Rating: 4.25 stars
Buy Links: Amazon | All Romance
Length: Novel
Bobby Cotteau is a gay man with a seemingly straight wolf. Twenty-five years ago, his wolf chose to mate with a woman, so Bobby left his desire for men behind. He remained faithful and true to his wife until the day she died, three years ago. Since the death of his mate, Bobby has the choice to either find another mate or slowly fade away, because a wolf without a mate can’t survive.
His goal for going to the bar in St. Charles was to find an easy hookup with a nameless man. What Bobby found was more than that. A drink from a beautiful stranger was only the beginning of Bobby’s night. But there are rules – no last names, no personal questions, no offering up personal information. The rules are easy to follow that first night, but the strong connection makes way for a passionate weekend spent in one another’s company. When Bobby realizes that the man is his mate, he resigns himself to never being able to claim him being that personal information is forbidden, thus resolving to die without another mate.
Professor of Zoology, Mark Bradford, had only planned on sleeping with Bobby once, but ended up spending a wonderful weekend with the man whose last name is a mystery to him. Leaving Bobby was the last thing Mark wanted to do, but if Bobby wanted more surely he would have said so. Running into Bobby again was a welcomed surprise, and making plans to meet regularly puts Mark at ease until Mark is unable to make it to their meeting. Without a last name, phone number or hometown, Mark sadly comes to terms with never being able to see Bobby again.
When he was fifteen, Mark’s father was attacked by a wolf and died of a resulting heart attack. Since then, Mark has spent his life trying to prove the existence of swamp wolves. Now he’s so close. All of his evidence leads to a swamp near St. Jerome parish where rumors and the myth of the rougarou (the swamp wolf) runs rampant. Mark plans an excursion to the swamps of St. Jerome, where his father died, in order to prove his theory.
After Bobby discovers that Mark is in St. Jerome searching for a pack of swamp wolves, he realizes that Mark is not only putting himself in danger, but also unknowingly putting Bobby’s pack in danger of being exposed. Now Bobby has to make the hardest decision of his life – his mate or his pack.
I liked this installment of the Rougaroux Social Club series. It’s a good story that kept me captivated from the start. What I liked most was the maturity of the characters. Bobby is in his early fifties and Mark is in his forties. Don’t me wrong, I love a good, hot romance between some twenty-somethings and thirty-somethings, but sometimes it’s nice to see an author step out of that comfort zone and give readers a little variety. And that’s just what Lynn Lorenz did with this book.
As with the other books, these characters are well-written and relatable and sexy. Bobby and Mark are wonderful characters. Like I said, I most like the maturity level. Their relationship is a bit of a tug of war, a struggle. It’s full of decisions from both men that will either make or break their relationship. There are several ups and downs that kept me engrossed in the story.
As with the previous two books, the secondary characters help make this story and the world even better. And the continuation of Darlene Dupree, Scott’s mother, and her comedic storyline is so entertaining. And this world continues to get better and better as each story moves on.
This mystery storyline in this book is different from the other books in this series. It’s an interesting and refreshing change in comparison to the previous books. I truly enjoyed the feeling of this book all around.
One of my complaints lies within my favorite aspect of this book. We all know the age of the MCs is one of my favorite parts, but sometimes the dialogue seemed a little young and I felt it was a little less believable. And second, the first part of this book is Bobby and Mark having sex – a lot of sex, a lot of the time. And then they lose touch for the longest time, I see how the story needed them separated for that period of time; I think would have liked to see them together longer in the end to develop their relationship more, really get to know each other and not just have sex. Maybe it’s because I just like them together, I wanted to see more of them in a relationship.
In the end, the pros definitely outweigh the cons. The creative world, the wonderful characters, the entertaining storyline all combines to give readers an escape by means of this book, this entire series, really. I recommend this book to all who love the paranormal genre – shifters and mates in general, and to those who love variety in characters. It’s a wonderful story, and I’m looking forward to the next book in this series.