A review by elliebelle_
True North by Corey Kerr
5.0
4.5 stars
Wonderfully domestic character-study between a hockey player and a bear shifter.
JT is a pro hockey player, living in his lakeside home in Sault Ste Marie during the off-season. Plagued by a feral bear-shifter who won't stop eating his trash, and soaking in his hot-tub, JT decides to try to coax the bear to shift back and offers him a place to stay while he gets back on his feet.
If you're not a fan of slow, slice-of-life style books, this one probably won't be for you. There's some excitement later in the book, but mostly this is about the relationship that blossoms gradually between JT and Misha.
Both MCs are great characters; they have their flaws but are very endearing. Misha's manipulative, but in a fairly innocent & playful way, mostly making sure that JT feeds him junk food, and forcing him to watch his shows on TV. He's deeply closeted and struggles with internalised homophobia. He's secretive about his past, though it's clear that something traumatic has made him leave Toronto in a hurry and go on the run.
JT has been obsessed with his career to the detriment of his relationships, he has a bit of a saviour complex and dives into things without thinking them through. JT's friends and family know he's gay, though he's not out to the public.
As a couple, they're sweet, and they seem to fit together really nicely. Though they have different interests, they seem to want the same lifestyle and they fall into an easy rhythm. Oh, and they have chemistry, a lot of it. I really appreciated that there's a reversal of the expected top/bottom role-stereotyping too.
The climax managed to be dramatic without being OTT or melodramatic. It wasn't completely out of the blue, but made for a good reveal when the time came.
The epilogue was just…wonderful, and I usually think epilogues are cheesy and unnecessary. Prior to the epilogue, JT and Misha also manage to have an absolutely perfect grown-up conversation about their needs as individuals and as a couple. Yes!!!
A few things I thought were strangely left hanging. JT getting therapy, what were his nightmares about? We don’t learn anything about the worldbuilding, just that there are shifters and that everyone knows about them.
Wonderfully domestic character-study between a hockey player and a bear shifter.
JT is a pro hockey player, living in his lakeside home in Sault Ste Marie during the off-season. Plagued by a feral bear-shifter who won't stop eating his trash, and soaking in his hot-tub, JT decides to try to coax the bear to shift back and offers him a place to stay while he gets back on his feet.
If you're not a fan of slow, slice-of-life style books, this one probably won't be for you. There's some excitement later in the book, but mostly this is about the relationship that blossoms gradually between JT and Misha.
Both MCs are great characters; they have their flaws but are very endearing. Misha's manipulative, but in a fairly innocent & playful way, mostly making sure that JT feeds him junk food, and forcing him to watch his shows on TV. He's deeply closeted and struggles with internalised homophobia. He's secretive about his past, though it's clear that something traumatic has made him leave Toronto in a hurry and go on the run.
JT has been obsessed with his career to the detriment of his relationships, he has a bit of a saviour complex and dives into things without thinking them through. JT's friends and family know he's gay, though he's not out to the public.
As a couple, they're sweet, and they seem to fit together really nicely. Though they have different interests, they seem to want the same lifestyle and they fall into an easy rhythm. Oh, and they have chemistry, a lot of it. I really appreciated that there's a reversal of the expected top/bottom role-stereotyping too.
The climax managed to be dramatic without being OTT or melodramatic. It wasn't completely out of the blue, but made for a good reveal when the time came.
The epilogue was just…wonderful, and I usually think epilogues are cheesy and unnecessary. Prior to the epilogue, JT and Misha also manage to have an absolutely perfect grown-up conversation about their needs as individuals and as a couple. Yes!!!
A few things I thought were strangely left hanging. JT getting therapy, what were his nightmares about? We don’t learn anything about the worldbuilding, just that there are shifters and that everyone knows about them.