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Bear Protector #2
Fated to the Alpha Bear
The man they sent to rescue me looks more dangerous than my captors. Bodhi Lennox hasn't spoken a full sentence since he arrived, just watches me with dark eyes and growls at anyone who gets too close.
He's massive, barely speaks, and is supposedly here to protect me until my brother pays his debt.
But the way he looks at me? Like I'm already his. Like he'd tear apart anyone who tries to touch me.
I should be terrified of him. Instead, I'm wondering what it would take to make a man like him lose control.
******
Three months in fur. Three months avoiding everyone I know. Then Chase Walker drags me back to civilization for one last job, protect a woman being held as collateral for her brother's debt.
Simple. Get in. Guard the asset. Get out.
Then I recognise her. My mate. And I know I'm in trouble.
Every instinct screams to claim her, protect her, keep her. But she thinks I'm just hired muscle. Another dangerous man in a house full of predators.
She has no idea she belongs to an alpha bear who's more animal than man.
She has no idea I'll burn the whole world down before I let anyone hurt what's mine.
A wild bear shifter romance with a possessive alpha hero, fated mates, and a guaranteed HEA. No cliffhangers.
He's massive, barely speaks, and is supposedly here to protect me until my brother pays his debt.
But the way he looks at me? Like I'm already his. Like he'd tear apart anyone who tries to touch me.
I should be terrified of him. Instead, I'm wondering what it would take to make a man like him lose control.
******
Three months in fur. Three months avoiding everyone I know. Then Chase Walker drags me back to civilization for one last job, protect a woman being held as collateral for her brother's debt.
Simple. Get in. Guard the asset. Get out.
Then I recognise her. My mate. And I know I'm in trouble.
Every instinct screams to claim her, protect her, keep her. But she thinks I'm just hired muscle. Another dangerous man in a house full of predators.
She has no idea she belongs to an alpha bear who's more animal than man.
She has no idea I'll burn the whole world down before I let anyone hurt what's mine.
A wild bear shifter romance with a possessive alpha hero, fated mates, and a guaranteed HEA. No cliffhangers.
366 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 26, 2026
About the author
Reece Barden
31 books635 followersReece is a steamy paranormal romance author writing wickedly wild romance. She is currently working on the shifter romance series, The Shifters of Grey Ridge and the Steel Pack Alphas.
She loves creating steamy stories about hot, growly alpha men and the women who love and torment them.
She writes for people just like her who love a little light-hearted fun with their naughty heroes and edge-of-your-seat storylines.
She loves creating steamy stories about hot, growly alpha men and the women who love and torment them.
She writes for people just like her who love a little light-hearted fun with their naughty heroes and edge-of-your-seat storylines.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 131 reviews
Did Not Finish
March 11, 2026DNF At 76%
I've been actively avoiding this book for 5 full days. I think it's time to call it.
It pains me to say this, but this book stopped holding my attention when Bodhi . After that, it became painfully obvious that Bodhi and the FMC (whose name escapes me now) have nothing in common. They don't banter or sass each other. He's running from a commitment like his ass is on fire and just lurks at a distance around her vicinity. It got old very quickly. She's rightfully very angry and he just takes it and leaves her alone. Fight for what you want, goddamnit!
There were still weird inconsistencies throughout the novel (like in the first book of this series) and as another reviewer mentioned, some bits seem to have been moved around and no one bothered to reread it to make sure it still made sense (P.S. It didn't!).
At this point, I'm starting to question whether or not books by this author are worth it to me. The overall story ideas are great, but the lack of attention to the craft and the same kinds of errors spanning 2 books in the same series kind of make me question if the author even cares about what she's writing.
I've been actively avoiding this book for 5 full days. I think it's time to call it.
It pains me to say this, but this book stopped holding my attention when Bodhi . After that, it became painfully obvious that Bodhi and the FMC (whose name escapes me now) have nothing in common. They don't banter or sass each other. He's running from a commitment like his ass is on fire and just lurks at a distance around her vicinity. It got old very quickly. She's rightfully very angry and he just takes it and leaves her alone. Fight for what you want, goddamnit!
There were still weird inconsistencies throughout the novel (like in the first book of this series) and as another reviewer mentioned, some bits seem to have been moved around and no one bothered to reread it to make sure it still made sense (P.S. It didn't!).
At this point, I'm starting to question whether or not books by this author are worth it to me. The overall story ideas are great, but the lack of attention to the craft and the same kinds of errors spanning 2 books in the same series kind of make me question if the author even cares about what she's writing.
January 27, 2026
Bodhi has been my favorite character since I first started reading Reece's books and I had been counting down the days until this book came out so it is killing me to give it such a low rating. To say I was disappointed would be an understatement. I'm so frustrated with how this book turned out that I'm writing my first ever review on goodreads. The poor editing, timeline inconsistencies, continuity errors, and formatting issues were all distracting and, for a large chunk of the story, it honestly felt like I was reading two different books at the same time.
The first part of the book was engaging and strong. I was really intrigued by Bodhi and Emma's story. However, the writing felt rushed and sloppy. Both characters would describe the same event and entirely different conversations or actions would take place across their perspectives which could not be chalked up to a difference of perception. Conversations between characters had confusing responses and you could tell they had been rewritten or rearranged without any further editing to ensure they still made sense. There were sentences throughout the book that were straight up unreadable due to editing mistakes or errors.
The story also took a strong pivot about 70% of the way into the book without any real resolution to the first two thirds. I understand there is an overarching story here that will cross the entire series but there was no real transition into the final act of the book and there was no real resolution to the conflict between the main characters. Emma had every right to be upset and she still just keeps chasing Bodhi and accepts everything without any conversation. Almost everything she learns about shifters is off page in conversations with characters other than Bodhi and we never see her reactions or processing it.
I can't give tons of examples of continuity errors without spoiling parts of the book but a vague example would be in a later chapter, Bodhi physically acknowledges something that happened between him and Emma while explaining the significance of it but five pages later it's like nothing has happened yet and she asks about when it will happen for them. There were so many things like that where it just didn't make sense and took me out of the story.
I could go on and on with everything that was disappointing with this book but I don't want to keep piling on. I have loved Reece's books and I've read a lot of them but this book felt like it was written by a different person. That or it was rushed to be finished and what we received was more like a draft than a final product. If it had been written by anyone else, I would have DNFed but I pushed through.
The first part of the book was engaging and strong. I was really intrigued by Bodhi and Emma's story. However, the writing felt rushed and sloppy. Both characters would describe the same event and entirely different conversations or actions would take place across their perspectives which could not be chalked up to a difference of perception. Conversations between characters had confusing responses and you could tell they had been rewritten or rearranged without any further editing to ensure they still made sense. There were sentences throughout the book that were straight up unreadable due to editing mistakes or errors.
The story also took a strong pivot about 70% of the way into the book without any real resolution to the first two thirds. I understand there is an overarching story here that will cross the entire series but there was no real transition into the final act of the book and there was no real resolution to the conflict between the main characters. Emma had every right to be upset and she still just keeps chasing Bodhi and accepts everything without any conversation. Almost everything she learns about shifters is off page in conversations with characters other than Bodhi and we never see her reactions or processing it.
I can't give tons of examples of continuity errors without spoiling parts of the book but a vague example would be in a later chapter, Bodhi physically acknowledges something that happened between him and Emma while explaining the significance of it but five pages later it's like nothing has happened yet and she asks about when it will happen for them. There were so many things like that where it just didn't make sense and took me out of the story.
