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Ursa Shifters #3
Grin and Bear It
THIS BOOK IS A STANDALONE. YOU DO NOT HAVE TO HAVE READ OTHER BOOKS IN THE SERIES.
I’m a strong independent woman, but sometimes I just want someone else to fix my life. Enter four, big, strong, hunky someones...
Lately I've got a lot of problems.
My house is falling apart.
My situationship just imploded because he messaged me for a date and he meant to invite someone else.
But I’m a good teacher, right?
So why have two of my students gone completely off the rails?
And worse, while trying to drown my sorrows, instead of ringing my bestie, I ring him.
One of my student’s guardians.
But that rich velvety voice on the other end of the line asks me to tell him all the things that are going wrong.
And then he tells me he’s gonna fix all of it.
The problem is I’m their nephews’ history teacher.
And these four men think I’m their fated mate.
This book is a standalone. HEA guaranteed.
I’m a strong independent woman, but sometimes I just want someone else to fix my life. Enter four, big, strong, hunky someones...
Lately I've got a lot of problems.
My house is falling apart.
My situationship just imploded because he messaged me for a date and he meant to invite someone else.
But I’m a good teacher, right?
So why have two of my students gone completely off the rails?
And worse, while trying to drown my sorrows, instead of ringing my bestie, I ring him.
One of my student’s guardians.
But that rich velvety voice on the other end of the line asks me to tell him all the things that are going wrong.
And then he tells me he’s gonna fix all of it.
The problem is I’m their nephews’ history teacher.
And these four men think I’m their fated mate.
This book is a standalone. HEA guaranteed.
466 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 22, 2023
1383 people are currently reading
1046 people want to read
About the author
Sam Hall
74 books2,021 followersAustralian author of paranormal RH novels
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 332 reviews
July 26, 2023
While I enjoyed the neurodivergent FMC and I can see this story working for others, unfortunately it didn't for me. I was pretty invested until the FMC Ellie finally found out the men were all bear shifters at around 42%, and then between the amount of detailed extended smut, the relationship development, and the plot choices, I lost interest around 70% into the book and heavily skimmed just to see how the HEA wrapped up.
For a bear shifter story, I didn't think there was enough actual bear shifting integrated and just some incidental "inside bear" directing the men's actions as well as dick shapes. Only one man in the harem fully shifted just to show Ellie what they were - the rest of the men never shifted and we never found out what bear species they were. For someone that was supposed to integrate into a bear shifter society, Ellie probably should have desensitized herself to walking around actual bears. >_>
The main reason I started skimming was the multiple chapter long smut scenes where I felt there was too much dialogue from the men in calling the FMC attractive and beautiful and there wasn't enough character or story development. If you're into a book with smut scene after smut scene for a significant portion in the middle of the book, then this is the book for you, but unfortunately I lost interest after the 4th or 5th chapter of smut and found them over the top and a bit boring.
I would have preferred seeing even more interactions revolving around school's policies and trying to get the kids to accept her rather than just a handful of scenes and the main final drama. I thought the restoration of Ellie's house would have been a significant amount of the relationship development, but the men ended up going over and quietly fixing stuff on their own without her input, and it was pretty much magically fixed by the end of the book.
Some other story choices that I didn't really enjoy in the last half of the book after I started skimming:
1. We were shown that bear shifters could telepathically talk to each other suddenly 82% into the book out of nowhere. I would have liked this explored more especially in the beginning - there could have been a lot more interesting interactions.
2. For a society that seemed to have a lot of shifters integrated, I would have thought children safety would have been prioritized earlier than this story, especially since it seems like families were multi-generational at this point in the city. Only hoping that hormonal teenagers didn't shift at school when the shifter society wasn't exposed publicly sounded like a recipe for disaster.
3. Getting a couple of random third-person POV chapters from hormonal teenagers about their misdeeds out of their guardian's attention honestly wasn't necessary IMO. And plus, while the title said it was from the POV of the two twins, the last few pages ended up actually being yet another kid's POV, which had made the later scenes super confusing to me.
4. How was the first one to bite and mate with Ellie. The rest didn't do it until her final heat in the last few chapters of the book. Admittedly, there might have been more reasoning during smut scenes that I skimmed over.
5. Sudden giant plot change into dealing with a at 80% into the book and . I thought the main drama was just trying to get the teenagers to get along with Ellie in the family and the school admin side-eyeing the relationship, not a full on huge dramatic society-changing issue. eeeesh.
Overall, I think if you enjoy reverse harem bear dick smut and neurodivergent plus size and teacher FMCs, you'd probably like this book, but this standalone didn't work for me. Based on my experiences with the last two stories in this series and the author in general, I might be more hesitant in reading more in the future.
Romance:
For a bear shifter story, I didn't think there was enough actual bear shifting integrated and just some incidental "inside bear" directing the men's actions as well as dick shapes. Only one man in the harem fully shifted just to show Ellie what they were - the rest of the men never shifted and we never found out what bear species they were. For someone that was supposed to integrate into a bear shifter society, Ellie probably should have desensitized herself to walking around actual bears. >_>
The main reason I started skimming was the multiple chapter long smut scenes where I felt there was too much dialogue from the men in calling the FMC attractive and beautiful and there wasn't enough character or story development. If you're into a book with smut scene after smut scene for a significant portion in the middle of the book, then this is the book for you, but unfortunately I lost interest after the 4th or 5th chapter of smut and found them over the top and a bit boring.
I would have preferred seeing even more interactions revolving around school's policies and trying to get the kids to accept her rather than just a handful of scenes and the main final drama. I thought the restoration of Ellie's house would have been a significant amount of the relationship development, but the men ended up going over and quietly fixing stuff on their own without her input, and it was pretty much magically fixed by the end of the book.
Some other story choices that I didn't really enjoy in the last half of the book after I started skimming:
1. We were shown that bear shifters could telepathically talk to each other suddenly 82% into the book out of nowhere. I would have liked this explored more especially in the beginning - there could have been a lot more interesting interactions.
