Review: 3.75 stars
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 29, 2012
#Possible spoilers in review#This is the third installment in the Rougaroux Social Club series. I reviewed the first book and gave it 4.25 stars, and loved the concept that the hero's wolf was gay, but not the man. This is a theme throughout the books, or: "The wolf wants what the wolf wants." An interesting twist on the Gay-For-You trope in my opinion.Bayou Loup is Bobby Cotteau's story. The former sheriff and alpha of St. Jerome finally finds love a few years after his wife and mate dies. While Bobby always knew he was gay, his wolf fell in love with his wife, they mated and they were happy for many years until her passing. But now Bobby has the chance to explore his homosexuality and first time out, he meets Mark Bradford and they agree to a strings-free weekend fling...that winds up turning into a couple of weekends as their chemistry is off the charts. As Bobby slowly begins to realize that Mark is his true mate, Mark's past threatens the St. Jerome pack...and Bobby's very life.As with the other books, I thought Ms. Lorenz's take on werewolf bonding/mating was unique. Scott Dupree from the first book (Bobby's successor as alpha in the pack) was straight, but when he met his mate his wolf wanted the other man and as much as Scott fought it, in the end, the mating bond and love won out. In this version, Bobby knew he was gay, had sexual encounters with other men, but once his wolf met his future wife, that was it. Bobby got married and was very happy until she died. Here comes the second unique concept: an unmated wolf slowly dies, or turns rogue and is put down by the pack. So, when Bobby meets Mark and realizes they are mates, it is life and death for him that his wolf claim Mark. In my estimation, Ms. Lorenz has created a distinctive mythology in the wolves of St. Jerome that bucks the traditional werewolf tropes.But despite my great love for the world building in this series, there were some issues with characterization that ultimately brought the book's rating down for me. While readers of the series have a background on Bobby, we get little characterization on Mark until the near end of the book. The first 30% of Bayou Loup is the sex between Mark and Bobby, and while completely hot, I never understood why Bobby's wolf fell in love with Mark. The men know very little about each other outside of the bedroom. And while I love Instana-Love/Mates as much as the next shifter fanatic, I wanted more interaction that did not involve sex to draw me into Mark and Bobby's relationship.Now, my favorite character from the series, Mrs. Dupree (Scott's mom) is back and causing trouble, plus Scott and his partner Ted make appearances, so fans of those characters will be happy, but overall I was a little disappointed with Bobby's story. That is not saying I am not recommending this book because I am, but be aware there are still some aspects of the book that failed to live up to book one's brilliance in my opinion.Reviews by Jessewave