I could go on and on with everything that was disappointing with this book but I don't want to keep piling on. I have loved Reece's books and I've read a lot of them but this book felt like it was written by a different person. That or it was rushed to be finished and what we received was more like a draft than a final product. If it had been written by anyone else, I would have DNFed but I pushed through.
February 3, 2026
3 - 3.25 shifter smut-scale stars!
“Careful, Emma. You’re playing with fire.” He’s moving again, carrying me through the front door, but his voice is rough as the door slams shut behind us. “Bite me again, and I might just bite you back.”
January 21, 2026
Arghhh Bodhi!! 🫶🏻
I’ve been really looking forward to Bodhi’s story and I loved seeing him get his happy ending (no pun intended). Even going full circle and ending up back at Black River.
In mated to the Alpha Bear, we see Bodhi have to pose as a hired muscle for a Russian loan shark and criminal, to protect his mate, Emma. Balancing his protective instincts and the need to claim her, with keeping her safe while they’re both in danger.
I wished there had been a little more of focus on Bodhi moving on from his past trauma and being able to open up more about his upbringing as it felt slightly rushed that suddenly he was more comfortable in his human form and his bear had taken a step back. However, I still really enjoyed the story and liked their relationship.
Thank you to Reece Barden for the ARC!
I’ve been really looking forward to Bodhi’s story and I loved seeing him get his happy ending (no pun intended). Even going full circle and ending up back at Black River.
In mated to the Alpha Bear, we see Bodhi have to pose as a hired muscle for a Russian loan shark and criminal, to protect his mate, Emma. Balancing his protective instincts and the need to claim her, with keeping her safe while they’re both in danger.
I wished there had been a little more of focus on Bodhi moving on from his past trauma and being able to open up more about his upbringing as it felt slightly rushed that suddenly he was more comfortable in his human form and his bear had taken a step back. However, I still really enjoyed the story and liked their relationship.
Thank you to Reece Barden for the ARC!
June 8, 2026
First things first (I'm the realest): Since there aren't any anywhere on the author's website or in the book: TW for kidnapping, SA, sex trafficking, torture, body horror, etc. Some of it (especially the torture and body horror) is graphic.
Now, I'm going to start with the stuff I actually (mostly) enjoyed and then slide into the stuff that didn't work for me.
This book is HEAVY on the action and drama and tension. We're dealing with a captive situation where Bodhi infiltrates a crime lord's inner circle to extract his mate, but it obviously takes a while to find an opening to attempt it. In the meantime he's got to watch as she's paraded around to potential buyers who are vying to be the ones to take her virginity.
Most of this book takes place in the span of a week, which seems very quick for 2 people to fall in love in these circumstances, especially since, for the first few days at least, Emma doesn't know that Bodhi is there for her, and not just another of the bad guy's goons. But somehow it doesn't FEEL completely rushed. A large part of that is because of the bond situation, and I knew going in what I was getting into, so I was fine with that.
Emma makes the decision to try to seduce him, to have sex on her terms before she can be sold off to someone who's likely going to rape and kill her.
THAT is the situation we're dealing with in this book, so if you're uncomfy with topics like sex trafficking just be aware that while nothing TOO untoward happens to the girl (this isn't intended to be a dark romance), the threats are present on just about every page for the first 75% of this novel.
Content aside, the plot of this story is very well done. Very edge-of-your-seat tension. Very fast paced. There's not a boring moment which made this part of the book FLY as I was reading.
After the main conflict is finished, we detour to get an update on the missing actress from book 1. After the threat to Emma is taken care of (about 70% of the way through the book) Amber becomes a small side-quest like part of the plot, but her story is still unresolved by the end. Bodhi takes on the task, briefly, of trying to find Amber before she's sold off by Kozlov's 2IC, Dimitri.
Frankly, this throughline tying books 1 and 2 (and presumably book 3 also) together is an oddly placed thing that feels like it needs to be its own book. In book 1, an alpha wolf called Rowan is revealed to be Amber's mate and he's going CRAZY without her. But he's not mentioned AT ALL in this story. Where is he? What's he doing to find his woman? Is his woman also feeling the crazy or does she even know she's a wolf shifter's mate at this point? There are so many questions that aren't answered. This whole plotline just feels mismanaged at this point and it makes no sense.
But then, after just a few chapters where NOTHING actually happens on Amber's front, the story twists again and suddenly Bodhi is having to come to terms with his alpha status and decide whether or not he'd like to reclaim that title. Obviously, the book's title implies that he's an alpha, but we don't get to see ANY of that until 80% of the way through the story.
When suddenly, his entire backstory comes flooding to the forefront - his father, threatened buy Bodhi's power, kicked him out of the clan at the age of 15. He ended up doing away with his dad at some point, but he's letting his eldest brother run the clan because he's got confidence issues - honestly it's a whole thing.
And it occurred to me at this point that we know NOTHING about Emma in comparison. We only know that she only makes $50k a year but we don't know WHAT she does for a living and that's got a gambling-addicted ex-solder brother with PTSD who got her into her situation in the beginning of this story. We also know she's blonde. That's it. That's everything. It's wild to spend so much time with this woman and still not even really know what she looks like or how tall she is.
Anyway, Bodhi keeps himself separate from Emma after rescuing her because he thinks she doesn't want anything to do with him - or that he's not good enough for her because he went "feral" and killed a bunch of bad guys right in front of her. 🙄😒 Frankly it's a stupid trope that only dragged out the story unnecessarily. She has to practically beg him to be with her and frankly, his attitude was off-putting. Big strong man running away from his MATE because he's just riddled with guilt and self-loathing. Gross.
We didn't need the moody angstfest on top of a solid kidnapping plot AND a secondary alpha-claims-his-title-back plot.
Emma asks Bodhi to mark her about 16 times before he actually does. And we get the repetitive "When I do this, that's it. It's permanent. You're MINE." dialogue so many times I wanted to karate chop him in the throat. 🙄🙄🙄We get it, bro.
The last 20% of this story kind of just went off the rails for me. The whole alpha plotline could have been good if it had been given room to breathe. If it hadn't cropped up at 80% of the way through with no warning.
With just 75ish pages left, we're meeting a whole host of new people, and it was a desperate race to try and understand who they all were to Bodhi and to the larger storyline before the book's just... fucking over.
I'm wondering if we haven't met these clan members in some of Barden's other books - she's one of those who writes stories all set in the same world and the characters all know each other, so it's possible. But this is the first series I've read by her so I don't have any frame of reference. The issue is that it's written like we're EXPECTED to know who everybody is and have an emotional attachment to them and I just didn't.
Let me be clear. The last 25% of this book is packed to the brim with 3 separate storylines.
1. Emma and Bodhi's rocky relationship built on nothing but shifter magic and trauma bonding.
2. What happened to Amber and Dimitri.
3. Bodhi and the decision to become Alpha to the bear clan and whatever it means to BE alpha for a community of bears.
In just 25% of the story. In a barely 350 page book.
It's just a lot in such a little stretch of book.
And eh. The two get married within a WEEK. She's also pregnant. Married in PREGNANT after being kidnapped and almost SOLD into sex slavery. In a WEEK. 🫤
Finally - like in book 1, the writer's word choice and the male narrator's choice in accent is an issue.
