I don't really know where to begin with this review, but I guess I should justify the two star rating first. The romance this book held was relentlessly disturbing, given that it involved two men who met when one was ten and another was almost eighteen. The romance didn't start until the younger boy, Joe, was seventeen, yet he and his family knew it was beginning from the time he was ten and were looking forward to it. And this inappropriate relationship is justified because he's a werewolf I guess...? Which I don't really give a shit about. Additionally, Joe's father adopts Ox, the older boy, into his family, and both men refer to each other as father and son. Ox refers to the Bennett boys as his brothers until learning that he's fated to mate with Joe. I just am unable to fathom any reasoning for why Klune would create this relationship to be borderline pedophilic and incestuous when it did not have to be. Why not have Ox develop an attraction to the boy his age immediately instead of starting a sexual relationship with the person he thought of for almost a decade as his baby brother? It's gross at least and suspicious at most.

Aside from the ick romance I just did not like the writing in the book. It was extremely repetitive and tacky. There are paragraphs worth of italicized repetitive wolf thoughts that did not need to be read over and over. The symbols the characters hold onto are also bludgeoned into the text until I was rolling my eyes when they were next mentioned. The writing is not very descriptive or lyrical otherwise. What Klune excels at, and the only reason I bothered to finish the book, is the found-family relationships and portrayal of intimacy and trust between the characters. Those passages were rewarding to read and made me understand why this book was adored enough to be reprinted. I did appreciate the relationship between Ox and Gordo, and would have liked the book much more if their tether was the one that was most explored, without the gross mate destiny sullying it. 

I would not recommend this book to other readers because I am profoundly against books that glorify grooming relationships and present them in ways that would never naturally occur in real life. Trust me, as a queer library worker I know how suspect it is to speak the word "grooming" about any represenations of gay people, but this is a legitimate instance. In no healthy family would the adult members encourage a budding romantic relationship between a ten year-old and an eighteen year-old. It's just demented. I'm truly stunned that this book has not only been republished but embraced by people who see it just as an angsty found-family romance. It's wounded my trust with the book's publisher and Klune's readers.