Bayou’s End by Lynn Lorenz

Bayou’s End by Lynn Lorenz

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Blurb:

Peter Graham’s pack threw him out when they discovered he was gay. Ever since then, Peter’s been adrift. Denying his wolf and being the boy toy of a string of older men is all Peter knows. But when his lover brings another man to their bed, and that man abuses Peter, there’s nothing left for Peter but to run, all the way back to St. Jerome, a small town on the edge of the bayou, where he once painted. He meets Billy Boudreaux, a deputy and a werewolf, and discovers the town’s secret — the Rougaroux wolf pack. They have a gay man as their alpha who is mated to a gay man. To Peter this looks like home, but he’s not the type of man either Billy or the pack would want.

Not everyone in the pack is happy about the inclusion of gay werewolves, and Peter joining the pack is seen by some as a threat. Can Billy keep his mate safe until he claims Peter in front of the pack?

Review:

I will be very up front about my biases. I have an intense dislike for fated mate stories, alpha/omega dynamics, and probably about 97% of the shifter stories in existence. It’s not something I think shouldn’t be written, it’s just something that tends to rub me the wrong way. I wanted to expand my horizons and push myself beyond my comfort zone, so I grabbed this book and threw myself into it.

I knew I was going to have issues with it from the start. And I was okay with that. It’s good for people to (knowingly and consensually) expand their minds.

So, let’s start with the parts I loved. Lorenz wrote a story that sucked me in and grabbed me from the very start, okay?  The worldbuilding in this book was phenomenal. I started with the second book in the series (which seems to be a pattern for me) but I didn’t have any trouble following along or figuring out what was going on.

And honestly, even though I will always have deep issues with the whole idea of Fated Mates and whatever, I found myself deeply invested in this story. As an author myself, I was deeply impressed by (and envious of) Lorenz’ ability to take a story with which a reader had deep-seated moral and philosophical issues and make that reader invest in it. I can learn a lot from it, and I hope to. Even though I do have issues with the idea, I bought up the whole series, just for that purpose.

So, before I get into any of the issues I had, I want to establish that Lorenz is a phenomenal author who managed to wound me deeply with a book I emphatically wanted to dislike.

That said, I had a lot of trouble with the idea of fated mates, especially for these characters. It’s hardly telling tales out of school to say that Peter is an abuse victim. He’s already had his free will stolen from him, and relatively recently too. He comes to this small town looking for safety and shelter, and not only is there an incident that runs him afoul of law enforcement but the particular cop that has to address the issue is his Fated Mate.

Is there trauma associated with this?  You betcha. (And I felt that trauma deeply – thanks, Lynn Lorenz.)  Does it matter?  Nope. Fated Mates. Does Peter have the slightest control over whether or not he reacts to this cop, whether he will be with this cop?  Nope. It doesn’t matter how the cop behaves toward him, because Fated Mates.

And honestly, this isn’t a criticism of Lorenz’ writing. I cried knowing Peter was going to be stuck in this situation. I didn’t necessarily blame Billy. I just… I have a hard time viewing an abuse survivor losing more of his autonomy as romantic. Maybe it’s just me. I know the Fated Mates trope is hugely popular and I’m probably the only person in the world who feels uncomfortable with it.

But I do, and I felt it needed to be said. At any rate, the book really was good enough that I did indeed buy the rest of the series. I don’t think it will “cure” me of my discomfort with the genre, but I hope it will help me to understand it better. If you want amazing worldbuilding, perfectly detailed and unique characters, and emotional situations to pull at your heartstrings so well you’ll find yourself getting worked up about something you’ve avoided in the past, get this book.