2. For a society that seemed to have a lot of shifters integrated, I would have thought children safety would have been prioritized earlier than this story, especially since it seems like families were multi-generational at this point in the city. Only hoping that hormonal teenagers didn't shift at school when the shifter society wasn't exposed publicly sounded like a recipe for disaster.
3. Getting a couple of random third-person POV chapters from hormonal teenagers about their misdeeds out of their guardian's attention honestly wasn't necessary IMO. And plus, while the title said it was from the POV of the two twins, the last few pages ended up actually being yet another kid's POV, which had made the later scenes super confusing to me.
4. How was the first one to bite and mate with Ellie. The rest didn't do it until her final heat in the last few chapters of the book. Admittedly, there might have been more reasoning during smut scenes that I skimmed over.
5. Sudden giant plot change into dealing with a at 80% into the book and . I thought the main drama was just trying to get the teenagers to get along with Ellie in the family and the school admin side-eyeing the relationship, not a full on huge dramatic society-changing issue. eeeesh.
Overall, I think if you enjoy reverse harem bear dick smut and neurodivergent plus size and teacher FMCs, you'd probably like this book, but this standalone didn't work for me. Based on my experiences with the last two stories in this series and the author in general, I might be more hesitant in reading more in the future.
Romance:
July 16, 2023
- fated mates
- bear shifters
- plus size FMC
- ADHD rep
- why choose romance
Mentions of: parental loss, grief, diet culture, depression anxiety, trauma
High school teacher Ellie is a bit down on her luck—her house is falling apart, a pair of students showed an entire class a picture from her private IG that could have gotten her fired, and she’s recently learned how big of a POS the guy she’s been seeing is.
So when she dials her bestie to vent about everything after a few too many G&Ts, imagine her surprise when it’s not her best friend Colleen who answers, but Nash, the uncle of the very students who have been causing trouble in her class. Completely mortified by what she’s done, Nash calms her down regardless of the mixup, and offers his help.
Thanks to the mixup her life is thrown further into disarray. She’s now surrounded by Nash and his roomies—Lin, Tyson, and Cole, the students other uncles, who plan on remodeling her home to make up for all the grief the boys have given her, but not everything is as it seems.
Ellie doesn’t realizes she’s stepped right in the middle of a sleuth of bear shifters, a secret she learns on accident, and she’s their mate!
As per usual, Sam has done it again and I absolutely adored Ellie and her mates story! It’s relatively low angst and sweet, but does touch on heavier topics like the effects of grief on a family and depression. I loved the realness of the emotions and situations portrayed, and that Ellie acts exactly like I would upon learning that bear shifters exist 🤣
- bear shifters
- plus size FMC
- ADHD rep
- why choose romance
Mentions of: parental loss, grief, diet culture, depression anxiety, trauma
High school teacher Ellie is a bit down on her luck—her house is falling apart, a pair of students showed an entire class a picture from her private IG that could have gotten her fired, and she’s recently learned how big of a POS the guy she’s been seeing is.
So when she dials her bestie to vent about everything after a few too many G&Ts, imagine her surprise when it’s not her best friend Colleen who answers, but Nash, the uncle of the very students who have been causing trouble in her class. Completely mortified by what she’s done, Nash calms her down regardless of the mixup, and offers his help.
Thanks to the mixup her life is thrown further into disarray. She’s now surrounded by Nash and his roomies—Lin, Tyson, and Cole, the students other uncles, who plan on remodeling her home to make up for all the grief the boys have given her, but not everything is as it seems.
Ellie doesn’t realizes she’s stepped right in the middle of a sleuth of bear shifters, a secret she learns on accident, and she’s their mate!
As per usual, Sam has done it again and I absolutely adored Ellie and her mates story! It’s relatively low angst and sweet, but does touch on heavier topics like the effects of grief on a family and depression. I loved the realness of the emotions and situations portrayed, and that Ellie acts exactly like I would upon learning that bear shifters exist 🤣
June 9, 2025
Another terrific bear shifter reverse harem!
The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💜❤️🩷
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍
Character development: 🤓😀😘🤩
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration
The heroine: Ellie - she is a high school teacher in Australia and can tend to be a bit of a hot mess, always running late and her life was chaos more often than not. She owned her own home at a young age, but it was a fixer upper and in need of a bunch of fixes. Her best friend Colleen was her roommate and a great friend but didn’t like her boyfriend Derick, who rarely took Ellie out, and even when he did, he always met her there, never picking her up. Ellie found out the hard way that Derick viewed her as only a side piece to hook up with.
The Heroes: Nash, Lin, Cole, Tyson - They are all bear shifters and uncles to a pair of teenage twin boys whose parents recently died. Nash had been screwed up since his brother was killed by shifter hunters while on vacation in America. The guys own a construction contracting company, one is a painter, one is a plumber, one an electrician and one is a builder.
The Story: The twin boys in Ellie’s class got in trouble for using their phones in class to show the class a picture of her in a bikini from her trip to Bali a few years ago. The picture should not be accessible to students because of the social media policy of the school and Ellie had only posted it on her instagram which was private aside from a few close friends. Ellie was afraid that having the picture go around the school would end up labeling her as a sexual predator. Later that night after her life started to fall to pieces, she called her friend and immediately went into a rant about everything that went wrong before she noticed that she had called the Walker twins’ guardian Nash and not her friend.
I liked Nash, he immediately helped Ellie by directing her to calm down and even after finding out what his nephews had done that day, he came over to Ellie’s house and helped her fix her plumbing. He did a quick fix and brought the rest of his guys over the following day to have a better look at her plumbing issues. They included the twins as punishment for what they did the previous day. I thought it was pretty funny that Ellie assumed the guys were all gay since they aren’t related but live and work together and are all guardians for the twins.
That above quote about her assumption made me laugh. It’s such a relatable moment—jumping to conclusions based on surface-level details. And Ellie’s life being a chaotic mess just makes her feel more real. The way the bear shifters swoop in with their construction skills to patch up both literal and metaphorical damage is such a satisfying element.