We're still dealing with the weirdly random British slang (daft, trousers, etc) and the male narrator making Bodhi sound like a Good Ol' Boy from Georgia or something. It leaves me without a single clue as to where these people are actually from and as stupid as it sounds, it was distracting.
So - at the end of the day I had a lot of issues with the last quarter of this story. But the first 75% is a solid read for me. Up until Emma's rescued, this was going to be a 4, maybe a 4.5 star read for me. But I can't do it - not after struggling with the final 75 pages the way I did.
This is a mid read at the end of the day. And if this is how it's gonna be with all her books, I think I'm done with Barden's writing for now.
Now, I'm going to start with the stuff I actually (mostly) enjoyed and then slide into the stuff that didn't work for me.
This book is HEAVY on the action and drama and tension. We're dealing with a captive situation where Bodhi infiltrates a crime lord's inner circle to extract his mate, but it obviously takes a while to find an opening to attempt it. In the meantime he's got to watch as she's paraded around to potential buyers who are vying to be the ones to take her virginity.
Most of this book takes place in the span of a week, which seems very quick for 2 people to fall in love in these circumstances, especially since, for the first few days at least, Emma doesn't know that Bodhi is there for her, and not just another of the bad guy's goons. But somehow it doesn't FEEL completely rushed. A large part of that is because of the bond situation, and I knew going in what I was getting into, so I was fine with that.
Emma makes the decision to try to seduce him, to have sex on her terms before she can be sold off to someone who's likely going to rape and kill her.
THAT is the situation we're dealing with in this book, so if you're uncomfy with topics like sex trafficking just be aware that while nothing TOO untoward happens to the girl (this isn't intended to be a dark romance), the threats are present on just about every page for the first 75% of this novel.
Content aside, the plot of this story is very well done. Very edge-of-your-seat tension. Very fast paced. There's not a boring moment which made this part of the book FLY as I was reading.
After the main conflict is finished, we detour to get an update on the missing actress from book 1. After the threat to Emma is taken care of (about 70% of the way through the book) Amber becomes a small side-quest like part of the plot, but her story is still unresolved by the end. Bodhi takes on the task, briefly, of trying to find Amber before she's sold off by Kozlov's 2IC, Dimitri.
Frankly, this throughline tying books 1 and 2 (and presumably book 3 also) together is an oddly placed thing that feels like it needs to be its own book. In book 1, an alpha wolf called Rowan is revealed to be Amber's mate and he's going CRAZY without her. But he's not mentioned AT ALL in this story. Where is he? What's he doing to find his woman? Is his woman also feeling the crazy or does she even know she's a wolf shifter's mate at this point? There are so many questions that aren't answered. This whole plotline just feels mismanaged at this point and it makes no sense.
But then, after just a few chapters where NOTHING actually happens on Amber's front, the story twists again and suddenly Bodhi is having to come to terms with his alpha status and decide whether or not he'd like to reclaim that title. Obviously, the book's title implies that he's an alpha, but we don't get to see ANY of that until 80% of the way through the story.
When suddenly, his entire backstory comes flooding to the forefront - his father, threatened buy Bodhi's power, kicked him out of the clan at the age of 15. He ended up doing away with his dad at some point, but he's letting his eldest brother run the clan because he's got confidence issues - honestly it's a whole thing.
And it occurred to me at this point that we know NOTHING about Emma in comparison. We only know that she only makes $50k a year but we don't know WHAT she does for a living and that's got a gambling-addicted ex-solder brother with PTSD who got her into her situation in the beginning of this story. We also know she's blonde. That's it. That's everything. It's wild to spend so much time with this woman and still not even really know what she looks like or how tall she is.
Anyway, Bodhi keeps himself separate from Emma after rescuing her because he thinks she doesn't want anything to do with him - or that he's not good enough for her because he went "feral" and killed a bunch of bad guys right in front of her. 🙄😒 Frankly it's a stupid trope that only dragged out the story unnecessarily. She has to practically beg him to be with her and frankly, his attitude was off-putting. Big strong man running away from his MATE because he's just riddled with guilt and self-loathing. Gross.
We didn't need the moody angstfest on top of a solid kidnapping plot AND a secondary alpha-claims-his-title-back plot.
Emma asks Bodhi to mark her about 16 times before he actually does. And we get the repetitive "When I do this, that's it. It's permanent. You're MINE." dialogue so many times I wanted to karate chop him in the throat. 🙄🙄🙄We get it, bro.
The last 20% of this story kind of just went off the rails for me. The whole alpha plotline could have been good if it had been given room to breathe. If it hadn't cropped up at 80% of the way through with no warning.
With just 75ish pages left, we're meeting a whole host of new people, and it was a desperate race to try and understand who they all were to Bodhi and to the larger storyline before the book's just... fucking over.
I'm wondering if we haven't met these clan members in some of Barden's other books - she's one of those who writes stories all set in the same world and the characters all know each other, so it's possible. But this is the first series I've read by her so I don't have any frame of reference. The issue is that it's written like we're EXPECTED to know who everybody is and have an emotional attachment to them and I just didn't.
Let me be clear. The last 25% of this book is packed to the brim with 3 separate storylines.
1. Emma and Bodhi's rocky relationship built on nothing but shifter magic and trauma bonding.
2. What happened to Amber and Dimitri.
3. Bodhi and the decision to become Alpha to the bear clan and whatever it means to BE alpha for a community of bears.
In just 25% of the story. In a barely 350 page book.
It's just a lot in such a little stretch of book.
And eh. The two get married within a WEEK. She's also pregnant. Married in PREGNANT after being kidnapped and almost SOLD into sex slavery. In a WEEK. 🫤
Finally - like in book 1, the writer's word choice and the male narrator's choice in accent is an issue.
We're still dealing with the weirdly random British slang (daft, trousers, etc) and the male narrator making Bodhi sound like a Good Ol' Boy from Georgia or something. It leaves me without a single clue as to where these people are actually from and as stupid as it sounds, it was distracting.
So - at the end of the day I had a lot of issues with the last quarter of this story. But the first 75% is a solid read for me. Up until Emma's rescued, this was going to be a 4, maybe a 4.5 star read for me. But I can't do it - not after struggling with the final 75 pages the way I did.
This is a mid read at the end of the day. And if this is how it's gonna be with all her books, I think I'm done with Barden's writing for now.
June 7, 2026
Like the first, I just ate this up. I feel like it was a darker situation, and that made it not hit the same as the first book in this series. It was quite dark tbh.
I feel like he acted like that because his name was Bodhi…
I liked how we got to find out some sort of semblance of what happened to Amber and assume that will continue throughout the series. I’m looking forward to reading the next one! It’s literally downloading right now.
I feel like he acted like that because his name was Bodhi…
I liked how we got to find out some sort of semblance of what happened to Amber and assume that will continue throughout the series. I’m looking forward to reading the next one! It’s literally downloading right now.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 6, 2026
Overall, not the most terrible read. The spice was good if you like the virginal thing (I don't.) The action was interesting. Up to the point where it became another book altogether
But I have questions. Quite a few actually.
1. Why the mystery about the other female captive being Amber? Why little baby crumbs on this? If this is supposed to be a romantic suspense story involving shifters, readers need a but more intel.
2. In the first book, Amber's fated mate, Rowan, was identified as the stalker of her sister. Yet there was no mention of him AT ALL in this book. In the previous book, he was on his way to death because his mate wasn't found. So what's the deal about that? No mention at all?
