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***NO CLIFFHANGER. THE BEAR CHRONICLES OF WILLOW CREEK ARE WRITTEN SO THAT EACH INSTALLMENT IS A COMPLETE STORY AND CAN BE READ ALONE***

Eli Artair thought his cousin was crazy when he decided to marry a human. When he said he loved her only a few days later, Eli knew his cousin had totally lost his mind. There’s no way a shifter could fall in love so easily, especially with a human.

He changes his mind when he meets Liza...

Liza Calder thought her sister was crazy when she married a man sight unseen. When she called a few days later to say she was in love with her husband, Liza knew her sister had gone totally loco. No one can fall in love that fast, especially with a stranger.

She changes her mind when she meets Eli....

Can two people that don’t believe in love at first sight discover it in each others arms?

Hard is an erotic shifter novella. If you don’t like insta-lust that turns into insta-love, a sex starved bear shifter, a heroine that craves her mate, or tons of smoking hot sex this is not the book for you.

Unknown Binding

Published February 28, 2016

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123 people want to read

About the author

Emily Minton

39 books2,117 followers
USA Today Bestselling author, Emily Minton is a Kentucky native. She is proud to call the Bluegrass State home. She claims she bleeds blue–Wildcat Blue! She has been married to her husband, David, for over twenty years. They share two wonderful children.
Emily loves to read and has more books on her kindle than most people could read in a lifetime, but she intends to read every single one. She has published nine books, but there are many more are floating around in her head. She hopes to get them all on paper before long. She loves sharing her dreams with her readers.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews
Profile Image for Sabrina.
4,284 reviews2,388 followers
February 27, 2016
Hard is the second book in The Bear Chronicles of Willows Creek series, and starts off where the first book ended. Eli is Ethan's cousin who is against humans coming into his town and marrying other shifters. But when he goes to help Amelia's sister move to town, to show that he will try to accept the humans in town, he wasn't expecting to meet his mate, and her be a human.

This is proving to be a good series, I like the storyline of shifters marrying humans for the first time in their town history. Eli was a bit of an ass in the last book, so I loved seeing him start to come to the realization that his mate was a human, and have him become okay with that. Liza was a good character, and I really liked how caring she was, especially with her foster sister.

Overall, this was a great, fast read that I would recommend for any Paranormal lovers. The story moves pretty quickly but I didn't feel like I was missing anything, so that was good.
Profile Image for Deserie williams.
606 reviews6 followers
March 4, 2016
May Contain Spoilers!

3.5 stars! I liked this one a bit better. Quick and hot read. Like both heroine and hero:) I'm thinking there will be more in series. If so I'm interested in reading more:)

Safety: heroine and hero aren't virgins. We don't get much on their pasts. We know hero had his fair share of women though (something I didn't need to know). don't know about heroine. All is said is that she isn't a virgin. She didn't seem like she had bad sex before but she is only 18. Nevertheless I felt both were very special to each other:) No OW or OM drama!
Profile Image for ✿kawehi.reviews.
1,453 reviews428 followers
February 28, 2016
☆ I received an ARC via The Hype PR in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!! ☆

I think I'm one of those special people who only notices sign ups last minute and am literally racing against time to get my review done in time for the blitz.

Luckily for me, though, this book was addictive to get into and I read it pretty fast.

Hard, picks up right after Rough left off-- *and YES, I encourage you to read these in order*-- and felt more whole and complete than its predecessor. While I did enjoy bk1, my biggest complaint was that I didn't feel a lot of character personality, rapport with the other protagonist, and not much plot. It was basically, the male lead had to find a human mate to minimize exposure of his town inhabitants and after he does, then BAAAAMM! Lots and lots of sex.

What works for Hard, was that it had more going on and natural turmoil coming into the picture. I liked the whole backstory and explaining of why Eli does not like humans, and why he's so adamant against taking a non-shifter female~~ journeying on to him meeting Liza who happens to be his alpha's sister in law and how he succumbs to his fate despite his dad's objections of it.

And as for Liza, after living in a foster home and not having much to call your own~~ to coming full circle, and discovering a new beginning with a family to call your own and a love of a lifetime.

For those of you who are hopeless romantics with a sprinkle of paranormal, hot sex, and destiny in the mix-- this is for you!

I can't wait for more from this series!

Kawehi
Profile Image for Astraycat.
1,033 reviews92 followers
February 27, 2016
*Received an ARC from Hype PR *
3.25 stars. This was an Insta-lust story.