The twins were fifteen years old, and they were hurt and angry about the loss of their parents and they had been getting into a lot of trouble because of it and Nash had been depressed and barely able to get out of bed until he met Ellie, so he and the guys had basically no knowledge of the problems. I enjoyed the story about the fractured family especially the dynamic between Ellie and Nash, and how the loss of the twins’ parents shaped their guardians' lives. I love how Nash steps up, not just for Ellie but for his nephews, showing that rugged competence doesn’t have to mean emotional detachment.
This audiobook was narrated from multiple perspectives, done in dual narration by Sofia Lette and Dorje Swallow. These same two narrators did the first two books in this series, and I really enjoyed the narration in those books. Sofia has a nice, soft voice with a very pleasant tone. She is very expressive, and I love the Australian accent. Dorje Swallow has a great voice and a sexy Australian accent as well. He does a fantastic job.
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The following ratings are out of 5:
Romance: 💙💜❤️🩷
Heat/Steam: 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Story/Plot: 📕📗📙📘📔
World building: 🌏🌍🌎🌍
Character development: 🤓😀😘🤩
Narration: 🎙🎙🎙🎙🎙
Narration Type: Dual Narration
The heroine: Ellie - she is a high school teacher in Australia and can tend to be a bit of a hot mess, always running late and her life was chaos more often than not. She owned her own home at a young age, but it was a fixer upper and in need of a bunch of fixes. Her best friend Colleen was her roommate and a great friend but didn’t like her boyfriend Derick, who rarely took Ellie out, and even when he did, he always met her there, never picking her up. Ellie found out the hard way that Derick viewed her as only a side piece to hook up with.
The Heroes: Nash, Lin, Cole, Tyson - They are all bear shifters and uncles to a pair of teenage twin boys whose parents recently died. Nash had been screwed up since his brother was killed by shifter hunters while on vacation in America. The guys own a construction contracting company, one is a painter, one is a plumber, one an electrician and one is a builder.
The Story: The twin boys in Ellie’s class got in trouble for using their phones in class to show the class a picture of her in a bikini from her trip to Bali a few years ago. The picture should not be accessible to students because of the social media policy of the school and Ellie had only posted it on her instagram which was private aside from a few close friends. Ellie was afraid that having the picture go around the school would end up labeling her as a sexual predator. Later that night after her life started to fall to pieces, she called her friend and immediately went into a rant about everything that went wrong before she noticed that she had called the Walker twins’ guardian Nash and not her friend.
I liked Nash, he immediately helped Ellie by directing her to calm down and even after finding out what his nephews had done that day, he came over to Ellie’s house and helped her fix her plumbing. He did a quick fix and brought the rest of his guys over the following day to have a better look at her plumbing issues. They included the twins as punishment for what they did the previous day. I thought it was pretty funny that Ellie assumed the guys were all gay since they aren’t related but live and work together and are all guardians for the twins.
“I wanted to accept Nash’s offer. Perhaps he and his guys were a part of a kindly bunch of gay tradesmen that helped hapless women out of their DIY nightmares.”
That above quote about her assumption made me laugh. It’s such a relatable moment—jumping to conclusions based on surface-level details. And Ellie’s life being a chaotic mess just makes her feel more real. The way the bear shifters swoop in with their construction skills to patch up both literal and metaphorical damage is such a satisfying element.
The twins were fifteen years old, and they were hurt and angry about the loss of their parents and they had been getting into a lot of trouble because of it and Nash had been depressed and barely able to get out of bed until he met Ellie, so he and the guys had basically no knowledge of the problems. I enjoyed the story about the fractured family especially the dynamic between Ellie and Nash, and how the loss of the twins’ parents shaped their guardians' lives. I love how Nash steps up, not just for Ellie but for his nephews, showing that rugged competence doesn’t have to mean emotional detachment.
This audiobook was narrated from multiple perspectives, done in dual narration by Sofia Lette and Dorje Swallow. These same two narrators did the first two books in this series, and I really enjoyed the narration in those books. Sofia has a nice, soft voice with a very pleasant tone. She is very expressive, and I love the Australian accent. Dorje Swallow has a great voice and a sexy Australian accent as well. He does a fantastic job.
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July 25, 2023
There are a few definite traits to Sam Hall books. I wouldn’t call them similarities because the details vary greatly, but the underlying traits remain. She never fails to write “real” characters. That’s not to say that some books aren’t paranormal, fantasy or otherwise supernatural, but the humanity and personalities of her characters are such that you can see them as neighbors and often friends. I could easily see where Sam could have expanded this book to be 2-3 just by delving more deeply into the characters development and perspective but it doesn’t feel lacking at all. I think my voracious consumption of Sam Halls work (yes, I’m a stalker!) allows me to see where she might have gone further, or maybe where I wish she would have!
The FMC,Ellie, in this story is brilliantly written. She is a young teacher with neuro-exceptionalities that make her attempts at meeting neurotypical expectations very difficult. She is a compassionate and dedicated educator and as the best of them are, over utilized and under appreciated. She is also physically fully figured which has led to some serious insecurities and estrangement from her mum. She has a ride or die who loves her as only a bestie can that really showcases how wonderful a true supportive peer can be. The way Ellie is written is so poignant and thoughtful, you feel her successes and tribulations as your own. As a teacher who specializes is social-emotional learning and supporting students with exceptionalities, I identified with her as a teacher and person!
Her compassion plus a terrible relationship experience leads to an awkward unintended conversation with her students’ caregiver. The students, twin brothers, have lost their parents rather recently and have been presenting their grief as only teens can, lagging skills and asking for love in unloving ways. That initial interaction leads to all that follows in a up and down but more consistently up development between the caregivers bonded group and their fated mate, Ellie. There are some definite heavy factors, and I think as a teacher they hit doubly for me. Trust me when I say Ellie and her school interactions are very authentically written. Overall I really enjoyed this story and the characters. It can easily be read independently but reading the others in the series is a boon.