3. Actually, there's almost no mention of Amber at all here. The first book drops readers directly into an entirely new missing persons case. It appears to be just a fluke that Amber even gets mentioned. Yet even in the beginning of this book, there's no indication that anyone is still looking for Amber. It's only near the end that she comes up.
4. If Rowan is indeed suffering without Amber, isn't she also suffering without him? I guess we can't know since there's no mention of either character here.
5. Based on the pages after the epilogue showcasing an upcoming book about Beau and Lisa, there's no indication that the Rowan/Amber story will be addressed. I don't get that. Why the cliffhanger of sorts, yet no clarity that this storyline will continue? So far, stories are not running on the same timeline.
6. I'm not getting the timeline of this series. If the second book follows on the heels of the first book, does that mean that the third book also starts at the end of book 2? If so, by the time the next book gets rolling, more than a couple of months will have passed. Does this mean that Rowan died? He was in terrible shape near the end of book 1, and it had only been 3 weeks since he felt his mate was near.
This whole mystery around Amber is sitting in a cold pan without any heat on the back burner. WTH? I don't get it.
As others have noted, there are a number of weird inconsistencies in the story. Conversations are repeated, and later take place as if previous conversations didn't happen. There was some conversations about a Bigger Bad Guy who was directing some criminal activities, but that kind of died out quickly and wasn't discussed again.
The MMC was way, way, way too filled with guilt. Guilt about wanting the FMC. Guilt about lying to the Bad Guys. Guilt about not rescuing the mysterious other woman. Guilt about abandoning his mate when she needed him. Guilt about not taking up his alpha role. Guilt about leaning on someone else who is exhausted and doesn't want the role, either. It's way overboard.
The FMC is...too young and innocent. OK, I'm not criticizing. OK, yeah, I am. Why a YA type female lead? And for someone who was supposed to be a virgin, the FMC is quite bold. Even though she's trying to thwart the Bad Guys who want to sell her virginity, it doesn't make much sense. Or maybe it just didn't ride well.
I haven't read many other books by this author, so if there's a backstory to the MMCs I haven't read it. Because of that, these male leads don't have much backstory. In this book, more of the past came out near the end, but it didn't seem to balance with the earlier part of the story. I didn't have a good grip on what kind of business these shifters are running. Security? Like being personal guards? Or searching for missing persons? Or working with other law enforcement who may or may not be shifters, too? Not really clear.
After reading some other comments, I think some of these characters were in other books. It's a real peeve of mine when an author starts a new series, but it's really a continuation of other series. At least say so at the beginning so readers can go start at a more appropriate place.
But I have questions. Quite a few actually.
1. Why the mystery about the other female captive being Amber? Why little baby crumbs on this? If this is supposed to be a romantic suspense story involving shifters, readers need a but more intel.
2. In the first book, Amber's fated mate, Rowan, was identified as the stalker of her sister. Yet there was no mention of him AT ALL in this book. In the previous book, he was on his way to death because his mate wasn't found. So what's the deal about that? No mention at all?
3. Actually, there's almost no mention of Amber at all here. The first book drops readers directly into an entirely new missing persons case. It appears to be just a fluke that Amber even gets mentioned. Yet even in the beginning of this book, there's no indication that anyone is still looking for Amber. It's only near the end that she comes up.
4. If Rowan is indeed suffering without Amber, isn't she also suffering without him? I guess we can't know since there's no mention of either character here.
5. Based on the pages after the epilogue showcasing an upcoming book about Beau and Lisa, there's no indication that the Rowan/Amber story will be addressed. I don't get that. Why the cliffhanger of sorts, yet no clarity that this storyline will continue? So far, stories are not running on the same timeline.
6. I'm not getting the timeline of this series. If the second book follows on the heels of the first book, does that mean that the third book also starts at the end of book 2? If so, by the time the next book gets rolling, more than a couple of months will have passed. Does this mean that Rowan died? He was in terrible shape near the end of book 1, and it had only been 3 weeks since he felt his mate was near.
This whole mystery around Amber is sitting in a cold pan without any heat on the back burner. WTH? I don't get it.
As others have noted, there are a number of weird inconsistencies in the story. Conversations are repeated, and later take place as if previous conversations didn't happen. There was some conversations about a Bigger Bad Guy who was directing some criminal activities, but that kind of died out quickly and wasn't discussed again.
The MMC was way, way, way too filled with guilt. Guilt about wanting the FMC. Guilt about lying to the Bad Guys. Guilt about not rescuing the mysterious other woman. Guilt about abandoning his mate when she needed him. Guilt about not taking up his alpha role. Guilt about leaning on someone else who is exhausted and doesn't want the role, either. It's way overboard.
The FMC is...too young and innocent. OK, I'm not criticizing. OK, yeah, I am. Why a YA type female lead? And for someone who was supposed to be a virgin, the FMC is quite bold. Even though she's trying to thwart the Bad Guys who want to sell her virginity, it doesn't make much sense. Or maybe it just didn't ride well.
I haven't read many other books by this author, so if there's a backstory to the MMCs I haven't read it. Because of that, these male leads don't have much backstory. In this book, more of the past came out near the end, but it didn't seem to balance with the earlier part of the story. I didn't have a good grip on what kind of business these shifters are running. Security? Like being personal guards? Or searching for missing persons? Or working with other law enforcement who may or may not be shifters, too? Not really clear.
After reading some other comments, I think some of these characters were in other books. It's a real peeve of mine when an author starts a new series, but it's really a continuation of other series. At least say so at the beginning so readers can go start at a more appropriate place.
January 27, 2026
Notes for me
Bodhi - huge bear shifter. Brother from Alpha’s Inferno.
The main issue in Inferno is bears usually don’t want to stay with one person even their mate.
Emma - human working a lower paying job. Knows her brother is in trouble and offers him all she has to pay his debt.
Jake - her brother who deals with PTSD with a gambling addiction. He truly is a good guy.
Jake owes money so the sketchy guy, Kozlov, takes Emma as collateral. Jake knows Chase and asks him for help. Bodhi works with Chase so he’s involved. Bodhi sees her picture and knows she’s his mate.
Emma is on a bidding website because she’s a V.
This is one of my favorite authors, but this book didn’t hold my interest. Just a me thing.
Bodhi - huge bear shifter. Brother from Alpha’s Inferno.
The main issue in Inferno is bears usually don’t want to stay with one person even their mate.
Emma - human working a lower paying job. Knows her brother is in trouble and offers him all she has to pay his debt.
Jake - her brother who deals with PTSD with a gambling addiction. He truly is a good guy.
Jake owes money so the sketchy guy, Kozlov, takes Emma as collateral. Jake knows Chase and asks him for help. Bodhi works with Chase so he’s involved. Bodhi sees her picture and knows she’s his mate.
Emma is on a bidding website because she’s a V.
This is one of my favorite authors, but this book didn’t hold my interest. Just a me thing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2026
4/5 for the story but 2/5 for editing and continuity. It reads as if no one was paying attention when they were editing this book. There are so many continuity errors and pieces of dialogue that pop out of no where and reference something that did not happen. I don’t normally write reviews like this but it’s a pet peeve when published books are not edited well. There were so many errors that could’ve been an easy fix but almost seems like it was written in a rush. There were several times that part of the story or dialogue was skipped over.
May 30, 2026
3.75 ⭐️
it was okay.. yep
it was okay.. yep
May 26, 2026
I couldn’t read fast enough to keep up with my own anxiety about what would happen next
March 2, 2026
It’s Like Two Completely Different Books Combined Into One
Overall, I did really like it. Wasn’t as good as the previous one, but definitely had more going on and was less boring. I’m excited for Beau’s story and eventually Amber’s story.
