What really worked for me in this book were two things: one was the depth of feeling between Sterling and Beau - even if the relationship started off on a misunderstanding and some truly idiotic kindergarten-level behavior on both sides. The second, and this is a biggie for me: this was the first book with a hint of a look behind the scenes of the Council of Elders. I've been complaining all along that this forced mating theme and the way it is executed is just stupid, but some of the characters (and character combinations) were interesting enough that I kept reading. Now that there is hope for getting some sort of explanation as to why the elders were behaving the way they did, there may be hope for this series... ( )