The FMC,Ellie, in this story is brilliantly written. She is a young teacher with neuro-exceptionalities that make her attempts at meeting neurotypical expectations very difficult. She is a compassionate and dedicated educator and as the best of them are, over utilized and under appreciated. She is also physically fully figured which has led to some serious insecurities and estrangement from her mum. She has a ride or die who loves her as only a bestie can that really showcases how wonderful a true supportive peer can be. The way Ellie is written is so poignant and thoughtful, you feel her successes and tribulations as your own. As a teacher who specializes is social-emotional learning and supporting students with exceptionalities, I identified with her as a teacher and person!
Her compassion plus a terrible relationship experience leads to an awkward unintended conversation with her students’ caregiver. The students, twin brothers, have lost their parents rather recently and have been presenting their grief as only teens can, lagging skills and asking for love in unloving ways. That initial interaction leads to all that follows in a up and down but more consistently up development between the caregivers bonded group and their fated mate, Ellie. There are some definite heavy factors, and I think as a teacher they hit doubly for me. Trust me when I say Ellie and her school interactions are very authentically written. Overall I really enjoyed this story and the characters. It can easily be read independently but reading the others in the series is a boon.
July 23, 2023
Loved this book 💖
My new favourite in Ursa Shifters series!! 💖
My new favourite in Ursa Shifters series!! 💖
July 25, 2023
Why choose fated mates romance
Love it!
MMC’s- Nash, Lin, Cole and Tyson
FMC- Ellie
No cheating/OW drama
Ellie is back from a shit date with a shitty guy when she accidentally calls Nash the guardian of two of her students. She starts spilling everything without noticing who she’s speaking with. Everything good just keeps coming after that.
Love it!
MMC’s- Nash, Lin, Cole and Tyson
FMC- Ellie
No cheating/OW drama
Ellie is back from a shit date with a shitty guy when she accidentally calls Nash the guardian of two of her students. She starts spilling everything without noticing who she’s speaking with. Everything good just keeps coming after that.
Read
September 23, 2023DNF 37% - not enough relationship building
July 28, 2023
“For the next week, that’ll tell any man, any bear shifter that looks at you that you’re mine,” he said, reaching over to place a kiss on my forehead, then rolling off the bed. “I’ll be back to apply more seven days from now, unless you’ve come to your senses and decided to accept the bond. I’ll come and keep on coming, marking you as mine over and over, because that’s what I need to do.”
-Cole
Grin and Bear It
Ursa Shifters
Book 3
By Sam Hall
520 pages
Currently on Kindle Unlimited in the USA.
Publication date July 29, 2023
AuthorSamHall.com
a.co/d/9hTYNe8
I received a copy of this book from the author, and this is my review.
Please, watch out for possible spoilers, including but not limited to, TW/CN/Etc.
Possible TW, Tropes, and Genres
Mature, Spicy, Romance, Paranormal, Bear Shifters, Fated Mates, Bonded Mates, Standalone, Happily Ever After, Curvy FMC, Touch Her and Die Vibes, Underage Drinking, No Cliffhanger, HEA, death of a family member (spoken about but happened off page), Orphans, Rejected Mate (NOT from anyone in this pack), Sex in Public, Sexting/Nudes, Painting, Breeding NO Pregnancy, with Bodily Fluids, Depression, ADHD, Failure of the Educational system, and possibly more.
If you like,
Shifters, especially bears (Insert bear emoji)
Alpha Men
DV
DVP
Neurospicy FMC
Fated Mates
HEA
Did I say BEAR SHIFTERS?
This is a book for you!!!
This is set in the same world as Bears in Mind, and Bears With Me, but you do NOT have to read the other two, to enjoy this book. This is a standalone book, with NO cliffhanger.
I do, still HIGHLY recommend you read the other two, because they are such WONDERFULLY amazing books. They are also in KU.
I loved the characters as soon as they came across the page. They felt so real and fleshed out. And the Doom piles!!! Omfg, it felt at times, that the FMC, and I were the same with our mental health issues.
And this is why I LOVE Sam's writing so much. They flesh out their characters so well, that you can easily see yourself as one of them.
The spice is amazing, and consent/check in happens so much.
I HIGHLY recommend this book.
5/5 stars
-Destynnee
-Cole
Grin and Bear It
Ursa Shifters
Book 3
By Sam Hall
520 pages
Currently on Kindle Unlimited in the USA.
Publication date July 29, 2023
AuthorSamHall.com
a.co/d/9hTYNe8
I received a copy of this book from the author, and this is my review.
Please, watch out for possible spoilers, including but not limited to, TW/CN/Etc.
Possible TW, Tropes, and Genres
Mature, Spicy, Romance, Paranormal, Bear Shifters, Fated Mates, Bonded Mates, Standalone, Happily Ever After, Curvy FMC, Touch Her and Die Vibes, Underage Drinking, No Cliffhanger, HEA, death of a family member (spoken about but happened off page), Orphans, Rejected Mate (NOT from anyone in this pack), Sex in Public, Sexting/Nudes, Painting, Breeding NO Pregnancy, with Bodily Fluids, Depression, ADHD, Failure of the Educational system, and possibly more.
If you like,
Shifters, especially bears (Insert bear emoji)
Alpha Men
DV
DVP
Neurospicy FMC
Fated Mates
HEA
Did I say BEAR SHIFTERS?
This is a book for you!!!
This is set in the same world as Bears in Mind, and Bears With Me, but you do NOT have to read the other two, to enjoy this book. This is a standalone book, with NO cliffhanger.
I do, still HIGHLY recommend you read the other two, because they are such WONDERFULLY amazing books. They are also in KU.
I loved the characters as soon as they came across the page. They felt so real and fleshed out. And the Doom piles!!! Omfg, it felt at times, that the FMC, and I were the same with our mental health issues.
And this is why I LOVE Sam's writing so much. They flesh out their characters so well, that you can easily see yourself as one of them.
The spice is amazing, and consent/check in happens so much.
