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P.O.L.A.R. #5

Tactical Bear

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Parker is fighting extinction—
Of her own shifter species!
She’d already be mated.
If not for those bullying polar bears.
They've scared away all decent prospects.

Maxim has met the one
But, she’s an activist with silly notions.
And she wants nothing to do with him.

As a Tactical Bear, he’ll need all his strategic skills.
Not for military advancements,
But to win over his mate!


AUTHOR'S NOTE:

P.O.L.A.R. (Private Ops: League Arctic Rescue) is a specialized, private operations task force—a maritime unit of polar bear shifters. Part of a world-wide, clandestine army comprised of the best of the best shifters, P.O.L.A.R.’s home base is Siberia…until the team pisses somebody off and gets re-assigned to Sunkissed Key, Florida and these arctic shifters suddenly find themselves surrounded by sun, sand, flip-flops and palm trees.

*THIS BOOK IS INTENDED FOR ADULT READERS.*

This is a steamy paranormal shifter fantasy romance series with an HEA and no cliffhangers. Fans of Zoe Chant, Terry Bolryder, Harmony Raines and T.S. Joyce may like this shapeshifter series.




144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 12, 2019

909 people are currently reading
147 people want to read

About the author

Candace Ayers

289 books537 followers

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5 stars
739 (58%)
4 stars
342 (26%)
3 stars
158 (12%)
2 stars
25 (1%)
1 star
10 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews
Profile Image for Angie.
1,411 reviews234 followers
October 11, 2021
I wasn't ready for all that mate shit. I'd seen the guys become ultra-possessive and pissy. Grown ass men, all needy and helpless without their women. I wasn't ready for that. I knew it didn't matter what I was or wasn't ready for. Ready or not, I was about to become Parker's bitch.

4 stars!

I know I can always count on Candace Ayers when I need a quick and steamy pick-me-up with the fated mates trope! Parker and Maxim were the perfect examples of the hate-to-love-you trope as they both had set goals in mind for their future that did not include finding their fated mates. Parker is fixated on finding the perfect rabbit shifter to save her species with, while Maxim is content with his string of one night stands. Angst, snark and hate sex ensues that eventually lead to a fabulous HEA ♡
Profile Image for Sue.
422 reviews4 followers
August 11, 2019
This book is by far my favorite of the series to date. Parker and Maxim are the perfect combination of snarky, overbearing, fun, combustible chemistry; and the storyline had me laughing out loud at unexpected times and melting at others. The path to true love or fated mates is not smooth, but it sure made for the best weekend read I’ve had in a long time. I can’t wait for the next book in the series!
142 reviews
April 7, 2020
My Opinion

I just couldn't get into this story. First let me say that all shifters should be apex predators. If not when will it end? Getting back to this story, neither one of the main characters were likable. I couldn't care less about them or their relationship. I wouldn't recommend this story to anyone.
1,603 reviews12 followers
August 15, 2019
This is an OK shifter romance, but I really couldn't stand either Maxim or Parker. Maxim was a playboy womanizer, and not the least bit ashamed of how badly he used women before he met Parker. Parker was just obnoxious, said really mean things, and was totally obsessed with saving her species. I didn't like either one of them, so I didn't really care if they ever got together. And honestly, with the mean things Parker said to Maxim, I don't understand why he even still wanted her . Yes, I know, the shifter mate bond -- but most people would fight against a mating with someone who was so awful to them.

The story was also too short to have as much character development as I'd like. Very little backstory was provided on either Maxim or Parker -- I really needed more on both of them. Maybe, if there had been a little more information on WHY they behaved as they did, I MIGHT have liked them both more.