H used to hate human because of his mother's death. When his cousin decided to marry a human, he was so angry but afraid that would ruin their friendship. However, when he met this sister of his cousin's wife, how could he accept fate while face his father's hatred of human?

I liked how H dealt with h's forster father and how soon he accepted her as his mate. And his proposal was better than his cousin.

This book would be better if there was some threat against h or sth like that then this story would be more exciting.
Profile Image for Barbara➰.
1,661 reviews459 followers
February 29, 2016
**3.25 stars**

Oh, how the mighty have fallen! That's right Eli...you got a human mate....everything you thought you hated. Suck it! *insert evil laugh here*

I actually enjoyed this one more than the first. There wasn't as much anguish and emphasis on being lonely with someone other than your true mate. That shit just depressed me.

I loved Liza. She did not act like any 18 year old I've known. She was very mature. I love how she gave Eli some anxiety worrying about her leaving him after all the shit he pulled with Amelia in the first book. He f'n deserved it! I was afraid he was going to drag it out kicking and screaming about not wanting a human mate but was glad to see he didn't resist long, minutes really and how Liz didn't accept it immediately either. I'm definitely a reader who enjoys insta-love but in this case I wanted Eli to have to sweat a little. It wasn't quite long enough but given this was short, I was happy with what I got.

I'm looking forward to Mason's story. He seems to deserve a special mate and I hope he gets one.
Profile Image for Priya.
139 reviews
November 19, 2016
***3 stars***

description
This was a good book but I thought there would be more chasing but guess not...
Eli wasn't a good guy in the beginning but he turned out to be a really cute loving guy, which was unexpected but this book had most of things that I had expected and my predictions came true, there were very few elements of surprise and that's why the book wasn't as good as I would have wanted it to be.....
But the book on the whole was okay ... ;)
Profile Image for Tash.
1,288 reviews106 followers
January 1, 2017
Reviewed @ Confessions From Romaholics
Review copy kindly provided by authors in exchange for a honest review
Hard is the second book in the Bears Chronicles of Willow Creeks and continues right where the previous book left off with the tale being told from Eli and Liza point of views. However we are only taken to the present after a recap of Eli’s thoughts about the going ons that lead to the point. Where we learn the truth about what made Eli believe the thoughts that he did about humans and shifters.

I won’t give it away but there is a plausible explanation for why Eli was acting the way that he was in the previous book and your heart will break for him. He may be hard but he does a tender side So Liza the younger sister of Amelia is perfect for him . As she maybe his perfect mate and Eli wants her now but Liz has her own story to tell despite her tender years.

She may be only 18 but Liza is worried about her sister and wants to know about her new family. So when Eli kisses her and has her ways with him. She isn’t going to let him walkover her and just go with the flow she wants answers. However is she ready?
She is no prude but her secret that she has been keeping has worried her and even now with a brighter future in hand. Eli and Liza have their obstacles to face and will they have their forever?

The second book in the chronicles definitely lived up to being a quick enjoyable read. It wasn’t a rehash with Eli and Liza. They had their own problems and the authors allow them to take center stage without making it the crux. As they had a lot and it was magical watching them together.

I can’t wait for the next instalment as the titles do definitely live up what they promise and the snippet at the end of who the next couple is going to be make this reviewer happy as everyone needs their HEA and who no better
Profile Image for Reader.
1,195 reviews91 followers
March 3, 2016
This is the second book in the Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek and I have to say I enjoyed this one more than the first book. Eli and Liza were likeable characters and I enjoyed reading about their relationship. Liza is Amelia's sister who is mated to Ethan they were featured in book 1. Now that Amelia is settled with Ethan she's keen to have her sister join her, that's when Eli knows on sight that Liza is his fated mate. Liza doesn't know that Eli is a bear shifter like Ethan, prior to meeting Liza, Eli had a deep distrust of humans as they had hunted and killed his mother, but Liza is able to make him see that not all humans are evil. There is insta love which normally isn't my cup of tea, but it's a shifter thing so it works in this. I look forward to the next book in this series.
Profile Image for Jennifer McGurk Finn.
2,101 reviews53 followers
May 13, 2016
This is the second book in the Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek series. Eli Artair is Ethan's cousin and BFF, he is also a bear shifter and second in command of the town of Willow Creek. When he was a boy his beautiful wolf shifter mother was killed by humans just so they could take her tail as a trophy. Since then his father has drilled it into his head that humans are all evil. Eli was not at all happy when Ethan married Amelia but he tried to keep his negative feelings to himself. Eli agrees to go with Ethan and Amelia to pick up Liza and their parents' things they have in storage. Liza has been counting the days until she turns 18, it's been two months since Amelia left her promising she would be back for her. Liza never told her sister that their foster dad was always trying to touch her inappropriately that's why she's so anxious to leave there. When Eli sees Liza for the first time his "inner bear" goes wild and he can't help but grab her and kiss her. Then he remembers she is human and tries to ignore her on the drive back to Willow Creek. Until they stop at a motel for the night and he shares a room with Liza then he admits to himself that she is his mate.
Profile Image for (ツ) Has.
751 reviews55 followers
April 26, 2016
I think I liked this H better than the first book. Only because he's meant to hate humans so when he meets h he has to fight off his insta-lust and hold back from claiming her right then and there. Don't worry, a couple hours later he gives in and pounces on her. =)