I HIGHLY recommend this book.
5/5 stars
-Destynnee
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 23, 2023
Fun, sweet and spicy with a side of Australian slang!
I honestly love reading Sam Hall’s books!! She writes in Australian English and I’m from NZ so all the colloquialisms and slang and certain ways of spelling things is familiar to me compared to American English.
I really enjoyed this story. For the most part it was light-hearted and sweet with a whole side of spice. The guys were all perfect for Ellie and totally had me wondering where I can find my own sleuth?! 😂
Ellie was such an interesting character too. Sam wrote her as someone with ADHD and really doesn’t shy away from that fact. Ellie talked a lot about her hyperfocus and hyperfixations, her time blindness, doom piles, and the general paralysis of being neurospicy. I found it a refreshing view point to the “perfect heroine” character. She neurospicy af and surrounded herself with people who accepted that.
The third act blowup was KILLER. When I figured out what was happening, my heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest, it was so intense. I was getting secondhand embarrassment and anxiety which is a testament to Sam’s writing imo. It all worked out in the end but hot damn, it almost killed me to get there!
Overall this was fun, romantic, spicy af, and totally made me wish for a Bunnings snag! #iykyk 😂 I can’t wait to see if we get anymore bear shifter books!
I honestly love reading Sam Hall’s books!! She writes in Australian English and I’m from NZ so all the colloquialisms and slang and certain ways of spelling things is familiar to me compared to American English.
I really enjoyed this story. For the most part it was light-hearted and sweet with a whole side of spice. The guys were all perfect for Ellie and totally had me wondering where I can find my own sleuth?! 😂
Ellie was such an interesting character too. Sam wrote her as someone with ADHD and really doesn’t shy away from that fact. Ellie talked a lot about her hyperfocus and hyperfixations, her time blindness, doom piles, and the general paralysis of being neurospicy. I found it a refreshing view point to the “perfect heroine” character. She neurospicy af and surrounded herself with people who accepted that.
The third act blowup was KILLER. When I figured out what was happening, my heart felt like it was going to beat right out of my chest, it was so intense. I was getting secondhand embarrassment and anxiety which is a testament to Sam’s writing imo. It all worked out in the end but hot damn, it almost killed me to get there!
Overall this was fun, romantic, spicy af, and totally made me wish for a Bunnings snag! #iykyk 😂 I can’t wait to see if we get anymore bear shifter books!
September 13, 2023
You guys know by now that I adore everything that Sam Hall writes. She has such a way with writing the most human stories, and they always always hit home. Ellie’s story is another home run. I adored the bear shifters in Sam’s original bear shifter duet (Bears in Mind), and love that she continued to write more about the community in this book!
Ellie is a super empathetic, wonderfully sweet, sexy plus size school teacher who is neurospicy. She’s had some trouble with dating in the past, and history of dealing with some size prejudice, especially from her mother. But her love life changes for the better when she, unknowingly, introduces herself to her fated mates.
The MMCs, Nash, Tyson, Lin and Cole have been dealing with some family trauma of their own after the death of Nash’s sister and her sleuth. They are trying their best to raise their teenagers nephews in the wake of tragedy, but what they need is someone like Ellie to balance everything out.
This book has the twists and turns and emotional hills that are standard for Sam Hall, and you’ll laugh as well as cry, all the while rooting for these characters. Definitely recommend!
Ellie is a super empathetic, wonderfully sweet, sexy plus size school teacher who is neurospicy. She’s had some trouble with dating in the past, and history of dealing with some size prejudice, especially from her mother. But her love life changes for the better when she, unknowingly, introduces herself to her fated mates.
The MMCs, Nash, Tyson, Lin and Cole have been dealing with some family trauma of their own after the death of Nash’s sister and her sleuth. They are trying their best to raise their teenagers nephews in the wake of tragedy, but what they need is someone like Ellie to balance everything out.
This book has the twists and turns and emotional hills that are standard for Sam Hall, and you’ll laugh as well as cry, all the while rooting for these characters. Definitely recommend!
January 11, 2024
This felt choppy and rushed. I was often stopping to re-read to try to figure out who was speaking, and what actions were being made by whom.
I thought Ellie would have had more of a backbone as well. The women in this series say yes all the time, to everything. Even if they hesitate. Even if it's something they don't want to do. Even when the men haven't earned her trust. It meant that the first guy to claim Ellie was the asshole type who was trying to sabotage the relationship due to his own insecurities, which didn't sit right with me.
It also felt lacking in romance. I think the story was trying to say Ellie was lonely and neglected, and was happy to get her own harem if they worked for it, and in the meantime she'd just enjoy bear dick, but there wasn't any conversation around this. It was like important parts of the story were skipped over and everyone just reached some kind of agreement without discussing it. Then after, the relationship conflict felt fake and forced because there wasn't really any internal conflict. I also didn't really like any of the sex scenes. I felt like in comparison, the sex scenes in the previous books were more genuine and heartfelt.
I did really like the neurodivergence rep.
I still really enjoyed it because Aussie bear shifter reverse harem. I was very engaged with the plot and the characters, especially the angsty teen bear twin boys. I liked the expansion on the bear shifter lore and the hints of other shifter types in the wider community.
I thought Ellie would have had more of a backbone as well. The women in this series say yes all the time, to everything. Even if they hesitate. Even if it's something they don't want to do. Even when the men haven't earned her trust. It meant that the first guy to claim Ellie was the asshole type who was trying to sabotage the relationship due to his own insecurities, which didn't sit right with me.
It also felt lacking in romance. I think the story was trying to say Ellie was lonely and neglected, and was happy to get her own harem if they worked for it, and in the meantime she'd just enjoy bear dick, but there wasn't any conversation around this. It was like important parts of the story were skipped over and everyone just reached some kind of agreement without discussing it. Then after, the relationship conflict felt fake and forced because there wasn't really any internal conflict. I also didn't really like any of the sex scenes. I felt like in comparison, the sex scenes in the previous books were more genuine and heartfelt.
