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Loggers, Honey, and Werebears, Oh My!
With a taste for adventure, a desire to feed people that would appreciate her cooking, and a need to escape her stodgy British family, Sophie Carlton takes a chance. When the opportunity appears to brave the wilds of the Pacific Northwest and become a cook in a remote logging camp, she thought it was the biggest and bravest decision she had ever made. Until she met Cage.

Rochon Enterprises grew the trees, logged them, and milled them. For generations the family had kept close to home in the wilds of the Olympic Peninsula. Cage Rochon and his brothers loved the land and needed the protection it provided to keep their family secret.

Cage has been waiting a long time for his fated mate and his bear was becoming restless. Then he locked eyes with Sophie, the curvy new cook for the camp. Their fates were sealed with one look.

Adult material with explicit sexual situations and language. Prepare to read about a curvy girl that meets the man AND bear of her dreams. Honey-do lists have never been so tasty.

110 pages, Kindle Edition

First published March 31, 2015

107 people are currently reading
778 people want to read

About the author

Moxie North

52 books324 followers
Moxie North loves shifters. Really, she does. A lot. Big burly men mixed with fierce protective animals makes for hunky alpha shifters that will move heaven and earth for their mates.

Her heroines come in all shapes, sizes, personalities and backgrounds. They’re looking for love but want their men to win them over. Together they find their soul mate on their journey to true love.

Moxie lives surrounded by trees, wildlife, and the occasional lumberjack. She loves sci-fi, sugar in any form, and speaking only in movie quotes. Moxie went from an avid reader to a writer and loves being in the romance community. Meeting readers and talking books keeps her writing and loving her job.

Join my newsletter at:
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5 stars
482 (36%)
4 stars
465 (35%)
3 stars
265 (20%)
2 stars
78 (5%)
1 star
15 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews
Profile Image for Danielle.
354 reviews248 followers
November 24, 2015
Quick and easy shifter romance. I loved that Cage wasn't out whoring himself around while he was waiting for his mate and I was so happy to see a heroine that actually had a normal reaction to the fact that the guy she was in love with can turn into a bear! Definitely looking forward to more from this author.
Profile Image for Ana.
2,038 reviews6 followers
September 16, 2018
Jet lag......

Sophie has always felt like the odd duck out in her well to do family in the UK, so always the rebel she decides to start a new life far from her snobby family. Having gotten a degree as a culinary chef to the horror of her mother, Sophie decides to answer an ad for a cook in the U.S.

Cage Rochon is alpha to his clan in the forests of Seattle running a very successful lumber co. passed on through generations. He never imagined that hiring a cook would be so lucrative, what he has been waiting for most of his life is just dropped into his arms. Now all he has to worry about is if the very prim and proper human will accept his advances, especially after coming across the ocean to discover what lies in the soul of this American.
Profile Image for Claudia.
729 reviews24 followers
September 5, 2015
My first book from Moxie North. I liked the story and the characters but for me everything moved so fast.

Sophie, English girl trained in a famous culinary school to become chef decides to be on her own and she applies for a job in America. Sophie becomes the chef in a logging camp in the pacific northwest cooking for a crew of lumbermen for Rochon Industries.

Cage Rochon is the Alpha of his bear clan (not officially in charge) and the boss of the lumber company. At 50 years old he has waited all his life to meet his One fated mate.
After an accident almost kills Sophie, Cage discovers that she is his fated mate.

Reading this book I was alternating between the descriptions and not enough dialog and a lot of stereotypes and endearments.

The whole concept of the human becoming one with the animal was new and interesting. I actually liked the whole transformation in an animal in a shimmer more than limbs changing.
Waiting for The One, not so new so I was a bit frustrated when Cage and Sophie met after the accident and fell in love
They were cute characters and I liked their chemistry but all happened way to fast even for a short story and then it slowed down a lot.

Fun read with cute characters, I wish it was developed a little bit more because I feel that the story took a back seat to romance - what happened to the guy who almost attacked Sophie. I am hoping that the second book will start resolving some of the issues and have a better plot line.

Profile Image for Emily.
5,866 reviews546 followers
September 27, 2018
British girl Sophie Carlton wants to break free of her rigid families expectations, there is no way she can live up to their expectations and she has her own dreams she wants to accomplish. Making a decision to move to the Pacific Northwest she becomes the cook for a logging camp.

Cage Rochon is the Alpha of his pack but he never would have guessed that hiring Sophie would have him finding his mate. When Sophie is hurt, he steps up and goes about proving why he is worth her love. The only problem, telling her he is a bear shifter, will it scare her away?

