Bear, Otter and the Kid - T.J. Klune

[goodreads]

Title: Bear, Otter and the Kid
Author: T.J. Klune
Genre: LGBTQ+
Rating: 2/5
# pages: Audiobook ~12hrs
Date read: February 2021

Three years ago, Bear McKenna’s mother took off for parts unknown with her new boyfriend, leaving Bear to raise his six-year-old brother Tyson, aka the Kid. Somehow they’ve muddled through, but since he’s totally devoted to the Kid, Bear isn’t actually doing much living—with a few exceptions, he’s retreated from the world, and he’s mostly okay with that. Until Otter comes home.

Otter is Bear’s best friend’s older brother, and as they’ve done for their whole lives, Bear and Otter crash and collide in ways neither expect. This time, though, there’s nowhere to run from the depth of emotion between them. Bear still believes his place is as the Kid’s guardian, but he can’t help thinking there could be something more for him in the world... something or someone.


Well, I guess it had to happen... the first T.J. Klune book I didn't absolutely love. In fact, I came very, very close to giving up on it at around the 80% mark. I know - ridiculously late, but DRAMA(TM) happened, followed by the mother of all bad decisions, and I just couldn't stomach reading it. In the end, my finishing it boiled down to a) me not being able to find a sufficiently spoilerific review to let me know how the drama was resolved (after 80% I wanted to know!) and b) me not being able to return the book to Audible. In the end, I listened to the last 3 hours at 1.5x speed as I wanted to do the opposite of savouring it. I'm slightly curious as to what happens next (this is the first in a series of 4 books), but meh... not enough to actually risk putting myself through something like this again.

Up until that drama I rather liked the book though. Wasn't in love with it, but liked it well enough, and could go either way in regards to finishing the series. Bear was more than a little inclined to angst, but with his history I couldn't really blame him, and the flashbacks and inner monologues didn't bother me as much as other readers. I was very unimpressed with all the secrecy and especially all the tension that could have been resolved if people would just COMMUNICATE ALREADY, but Otter and Creed were lovely, and very 'on point' for how T.J. Klune usually writes characters, and while the Kid was rather precocious, I've met 9-year-olds like that, so didn't find him too unrealistic.

But the drama... the drama was unrealistic, over the top and just badly done. And the worst thing is - THE MOTIVATION WAS NEVER EXPLAINED!! Bear questioned it... but then it just disappeared. Granted, it may be revealed in a latter book (reading the blurbs indicate that parts of the drama may be revisited in the next book), but that's just lazy writing.

So if you're in my shoes -- reading reviews as you've come to the Very Bad Fight to see if it's worth your time reading on (because according to reviews I wasn't alone in considering stopping there) -- here are the spoilers I was hoping to find myself....
Bear and Ty's mother returns, but refuses to reveal why. When Ty accidentally lets it spill that Otter and Bear are together she "looks victorious" and then goes off on a homophobic rant about how no son of hers will ever be "like that", and if Bear doesn't immediately break up with Otter (without telling him why, of course), she will take away Ty and never let Bear see him again. "Who needs you more?" she asks. Bear becomes completely unable to look past this question, and uses it as motivation / reasoning for lying to Otter and breaking up with him in the most heartbreaking fight that I absolutely hated to read.

Mrs. Paquinn, Creed and Anna figure out the truth, but rather than telling Otter, they agree to keep it a secret for now, as Mrs. Paquinn knows of a family lawyer who can help Bear get custody over Ty.

Bear decides not to go to Creed's going-away party, but ends up rushing over there anyway, as Creed suddenly calls him to tell him that Otter's leaving for California. He bursts into the room.... only to find Jonah there, introducing himself as "Otter's boyfriend". Bear goes to find Creed and discovers that he and Anna are now a couple (which I'd seen a mile off, but anyway....). Rather than actually LISTENING to anything, he rushes off again, hiding on the beach and ignoring all phone calls all night, until Ty finds him the next morning (having been dropped off by the others, who are now waiting for them at Bear and Ty's house).

Ty talks some sense into Bear and convinces him to come back and actually TALK to the other people, instead of just rushing off in some half-cocked panic. This mostly works, but Bear still has a bunch of completely pointless arguments with both Creed&Anna and Otter. Eventually Bear and Creed accepts that the other is in a relationship, Jonah was just there to try to get Otter back (and disappears as suddenly as he arrives), and the mother is never mentioned again (leaving the custody case to be resolved in the next book, I guess...).

Cut to the epilogue where Otter proposes to Bear with a Ty-written poem, even more ridiculous than the one Bear used to tell Otter he loved him. The end.