I did really like the neurodivergence rep.
I still really enjoyed it because Aussie bear shifter reverse harem. I was very engaged with the plot and the characters, especially the angsty teen bear twin boys. I liked the expansion on the bear shifter lore and the hints of other shifter types in the wider community.
September 6, 2023
Really wanted to like this but it was too much of everything. First off, it’s really long. Lots of drawn out spots that didn’t need to be. Second, for a shifter story but there’s not much focus at all on the shifter part. Barely a convenience (get it?). Out of the four of them, Cole was the biggest asshat yet he was first. Not deserved. Colleen was THE WORST friend I have ever seen. Seriously, if anyone ever needs duct tape and a muzzle, it’s her. Finally, and I never thought I’d say this, TOO MUCH SEX. It’s soooo unnecessary and ridiculous to think that’s what the relationship is so focused on. Between that and the ending to this, was mad disappointing.
January 5, 2024
Loved all other books in this series so far, but this one is just not my cup of tea.
The teen boys took up too much of this story for me. They are little assholes. Yes, I know they experienced loss, but just could not get into this story at all.
The teen boys took up too much of this story for me. They are little assholes. Yes, I know they experienced loss, but just could not get into this story at all.
January 23, 2024
Sheesh, I loved this story even more than the first I think.
I could connect so well with Ellie in all of her neurospicy goodness. I too have doom piles and a mess of laundry and flit from thing to thing without locking down. I loved the representation and that the author really showed how overwhelming it can be just to exist in your own head at times with everyting going on.
I also loved how supportive and understanding Colleen was, and how she just knew what to do to help take care of her bestie, as well as the guys.
Cole was my least favorite at first, I thought him an asshole, but then learning the backstory and the trauma and his little sassy remarks really sealed him in my favorite spot. I adored his awkward unsurities and how open he was with her at times.
I also loved the side story of the twins and everything that they were going through, and that they had their own chapters and traumas and that they weren't passed off to another family member or left out of the growth.
All in all watching the sleuth come together to help direct and raise the boys as well as navigate all the travesties and newness of finding and courting their mate was just so beautifully done and the spice, unf. I adored the series and the openings this one left for the potential spin off's of other stories.
And I would absolutely adore a future story about Knox and Maddox building their own sleuth and hunting for their own mate when they're grown. Mads being the quiet voice of reason and Knox being a little spitfire shit was just so adorable and I felt really connected to the characters as well. It didn't feel like they were a side character, and more that they were just as much a part of the family as their uncles and new aunt.
I loved this one, couldn't put it down <3 :)
I could connect so well with Ellie in all of her neurospicy goodness. I too have doom piles and a mess of laundry and flit from thing to thing without locking down. I loved the representation and that the author really showed how overwhelming it can be just to exist in your own head at times with everyting going on.
I also loved how supportive and understanding Colleen was, and how she just knew what to do to help take care of her bestie, as well as the guys.
Cole was my least favorite at first, I thought him an asshole, but then learning the backstory and the trauma and his little sassy remarks really sealed him in my favorite spot. I adored his awkward unsurities and how open he was with her at times.
I also loved the side story of the twins and everything that they were going through, and that they had their own chapters and traumas and that they weren't passed off to another family member or left out of the growth.
All in all watching the sleuth come together to help direct and raise the boys as well as navigate all the travesties and newness of finding and courting their mate was just so beautifully done and the spice, unf. I adored the series and the openings this one left for the potential spin off's of other stories.
And I would absolutely adore a future story about Knox and Maddox building their own sleuth and hunting for their own mate when they're grown. Mads being the quiet voice of reason and Knox being a little spitfire shit was just so adorable and I felt really connected to the characters as well. It didn't feel like they were a side character, and more that they were just as much a part of the family as their uncles and new aunt.
I loved this one, couldn't put it down <3 :)
July 16, 2023
This book was fantastic, so beautifully written and full of amazing iconic Aussie-ness. I read lots of books but not many are so Australian - love it!
Elllie is a phenomenal FMC, complex in many ways - beautifully curvy but from this has suffered fat shaming causing it to impact her confidence.
Ellie is a total giver, as a teacher she goes above and beyond for her students.
Oh, also love her inner monologue also her neurodivergent tendencies.
Then there’s the twins, those poor orphans that are struggling - my heart goes out to them.
The uncles- hot damn, wow! 🔥🔥those men um. Well Bears are hot AF. Their caring and support is what every woman desires.
Ellie’s mum is a piece of work, love Coll and her way with words - had me laughing out loud numerous times.
I love nothing more than reading ‘Am I an arseh@le’ Reddit posts - love the reference
The storyline was well thought out and written with such detail and emotion. I enjoyed the suspense and the mystery/secret aspects.
Lastly I can’t not comment on the steamy scenes - can anyone say baculum 🥵🥵
Overall an amazing book that I thoroughly enjoyed and will definitely read again.
Elllie is a phenomenal FMC, complex in many ways - beautifully curvy but from this has suffered fat shaming causing it to impact her confidence.
Ellie is a total giver, as a teacher she goes above and beyond for her students.
Oh, also love her inner monologue also her neurodivergent tendencies.
Then there’s the twins, those poor orphans that are struggling - my heart goes out to them.
The uncles- hot damn, wow! 🔥🔥those men um. Well Bears are hot AF. Their caring and support is what every woman desires.
Ellie’s mum is a piece of work, love Coll and her way with words - had me laughing out loud numerous times.
I love nothing more than reading ‘Am I an arseh@le’ Reddit posts - love the reference
The storyline was well thought out and written with such detail and emotion. I enjoyed the suspense and the mystery/secret aspects.
Lastly I can’t not comment on the steamy scenes - can anyone say baculum 🥵🥵
Overall an amazing book that I thoroughly enjoyed and will definitely read again.