This was sweet but had a couple things in the book that go unanswered. Overall good book, liked the concept and checking out the other books. Really liked Cage and thought Sophie was adorable.
Profile Image for Wild_irish_rose.
494 reviews9 followers
May 28, 2018
A cute story and set up for the pacific northwest bears.
Profile Image for Amy.
714 reviews3 followers
August 17, 2021
I really like this. I loved the hero. He was so sweet and romantic and protective. I also loved his brother, Wyatt’s personality and can’t wait to start his story.

The only thing I didn’t like about the book was that we don’t get to see enough of the heroine‘s family issues. I would like to have seen what happened when her family met his.
670 reviews4 followers
December 2, 2019
Cute, fast read. There was an instant love connection but that is how the bears in this story do. I liked that the couple also got to know each other a little. It did happen fast but it worked for the story. There is sex scenes in the story but states that in blurb. The mom was cute in the story and I liked how she was brought into it. I have had this story on my TBR for awhile and with a challenge I was in made me finally sit down and read it. There were parts that made me smile as there was humor mixed in. It seemed I just started and the story was over. I would look for more by this author.
Profile Image for Marsha Keeper Bookshelf.
4,290 reviews88 followers
May 20, 2016
First reviewed at Haunted Bookshelf

Bearly Cooking is the first story in the Pacific Northwest Werebears series. A delightful, sexy and fun group of novellas about three brothers who run their family logging operation in the wilds of the Pacific Northwest. And they just happen to be werebears, only a kinda unique group of brothers. They want what their parents have a long, loving relationship. Taking their cue from their parents, they are waiting for that one woman who is without a doubt their mate. Sure they have physical needs, they’re guys. But no girlfriend, no friends with benefits, no messy breakups when they know that the woman involved is not their fated mate. Their father tells them that they will know, like a thunderbolt out of the sky, there will be no doubt.

Sophie comes from a very well to do, wealthy British family. A family that shows no emotion aside from disappointment and where the strongest emotion shown is the parent’s distaste for each other. Sophie has never fit in. She’s brunette, curvy and wants nothing more than to cook for those who enjoy her efforts. No high maintenance marriage of convenience, no specialty chef position handed over to her by her parents request. No, Sophie wants so much more out of life – and she set out to find it, on her terms.

Sophie has traveled halfway around the world, far from her London upbringing to the wild forests of the American Pacific Northwest. Her job as cook at a logging camp will involve feeding 50 or so hungry men breakfast and dinner. It sounds like the perfect start to tackling life on her own terms.

It takes Cage a few days to find the time to meet the new cook he’d hired. Mountains of paperwork kept him tied to his desk, but he had already tasted her heavenly cooking. When Sophie is injured on the site by a sabotaged piece of equipment, Cage is the first to reach her side. One look, one sniff was enough to know she was his. Dad was right, there was no doubt. Now to keep Sophie safe, and convince her that she belongs to him, oh, and his bear.

Bearly Cooking is a fun, sensuous and sexy story. One with handsome men, luscious bears and a woman strong enough to take on anything life tosses her way. I loved Cage and Sophie’s story and look forward to the other brothers stories.
Profile Image for Kym.
572 reviews11 followers
February 7, 2017
Two and a half stars rounded up out of charity

Setting: Washington state
Genre: Erotica

Sophie is a British woman from a snooty family who didn't approve of her attending cooking classes at Le Cordon Bleu. When her family set her up to be a chef in a fine restaurant, she rebels and takes a job working for a logging company in Washington. Everyone loves her cooking. Cage is the boss of the company that hired Sophie and being a bear Shifter, recognizes her as The One. And so there's sex and working toward the obligatory HEA.

This looks derivative of T. S. Joyce's series' about lumberjack Shifters, but not nearly as complex and interesting. The characters of Sophie and Cage aren't exactly multifaceted. What depth they have is revealed in the rather graphic sex scenes. These scenes, without a stronger story, puts this in the category of erotica, rather than erotic romance. The author needs to flesh it out, give the plot some complexity. The weak hint of a mystery doesn't do it. There is a big problem with punctuation too. As in, it is incorrect or altogether absent. I found myself stopping to try to figure out how the sentences are supposed to look.

There's a huge hole that really bothered me. Not once is there a mention of Sophie applying for a work visa. It's unlikely she would have gotten one anyway since being a camp cook doesn't fall into the area where there is a shortage of professionals. Why is it necessary for her to be from England anyway? She can be the same basic character regardless of her citizenship.