“You better hold on, Angel. I’ve been gentle with your pussy so far. Now, it’s time to take you hard and let you know exactly who you belong to. You won’t be able to take a step for the rest of the week without feeling just how deeply I’ve claimed you.”

Another quick read with a sexy growly protective bear shifter.

“I will never want another woman but you, Angel. A million women could throw themselves at me, and I would still search for you at the end of the day.”

Can't wait for more books.

I'm guessing the next book is Mason and Josie? It was pretty eye-rolling how Amelia just showed him a picture of the perfect mate for him and he instantly has a mate.

I hope there's a new story with a h who's not from the foster system.
Profile Image for Tee loves Kyle Jacobson.
2,523 reviews181 followers
February 28, 2016
Man this book is an amazing read. I love me some shifters but humans and shifters I was not sure was going to work for me but it did. I am so glad I was able to receive an ARC copy for an honest review.

Eli is rough and tough and no holds bar kind of shifter. So when his cousin marries a human and falls deeply in love with her he thinks his cousin is bat shiz crazy! Man he tells his cousin how can you fall in love with a human. Not only that how can you fall in love so dam fast? But it is real and his cousin tells him just wait you will see this is for real.

Then Eli meets Liza and holy hell his world is rocked by this beautiful human girl. Yes folks I said human girl and Eli can't understand what is going on because shifters don't mate with humans but he be damned if he didn't want to mate with Liza and keep her all to himself.

The story is great and the sex well let's just say you will want a shifter after reading this book!
Profile Image for She Hearts Books.
2,113 reviews74 followers
February 29, 2016
After reading Ethan and Amelia's story in Rough, I couldn't wait to read Eli and Liza's story. Eli has made it quite clear that he doesn't approve of humans coming into town, but he has no idea what is about to hit him when he comes face to face with his very own human true mate...Liza. Liza is Amelia's sister and she is moving to be with her. When Eli comes to help with the move, he realizes that she is his true mate. Now to explain what that means to Liza. She is introduced to his bear in a scary way, but knows that she is meant to be his. I loved these two together. They are scorching hot and have that whole insta-love mate thing to boot. I so enjoyed their story.

I give Hard 5 hearts!
Profile Image for Erin.
394 reviews57 followers
Read
March 2, 2016
DNF @ 33%

Nope. No. No. First of all, this book is short. So I was just a little teeny bit pissed off that the first few chapters are almost the EXACT replicas of chapters from the first book. REALLY?! The authors couldn't of briefly summarized with different words?!

My mood didn't really improve after that. I'm done with this series.
Profile Image for Rebecca Bistel.
1,009 reviews4 followers
March 11, 2018
Good read

Glad to see Eli come around about humans. I really liked Liza for Eli. Will there be a 3rd book?
Profile Image for Stefanie Kral.
761 reviews25 followers
March 14, 2016
✯✯5 Hard Stars!!!✯✯

Emily Minton and Julia Keith are becoming my favorite co-authors!! This is my 3rd book by them. And, everyone is hotter then the last one. Hard was no different.

When we finished reading Rough we saw Liza and Eli meet. When we start Hard we get some back story for both Eli and Liza. We find out everything that made Eli and his father hate and not trust any human alive. We see what goes thru his head when his cousin rings up marrying a human. We also see how Liza thought about her sister marrying a guy she never met. We also saw how Liza dealt with her sister gone. And, with her new foster sister and handsy foster father.

