Review: Off Course by Bailey Bradford

Title: Off Course (Coyote’s Call: Book One)

Author: Bailey Bradford

Pages/Word Count: 202 Pages

At a Glance: Some serious info dumping, but a great start to a new series

Blurb: Gideon’s worst night ever starts out with a bang that will change his whole life.

Gideon Wells has been cast out of his bear shifter clan for being a curse, and he’s inclined to believe they’re right. After all, everything from fertility rates to shifting abilities have gone down the tube since he was born. Then when his car catches fire and mutant scorpions—he thinks they’re mutants, anyway—almost get him, he’s more certain than ever that he’s bad news.

Not that he’s just going to roll over and die.

Ignoring a prophecy might not be wise, but coyote shifter Miller Hudson has seen and heard too many false prophecies to put any faith in the one proclaiming him to be the alpha and, along with a mystery bear mate, the saviour of the now-defunct coyote den he grew up in. Besides, there’s no need for the den to be brought back together. None of them can shift, so what’s the point?

Then the buzzards circling overhead on the far edge of his property lead him to the very last thing he ever expected to find.

Review: Gideon Wells is having a very, very bad day. Not only has he been cast out, but his car blew up, and he was attacked by scorpions. Definitely not his best day by far. Lucky for him his day really could only get better from there, right?

When Gideon runs out of steam, he is rescued by Miller Hudson. Miller isn’t the stereotypical Alpha-type, but he is most definitely powerful. When Gideon begins to recover, he and Miller discover that the cause of Gideon’s being cast out is also affecting the local coyote pack. After doing some research, they find out that maybe Miller discovering Gideon in his time of need may have been more fate than chance.

Not only do Miller and Gideon find themselves solely responsible for saving Miller’s coyote pack, but they have the small problem of a homophobic local police officer who won’t rest until he takes care of all the gay men in town.

As is usual in the first book of a series, there is some serious info dumping going on, but I feel Bailey Bradford did a great job of filling us in on all the pertinent information, added in the right amount of heat and humor to balance the story, as well as set us up for the next books in the series. I have always enjoyed reading Ms. Bradford’s work and this is no exception. There are some racy scenes in the book that might push some people’s envelope, but overall I think this is a great start to a new series and I would highly recommend it.