Am I nitpicking? I don't think so. Details can help take a series of sex scenes loosely tied together by a mediocre plot to an actual story. This wasn't worth the 99 cents I paid for it.

I don't want to discourage this author, because there's potential. I suggest she join a writer's group to get peer critiques of her work before she publishes.
Profile Image for Debra.
343 reviews5 followers
January 7, 2016
Yay new book, new author, new series. I loved this book. Moxie gave us everything you need in a great shifter book an interesting story line, a wonderful woman that is not afraid to go out and get what she wants and of course a sexy ware shifter bear that just loves his woman, throw in some intrigue and drama and whala a fabulous book is born. Oohh can't wait to get into the rest of the series.
Profile Image for Laura.
1,122 reviews
October 30, 2018
What Is It About:
Sophie's passion in life is food. She's always felt like a disappointment to her high class English parents, and it's just adding another thing to the list when she refuses to work in an expensive restaurant. She instead chooses to move to America and make hearty meals for a bunch of starving lumberjacks.
Cage Rochon is one of the bosses of those lumberjacks. His days are filled up with his lumber business while hiding his bear nature. It isn't until he meets Sophie that his world changes, she's the fated mate that he's being waiting for all of his life.

What I Liked and Didn't:
While it doesn't come naturally to me, I'm going to try very hard to be positive first. The premise is interesting. As an English woman, the thought of uprooting my life to America to follow my dream is a scary, exhilarating idea so I was all for the book. Throw in some food descriptions, and shifters and I'm sold. But this is one of those books where the premise is better than its execution.
The characters don't actually meet until about half way through the book, and even then it's one of those insta-love moments. Don't get me wrong, I love a bit of instant love, especially in shifter romances. But I only like it when it's done right, they basically went straight into a relationship from the off.
Plot-wise, it still wasn't great. Part of the plot is a mystery about who's sabotaging Rochon Lumber company, through things like damaging equipment. It seems like this mystery is going to be a plot throughout the series, but it wasn't introduced well in this book so it doesn't add any suspense or intrigue for the rest of the series. So this was a very low two stars for me, only being redeemed by an okay premise, decent food descriptions, and my own love of shifters

Final Thoughts
I'm one of those people that will read a single sentence of a book, remember it and be annoyed at it. There are just some statements that stick with me and I can't even explain why. In this book, it was how Sophie acted like America was in a completely different world and she'd never heard of Texas before. I understand that not everyone will have massive amounts of knowledge about other countries, but come on. Texas is one of the most well known states, and to say "Oh, it's in some place called Dallas, Texas". To me, this makes it obvious that the author's an American. But again, this is just one of those things that niggles of my nerves, it isn't like my entire score is based on this single sentence.
Would I recommend it? Nope.
Will I be carrying on the series? Oh, but how will I live without knowing who sabotaged the equipment?! No thank you.
2,147 reviews30 followers
February 10, 2021
Fast and easy shifter romance. Liked it, but nothing too remarkable. Felt like the novella it was.

Sophie (h) wants to declare her independence from her family, so takes a job working as a cook in a logging camp in Washington. Hopefully that's far enough away from her family in London to come into her own. Cage (H) is the eldest in a family of bear shifters, the alpha, and the boss of the logging camp. He also recognizes that Sophie is his mate, and has to figure out how to tell her (while at the same time sort out who's sabotaging his camp). Quick moving fated mates romance.

No real drama, just fun and light and fast. Biggest complaint was that it felt like the novella it was. There were plot points which felt underdeveloped or glossed over, but with the shorter page count, there wasn't really space for it either. Which brings up the question - why bring up these plot points in the first place? Like all of her drama with her family. Such a big deal in the beginning, but never really developed into anything. Would have rather had more flirting between the leads.

A minor typo here or there - nothing too bad. My biggest frustration was that there were a few points where North was using pronouns more than names, so it became harder to follow who was saying what.

Alternating 3rd person POV. No cheating, no love triangles, no OW/OM drama - Cage has actually been waiting for his mate, rather than sleeping around, and is enthusiastically devoted without being an over-possessive alphahole once he finds her. Light and fluffy. Not bad, just not deep. Quick read introducing the world of North's Pacific NW Shifters. HEA and no cliffhangers.