1. The sex trafficking aspect was suspenseful and all around heartbreaking. It covered 2/3rds of the story.
2. The last part felt like a completely different book but with the same main characters. I know this is a spin off from a different series, but the alpha plot seemed random. It was like the author tried to cram too much into 366 pages. Going from high stakes sex trafficking to a quaint mountain town with “conflict” seemed like a weird pivot.
SPOILERS:
What was odd though is how only Emma and Amber were mentioned as being in the heavily guarded house. There were supposed to be many girls at the auction, but it didn’t sound like anyone else was captive at the house.
Bodhi not immediately killing all the traffickers in the house except the boss there seems stupid in retrospect. He could’ve captured the boss and killed the rest, tortured the info out of him, and saved Emma and the mysterious person kept downstairs (obviously Amber from the previous book).
Once the auction is cancelled, the other girls who were going to be auctioned were never mentioned again. Emma ended up being the only one rescued, most of the people from that house did end up being killed, Amber wasn’t saved, and the boss was killed. No one else who was being trafficked was saved, so it seemed stupid for Bodhi to have wasted time being undercover for almost a week. The author EASILY could’ve had that house full of women and girls that they rescued too. Would’ve at least made more sense why they didn’t just storm the house.
My main issue with the book was how chill Emma was with Bodhi being seemingly on the sex trafficker team where she knows she’s going to be sold and he says he can’t help her escape. She very quickly goes from seeing him as a hot bad guy to her hero, but she definitely should’ve been more scared of him or cautious. He literally delivered her to sex traffickers. She did not know he worked for the security company and wasn’t an actual trafficker for basically the whole time. Good lord. She makes horrible choices. Absolutely crazy she wasn’t at least somewhat uncomfortable with him in the aftermath. She also seemed wayyyyyyyy too put together for a woman about to be sold to the highest bidder. Also, she should’ve beat the shit out of her brother at the end of the book.
Overall, I did really like it. Wasn’t as good as the previous one, but definitely had more going on and was less boring. I’m excited for Beau’s story and eventually Amber’s story.
1. The sex trafficking aspect was suspenseful and all around heartbreaking. It covered 2/3rds of the story.
2. The last part felt like a completely different book but with the same main characters. I know this is a spin off from a different series, but the alpha plot seemed random. It was like the author tried to cram too much into 366 pages. Going from high stakes sex trafficking to a quaint mountain town with “conflict” seemed like a weird pivot.
SPOILERS:
What was odd though is how only Emma and Amber were mentioned as being in the heavily guarded house. There were supposed to be many girls at the auction, but it didn’t sound like anyone else was captive at the house.
Bodhi not immediately killing all the traffickers in the house except the boss there seems stupid in retrospect. He could’ve captured the boss and killed the rest, tortured the info out of him, and saved Emma and the mysterious person kept downstairs (obviously Amber from the previous book).
Once the auction is cancelled, the other girls who were going to be auctioned were never mentioned again. Emma ended up being the only one rescued, most of the people from that house did end up being killed, Amber wasn’t saved, and the boss was killed. No one else who was being trafficked was saved, so it seemed stupid for Bodhi to have wasted time being undercover for almost a week. The author EASILY could’ve had that house full of women and girls that they rescued too. Would’ve at least made more sense why they didn’t just storm the house.
My main issue with the book was how chill Emma was with Bodhi being seemingly on the sex trafficker team where she knows she’s going to be sold and he says he can’t help her escape. She very quickly goes from seeing him as a hot bad guy to her hero, but she definitely should’ve been more scared of him or cautious. He literally delivered her to sex traffickers. She did not know he worked for the security company and wasn’t an actual trafficker for basically the whole time. Good lord. She makes horrible choices. Absolutely crazy she wasn’t at least somewhat uncomfortable with him in the aftermath. She also seemed wayyyyyyyy too put together for a woman about to be sold to the highest bidder. Also, she should’ve beat the shit out of her brother at the end of the book.
February 16, 2026
This book has a good premise, starts off well enough. Then it falls apart with rushed character development, and editing continuity issues.
The characters could be interesting but lack character development. We vaguely understand the background of the MMC. But we actually get more about him than we do the FMC, we see how he’s thinking a little bit more than her. There is little to no background on the FMC. The FMC is a damsel in distress the entire time. And her reactions are very juvenile, despite being financially responsible a person. We all know a smart mouth and stomping your foot and saying I’m not putting up with this with the MMC is not actually indicative of anything.
The male character is 6‘7“ tall. Yet, he can breathe on her neck. No mention of bending down. We don’t know how tall she is. It’s never mentioned, but she would have to be tall based on the physical scenes together. Like over 6 feet tall. But there’s no discussion or indication that the other characters see her as tall, but apparently exquisitely beautiful.
She’s a 25-year-old virgin. And apparently that’s a hot commodity on the human trafficking market.
They fall in love without knowing each other at all.
Lots of characters interact with the male lead, as if the reader is supposed to know who they are.
There is repetitive dialogue. Repetitive scenes with some of the same dialogue and actions especially the spicy scenes.
All of these things add up, but the big reason it gets a two star is because it’s a hot mess of continuity issues - chunks of information and scenes have obviously been deleted out. I know it’s a book in an interconnected series of paranormal romance couples, but as an author you still have to do the work to tell people who your characters are and what’s happening. Characters are spoke of or introduced that you don’t know who they are, references and mentions of characters and plot development, information, and interactions, that you never read, etc. I’m betting at least 100 to 200 pages of content has been cut from this book without any transition writing done to fix the holes.
Just make it make sense.
The characters could be interesting but lack character development. We vaguely understand the background of the MMC. But we actually get more about him than we do the FMC, we see how he’s thinking a little bit more than her. There is little to no background on the FMC. The FMC is a damsel in distress the entire time. And her reactions are very juvenile, despite being financially responsible a person. We all know a smart mouth and stomping your foot and saying I’m not putting up with this with the MMC is not actually indicative of anything.
The male character is 6‘7“ tall. Yet, he can breathe on her neck. No mention of bending down. We don’t know how tall she is. It’s never mentioned, but she would have to be tall based on the physical scenes together. Like over 6 feet tall. But there’s no discussion or indication that the other characters see her as tall, but apparently exquisitely beautiful.
She’s a 25-year-old virgin. And apparently that’s a hot commodity on the human trafficking market.
They fall in love without knowing each other at all.
Lots of characters interact with the male lead, as if the reader is supposed to know who they are.
There is repetitive dialogue. Repetitive scenes with some of the same dialogue and actions especially the spicy scenes.
All of these things add up, but the big reason it gets a two star is because it’s a hot mess of continuity issues - chunks of information and scenes have obviously been deleted out. I know it’s a book in an interconnected series of paranormal romance couples, but as an author you still have to do the work to tell people who your characters are and what’s happening. Characters are spoke of or introduced that you don’t know who they are, references and mentions of characters and plot development, information, and interactions, that you never read, etc. I’m betting at least 100 to 200 pages of content has been cut from this book without any transition writing done to fix the holes.
Just make it make sense.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 20, 2026
I really liked this book.
Emma & Bohdi were great characters & this definitely toned down some of the alpha having to fuck his mate hardcore to make her his. And no graphic blow job scene which was refreshing.
