Reviewed by: Sue Eaton

TITLE: Hayden’s Pryde

SERIES: Satchel Pride #1

AUTHOR: C.K. Noel

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 273 Pages

RELEASE DATE: Feb 3, 2023

BLURB:

Hayden Satchel, lion shifter, soon-to-be pride leader, wants to find his soul mate, but those don’t exist anymore; or so he thinks… The 28-year-old comes from a rich family, has everything he could want, and is next in line to run his pride. So settling down with a woman he doesn’t love seems like a small price to pay for such a good life.  Besides, she’ll be a good mother. But his heart isn’t in it… until he meets a spunky, down-on-his-luck waiter and his lion starts going crazy.  Hayden has found his fated mate… and he’s a man.

Owen Pryde, an everyday human man, is on the run from his nightmare of an ex-boyfriend…
He always chooses the wrong men and winds up hurt. But hey, at least hurting is better than being alone forever, right? Owen’s not so sure. With his very public breakup overshadowing his life, his wealthy ex-boyfriend breathing down his neck, and his life off the rails, Owen just wants to find love. But his ex-isn’t about to let his ‘property’ go.

When a new man takes a sudden, serious interest in him, Owen must wonder if he’s the one, decode intense new emotions, and escape his ex., Yikes.

REVIEW:

This is a sweet story about following your heart instead of family expectations.  Hayden seems to have it all, he’s the heir to the family fortune and as a lion shifter, next in line to be pride leader. It seems his family have already picked out his wife and have started to pressurize him into marriage.  He’s never had a reason to go against his family expectations, but he feels unready to get married and doesn’t particularly like his proposed wife.  He had a really great relationship with his deceased Grandfather who told him the old stories about mates, stories his father insisted were false.

Owen is working double and treble shifts as a waiter at a local restaurant, he has fled a toxic relationship and staying with a friend until he finds his feet.  He has always wanted to find a love, where he is loved, safe and cherished.  His parents abused him and after the death of his grandparents he ended up in the foster care system.

When fate puts Hayden and Owen in the same place, the fated mate attraction causes Hayden to bolt as while he has longed to meet his mate, he never in a million years expected it to be a man, instead of women who he has always dated.  Owen knows that falling for the straight guy never ends well.

I enjoyed the soul searching that Hayden does, questioning his sexuality and what it means to him that his mate is a man.  Then accepting that Owen is the one for him and how to go about pursuing him.  I loved the gently, gently, lets be friends’ approach, easing Owen into a possible relationship, though that is only one of the hurdles as he also needs to let Owen know that he is a shifter.  Owen goes through a similar process, though for him, its more about the fact that Hayden is straight and supposedly engaged to a woman.  So, he tries really hard to keep a lid on his attraction, though with all the mixed signals he is getting from Hayden its difficult to remember he is straight.

Hayden’s family dynamic plays a central role, with family secrets being exposed and Hayden finally standing up for his right to have a real relationship with someone he loves, rather than the artificial for the good of the family, have cubs and grin and bear it, expectations of his family.

Owen’s past also comes back to haunt him, when his ex reappears, can Hayden save the day or just when Owen is finally getting the love, he deserves will it all be snatched away from him.

A sweet mate story, where love triumphs over adversity.

RATING:

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