Once Eli and Liza meet man it's one big cluster-fuck of emotions for them both. Eli's bear saw what he wanted and was fighting Eli every step of the way. Eli wouldn't fall in love with a human. But, he must have Liza.

Liza is just as confused as Eli. She can't stop looking at the huge sexy guy in front of her. He's angry and confusing as any man is. Well, a lot more. If that's even possible lol. But, she can't stay away. She's not like her sister. Liza has been with a guy before. But, she definitely hasn't been with one like Eli.

Man, are Liza and Eli are hot. Very hot! Eli realizes Liza is his mate and wants her with him. But, there are a few obstacles in the way. Liza refuses to jump right on in. She wants to take it slow. Eli agrees. But, his biggest 2 obstacles are Liza finding out what he is. Man, what a way to find out btw (eyes popped wide out!!) and his father.Eli knows once his father finds out it that Eli's mate is a human. He already knows it's not going to be a pretty sight.

I absolutely loved this book even more then I loved the first one. Paranormal has always been my all time favorite to read. Emily and Julia sure can write a short/novella paranormal and not make me feel like I'm missing something. This book had more of a back story and more emotions then the previous one. There was multiple times I found myself tearing up while reading this.It was such a fast paced read. But, I never felt like it was rushed or that I was missing something really important. I can't wait for book 3.
Profile Image for Shay.
1,269 reviews39 followers
February 26, 2016
Hard is the second book in The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek and what a follow up! THis can be read as a standalone but for me to get the full effect of the story and its characters, Rough should be read plus you would be missing on a hot shifter series!

Eli, as you know, doesnt care wants outsiders in his town. But having such a strong bond with his cousin Ethan, the town's mayor, he has to let his animosity go or he will lose his friend so he decides to go with Ethan and Amelia to get her sister, Liza. But the unthinkable happens. He finds his mate, Liza. He fights the instant attraction but he truly has to final let his bitterness go because his bear doesnt care that she is human. Liza has no clue of what goes on in Willow Creek. Once she finds out what is going on, will she be able to forgive the secrets and the lies that was told to her?

This story had me from the get go, hell, from the very beginning with Rough. I love shifters, always have and always will. The whole dominate alpha tendencies just has a way of getting under my skin but in the most delicious of ways that I just cant help but gobble this story up. The storyline was a good one, with the added bonus of Eli's father strongly disagreeing. It created a good obstacle of wanting to know if Eli's dad would overcome his own animosity towards her. I liked Mason's added story to it too. He is the next in the series and it is sure to be a unique one with him being the unique were bear as he is blonde and has cat eyes, an oddity for their kind.

One thing that is for sure is that this duo can create a cool paranormal world, good versatile characters plus an added bonus of some really hot sex scenes that will leave you panting for more!

Story 5
Sex 5
Overall 5

Reviewed by Shay from Mommys a Book Whore
Profile Image for Shay.
1,269 reviews39 followers
February 26, 2016
Hard is the second book in The Bear Chronicles of Willow Creek and what a follow up! THis can be read as a standalone but for me to get the full effect of the story and its characters, Rough should be read plus you would be missing on a hot shifter series!

Eli, as you know, doesnt care wants outsiders in his town. But having such a strong bond with his cousin Ethan, the town's mayor, he has to let his animosity go or he will lose his friend so he decides to go with Ethan and Amelia to get her sister, Liza. But the unthinkable happens. He finds his mate, Liza. He fights the instant attraction but he truly has to final let his bitterness go because his bear doesnt care that she is human. Liza has no clue of what goes on in Willow Creek. Once she finds out what is going on, will she be able to forgive the secrets and the lies that was told to her?

This story had me from the get go, hell, from the very beginning with Rough. I love shifters, always have and always will. The whole dominate alpha tendencies just has a way of getting under my skin but in the most delicious of ways that I just cant help but gobble this story up. The storyline was a good one, with the added bonus of Eli's father strongly disagreeing. It created a good obstacle of wanting to know if Eli's dad would overcome his own animosity towards her. I liked Mason's added story to it too. He is the next in the series and it is sure to be a unique one with him being the unique were bear as he is blonde and has cat eyes, an oddity for their kind.

One thing that is for sure is that this duo can create a cool paranormal world, good versatile characters plus an added bonus of some really hot sex scenes that will leave you panting for more!