October 25, 2024
I really enjoyed this one and all the ADHD rep. Ellie was all chaotic and authentic and amazing as a human. Cole was such the alphahole. Ty was so mellow and kind. Nash was anxious and sweet. And Lin was fun. They balanced each other out pretty well and stumbled through boundary setting together. My heart broke for Ellie for a lot of things, but most especially for her crappy self-centered and hypercritical mother. Been there. There were some difficult topics handled, but I thought they were done well.
Spice: 4/5
Triggers: nonconsensual voyeurism, nonconsensual sharing of nude picture (not done by MCs), internal and external fat phobia, emotionally abusive parent, processing of parent death (parent of teen boys, death is off page), depressive episode, ableism, discussion of parent absence
Spice: 4/5
Triggers: nonconsensual voyeurism, nonconsensual sharing of nude picture (not done by MCs), internal and external fat phobia, emotionally abusive parent, processing of parent death (parent of teen boys, death is off page), depressive episode, ableism, discussion of parent absence
July 31, 2023
Sam Hall is just so good. What god have her the powers to write books that usually I would hate written by anyone else and instead make me love them. I loved the relationship with the twins in this book. I wish Sam would have elaborated a bit more on Ellie’s relationship with her family outside of her mom, and even more with her mom, to show the difference between them and her new found family with her mates and their pack. Ellie is a strong independent NEURODIVERGENT plus size FMC. I love the way Sam writes characters so perfectly and human. You can easily relate to the characters she writes. I recommend her all day every day.
August 10, 2023
Soooo good
She really hit it out of the park with this one. It blew me away that I felt so seen reading this book! Smart, kind, curvy, insecure Ellie with ADHD is a heroine to cherish. The different challenges and pain that each character struggled to overcome were portrayed with a depth and sensitivity that made them real and compelling. Now, where can I find a sleuth like that for myself?
She really hit it out of the park with this one. It blew me away that I felt so seen reading this book! Smart, kind, curvy, insecure Ellie with ADHD is a heroine to cherish. The different challenges and pain that each character struggled to overcome were portrayed with a depth and sensitivity that made them real and compelling. Now, where can I find a sleuth like that for myself?
June 12, 2025
This was sweet.
I loved the teacher aspect of the book. I could never be around 15 years old kids, five days a week!!
All the movie and culture references were on point! I laughed out loud a few times.
I love fated mates (even if it took 13 chapters to see one of the guys POV!)
The four guys were all sweet and caring.
These book are like a warm blanket. I just want to cozy up with it and disappear into their world for a few hours.
I will continue this series ofc. But right now I’ve got my bear-craving fulfilled!
3/5
This was better than the two first books story wise.
I loved the teacher aspect of the book. I could never be around 15 years old kids, five days a week!!
All the movie and culture references were on point! I laughed out loud a few times.
I love fated mates (even if it took 13 chapters to see one of the guys POV!)
The four guys were all sweet and caring.
These book are like a warm blanket. I just want to cozy up with it and disappear into their world for a few hours.
I will continue this series ofc. But right now I’ve got my bear-craving fulfilled!
3/5
This was better than the two first books story wise.
July 26, 2023
Torn on this as It started off well and I was really enjoying it, but the last 30% of the book just didn’t really go anywhere, Ellie’s reaction to being exposed over social media wasn’t realistic, it’s a nice read, plenty of steam, but I didn’t think the ending needed work, I liked the neurodivergent rep, 3.5 stars
October 24, 2024
OMG this was so real and wholesome. The omegaverse aspect is a bit icky but the rest more than makes up for it. I'll take all the mentions of "my mate" and "breeding you with my baculum" in return for a solid romance. And to top it off, no miscommunication trope. The 3rd act conflict is the couple vs the world and not an internal struggles between the lovers.
April 9, 2024
Everybody has issues IRL but not everyone is as dysfunctional as this crop
January 8, 2025
Not for me. I appreciated the ADHD rep but not much else worked for me. Really did not care for a lot of the gender essentialism or the fact that a single queer character pops up for 2 seconds to be a “girl let me spill the tea” caricature and is then gone.
dnf
April 12, 2025DNF 40%
Yeah so this was terrible and I give up
Yeah so this was terrible and I give up
July 25, 2023
3.5 stars. I'll admit that I'm not a fan of the latest Sam Hall's books...
July 28, 2023
3.5 stars
This was a bit over the top at times and doesn't have much character growth, but it is a fun escape. I struggled with some of the Australian slang and had to look things up as I read. Australian schools sound as broken as American schools.
This was a bit over the top at times and doesn't have much character growth, but it is a fun escape. I struggled with some of the Australian slang and had to look things up as I read. Australian schools sound as broken as American schools.
November 24, 2023
It’s a really good book! It just can’t compare to the first two at all 😮💨
October 25, 2023
This book was awesome. Being a bigger girl myself it was a beautiful read that really shows what true beauty is which is who we are as people and also that beauty is subjective, really shedding light in one man’s trash is another man’s treasure if you will. I loved the dynamic between Ellie and her men but also the relationship with her and their nephews it was a beautiful thing to read and they all melded together so well. It was seamless.
My only issue was that I wish there would’ve been a bit more of a revealing I guess you could say in terms of Ellie and her mens past lives. Like you read a lot about their own experiences to a certain extent but there wasn’t much sharing happening between her sleuth and her except for the initial accidental phone call. Like obviously y’know they had parents but you don’t hear about them much, none knew how sh**ty her mom was to her or the dad, the most I knew about her men was all the dads had their own sleuths and some were close with their moms except Cole for specific reasons, and like more on the sleuth itself, idk like as the reader I knew all of that but they didn’t really share it with one another. I mean I love books that are all future and loved up and whatnot but a little more of the past I think is enjoyable it kinda shows to me like how each of them got to be where they are, who they are, and with one another.
Overall though this book gets a high a** rating bc it truly was an enjoyable read, Colleen was a bada** ride or die 100% behind you bestfriend and I will forever loveeee her. I just loved the dynamic between them all it was great and I liked seeing how Ellie despite all the challenges she faced just did her best everyday. And to see how the sleuths nephews after such a traumatizing event happened continue on and truly grow into themselves as young men and shifters it was *chefs kiss* along with their uncles stepping into the role of fathers and mates to my girl Ellie it was a truly fascinating read. Definitely one of my more favorite reverse harems and bear shifter reads.
