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Midwinter Bears
A bear shifter holiday romance.
Tahl promised Enfys ice bears for Midwinter, but ey neglected to tell him that ey and eir kin were the ice bears.
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wordcount: 4,800
Written for the Rainbow Advent Calendar 2018
Tahl promised Enfys ice bears for Midwinter, but ey neglected to tell him that ey and eir kin were the ice bears.
___________________________
wordcount: 4,800
Written for the Rainbow Advent Calendar 2018
26 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 22, 2018
18 people are currently reading
72 people want to read
About the author
Blaine D. Arden
30 books145 followersBlaine D. Arden is an EPIC Award-winning author of Romantic Speculative Fiction. Non-binary and proud, ey sings eir way through life in platform boots and delights in creating magical worlds for queer heroes to bump into the loves of their lives at just the wrong—or right—moment. Ey believes in celebrating the transformative power of diversity and inclusivity in all aspects of life, and that our unique experiences and perspectives are what make us strong: “Our Difference is Our Strength.”
Born and raised in Zutphen, the Netherlands, Blaine spent eir youth immersed in books, daydreaming, and making up stories. Quite content in entertaining emself, ey evolved from telling stories to eir favourite doll, to acting them out with eir Barbies, and finally, putting pen to paper.
When not writing, Blaine enjoys singing, sewing, and indulging in building LEGO botanical sets. Ey lives in the Netherlands with eir supportive partner of over thirty years. Despite their differences—Blaine craves shade and doesn’t drink the beers he brews, he doesn’t read romance and loves soaking up the sun—they enjoy watching quiz shows during dinner and playing cooperative games.
From the award-winning Oren’s Right to Aliens, Smith and Jones, Blaine’s books offer readers a safe and enchanting escape into richly imagined worlds with a unique blend of adventure, emotional depth, and belonging.
______________________
Non-Binary / Asexual
ey/em/eir | she/her | Mx.
Born and raised in Zutphen, the Netherlands, Blaine spent eir youth immersed in books, daydreaming, and making up stories. Quite content in entertaining emself, ey evolved from telling stories to eir favourite doll, to acting them out with eir Barbies, and finally, putting pen to paper.
When not writing, Blaine enjoys singing, sewing, and indulging in building LEGO botanical sets. Ey lives in the Netherlands with eir supportive partner of over thirty years. Despite their differences—Blaine craves shade and doesn’t drink the beers he brews, he doesn’t read romance and loves soaking up the sun—they enjoy watching quiz shows during dinner and playing cooperative games.
From the award-winning Oren’s Right to Aliens, Smith and Jones, Blaine’s books offer readers a safe and enchanting escape into richly imagined worlds with a unique blend of adventure, emotional depth, and belonging.
______________________
Non-Binary / Asexual
ey/em/eir | she/her | Mx.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
February 28, 2020
A sweet, short story about an ice-bear shifter who is non-binary, awaiting the arrival of the man whom ey is romantically involved with, but to whom ey has not confided some important parts of eir identity and family. Very short, but a fun look at a non-binary character of a different sort.
July 9, 2023
I could go between 4 and 5 stars with this, because comparing with other books and my enjoyment, it's a four, but I really think that what the book was trying to do, this book deserves the five stars!!!
The world here could be worthy of six-hundred-pages books with its seven-book-series, instead it's done so well in twenty pages!!! The writer does not feel the pressure to feed you things or to tell you about it, instead treats you like you already know it, giving you enough to build something and for you to get the story that matters - these people here!!!
Their relationship and the different cultures are excellently portrayed there, they're both made different depending where they're from!! And then their chemistry is really good, the trust and the love between them, this feeling of safety that they found with each other is so beautiful!!!
Finally, the fantasy of it!!! I LOVE the shapeshifting of it, but also the idea of mates, and being different between human form and bear form, and finally this feeling of community and family, and very much this fantasy version of a polycule!!! So beautiful!!!
There's truly a special talent to write a well-rounded short story and this writer did it!!! This story has everything and it's so worth it!!!
The world here could be worthy of six-hundred-pages books with its seven-book-series, instead it's done so well in twenty pages!!! The writer does not feel the pressure to feed you things or to tell you about it, instead treats you like you already know it, giving you enough to build something and for you to get the story that matters - these people here!!!