I’m glad it continued Amber’s story. The way book 1 ended, and knowing this book was about Emma & Bohdi, I was annoyed thinking that storyline was left hanging.
I really liked that Bohdi was an alpha who was strong, possessive & etc like most alpha characters BUT not borderline abusive like so many in this genre.
My only complaint was inconsistencies. One minute he'd taken "their" clothes off, next page he was removing his pants - and misc throughout the book
Emma & Bohdi were great characters & this definitely toned down some of the alpha having to fuck his mate hardcore to make her his. And no graphic blow job scene which was refreshing.
I’m glad it continued Amber’s story. The way book 1 ended, and knowing this book was about Emma & Bohdi, I was annoyed thinking that storyline was left hanging.
I really liked that Bohdi was an alpha who was strong, possessive & etc like most alpha characters BUT not borderline abusive like so many in this genre.
My only complaint was inconsistencies. One minute he'd taken "their" clothes off, next page he was removing his pants - and misc throughout the book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 1, 2026
Bodhi somehow managed to make every single wrong fucking decision possible. I knew men were dumber than a pile of shit, but Bodhi managed to surprise me with his stupidity
March 26, 2026
2🌶
I really enjoyed this. I felt a little confused at some of the side characters, and I'm guessing it's because I haven't read any previous series and just started at the Bear Protection series.
I really enjoyed this. I felt a little confused at some of the side characters, and I'm guessing it's because I haven't read any previous series and just started at the Bear Protection series.
June 16, 2026
Gestaltwandler-Lovestory mit Mafia-Menschenhandel-Rettungsaktion.
Spannung, Liebe und Fantasy in einer guten Mischung 👍🏼
Spannung, Liebe und Fantasy in einer guten Mischung 👍🏼
February 1, 2026
I enjoy Reece's shifter books sooooo much! Her writing always hooks me and makes me FEEL so many things! Her books take me for a ride, just like this one.
The beginning of this story had me HOOKED. I instantly felt for the FMC and had to know what was going to happen next. Then add in the tension with the MMC and I was grinning like a fool and kicking my feet all giddy.
This book took me for ride! Check it out!
The beginning of this story had me HOOKED. I instantly felt for the FMC and had to know what was going to happen next. Then add in the tension with the MMC and I was grinning like a fool and kicking my feet all giddy.
This book took me for ride! Check it out!
February 9, 2026
I guess I liked the premise. Undercover rescue but she is his mate so it makes it hard for him to be undercover. But that is wrapped up like half way through the book and then it becomes about his community and he thinks he’s a “monster”
February 12, 2026
Bodhi has got to be one of my favorite Lennox boys! This book has everything you could want from a shifter book! Who doesn’t want a bear shifter protecting us! I loved the plot twists and little nuggets. I’m excited to read about all the Lennox boys
February 12, 2026
So so so good
Such a good spicy shifter romance.
A unique story line and plot. The main characters were *chefs kiss*.
Can't wait for the next book.
Such a good spicy shifter romance.
A unique story line and plot. The main characters were *chefs kiss*.
Can't wait for the next book.
January 30, 2026
Story started off great, but man did it get weak quickly! Conversations felt stiff, no flow, and the story strayed in too many directions, it reads like a bunch of random ideas badly strung together. Maybe it needs more editing...
January 27, 2026
been waiting for this book for years & im honestly disappointed
Let me start by saying I’ve read all of the Shifters of Grey Ridge series and the first book in this spin-off, and I’ve loved them. From day one, I’ve been hoping Bodhi would get his own book — he’s always been one of the most intriguing characters to me. So when I found out this was finally his story, I was so excited.
With that being said… this honestly hurts me to say, but I was genuinely disappointed.
This book just wasn’t it for me, and at times I wanted to scream at Bodhi. The second half of the story felt like an entirely different book and was extremely rushed. Bodhi randomly becoming Alpha without even talking to Emma first?! That alone could’ve been a whole storyline. And honestly, Emma should’ve made him grovel — instead it felt like she was chasing him around, which was frustrating to read.
I wanted to DNF this so many times, which makes me sad because I really wanted to love this book.
That being said, I still love this world and these characters, and I’m really hoping Rowen and Amber get their own book.
Let me start by saying I’ve read all of the Shifters of Grey Ridge series and the first book in this spin-off, and I’ve loved them. From day one, I’ve been hoping Bodhi would get his own book — he’s always been one of the most intriguing characters to me. So when I found out this was finally his story, I was so excited.
With that being said… this honestly hurts me to say, but I was genuinely disappointed.
This book just wasn’t it for me, and at times I wanted to scream at Bodhi. The second half of the story felt like an entirely different book and was extremely rushed. Bodhi randomly becoming Alpha without even talking to Emma first?! That alone could’ve been a whole storyline. And honestly, Emma should’ve made him grovel — instead it felt like she was chasing him around, which was frustrating to read.
I wanted to DNF this so many times, which makes me sad because I really wanted to love this book.
That being said, I still love this world and these characters, and I’m really hoping Rowen and Amber get their own book.
January 28, 2026
It feels like I’ve waited forever for Bodhi’s story. Since his character first was mentioned on the page I wanted this so bad!
Emma just found out that her brother owes money to a very powerful Russian mob/loan shark and when the lone shark comes to collect his money, of course the brother doesn’t have it and he takes Emma instead to be sold in an auction and then also the icing on the cake is the brother accidentally spills a secret that she is still a virgin so of course that makes things even more interesting. Why the brother would say such a crazy thing to a person he couldn’t trust is beyond me.
Bodhi is going in to work for this loanshark who is proud to have a Lennox on his staff and he will protect Emma until they can figure out a way to break her out. But as soon as he sees the picture of Emma, he knows that Emma is his mate so of course the risks are even higher.
I love everything that this author has written from the gray wolf shifters to the alpha games to the bear protectors. I was disappointed at the end when *** SPOILERS???*** they got back and Emma was safe, but then BODHI wouldn’t go to her claiming he needed to tie up loose ends with the trafficking. I hated that he wouldn’t go to her and I hated that she felt abandoned, especially after everything she had gone through, and then he leaves and goes back to his pack and starts helping build homes, which is great and visiting with his brother, which is also great, doing the healing that he needs to do and then decides to take over the pack to make things better for everybody. Is he missing Emma? Oh yeah, I’m sure but isn’t your mate like your biggest thought? And obviously in those moments she wasn’t and that was disappointing. I do feel like they dragged it out for them to be a part at the end and they rushed him healing and dealing with the trauma that he had all through his life.
Emma just found out that her brother owes money to a very powerful Russian mob/loan shark and when the lone shark comes to collect his money, of course the brother doesn’t have it and he takes Emma instead to be sold in an auction and then also the icing on the cake is the brother accidentally spills a secret that she is still a virgin so of course that makes things even more interesting. Why the brother would say such a crazy thing to a person he couldn’t trust is beyond me.
Bodhi is going in to work for this loanshark who is proud to have a Lennox on his staff and he will protect Emma until they can figure out a way to break her out. But as soon as he sees the picture of Emma, he knows that Emma is his mate so of course the risks are even higher.