My rating system is below.
1 star -- Hated it, or did not finish. I usually only give this rating if some of the content is truly objectionable to me, like if one of the main characters does something really awful, and gets away with it.
2 stars -- Didn't like it. This rating usually means that I thought the writing wasn't very good, the editing was terrible, I didn't like the characters, or it had other major flaws.
3 stars -- I liked it, but had some minor issues with it. This rating means that there were minor editing issues, the story needed more character development, it was just too unrealistic, or had some other fairly minor issue. The majority of books I read get this rating – I do not consider it a bad rating.
4 stars -- I liked it a lot. This is a high rating for me, and I rarely give a higher one.
5 stars -- I loved it, and will probably read it again. Very few books are good enough to get this rating from me. The ones that do are usually classics.
1,203 reviews8 followers
August 14, 2019
Polar bear meets feisty bunny

Parker is a rabbit shifter who wants to help her species out as not many left she wants to get married have lots of little bunnies and someone who will love as long as rabbit shifter. Maxim is a polar bear shifter he is a player never with same woman. He was out with work a rabbit shifter threatening his girlfriend when he smells her his mate he goes into a pub when she was in their and she is feisty they can’t help but argue with each other she’s saying she doesn’t want anything to do with him. The pair of them continually butt heads with each other until Maxim ends waking up in a zoo after passing out drunk this gives him time to realise the things he has done wrong and what to do next. Parker is trying to drink her problems away keeps salarying not talking about maxim but does she hears what has happened with him and it upsets her. Maxim gets out of the zoo and goes to Parker to see if they can talk and not argue and admit they are mates. This a brilliant book great story its a must read
Profile Image for Sarah Justi.
403 reviews11 followers
August 11, 2019
I loved Parker and Maxim! Ok first I thought Maxim was a jerk then I thought Parker was. But seriously every book becomes my favorite and this one is no different.
2,148 reviews30 followers
February 15, 2024
I could have skipped this one, honestly, but I'm a sucker for completion. I've read all the Cybermates books, have started on the B.E.A.R.S. series (Book 1: Recon Bear), and decided to start over at the beginning with P.O.L.A.R. Even knowing how Parker would be, I still couldn't skip it. Like I said, sucker for completion.

Parker (h) is a rabbit shifter, a member of an endangered subspecies. She's determined to mate another rabbit to protect the future of her species. She's more than a little put out at the newly arrived unit of polar bears who are scaring off "all the good rabbit potential mates." And this attitude only gets worse when she meets Maxim (H), a cocky, womanizing member of P.O.L.A.R. who recognizes her as his fated mate. Let the sparks fly!

Ok, I wasn't fond of Parker before I even started this one. She's pushy and kinda idiotic and tends to selfishly steamroll her friends (and strangers) throughout the Cybermates series. But hey, maybe her own story is better?

Nope.

She's extra pushy and idiotic and steamrolling here, which is bad enough, but she's also ANGRY. She really just comes off as a b*tch. I have honestly no idea how any of her friends or colleagues or employer put up with her. And she's fighting so hard against a fated mate, even though she's a shifter and knows how those work. And can we describe her as specist? speciesist? Definitely pro-rabbit to the point of stupidity. I mean, honestly, she thinks gay Mitch will be a better mate simply because he's a rabbit? Another example - the first time she really sees the P.O.L.A.R. guys and decides they are all bullies, is when they are protecting someone from an angry, abusive, armed junkie. But they should just take it easy on him - even when he's firing point blank at their heads - because he's a rabbit shifter?? I suppose, if we got more of her backstory or how her mind works, maybe she'd be more relatable. Why is she so hung up on the species name? Why is she so focused on the purity and propagation of the line? There's a little kernel that makes sense, but to the extent she takes it? And when we finally get a little apology and "maybe I took it too far"... Frankly, too little, too late. Instead, she's been just angry and pushy and yelling at Maxim a lot for not listening to her, not getting to know her even though SHE'S DOING THE EXACT SAME THINGS TO HIM!! And then she's mad about him hooking up (or trying to) with someone else, even though she's (a) told him more than once to get lost and leave her alone, and (b) she's doing the exact same thing with her list of potential mates.

Unfortunately, Maxim isn't much better as a character. Definite alpha-hole. He's a womanizer and cocky (both things Parker calls him out on), but he's slightly more self-aware? At least he comes around to correcting how he interacts with her before she decides to change how she acts with him. So, lesser of two evils? Well, not evils. Of two idiots?

In terms of balance, yes they work. Neither could have survived with a low-key partner. They needed someone just as stubborn and high-intensity (read: high-drama) as they are. Unfortunately, that means it's a story with two high-drama, stubborn, uncommunicative leads. Not so much fun.

And because I'm a biology dork, I did look it up. Sylvilagus palustris hefneri is the Lower Keys marsh rabbit. Yes, it is an endangered species. According to Wikipedia: "The subspecies S. p. hefneri was first described in a publication in the Journal of Mammalogy in 1984 by James D. Lazell Jr, after his research was funded in part by a generous contribution from the Playboy Corporation. The Lower Keys marsh rabbit was at that time named in honor of Hugh M. Hefner in recognition of the financial support received by his corporation." If you're curious, here's the Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvila...

And that just makes me dislike Parker more. She's passionate and driven, but totally misplaced. Does she raise awareness of the species? Work on conservation methods? Nope, she badgers people about a nonissue. Yes, he's Hugh Hefner with all the associated imagery, but in the grand scheme of things, being named after the playboy who funded research to study and protect your species doesn't seem as big of an problem as say, habitat destruction or invasive predator species. And would changing the scientific name - which oh-so-many laypeople use to refer to plants and animals - really 'increase respect for the species'? The whole things just seems very misguided and ends up with her getting very passionate and pushy about something that won't actually make a positive difference. Is it supposed to be something funny about the character/situation? Because it didn't work for me.

As for the series as a whole...

Like almost all of Ayers' works, these are short reads. Her supernatural ones are fated-mates with a bit of steam, and not so long that there's tons of angst or points where the plots drag miserably. Flip side, there's usually not tons of character development and pacing can be rushed. As a whole, I'd give the P.O.L.A.R. series 3 stars, with some I like more than others, but in general worth the read and one I'd probably reread. Just not this one specifically.

Minor typos or grammatical errors, but mostly clean and well edited.

Alternating 1st person POV. No OW/OM drama, but both leads are looking elsewhere. She dates others and keeps gushing about having the perfect rabbit mate and lots of rabbit babies. He tries to hook up twice and can't go through with it. Both are pretty bad. No love triangles at least? And all the cheating is pretty ineffectual? As for the rest of it, Parker is a horrible character, and I can't see why people put up with her. Maxim definitely has his downsides too, but at least we see him being somewhat nice to his friends and teammates. HFN, no real epilogue but far enough down the road that Parker is pregnant (and coming up with the idea for Cybermates). No cliffhangers.

Would I read more?
If this was the first one, probably not. But Ayers is always a hit-or-miss author for me. And I've enjoyed the rest of the P.O.L.A.R. series and Cybermates too, so I think this is a one-off. The rest of the Sunkissed Key series are fun; I'm just really not a fan of Parker.
Profile Image for Terry Sasada.
1,221 reviews8 followers
August 4, 2022
Enjoying the series. This is the fifth book in the polar series. It is about polar bear shifters that have been exiled from their home in Siberia to the keys in Florida. Not exactly where polar bears prefer to live, but now that the guys are finding their mates the heat seems a bit more tolerable. This book is about Maxim, I guess using the words man whore sounds a little rough but that’s exactly the way he acts. That is until he gets a wiff of his mate. Parker is a rabbit shifter, and rabbit shifters are few and far between and as far as Parker is concerned always being made fun of. She’s on a mission to save her species to come up with a respectable name for her species and nothing is going to stop her. Including maxim. Their relationship is really a push and pull relationship neither one realizing they need to stop and perhaps change a bit. They both can teach each other a few things and it was a very good book watching them struggle through coming together as a mated couple. I love happily ever after’s.
830 reviews
May 31, 2020
Karma is a b$tch. Maxim an avowed and unashamed manwhore who hates being exiled to Sunkissed Key from his native Siberia. He's bowled over when he scents his mate Parker, a rabbit shifter no less. Even better she won't give him the time of day, not just because of his whorish ways although that certainly doesn't help, but because he's not a rabbit shifter. Species differences asides she's an absolute match for him as she never backs down from a fight, especially with him. She's determined to save her species by mating a rabbit even if it means misery for both of them. Maxim can't believe her stubbornness and belittles her. Mate or not, this crosses a line with Parker and she rejects him. Hilariously he goes on a bender and ends up a captive polar bear in the Miami zoo. Realizing he's nothing without his mate, Maxim shows he's willing to sacrifice anything and everything to have Parker as his mate.
Profile Image for Spinneretta.
2,875 reviews20 followers
September 14, 2021
good

When Maxim first meets Parker, he doesn’t realize that his destiny lies with the rabbit shifter. Parker wants to mate with another rabbit shifter, after all, her kids are rare. Thing is… it seems fate has other ideas!

This is an amusing, and enjoyable quick read. Fourth in the series, we see a few of the previous heroes and heroines to catch up with them, as well as following along as Maxim and Parker make a heroic, and hilarious last stand!

With a feisty, yet funny heroine, and a brooding and somewhat alpha hole-ish hero, it’s a fun ride to see whether the bunny or the bear comes out on top.

Recommended for those who enjoy paranormal romance.
Profile Image for Patricia.
5 reviews
December 5, 2023
Not liking little miss bunny rabbit

I did not like Parker. She was not a likable character. She was rude, cruel, hateful, racist/species and in desperate need of a good therapist. Maxim was an okay guy, if a bit on the dense side. Never did understand the issue with the rabbit species name or why she was dead set on ignoring her fated mate. And honestly, I quit caring. If the issues were resolved at the end of the book, I missed it.
I refused to read any more after she listened to him apologize and then went on another date with another random rabbit dude.
I enjoyed the previous 4 books in this series. Here's to hoping book 6 is like those.
Profile Image for Stacy J..
1,345 reviews12 followers
November 5, 2020
This one wasn't a favorite of mine.

I liked the character of Maxim. He was a straight shooter and loved to ruffle Parker's feathers.

Parker was a hit and miss type of characters. There were times I liked her but other times she drove me nuts. I get why she was working to get the name changed but come on. Also, she was trying to stop her species from extention. That's alot to carry on your shoulders.

Profile Image for K..
415 reviews6 followers
February 3, 2026
Fiesty and FINE!

This was such a fun book with nothing but fiery tension from start to finish. The two mains could literally not be more different and they fight nonstop the whole book - it’s practically enemies to lovers! All the while knowing the are meant to be and feeling nonstop attraction and pull! What a struggle it was to read Parker dismissing Maxim SO MANY TIMES but of course these books are happy endings and this was by far the happiest!
Profile Image for Book Binge.
410 reviews39 followers
August 17, 2020
At first I thought, "wow finally a woman that calls the man out for his manwhore ways and doesn't immediately forgive him!" but then even when he realized how badly he had screwed up he still didn't feel bad for his treatment of women for years or even that he got physical with several other women after meeting his mate but got mad at her for just going to dinner with other men.
Profile Image for Shirley Bennett.
1,083 reviews8 followers
October 11, 2020
Such fun!!!!

Love the total opposite in shifters!! A polar bear & a rabbit, I mean who would have thought that up except for Candace Ayers!! The whole story was fun from the beginning- the characters are so unique, the dialogue fast paced& story line; as I've already said - so much fun!!!!
Profile Image for PepperP0t .
5,116 reviews87 followers
January 1, 2022
Rude, cantankerous rabbit Parker and carefree, womanizing play-bear Maxim drive each other insane. Parker’s determined to have a rabbit mate and rabbit babies and until she does the world sucks! Especially since convinced the last thing Maxim is interested in is forever with one woman when he has yet to wake up with one. It’s not pretty but Maxim doesn’t fight fate.
Rating: 3stars
Profile Image for Angela Griffin.
1,702 reviews5 followers
December 16, 2022
A two-and-a-half star disappointment

I have been enjoying this series; this story, however, is a surprising disappointment. I tend to have an aversion toward manwhores, but Maxim changed his behavior upon recognizing his mate. The problem is Parker; she is one of the most unlikable mates in just about any series I've read! She spends about 95% of the story being willful, short-sighted, self-centered, intractable, unreasonable, and arrogant. Maxim actively proved his love; she never did. And the chemistry felt forced and unsatisfying. I like this author so I choose to believe she was experiencing a never-to-be- repeated off period.
Profile Image for Jeannette.
1,424 reviews
July 14, 2024
Parker and Maxim

This is a very good, short, well written, Shifter/Human mate romance. The characters are lovable and interesting. Parker is a rabbit shifter with a mission. Shas a petition to prove it. Maxim hates being in the very hot Keys but enjoys the women. Read what it takes to get them together.
Profile Image for Angi Everett.
794 reviews
January 4, 2025
This heroine is the worst. Of course she's the usual character that gets irrationally angry with the hero, but she literally got pissed off that he punched a man who was high on drugs beating on his gf and tried to shoot the hero in the face. And we are expected to like this horrible bitch? Does the author truly think readers like women who are bitches for no reason? Because she writes them all the same.
Profile Image for Lonnie.
668 reviews2 followers
April 8, 2020
Best laid plans never work

Wanting to be the savior of your species is great and all but to blatantly ignore you basic instic when it comes to your mate is just plain silly...then again it wouldn't be as.awesome of a story if she didn't give him hell
Profile Image for Megan.
3,630 reviews46 followers
September 22, 2020
This was alright.

I felt like it could have been done better a little longer but the romance itself was fine.

I liked the fact she was a rabbit and he was a polar bear that makes for such an interesting match.
Profile Image for Ri The Ravenous Reader .
102 reviews16 followers
July 27, 2021
Cute but way too much arguing

Cute fluffy romance where the H and h constantly bicker to the point of ridiculousness.
I did like the characters, just by the end I really didn't like the h at all.
She should have done better grovelling in my opinion.
Profile Image for Susan.
872 reviews1 follower
July 28, 2023
Fighting fate

She always wanted to have a family and to grow her race, but fate had a better ideal and match her with a different race. He didn't want a mate until he saw he and his bear went crazy.
Profile Image for Elaine Swinney.
2,210 reviews7 followers
September 8, 2024
This is a well written shifter story with great characters. This one is worth your time. I would encourage everyone to go get this one. I really think you will enjoy it I know I did. I enjoyed seeing a rabbit shifter. I always enjoy bear shifters.
414 reviews2 followers
November 25, 2024
Great For a Quick Read

Reading Tactical Bear was just what I needed. This story isn't too suspenseful or too deep. It's perfect if you just want to be entertained for a couple of hours. I laughed quite a bit while reading this story. I highly recommend it.
Profile Image for Iluvbks.
590 reviews6 followers
April 25, 2025
Oh this book did not disappoint!! You can read this book as a stand alone but it is so much better if you read the previous books first. Now Parker has an agenda to bring back the rabbit shifter population. But fate wants a polar bear as her mate. These two are so alike yet so different. She fights the mate pull and so does he but his bear wants what it wants. Their arguments just bring out the sexy in both of them. The other characters in the book just make this story flow. Love this town they live in and will sad when this series is over.
25 reviews1 follower
June 10, 2020
Max and Parker

I have enjoyed this series. Max and Parker aka "Bunny" are definitely my favourite couple. Loved the chemistry between them.
Profile Image for Alethia.
1,021 reviews16 followers
July 21, 2020
Tactical Bear

Max and Parker led quite the merry chase. I'm really enjoying this series and am so glad each book is so unique.
1,751 reviews9 followers
September 3, 2020
Double the shifter

Fun shifter romance with double the shifters. Loved her stubbornness and dedication to renaming and continuing her species, and his persistence.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 96 reviews

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