear one out!

  84. Jasmine said,

    Does Billionaire in Wolf’s Clothing introduce a new wolf pack or a member of an already existing pack?
    What made you decide to create a character that wasa coyote-wolf halfling?

  85. terryspear said,

    Billionaire is a new group of wolves, though they don’t call themselves a pack. 🙂 On the red wolf-coyote issue, I had mentioned in an earlier couple of books where a gray wolf mated a red wolf how the red wolves and gray wolves argued about which kind of wolf came first. Researchers are divided, some saying that a red wolf is truly a gray wolf that mated with a coyote resulting in a red wolf. So with that belief, gray wolves came first. Only one gray wolf species is known to mate with coyotes, which I thought was interesting too. 🙂

  86. Jasmine said,

    Now that’s something the discovery channel forgot to mention. I definitely did not know that about either species.
    What’s your take on a blind werewolf?

  87. terryspear said,

    Anything is possible. I had where an older wolf was having hearing loss, and a younger wolf was giving him grief. I also had one where a wolf was permanently injured from an avalanche and is confined to a wheelchair.

  88. Jasmine said,

    See that’s why so many shifter novels are a little disappointing because 90% of the time the shifters/ supernatural being(s) is in tack at least physically. Its always the mental state that’s messed up and to a certain extant that’s a good story to read about how one who is among the most powerful of beings is really f****d up in the mind but that seems to be so common now days its getting a little reduntant. I want to read about a hero/heroine who is messed up not just mentally but physically. He/she might only have three limbs or be blind in one of their forms if they are a shifter or losing their sense of smell or hearing. You and Patrician Briggs are the only two authors that I have read books by who actually give their characters real tough challenges to work through. Relatable characters who aren’t perfect.
    In one of Brigg’s anthologies she wrote a witch named Moira who was blind and had one of her eyes gouged out and her intended love interest was the second in commamnd of the Kansas City wolfpack and he had permament scarring on his face. That is one of my favorites by her because even though these two wore major scars that you simply cant overlook they still found each other appealing. Why cant there be more stories like that?

  89. terryspear said,

    I so agree!

  90. Jasmine said,

    Between a Rock and a Hard Place? That’s an interesting title. First book out of the series that doesn’t have the words wolf/werewolf in it.
    plus I saw the cover for A Very Jaguar Christmas and I absolutely loved it! Can’t wait to read it!

  91. Jasmine Hill said,

    What made you decide to give Ellie the ability to see ghosts?

Leave a comment