Review: It was okay
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 03 1, 2014
This was a decent addition to the Blackwater Falls series. It was nice to see the human being the tough, alpha male while the shifter was the less dominant personality. And we revisit previous characters – Hawke and Jace, Camron and Travis – to see how their relationships are developing.Cougar Country introduces us to Kyle, who grew up in Blackwater Falls with an unpleasant cougar-shifter stepmother. He’s back after a traumatic career in the military police, and he resents that this town was the only place where he could find a job to fit his needs. His resentment colors his reactions to Spencer, and to Spencer’s declaration that they are mates.Spencer is Travis’s older brother. He’s a fairly easy-going guy, friend of the sheriff, manager of the family’s local hardware store. We’re told that he’s been a bit of a player up ‘til now, not interested in relationships. And then along comes Kyle.Spoilers aheadSpencer turns out to be a damsel in distress. His first encounter with Kyle makes him physically ill from the sudden rush of mating hormones. At another meeting, Spencer trips and Kyle comes to his rescue. Later, Spencer has several other episodes that require Kyle’s timely / heroic intervention. And all the time, Spencer is pining for Kyle, and Kyle is pushing him away with words, and pulling him in with sex. The big tough cougar-shifter even storms off sobbing at one point.The story was relatively short; only 1735 locations. And short on details, too. I would have liked to get to know the characters better. Ultimately, I thought both men had some unfortunate past relationships, but those didn’t come off as very significant. And Kyle’s wartime trauma seemed unfortunate, but I didn’t think it was as awful as the authors wanted it to be – he wasn’t really to blame, and he wasn’t actually present when the “traumatic” part happened.My biggest disappointment with the story though, was the resolution. Kyle’s conflicts resolved themselves “off-screen” and for no particular reason. All of a sudden Kyle was okay with being Spencer’s mate and they were set to live happily ever after.