Lastly the way in which you describe the struggle with ADHD and whatnot as the sister to those who have it I felt it was very well written and well done to this author it truly shed light on what I see my siblings go through and the ways in which I’ve seen them cope. Also despite being in the crappy USA and this being written in Australian English as was said in the authors notes at the beginning I had no trouble reading or understanding the book at all. 🙌🏻🙏🏻😁
My only issue was that I wish there would’ve been a bit more of a revealing I guess you could say in terms of Ellie and her mens past lives. Like you read a lot about their own experiences to a certain extent but there wasn’t much sharing happening between her sleuth and her except for the initial accidental phone call. Like obviously y’know they had parents but you don’t hear about them much, none knew how sh**ty her mom was to her or the dad, the most I knew about her men was all the dads had their own sleuths and some were close with their moms except Cole for specific reasons, and like more on the sleuth itself, idk like as the reader I knew all of that but they didn’t really share it with one another. I mean I love books that are all future and loved up and whatnot but a little more of the past I think is enjoyable it kinda shows to me like how each of them got to be where they are, who they are, and with one another.
Overall though this book gets a high a** rating bc it truly was an enjoyable read, Colleen was a bada** ride or die 100% behind you bestfriend and I will forever loveeee her. I just loved the dynamic between them all it was great and I liked seeing how Ellie despite all the challenges she faced just did her best everyday. And to see how the sleuths nephews after such a traumatizing event happened continue on and truly grow into themselves as young men and shifters it was *chefs kiss* along with their uncles stepping into the role of fathers and mates to my girl Ellie it was a truly fascinating read. Definitely one of my more favorite reverse harems and bear shifter reads.
Lastly the way in which you describe the struggle with ADHD and whatnot as the sister to those who have it I felt it was very well written and well done to this author it truly shed light on what I see my siblings go through and the ways in which I’ve seen them cope. Also despite being in the crappy USA and this being written in Australian English as was said in the authors notes at the beginning I had no trouble reading or understanding the book at all. 🙌🏻🙏🏻😁
September 23, 2023
I was really enjoying this in the beginning, but a few things happened throughout the book that made me want to scream and unfortunately that’s what lost it a couple stars.
I haven’t read the other books in this series, so I was pretty surprised to see a weird narrative structure? The first 20% of this book is only told through Ellie’s pov, and then once she finally meets the uncles we start to get theirs. Now it’s probably just a me thing but o thought that was very weird. In almost every RH or omegaverse type book we get everyone’s pov to set up the characters before they meet, so to start out with Just Ellie and then throw in the uncles was an interesting choice. But then by 70 or 80% we get three chapters from the twin boys pov and it’s told in third person and THAT definitely threw me for a loop.
I’m never one to complain about spice, but the sex scenes in this book were wayyyyy too long and by the time we got the “paint me like one of your French girls” scene I was basically skimming bc I just wanted to be done with this book. It was too long for almost no reason 🤷🏻♀️
Finally, while i enjoyed a lot of things about Ellie, there were so many instances that I wanted to strangle her. I understand she’s been through shit and has a lot of issues trusting people and their motives, the men in this book never gave her any reason to think otherwise so anytime she was resistant or bratty I wanted to slap her lmao
Overall this book was enjoyable, and I really did like the overall story and the concept. I just like the author wanted to throw in any type of outside of harem conflict but I wish she would’ve just picked a struggle
I haven’t read the other books in this series, so I was pretty surprised to see a weird narrative structure? The first 20% of this book is only told through Ellie’s pov, and then once she finally meets the uncles we start to get theirs. Now it’s probably just a me thing but o thought that was very weird. In almost every RH or omegaverse type book we get everyone’s pov to set up the characters before they meet, so to start out with Just Ellie and then throw in the uncles was an interesting choice. But then by 70 or 80% we get three chapters from the twin boys pov and it’s told in third person and THAT definitely threw me for a loop.
I’m never one to complain about spice, but the sex scenes in this book were wayyyyy too long and by the time we got the “paint me like one of your French girls” scene I was basically skimming bc I just wanted to be done with this book. It was too long for almost no reason 🤷🏻♀️
Finally, while i enjoyed a lot of things about Ellie, there were so many instances that I wanted to strangle her. I understand she’s been through shit and has a lot of issues trusting people and their motives, the men in this book never gave her any reason to think otherwise so anytime she was resistant or bratty I wanted to slap her lmao
Overall this book was enjoyable, and I really did like the overall story and the concept. I just like the author wanted to throw in any type of outside of harem conflict but I wish she would’ve just picked a struggle
October 5, 2023
I was pretty excited to read this book. Shifters. Plus-sized neurodivergent FMC…. Sadly, this didn’t hit with me like I thought it would.
Really with how the FMC was portrayed. Personally, the author made the FMC kinda a terrible person I feel like. Selfish as all fuck for sure. Her best friend, super awesome and supportive…. The FMC, not soo much. Her whole person I feel like was a bad portrayal for all us chubby neurodivergent ladies in the world. This could just be me who feels this way, I think mostly because I thought her interactions with the MMCs and her best friend were all about what she could get out of them.
For a shifter romance, there is literally no shifting. Just saying. I might need to stop trying to read this author, the books sounds promising but generally fall flat in one way or another for me.
Really with how the FMC was portrayed. Personally, the author made the FMC kinda a terrible person I feel like. Selfish as all fuck for sure. Her best friend, super awesome and supportive…. The FMC, not soo much. Her whole person I feel like was a bad portrayal for all us chubby neurodivergent ladies in the world. This could just be me who feels this way, I think mostly because I thought her interactions with the MMCs and her best friend were all about what she could get out of them.
For a shifter romance, there is literally no shifting. Just saying. I might need to stop trying to read this author, the books sounds promising but generally fall flat in one way or another for me.
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