Their relationship and the different cultures are excellently portrayed there, they're both made different depending where they're from!! And then their chemistry is really good, the trust and the love between them, this feeling of safety that they found with each other is so beautiful!!!
Finally, the fantasy of it!!! I LOVE the shapeshifting of it, but also the idea of mates, and being different between human form and bear form, and finally this feeling of community and family, and very much this fantasy version of a polycule!!! So beautiful!!!
There's truly a special talent to write a well-rounded short story and this writer did it!!! This story has everything and it's so worth it!!!
March 31, 2023
Non-binary ice bears. Shape shifters. A man who uses a robot to get around. A real 26 page, page turner. I can’t believe this is on goodreads to even rate it hahaha
Read
April 3, 2023I'm not sure how they managed to put so much stuff in a 26 page novella but it was good. It was weird but it was good. There is a ice bear shifter who switches genders in their different forms and is non-binary as a human, there is a Black blind disabled trans masc love interest, and both The main character and the love interest are over 50 I believe. It was cute. Basically the shifter's boyfriend is coming to live with them but they don't know that they're a shifter yet and they're super scared to tell him. And that's the whole thing. Very cute and very short read. I wish I had gotten it in time for trans rights read-a-thon but obviously we read trans all year long so no one's mad about it.
December 20, 2023
What?
What did I just read? I think I read this before but I definitely don't remember it. It was like 10 pages of one tiny little sliver of a story. I was so confused at first cause I thought it was a man then it seemed like a female then finally after a few pages it explained and I realized it was a shifter story. I just did not enjoy that at all. Took me a few minutes cause I kept stopping to run errands, but otherwise it wouldn't have taken but maybe 20 minutes at most to read.
What did I just read? I think I read this before but I definitely don't remember it. It was like 10 pages of one tiny little sliver of a story. I was so confused at first cause I thought it was a man then it seemed like a female then finally after a few pages it explained and I realized it was a shifter story. I just did not enjoy that at all. Took me a few minutes cause I kept stopping to run errands, but otherwise it wouldn't have taken but maybe 20 minutes at most to read.
December 21, 2023
I found myself entirely too invested in these 2 people in 18 pages. I mean, how does Blaine DO it?!
It's NB/M, SR (speculative romance) with sci-fi and shifter aspects. These two late-in-life folks fell in love long distance and the MMC is moving in finally. But our NB shifter hasn't fessed up yet and is terrified of his reaction.
So soft and gentle with lovely writing.
It's NB/M, SR (speculative romance) with sci-fi and shifter aspects. These two late-in-life folks fell in love long distance and the MMC is moving in finally. But our NB shifter hasn't fessed up yet and is terrified of his reaction.
So soft and gentle with lovely writing.
February 6, 2024
Blaine has such an amazing imaginative mind. I do wish this story had been a little bit longer. There's a LOT packed into this little story and I think it would have been less confusing if it could have been spread out a little more. However, I'm heartened by the author's note where Blaine says she has more reference notes for this world and might come back to it some day. I hope she does!
April 3, 2023
Different
I had to keep going back to reread different parts of the story. I kept getting confused from time to time. It was a good, heartfelt story overall. It was not at all what I expected.
I had to keep going back to reread different parts of the story. I kept getting confused from time to time. It was a good, heartfelt story overall. It was not at all what I expected.
April 4, 2023
Strange little tail
Quick read with an interesting if simple tale. I’d love to delve into this further but it was entertaining enough to pass a half hour.
Quick read with an interesting if simple tale. I’d love to delve into this further but it was entertaining enough to pass a half hour.
April 14, 2023
Loved the concept; shape shifts, non binary MC, robot transportation, feel like it would make a really good chapter book but too much cramed into 26 pages for me, was a lot to process at once.
April 18, 2023
icebears transgender interesting
Book was drab. Had deep story line just wasn’t a catch for me. Best of luck Blaine glad story has a happy ending.
Book was drab. Had deep story line just wasn’t a catch for me. Best of luck Blaine glad story has a happy ending.
April 29, 2023
Very short, and kind of confusing at times - like information was missing. I felt like there needed to be more world building for us to understand what was really going on.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews