Call of the Bear

Hells Canyon Shifters #1

by T.S. Joyce

When tragedy brings former childhood sweethearts Samantha Young and Bronson Cress together in the town they grew up in, Samantha learns that things are not always what they seem.

Six years ago, Samantha was devastated when Bron made a decision that shattered their relationship. Determined not to fall for him again, she must avoid the man who broke her heart. The small town of Joseph has changed since she lived there last, and as she stumbles onto a community of people she doesn’t understand, she must figure out if Bron is worth her life being thrust in front of a clan of legendary shifters.

Bronson Cress is set to become alpha of the clan of bear shifters in Hells Canyon, but when his ex blows into town, he isn’t prepared for the havoc she wreaks on his heart. Except he isn’t the only one who’s noticed her return, and the danger that chased her out of town years ago is an even bigger threat to the woman he has sworn to protect now.

Can he control the bear that lives within him? More importantly, can he fulfill his oath and keep her safe?

Content Warning: explicit love scenes and language.
Adult only bear shifter romance.

Genres: Paranormal, Shapeshifters, Paranormal Romance, Romance, Fantasy, Adult, M F Romance

274 pages, Paperback

First published September 18, 2014

About the author

T.S. Joyce is devoted to bringing hot shifter romances to readers. Hungry alpha males are her calling card, and the wilder the men, the more she'll make them pour their hearts out. She werebear swears there'll be no swooning heroines in her books. It takes tough-as-nails women to handle the shifters of Bear Valley.

She lives in a tiny town, outside of a tiny city, and devotes her life to writing big stories. Foodie, bear whisperer, ninja, thief of tiny bottles of awesome smelling hotel shampoo, nap connoisseur, movie fanatic, and zombie slayer, and most of this bio is true.

Bear Shifters? Check
Smoldering Alpha Hotness? Double Check
Sexy Scenes? Fasten up your girdles, ladies and gents, it's gonna to be a wild ride.

Reviews

[✮ rach ✮ · Rating 2 out of 5]

Another case of the heroine making all the sacrifices for the relationship (let's not forget staying celibate the whole six years they're separated), while the hero makes absolutely none. His actions only hurt her but she doesn't care; she'll love him enough for both of them.

[Amber J (Thereadingwitch) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rating 4.29 out of 5 stars

After Bron decides to marry another woman, teenage Samantha leaves town with her mom. Now as an adult her childhood friend, Trent (Bron's brother) has been murdered, and Samantha comes back to say her goodbyes to her friend. Upon see Bron old anger and love begins to brew in Sam. She wants to be with him, but she can't and now she's in danger. She knows he's keeping secrets but she doesn't know how big a secret it is.

I really liked this book. It was a great read. Wonderful, adult content, romance with a touch of paranormal. There was action and steamy scenes that got my heart racing. The book ends with the promise of more to come, without ending on a cliffhanger. I will definitely be continuing the series.

My rating system:
initial feeling= 4.5
writing= 4.25
story= 4.5
originality= 3
unpredictability= 3.75
ending= 5
interest= 5

[Athena Que Será, Será · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tags: betrayal, divorced-hero, hero-hurts-heroine, mean-mean-girls, pnr-shifter-bear, read, rejection-pnr, second-chance, small-town

[Jac K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quick reread because I recently read this that reminded me of this situation. I feel about the same way that I did the last time. IMO, this had the potential to be quite emotional had it been executed differently. All the ingredients are there, but the follow through is missing. I would have LOVED to see Bron and Sam have an actual discussion about the split. I say this all the time, but I hate when authors don’t have their characters have “normal” reactions to dicey shit. Why throw out the messy if they’re just going to push it under the rug? IMO, any female in this situation would be beating that dead horse.

We know they were forced to marry, and we know they had sex, but neither brings it up very much. She should be guilting the shit out of him. Hell, even when Muriel says something about them being intimate, she says nothing. I get they were forced but I think it’s natural she’d be pissy towards the ex. I’m frustrated that they bring it up all the time, but never really address it.

Also, I mentioned before, this isn’t YA but there’s an immature feel to it. For example, this is from Sam after she learns they love of her life is a shifter.

“Oh my gosh,” Samantha said, rubbing her eyes until they hurt. “I slept with a bear. That’s against the law, isn’t it? I’m a criminal. I’m a sexual deviant.”

🙄🙄🙄

*****original review*****
I went into this one blind, so I didn’t realize this was a second chance romance. If you’ve read the blurb, then you know that 6 years earlier Sam left town broken hearted after Bron informed her he was marrying someone else. She’s returning for the first time to attend a funeral when she sees him again.

The setting takes place within the bear shifter world. There’re several species of bears, but the total population is rather low. They are not “out” to humans and keep to themselves. Rogue shifters cannot thrive without clan interaction and will slowly die or go insane. The “mating” process is completely determined by who their animal side bonds with. It appears that this can be an instant claiming, or something that develops slowly through years.

I’m going to spoiler tag the marriage situation, because based on the reviews I read after reading, that is sticky for some.
Bron was “sort of” forced into an arranged marriage with Muriel, the daughter of another clan. I say sort of, because he did fear for Sam’s life; an attempt had already been made, because they had bonded, and Bron needed to mate with a bear shifter to ensure that they’d produce a bear, so the thought process was if Sam were dead… he’d be open to mating a suitable female. I also say “sort of” because duty (he’s next in line) also plays a part in his decision, and he did try to make it work. They are divorced before Sam returns, but she’s unaware of this.

It hadn’t been like this with Muriel. She had hated him touching her. She slept in a separate bedroom after their first year together. Sometimes she had cried after they were intimate. Neither of them wanted that marriage, and they’d both suffered to make it work.

“I used to hate you,” she whispered. She sounded so sad. “Bron loved you. Couldn’t stop loving you no matter how hard he tried and no matter how hard I tried to make him. He used to say your name when he was with me—called me Sam by accident. But now I’m sad about what our marriage did to both of you. I didn’t want this either. I had someone else I wanted too.”

“I married Muriel because it was forced by the clan. After my father died, there were still others who felt he was justified in trying to take your life. Marrying Muriel was the only way I could see at the time to keep you safe. I wasn’t as strong and didn’t know how to fight yet, and I’d made a promise to Tommy that I would protect you no matter what. I only met her once before I married her. It was all arranged for us. I didn’t tell you until the last minute because I was searching for a way out of it.

Bottom Line- I thought this was ok, but I didn’t love it. This isn’t YA, but the characters made me feel like it sometimes by their actions. I also didn’t really have any angst/heartbreak "feels" from the couple’s break-up. In a nutshell, good enough to keep me engaged to see how it shook out, but not good enough to make me very invested.

[Victoria · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 Stars

[Deborah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bron broke Samantha's heart six years ago when after making love to her he tells her "I'm getting married" just like that, completely out of the blue, shock doesn't even cover how she feels, they were in love and going to be together forever and he just rips her heart out. She leaves town, I mean seriously what else could she do and she tries to move on with her life but how do you move on from something like that and finally after six years she tries a blind date.
Samantha then finds herself being called back to the town of Joseph, the town she'd left behind, the town where Bron and his wife live.
I do love a good shifter book and this started well but I have to say it kept losing me, it seemed to drag and after a while I started skimming and at times I felt like banging their heads together since they were going round in circles, he broke her, she left, he seemed surprised and unhappy that she left, I mean honestly did he expect her to stay and watch him play happy families. Anyway for what seemed like a long time this just didn't seem to be going anywhere and in the end it went as expected.
This is an entertaining shifter tale but it failed to fully hold my attention.

[Leyns · Rating 2 out of 5]

DNF.
Aargh!! I’m so mad that I bought this book because I’m only at 26% and I’m so disgusted with the heroine that there is no way in hell that I’m going to keep reading.
I had high hopes for her, she said some strong things to the hero initially, but then she fell apart with lust as soon as he touched her, and BEGS him to keep touching her, all the while she knows that HE IS MARRIED. He also was her boyfriend when he decided to marry someone else 6yrs ago, and had just finished having sex with her when he told her he was marrying another woman.
I know the hero is now divorced, but SHE DOESNT KNOW THAT and yet she is begging him to cheat on his wife with her. Hell to the NO - I am not reading this crap!!!

[Runningrabbit · Rating 3 out of 5]

Kindle Unlimited
Sadly this one bored me to death - it could have been cut down by at least one third. The pace was too slow and definitely lost my interest. I kept reading waiting for that moment when it would launch off, but alas no. This is certainly the first one of TS Joyce that I have been disappointed with.

[HeatherTX · Rating 3 out of 5]

My first werebear read and it was enjoyable enough for me to go straight into Fealty of the Bear.

[shms · Rating 2 out of 5]

The romance didn't play out in any absorbing way with the h coming of as too much of a doormat. Her behaviour is too forgiving given how the H broke with her, if she'd had the complete picture that forgiveness would be understandable but she didn't till near the end, and so she just came across like a sap. If you ignore the romance, there was enough there to keep me reading.

[Sue Davis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK FOR AN HONEST REVIEW AND THIS IS MY HONEST REVIEW ... OVER 18 READERS...
A TERRIFIC STORY YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS...
I loved the way it starts and explains from the beginning. You have Trent and his big brother Bronson (Bron) owners of Cress Lumber And Remodeling becoming a good business, and childhood friend Dillon working for them.Then Trent is dead and Bronson's first love returns for the funeral, but she is human and doesn't know about shifters. She doesn't plan on staying long cause she thinks Bron is married, to the girl he broke Samantha will find more then she ever though about, so many secrets kept from her by everyone she trusted and loved, her best friend, Trent and Bron, his father (now dead),her mother (now dead) and her father, EVEN who and what she really is. And she will find a new friend in the one person you would not think to want to be her friend, and she has some secret knowledge that could save the day if you could live though it. All the wonderful twists and turns the story takes makes it a wonderful trip to take of discovery. I WILL WANT TO READ MORE FROM THIS AUTHOR, AND I HOPE MORE WILL CONTINUE IN THIS STORY LINE.

[Jamoz23 · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is not one of my must read authors but when I do pick up one of her books they are usually a good read. Not in this case.
I love shifter stories and second chances can be good. Sorry to say this was over dramatised, ridiculous and plain unbelievable. The negativity throughout on every aspect was nauseating.
I hated the clan thinking and behaviour.
I expected the stupidity of Samantha, a heroine who hasn’t moved on after being treated abominably. Saving herself for 6 years for the hero but the fact the hero Bron was just unlikeable didn’t help. I still didn’t like him at the end, lies by omission are still lies.
Samantha doing what she did at the end I could understand but talk about dragged out and over played.
The only part that seemed genuine was the murder of Trent right at the start and we don’t even get to find out who did it.
Her fathers reasoning for doing what he did made sense too.
Sorry I wasted my time when there are better shifter books out there.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

I avoided this book when I initially read the series, and finally just read it. Kind of glad I did it like that- I liked this book the least in the series. I just couldn't fantasize Bron as a book boyfriend. The rest of the series was much better.

[BJ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Angsty story with H's brother murdered and the h attends funeral. The H loved her years before dumped her and married OW. Trouble is they are still in love but he believes they can't have her but doesn't tell her why. Didn't like the H and felt his anger weakened him.

[Michele bookloverforever · Rating 3 out of 5]

bear and human fall in love...bear marries another bear for political reasons. human leaves...comes back and is threatened by other bears....ends bittersweet.

[Anne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Different world than the one I am used to reading in. (Saw Bears, etc). But I really liked it.

[Rachel · Rating 1 out of 5]

They bonded as teens. Which means he basically mated her without the bite. And still went and married and screwed Muriel. A disgrace to all shifter romances where loyalty is number one.

[ZETTER · Rating 5 out of 5]

Keeping Her Safe!!!

Samantha Young and Bronson Cress were an item but he made a decision that changed their relationship and left her heartbroken. Fast forward six years later and she found herself back in her hometown of Joseph, Oregon. After receiving a call from her friend Reese informing her of Trent Cress' death.

Bronson Cress was set to become the Alpha of the bear clan in Hells Canyon. He never expected for his life to get turned upside more than it already was, he just lost his btother Trent. He was out for blood and on top of that his ex Samantha blew back into town. Making his inner animal crazy.

Those who took Trent away from him were now after Samantha and there was nowhere in he!! he was about to let that happened. Bron did everything in his powers to ensure her safety, he thought she was his ONE because she was human but he was wrong.

There was so many twists and turns, loved how Sam and Bron found their way back to each other. Reese, Dillon and Muriel were rooting for them as hard as I was. The relation they all shared was great.

CALL OF THE BEAR is the first book in T. S. Joyce's HELLS CANYON SHIFTERS series. It was heartbreaking, passionate, humorous and fascinating. T. S. Joyce did a marvelous job. Two thumbs up!

[PepperP0t · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having left her weird, tiny hometown, shunned and shamed, Samantha Young didn’t expect to have the same reaction to construction worker, Bronson Cress after six years. After all, her father killed his and Bron told Sam he was marrying another woman after a hot, sex filled night in bed. Sam’s still attracted though Bron’s different and secretive.

Looking across his brother’s gravesite, the last person Bron expected to see was Sam. It was hard enough to want the human when she wasn’t around but standing in front of him with her scent filling his nostrils was next to impossible. He’d done the best he could to get her out of his system even mating a female from another bear clan. It didn’t work!

The mini-mysteries of the murders and the why were more intriguing and satisfying pieces than the romance for my taste. Though written clearly, this reader didn’t connect with (or have book) respect for either lead and confesses to some skimming of their scenes together (but not the enjoyable climax).
Rating: 3stars

[Elle Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Generally speaking I don't read reviews of other people for any sort of media...the reason in part being that they and I likely don't have the same taste ... So their opinions are a moot point.  In the case of this book I accidentally did which set me off on a bad start because the one I read in particular wasn't great.  What could have been a main character doesn't make it past the first chapter...but as it was described it seemed so much worse than that.  While sad...you didn't know him well enough to have developed an attachment so I don't really see an issue. There's a lot of conflict between the couple on this book which makes complete sense to the set up of the plot, but also really sets the stage for future books. It was a little harder to like the couple because of their rough history but it worked out well in the end.

[Trudy Dowling · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do love a complicated shifter story. This one is definitely complicated. Bears can't bite a human to turn them. They can't marry a human and have cubs. The bear clan is vicious, destructive. When Bron falls for a human, members will do anything within their power to make sure they do not unite.

Sam left Joseph after her father murdered Bron's father, planning never to return. One call from Reese telling her that Trent died in a fire changes everything. Secrets will be revealed. Friends will turn against friends. Get read for a rough ride to get to the happy ending that Bron and Sam deserve.

[Linsey Palazzi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another Universe??

So, is this yet another universe? Now there are only 75 bears left and humans and bears can’t produce offspring…..and you have to almost die to change??

The story was good, but I really miss having series with the same theme have the same rules. The rules seem to change to fit the dramatic parts of the story, and that feels like cheating.

That being said, the build to actual romance in this story was really well done. It felt like a completely different author compared to the first series. The kitschy details were awesome and made the FMC much more relatable.

[Cindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Need to load up

So I finished the book and all I could think was...need to load a gift card to my Amazon account. Why? Well the obvious reason is to buy the next book in the series. Man, the story of Bron and Sam was a doozy of a roller coaster ride. It had everything a great Joyce book has come to be known for. Lovers split apart because differences, a murder mystery, life changing decisions and the promise of happy ending. Buy the book, you won't be disappointed, I promise.

[ANNBOOKSHELF · Rating 4 out of 5]

New to shifter paranormal books this is a great story to pick up (one of the best shifter books). Not into shifters still a great romance.

Samantha was in heaven young and everything was perfect until just then it all came crashing down tragically. Bron has sacrificed himself for his love of his life safety. Their romance has secrets twist are surprises that it will keep you turning pages. Characters are written well and you grow to love them. Awesome story. Violence2, sex1

More opinions and reviews please check my blog out: my2centsbookreviews.com Thanks!

[Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

Samantha and Bron

Wao! This was such a emotional story. Samantha and Bron have gone through so much and her doing the ultimate sacrifice to keep Bron was amazing. However, she was left in the dark by everyone around it about their true nature and for her to just turn around and decide to do such drastic measures didn't really came out.....right?! However i can't wait to read the next book. recommended .

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Confused but enjoyed it

The first chapter and a few other bits confused me. I decided to just go with the flow and read about the couple instead of thinking logically.
While I never plunged into the main characters, I did root for them to get back together and last. Didn’t see the last twist coming at all. Am curious about Muriel.
Did not like how the fathers situation played out at all. If they are watchers, should not have been in trouble.

[Jackie · Rating 1 out of 5]

DNF - Quit at 15%
I don't know, something about the story just didn't pull me in enough to continue. Others may enjoy this, but I just couldn't get myself to care about the characters enough to want to keep reading.

At my age (approaching 60), life is way to short & my time is to important to force myself to read a book I'm not enjoying, especially when there are so many other books out there waiting to be read.

[Charlotte · Rating 3 out of 5]

*WARNING* intended for mature audiences
This has romance and betrayal. Bron and Sam had something and then her dad did the unthinkable and so did Bron, so Sam left with her mom. Now Sam is older and isn't putting up with these secrets, even though her and Bron are less than friendly. This isn't a shifter story where the shifter bites their mate and the mate gets an animal too. I did enjoy this book, but it's not my favorite from this author.

[Kathy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hells Canyon Shifters #1
I enjoyed this book, though not as much as some of the others I've read by this author. I don't know whether or not I will read the next book in the series. It didn't reach out and grab me like her. "Damon's Mountains" universe did, but I may read the next book and eventually. We'll see…

Read:
February 6-7, 2017 - Kindle Unlimited

[Angelique · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am playing catch up with TS Joyce. I stumbled upon her and realized that I loved her shifter novels. Other shifters were being mentioned and I realized that I was sort of in the middle. I wanted to know about all of them so I have started from the very beginning reading them in the order in which they were written.
I love the fact that Bron was so emotional and Samantha did what any human would do... RUN! They were both strong characters but thermals showed some weakness. It was nice to see. The humour was a nice touch. My favorite part? The father daughter moment. THAT was a painful but necessary moment and I loved it. I also love the fact that I know there is more to come.