Story 5
Sex 5
Overall 5

Reviewed by Shay from Mommys a Book Whore
Profile Image for Nina.
607 reviews56 followers
February 26, 2016
I couldn't wait to get my hands on Eli and Liz's story after seeing their appearances in book one, Rough. Eli had so much hatred and anger towards humans that I couldn't wait to see him fall hard for a human mate.

Although Hard is the second of the series, it can be a stand alone read. For the first 20% of the story, the authors catches the reader up on what happened in book one so the reader doesn't get lost upon reading book two. Between books Rough and Hard, I liked and enjoyed Hard a lot more as I felt there was improvement on the writing and the characters' development. I also enjoyed the dual point of views from Eli and Liz. With that, I was able to better connect with their characters due to hearing their inner thoughts and feelings, thus making their sexual attraction (insta-lust) and union (insta-love) to one another more believable.

In addition, the plot and conflict were nicely executed and written. Eli and Liz were a good pairing and I found myself entertained with their story until the end.
Profile Image for Tracy.
Author 4 books15 followers
June 14, 2016
I don't want you to think that my 3 star review is an indication of my enjoyment of this book. I did enjoy it. I thought Eli was great as well as Liza. It's pretty short though, which makes me most sad. It would have been better as a longer book because then we'd get more invested in the characters and the story as a whole. Now, don't get me wrong, the first book was pretty short too, but that would have made a great prequel novella. These shifters are an interesting group and I'd love to know more about them. The love story between Eli and Liza is instantaneous and fierce. For a man/bear that was determined to hate any and every human, he loved just as hard.

So, I did enjoy it. It was a nice quick read, but I wish that there was more to it for us to get more invested in the characters. (including side characters like Eli's dad...)
Profile Image for Jennifer Oloughlin.
878 reviews3 followers
September 8, 2016
Eli lost his mom to a hunter, and that left his father devastated. Eli was raised to hate humans because they are so destructive, couple that with the lack of humans in Willow Creek, there wasn’t anything to combat that image.

Well along comes Liza, Amelia’s younger sister, and all that human hates goes right out the window. Things were tough at first between the two, tensions were high as Eli tried to fight Liza becoming his mate. Lucky for us there is no fighting fate. Their chemistry was insane. Eli was just all around crazy for Liza.

There was a little rumble with Eli’s dad, but that was all worked out with Liza���s superb idea for punishment.

I can’t even tell you how much I don’t want to wait for Mason’s story. Ugh.... Hard was another shifter romance done well. Loved it.
842 reviews
February 27, 2016
This book had steamy sex scenes and an alpha werebear who found his mate in the last person he expected; a human. After Eli was being such a shit in Ethan's book, I enjoyed seeing him get hit like a ton of bricks with his mate. His opinion did a complete turn around. This was a good, quick read. I read it straight through. I enjoy this paranormal world immensely. This town becomes alive to me and I fall into this world for the time it takes me to read the book. I cannot wait to read Mason's story next.
ARC received from author in exchange for an honest review.
Profile Image for Nikki Anderson.
210 reviews1 follower
March 5, 2016
So...I loved this book! I love how sweet and in love Eli is with Liza. I'm not much for shifter books but I'm really loving this series. I also like how if you didn't read the first in the series that your not left confused about the other characters. There's enough information that your not confused but not too much that you can't still read the first one. Can't wait for the next book I'm thinking mason is going to have a good story and I'm going to love him more than the first two.
Profile Image for Kim.
835 reviews3 followers
April 27, 2016
Book 2 this is Eli & Liza story. Ethan's cousin and Amelia's sister. This can be read as a stand alone but I don't suggest it. Reading book 1 is important so you can get to know the characters mentioned in the book and the events that lead up to this story. Emily and Julia did a great job with this series. So different then Emily's MC series that's for sure. I plan on reading more of Julia's books. This is a great bear shifter book.
Profile Image for Juli.
1,581 reviews24 followers
February 29, 2016
I was given a complimentary copy from the author...

Eli and Liza's love was definitely more insta-love than Ethan and Amelia. It was good story just maybe a little too quick for me. There wasn't much conflict to the story and it wrapped quickly.

However, I am looking forward to Mason's story; he made my heart hurt with his need to be wanted by someone.
Profile Image for Book Snob Sue.
1,414 reviews136 followers
April 19, 2016
Really enjoyed this book. I loved that she really didn't take any crap from him and was a strong female character. I loved that he always calls her Angel....it was so sweet....even though most of the time he was being naughty. These 2 had explosive chemistry that you just had to read. I really like this series.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 39 reviews

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