Review: One of my more favorite Brac Village stories
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 25, 2013
I fell in love with this story. It not only introduces the two new and endearing central characters of Priest Mosley and Randy Pommell, but it gives ample time to existing characters and new background characters. The characters are well-defined, the story flows nicely, and there's ample romance, suspense, drama, angst, and sexy action.Priest Mosley moves to Brac Village as part of Maverick Brac's project of building up the village by offering loans to those interested in starting a business. He opens up The Pit, a barbecue eatery, with the goal of starting over in a new life after a failed marriage. Randy moved to the village a few months ago with his Uncle Fred and works for Blair at the florist shop and is the wage-earner between the two. What Randy keeps secret and hidden is that his uncle is physically violent with him, forcing him to pay their bills and earn the income while continually beating and berating him. When Randy goes to The Pit to pick up his and Blair's lunch, he meets Priest and recognizes him as his mate. Priest doesn't know what to make of the small young man openly flirting with him, and gently brushes him off. But when he goes to drop food off at the flower shop and accidently sees the signs of abuse on Randy's body, he becomes determined to befriend the man, find out who is beating him, and help him get out of the situation. He lost one friend from domestic abuse, and refuses to watch it happen to another. What he doesn't expect is to quickly become infatuated with the young man. Priest doesn't know about the pull between mates (he has no knowledge of the supernatural), but he's an easy-going guy and willing to give this undeniable attraction some attention.The story flows nicely. Both Priest and Randy are nicely-developed believable characters in a unique situation. The drama feels organic, and the responses of the characters feel real. From the hesitancy of Priest to his attraction to Randy and eventual exposure to the supernatural, to the believable way Uncle Fred keeps off of everyone's radar as the abuser, the simple story is portrays a level of subtle complexity that makes it rise in my eyes. I particularly like having a story where the human in the relationship is strong and able to stand up to shifters, even on their terms. If you like Lynn's stories, this one will absolutely delight you.