Seeing Spots

Seeing Spots by Andres Cyanni Halden tells the story of Theo, a young wolf who after getting a fortune cookie that tells him he'll be “seeing spots” (in bed), ends up hooking up with a snow leopard. Who also happens to be the president of a fraternity. And rich. And famous. And...

Let me start with the positives by saying that I really enjoyed reading this book. The relationship between Theo and Khan is really sweet, thanks in no small part to how charming and understanding (and rich) Khan is, and I'd personally like to read more romances with similar couples as you can clearly see that they love each other and why. It also has a good, believable world that is full of side characters that do seem to have lives of their own instead of just gravitating around our two main characters or acting exclusively as aides to them. Sure, the book may fall more on the “fluff” side of the spectrum, but it is nice fluff and one that I do not regret reading. As for the negatives...

While Khan might seem like a Gary Stu at first, you know, being handsome, muscular, rich, good in bed, a senator's son, etc. perhaps that label falls more neatly with our protagonist. Sure, Theo might not be like the other wolves, but not only does he somehow manage to hook up with the best man to ever live, both the story and the characters tend to bend in such a way that it benefits him. Once-in-a-blue-moon events happen when he's around, dangerous situations get solved in such a way that he (and he alone) benefits from them no matter if they're more relevant to another character's arc, and there's not even relationship drama between him and Khan to keep us glued to the pages. Now, while this might seem like I'm complaining about there being too few stakes in my fluff, that is not the case. Because there are stakes, they are just for the side characters.

The book deals with such issues as homophobia, racism, politics, school rivalry, relationship drama, and, hell, there's even an assassination attempt! Yet, our main character does not experience any of these conflicts by himself, even when some of them really apply to him (for example, it's surprising how little the whole “wolves vs. cats” racism issues seem to matter for our mixed-species couple). At best, he's present when another character is involved in any of these subjects, and at worst, they just get mentioned in a throwaway sentence and we never get to see these events take place. Moreover, the few times there's an actual conflict on page, the situation gets resolved not only in the same chapter but even sometimes as soon as 2-3 paragraphs after it first gets introduced.

Overall, I do feel that this book could have used more editing as it makes a lot of mistakes that, were this the author's first book, could be understandable (such as the, oh so common, “gay author writing female characters” trope). Mind you, this is my first book by the author and it could be a big improvement compared with the previous ones for all I know, but if you're looking for a nice fluff with plot, with a healthy dose of smut, this book's the right one for you, and I'm personally looking forward to reading more from this author (even if at times I wished that I was reading about any of the other characters in this story instead..)