Would I read more in this series? By this author? Yes to both. Have read other North books, but am just getting around to the beginning and seeing where the Rochon clan started
Profile Image for Denise.
1,268 reviews5 followers
September 22, 2018
This is a NON-SPOILER REVIEW. Bearly Cooking by Moxie North is the first book and introduction to the Rochons of the Pacific Northwest Bears series. This is my first Moxie North read and I really enjoyed it. Cage and Sophie's story is sweet and spicy. (Yes, this is a Mature Readers Only read.) There's quite a bit packed into this first story considering that it's a relatively quick read. I found myself transported to the logging camp and experiencing some of the forest and camp through Ms. North's colorful writing. I recommend the read and actually can't wait to read the next books about Wyatt and Connor - the Rochon brothers.
Profile Image for DMCechak.
1,790 reviews23 followers
September 20, 2018
A Delicious Treat!

What a darling and sexy story. Moxie North gives us Cage, alpha, hunky, bear shifter, and his destined mate, Sophia, who travels from England to fulfill her dream of cooking, while avoiding her overbearing family.

In Bearly Cooking, Moxie has a sweet way of blending erotic embraces with mouth-watering emotions.

What is next on the menu? Time to place an order for book 2 of the series!
Profile Image for Andrea.
620 reviews
July 8, 2021
Writing style was great, however the plot was a little too weak even for a novella. We never got a answer to who was the “villain” and what were his motives. Kinda boring plot to be honest.
Likeable main characters.
A lot of typos though, and I usually am not someone who notice them if they are few (specially because english is not my native language).
Profile Image for Merry One Maria.
2,288 reviews10 followers
February 12, 2024
A nice story

This was a sweet story for Cage, a bear shifter, and Sophie, a human female and chef. The story was good but there is something going on in the woods that Cage and his family owns. What struck me as odd, is that someone tried to break in Cages home and they seemed to just let it go. There is a happy mating for Cage and Sophie.
Profile Image for Julia Torrey.
71 reviews
October 4, 2017
Sweet as Honey

Cage and Sophie are delectably adorable. Their romance is one all their own and I enjoyes this one entirely too much. Definitely find myself craving pancakes after reading this selection. ❤
Profile Image for Tiffany .
326 reviews12 followers
July 26, 2018
I enjoy this series. I understand that this is a short romance novel but I do wish the main characters personalities were a little more developed. I do like what I read about them but I just want a little more. Can't wait to read more about the whole family!
Profile Image for Leone Wolmarans.
36 reviews
September 16, 2018
Wonderfully sweet

Who said bares aren’t cuddly? I absolutely loved this story. I am looking forward to reading the rest of this series. Only if one question needs to be answered...who was the intruder?
40 reviews
September 19, 2018
I just love bears!

This book was such a joy to read. I really love bears. And reading about the forests and trees is another interest of mine. It all sounds so beautiful. Thank you Moxie North.
1,523 reviews4 followers
September 26, 2018
Bear gets his honey

Sophie is sets out to find her destiny away from her wealthy stuffy family. Cage has been waiting for his mate. Funny, romantic and danger. No cliffhanger and Hea.
Profile Image for Elaine Swinney.
2,201 reviews8 followers
September 27, 2018
I loved this book. It was well written and a quick easy read. This is one for that lazy afternoon read. I encourage everyone to get this book, I think you will enjoy it. It is the first in a series and I can't wait to see what comes next. Give this one a chance!
671 reviews3 followers
October 2, 2018
Sexy shifter romance

Fairly short but well written a hot but sweet romantic story that will be enjoyed by anyone who likes strong alpha men and feisty women Would have liked to know who done it but maybe next time
Profile Image for Sony.
382 reviews3 followers
January 10, 2019
Wow! I found this to be a very sexy short story. It had all the elements in a entertaining story for me. You have your sexy shifter, a mysterious enemy, and a full figured down to earth funny heroine. This is a great bedtime story to read. Enjoy!
14 reviews
January 15, 2019
Well done!

From England to an alien world to find the perfect mate for a nurturing woman that rules the kitchen.
Coming from a stark family to a touchy feely one and being lavished in love.
247 reviews
December 27, 2019
Pace is way too fast and story is under-developed

Ok story but a sophomore level effort. I will continue reading the series in hopes that the writing matured in depth and pace since it is on KU.
Profile Image for Pickyreader.
343 reviews
July 15, 2017
The writing wasn't bad I just wish there would have been more character and world development. Don't think I will continue the series.
603 reviews
May 9, 2018
Really sweet romance

This is one of those books that leave you feeling happy and you have a smile on your face the rest of ththe day.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 102 reviews

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