I love everything that this author has written from the gray wolf shifters to the alpha games to the bear protectors. I was disappointed at the end when *** SPOILERS???*** they got back and Emma was safe, but then BODHI wouldn’t go to her claiming he needed to tie up loose ends with the trafficking. I hated that he wouldn’t go to her and I hated that she felt abandoned, especially after everything she had gone through, and then he leaves and goes back to his pack and starts helping build homes, which is great and visiting with his brother, which is also great, doing the healing that he needs to do and then decides to take over the pack to make things better for everybody. Is he missing Emma? Oh yeah, I’m sure but isn’t your mate like your biggest thought? And obviously in those moments she wasn’t and that was disappointing. I do feel like they dragged it out for them to be a part at the end and they rushed him healing and dealing with the trauma that he had all through his life.
March 21, 2026
Really disappointing.. I was so exited to have bodhi story but too many incoherencies, plot holes, dialogue holes, etc … really need editing …
April 1, 2026
After the first book in the series, I'd had such high hopes for this one but
Bodhi turned out to be a very disappointing MC. To me, his relationship with Emma seemed shallow like she clinging to the idea of him and he was just not that interested. There was little conversation between them and their 'i love you's felt jarring. Honestly, I was hoping she'd grow a spine and leave him.
Bodhi turned out to be a very disappointing MC. To me, his relationship with Emma seemed shallow like she clinging to the idea of him and he was just not that interested. There was little conversation between them and their 'i love you's felt jarring. Honestly, I was hoping she'd grow a spine and leave him.
January 27, 2026
Emma can't believe her brother, Jake owes around $80,000 to a loan shark and is asking her for a loan. It's not like she's rich and has the money to bail him out. His gambling is out of control and now he owes the wrong people a lot of money. Those bad people come looking for Jake and they find him at Emma's place. Now the loan shark decides to take Emma as collateral until Jakes can pay off his debts to him. But all the loan shark can see are dollar signs when he finds out that Emma is a virgin.
Bodhi is a bear shifter and works with his brother's in their security company. Jake goes to them to ask for help getting his sister back but Bodhi is in bad shape and doesn't know if he can keep it together to help them. Once the plan is set and he looks at her picture, he knows right away that she's his mate, that fact almost blows the entire plan because he wants nothing more than to just go in there, pick her up and take her to safety but he can't, not yet. Bodhi is sent in to just be more muscle for the bad guy and he plays his hand well.
Being around her once he gets in as more muscle for the bad guy, is hard for him. He wants to let her know that he's going to get her out of there, but he can't let her know it yet. Emma knows she only has a few days of freedom left because the bad guy is auctioning her off to the highest bidder soon.
When something happens to make the auction not happen, there's a flurry of changes that happen all at once and Bodhi doesn't realize that the bad guy knows something about him now that puts Emma in danger. With the danger at its highest now, Bodhi does the only thing he can and tries to save Emma. But afterwards, he thinks that he's a monster and that Emma might not be able to look at him and see any kind of forever. So of course, there's a time when they are apart and they both have hard feelings about it because not talking about what they are both feeling is coming between them.
I really love this series. It just gets better and better. Bodhi is a grumpy bear shifter who's childhood was hard because of an abusive father who was frightened by and probably jealous of how big and powerful Bodhi was growing up to be. When Bodhi shifts, his bear is 800 lbs of muscle and that scares some of his clan because of what his father made him do and how he feels about himself because of it. But in reality, Bodhi is a nice guy with a troubled past and abusive father who treated him bad and kicked him out of the clan when he was just a teenager. Bodhi and Emma both have bad things happen to them and they deserved to be happy and be together finally. I loved the ending of this book.
Bodhi is a bear shifter and works with his brother's in their security company. Jake goes to them to ask for help getting his sister back but Bodhi is in bad shape and doesn't know if he can keep it together to help them. Once the plan is set and he looks at her picture, he knows right away that she's his mate, that fact almost blows the entire plan because he wants nothing more than to just go in there, pick her up and take her to safety but he can't, not yet. Bodhi is sent in to just be more muscle for the bad guy and he plays his hand well.
Being around her once he gets in as more muscle for the bad guy, is hard for him. He wants to let her know that he's going to get her out of there, but he can't let her know it yet. Emma knows she only has a few days of freedom left because the bad guy is auctioning her off to the highest bidder soon.
When something happens to make the auction not happen, there's a flurry of changes that happen all at once and Bodhi doesn't realize that the bad guy knows something about him now that puts Emma in danger. With the danger at its highest now, Bodhi does the only thing he can and tries to save Emma. But afterwards, he thinks that he's a monster and that Emma might not be able to look at him and see any kind of forever. So of course, there's a time when they are apart and they both have hard feelings about it because not talking about what they are both feeling is coming between them.
I really love this series. It just gets better and better. Bodhi is a grumpy bear shifter who's childhood was hard because of an abusive father who was frightened by and probably jealous of how big and powerful Bodhi was growing up to be. When Bodhi shifts, his bear is 800 lbs of muscle and that scares some of his clan because of what his father made him do and how he feels about himself because of it. But in reality, Bodhi is a nice guy with a troubled past and abusive father who treated him bad and kicked him out of the clan when he was just a teenager. Bodhi and Emma both have bad things happen to them and they deserved to be happy and be together finally. I loved the ending of this book.
June 16, 2026
A good paranormal shifter romance with a kidnapped FMC and a surly bear shifter sent to get her back.
She was taken by the loan shark to cover her brother’s gambling debt, but when they find out she’s a virgin they decide she’s worth even more and will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Her brother goes to some old military friends for help as they now own a private security company and they figure the only way to get her back is to infiltrate the mob boss’s crew. The best way to do that is to send in one of their old friends, the son of another notorious mob boss who was thrown out of the crew for attacking his own father.
We have some pretty great MCs for this story. The FMC is a strong character that is thinking ahead and trying to play her cards right with the information she has. Our MMC is plagued by the demons and actions of his past, but is doing everything he can to ensure to safe return of this woman he has never met, yet feels a connection with from a simple photo. When he finally meets her he knows he will do everything to ensure nothing happens to her.
This is assuredly a romance and we stick closely to that plot throughout. There isn’t much communication happening between the MCs due to their circumstances, and later it proves to be a quality that the MMC needs to work on. Everything revolves around the relationship our MCs are building, even when caution should be maintained we end up in some steamy situations. The steamy tension and yearning start early, and the spice follows about half way through.
There is the continuation of the plot from the previous book, but once again it’s just vaguely there. With a few teases of getting answers and minimal progression in that plot line, we’re once again, left with no resolution. Our MMC gains a little resolution to one of his guilt factors, but we really don’t get many details on the inciting events or much on his past beyond the obvious.
Overall I struggled at times with knowing definitively what has or hasn’t happened, mostly as it applies to where things stand between the MCs. At times the writing implied to me that things had progressed further between them, but then it rescinded that. This felt about the same as with the first book of the series.
There’s enough curiosity there that I’ll be picking up the next book in the series. I’m really hoping we get the conclusion to the initial plot that started it all.
She was taken by the loan shark to cover her brother’s gambling debt, but when they find out she’s a virgin they decide she’s worth even more and will be auctioned off to the highest bidder. Her brother goes to some old military friends for help as they now own a private security company and they figure the only way to get her back is to infiltrate the mob boss’s crew. The best way to do that is to send in one of their old friends, the son of another notorious mob boss who was thrown out of the crew for attacking his own father.
We have some pretty great MCs for this story. The FMC is a strong character that is thinking ahead and trying to play her cards right with the information she has. Our MMC is plagued by the demons and actions of his past, but is doing everything he can to ensure to safe return of this woman he has never met, yet feels a connection with from a simple photo. When he finally meets her he knows he will do everything to ensure nothing happens to her.
This is assuredly a romance and we stick closely to that plot throughout. There isn’t much communication happening between the MCs due to their circumstances, and later it proves to be a quality that the MMC needs to work on. Everything revolves around the relationship our MCs are building, even when caution should be maintained we end up in some steamy situations. The steamy tension and yearning start early, and the spice follows about half way through.
There is the continuation of the plot from the previous book, but once again it’s just vaguely there. With a few teases of getting answers and minimal progression in that plot line, we’re once again, left with no resolution. Our MMC gains a little resolution to one of his guilt factors, but we really don’t get many details on the inciting events or much on his past beyond the obvious.
Overall I struggled at times with knowing definitively what has or hasn’t happened, mostly as it applies to where things stand between the MCs. At times the writing implied to me that things had progressed further between them, but then it rescinded that. This felt about the same as with the first book of the series.
There’s enough curiosity there that I’ll be picking up the next book in the series. I’m really hoping we get the conclusion to the initial plot that started it all.
June 26, 2026
This is why I’ll always choose the bear. Men are awful and original virginity had nothing to do with abstinence.
Quite the opposite, which makes exalting her inexperience, so they can ‘teach her’ things, that much more sickening.
If men really wanted to disappoint someone in bed without complaint, comprehension, or consequence – they should just go screw themselves.
I know we wouldn’t have a story otherwise, but I became frustrated the longer this went on.
He’s literally a bear.
He could hulk out at any moment and shred the bad guys into ribbons before they even knew what happened.
Why are we toying with diplomacy? Gut them!
I found it difficult to appreciate spice, considering the situation she’s in.
The idea of getting caught can be fun, but in this, the dread consumed any potential.
I had to take an antacid at one point.
Don’t even get me started on her innately knowing how much he weighs.
Give me a break.
You’re in the middle of the most traumatizing experience of your life and you have the wherewithal to deduce that a bear is 800 lbs?
I’ve been diagnosed for less.
Conversations at the climax are jumbled.
Like they changed dialogue but forgot to make it flow.
Ex: Someone says, “He would never hurt you.”
And she goes, “His what?”
As if it had originally said: “He would never hurt his mate.”
They find a clue to help develop another case and just dive into it with the assumption that we’ve deduced who the person in the photo is, something solely possible for those who read the first book and futilely hoped the second would be even better.
Again, the climax is way too soon.
Again, we’re left with a mess for the rest.
There’s a lot of over-explaining until then.
A guy is sweating and she goes out of her way to say he’s not as confident as he pretends to be.
Thanks, detective.
Then, we’re given a name out of nowhere and an objective to save someone we’re only just hearing about for the first time in this story.
No context or impactful delivery of this development.
No quick explanation, for those just tuning in, of why this person matters.
Nothin’.
And don’t even get me started on that ending.
There would be no heartbeat yet, I don’t care what you are.
Still, this is why I’d choose the bear.
The animal did exactly what I wanted it to.
The man?
Frankly, he sucked.
He barely apologized, made her do all the chasing, and condemned a ton of people to continued torture by being a hot-headed idiot.
What a catch.
Quite the opposite, which makes exalting her inexperience, so they can ‘teach her’ things, that much more sickening.
If men really wanted to disappoint someone in bed without complaint, comprehension, or consequence – they should just go screw themselves.
I know we wouldn’t have a story otherwise, but I became frustrated the longer this went on.
He’s literally a bear.
He could hulk out at any moment and shred the bad guys into ribbons before they even knew what happened.
Why are we toying with diplomacy? Gut them!
I found it difficult to appreciate spice, considering the situation she’s in.
The idea of getting caught can be fun, but in this, the dread consumed any potential.
I had to take an antacid at one point.
Don’t even get me started on her innately knowing how much he weighs.
Give me a break.
You’re in the middle of the most traumatizing experience of your life and you have the wherewithal to deduce that a bear is 800 lbs?
I’ve been diagnosed for less.
Conversations at the climax are jumbled.
Like they changed dialogue but forgot to make it flow.
Ex: Someone says, “He would never hurt you.”
And she goes, “His what?”
As if it had originally said: “He would never hurt his mate.”
They find a clue to help develop another case and just dive into it with the assumption that we’ve deduced who the person in the photo is, something solely possible for those who read the first book and futilely hoped the second would be even better.
Again, the climax is way too soon.
Again, we’re left with a mess for the rest.
There’s a lot of over-explaining until then.
A guy is sweating and she goes out of her way to say he’s not as confident as he pretends to be.
Thanks, detective.
Then, we’re given a name out of nowhere and an objective to save someone we’re only just hearing about for the first time in this story.
No context or impactful delivery of this development.
No quick explanation, for those just tuning in, of why this person matters.
Nothin’.
And don’t even get me started on that ending.
There would be no heartbeat yet, I don’t care what you are.
Still, this is why I’d choose the bear.
The animal did exactly what I wanted it to.
The man?
Frankly, he sucked.
He barely apologized, made her do all the chasing, and condemned a ton of people to continued torture by being a hot-headed idiot.
What a catch.
January 27, 2026
Fated to the Alpha Bear is the much anticipated book about Bodhi Lennox and his happy ending. I have loved Bodhi since his first cameo in the Shifters of Grey Ridge series. I had high hopes for his character development from staying in his bear form to becoming the man and alpha we all knew he could be with his fated mate by his side, but was sadly disappointed by this book.
The first half of the book where Bodhi is undercover to help free Emma was exciting and had a lot of potential. Bodhi was in his protective bear element and I was loving it. I also loved when Emma bit him. However, Bodhi's shift from wanting to protect Emma and not touch her due to her being vulnerable and not knowing who he was to taking her virginity while she's being held captive was a shock and seemed very out of character for him.
After Emma is saved, the book takes a sharp decline. Bodhi takes the Cooper Jones approach and decides he knows better than Emma and completely freezes her out. Bodhi's shift in character is truly shocking and his extremely quick change of heart to take over the clan was so unexpected I had to reread that part to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding. And of course, Emma is completely okay with Bodhi freezing her out, making big decisions for them, and just wants to be mated to him.
By the end of the book, I did not like Bodhi or Emma. The story progressed too quickly, lacked any meaningful character development, and had characters making rash and unexpected decisions. I really wanted to like this book because of how much I liked Bodhi in the other books, but I felt like this book just went to fast and was extremely out of character of the other books.
The first half of the book where Bodhi is undercover to help free Emma was exciting and had a lot of potential. Bodhi was in his protective bear element and I was loving it. I also loved when Emma bit him. However, Bodhi's shift from wanting to protect Emma and not touch her due to her being vulnerable and not knowing who he was to taking her virginity while she's being held captive was a shock and seemed very out of character for him.
After Emma is saved, the book takes a sharp decline. Bodhi takes the Cooper Jones approach and decides he knows better than Emma and completely freezes her out. Bodhi's shift in character is truly shocking and his extremely quick change of heart to take over the clan was so unexpected I had to reread that part to make sure I wasn't misunderstanding. And of course, Emma is completely okay with Bodhi freezing her out, making big decisions for them, and just wants to be mated to him.
By the end of the book, I did not like Bodhi or Emma. The story progressed too quickly, lacked any meaningful character development, and had characters making rash and unexpected decisions. I really wanted to like this book because of how much I liked Bodhi in the other books, but I felt like this book just went to fast and was extremely out of character of the other books.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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