A Daddy for Bear

by Tia Fielding

At thirty-three, after all I’ve lived through, I thought I knew myself through and through. And then I met Bear.

When Luukas Virta, a Finnish-American tattoo artist and a Dominant, gets a submissive out of a bad situation, he knows he’s getting a temporary roommate.

What he doesn’t know is that Bear Barlow is a service submissive who got tangled into a web of being too new to know better. Luukas’s caretaker instincts flare up, and he realizes there’s much more to Bear’s kink identity and maybe even his own that he hadn’t expected.

Things from Luukas’s past make him doubt his feelings, and Bear isn’t sure if he’s genuinely interested in the gentle, gorgeous Dom, or if he’s just grateful for having been saved.

I might be twenty-six and new to kink, but I know what I want—or so I thought.

Even more than that, both men are facing a shift in their identities. The more time they spend together, the more they realize that whether you’ve been practicing BDSM for more than a decade or less than a six months, you can still learn a lot about who you are. It doesn’t mean it’s easy to let go of who you thought you were or to make space for an additional part of your newly found identity.

Luukas and Bear get more and more wrapped around each other, but of course life is never quite that simple or easy. With their loving kink community supporting them, there’s nothing they can’t conquer together.

Genres: BDSM, M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, M M Contemporary

238 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 1, 2022

About the author

Tia Fielding is a Finnish author who loves witty people, words, peppermint, sarcasm, autumn, and the tiny beautiful things in life.

Tia identifies as genderqueer but isn’t strict about pronouns. Why? Because luckily, in her native language there aren’t gender-specific pronouns.

These days, preferring to live in the middle of nowhere with her fur babies is as big of a part of her psyche as writing. Tia likes to recharge in nature and tends to watch where she’s going through her cell phone’s camera.

In 2013 Tia’s novel Falling Into Place was recognized by the industry’s Rainbow Awards in the Best LGBT Erotic Romance (Bobby Michaels Award) category.

In 2019, her novel Four (Love by Numbers #2) won a Rainbow Award in the Best Transgender Contemporary category.

Facebook Reader Group: facebook.com/groups/spoondrawer/
Twitter: @tiafielding
Email: tiafielding@gmail.com
Ko-fi: https://ko-fi.com/tiafielding

Reviews

[Andi · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a REALLY good book for me until the last quarter of it. I liked the two heroes and enjoyed their story...then BAM everything went to an unnecessary hell and I hated it.

There was a big plot twist which threw every character into a tailspin of angst and unhappiness. I didn't like it. I didn't like how it changed the two heroes. It was out of left field and I honestly don't think the story recovered for me because of it

I wish I had stopped reading it earlier.

2.25 stars because I enjoyed the first three quarters of the book. I give the last part 1 star.

Maybe I'm being harsh. I'm sorry. It just frustrated me. Maybe most traders will love it. I, unfortunately, did not.

[Penumbra · Rating 3 out of 5]

A Daddy for Bear is the story of Luukas, a tattoo artist, and Bear, a little. This is told in first person from Luukas and Bear’s povs.



Since there isn’t a blurb posted yet for this book, I’ll give a quick rundown of the plot. Luukas is sent by a friend to check-in on a Dom named, Carl, and his sub, Bear. Luukas sees that Bear is unhappy and not being well treated by Carl. Carl is known for his abusive and manipulative behavior to newbies and subs in the community. Luukas brings Bear home to his place to help get over the trauma of being with Carl. In the meantime, Luukas is getting over the loss of his husband. Both Luukas and Bear must figure out where they fit in the BDSM community, and what they want in a relationship. Luukas never pictured himself as a Daddy, and Bear never figured he was a little. That’s the basic plot, both men, recovering from the past, figuring out who they are at the core, and what they want from a relationship. There’s also a conflict in their relationship that comes up later that I will discuss later because I have many words to say about that.

Now the cover. I like it. I don’t know if the cover model is close to what Luukas looks like, but I suppose he could be. While reading, I always pictured him as more muscular. I love the font style and color choice. Simple but nice.

I was quickly drawn into the story. The writing was smooth for the majority of the book, as was the plot. I did catch some instances where the sentence structure and word usage felt different, and I wondered if English was the author’s second language. I didn’t realize at the time the author was Finnish until I read her bio and that explained it.

I felt like there were two separate books, with the beginning seventy-five percent a nice slow get-to-know-you, and self-discovery which I enjoyed quite a bit. I liked Luukas and Bear then. But when Bear suffered his accident, I didn’t like either character after that. Deeper personality traits were revealed that I didn’t find admirable in either character and I lost respect and interest in both men. Luukas’ personality was consistent throughout the story. At first, he was hesitant about starting a relationship with Bear, but Bear eventually pushed him, so Luukas gave in. Luukas did want Bear so that wasn’t a hardship, but what Bear did later after the accident, compared to how he pushed Luukas to have the relationship in the first place made me dislike Bear. I understand that the accident affected Bear’s ability to deal with his anger. However, he didn’t really seem interested in fixing the problem. He lashed out at Luukas about something Luukas said that he’d ordinarily say anyway since he was a Daddy to Bear, and Bear got pissed off and completely blamed Luukas. Now here is where I start to have trouble with the conflict the author created for the couple. None of it rang true for me. It felt like a manufactured conflict because a conflict was needed at the seventy-five percent mark of the book. It didn’t flow well. It felt like the author was reaching to make the actions and reactions connect to make the conflict real, and it didn’t. Luukas is taking the blame for saying something to Bear that Bear would normally find okay since Luukas is the Daddy, and Bear at the time was in little mode. Of course, Luukas will respond in Daddy mode checking to see if things were all right. Then Bear leaves Luukas’ home saying basically don’t contact me. He later says to another Dom, it’s not a separation or break-up. What? When people move out, don’t talk to each other for a month, not even text, that is a separation if not a full break-up. Bear is leaving Luukas hanging until Bear can make up his mind about ‘who he is’ and what he wants. That is a totally unequal power trip. Not only that, Bear told Luukas he felt too dependent on Luukas and needed to find out who he was without Luukas. So, what did he do? He moved in with another Daddy and his little! He became dependent on them for shelter and companionship. Bear was now being written as a hypocrite and victim, or else he always was one, but his accident finally revealed what he was. It felt like a trick switching Bear’s personality because his adult was no longer like the adult before the accident. Yes, yes, he had less patience and the other physical handicaps, that doesn’t change who he is unless he’s rewritten like that. Another thing, Bear never apologized to Luukas for his behavior when they got back together. It was like ‘He’s my Daddy!’ and everything is a-okay again. No thanks. By that point, I no longer cared about Bear as a character or as a little.

Next is Luukas. There’s a little subplot going on in the background dealing with Carl and what the Doms and littles are going to do about him. They want revenge. Luukas takes it upon himself to find someone, named Lisa, who works for the IRS and she’s going to do something that’s never mentioned. At the end of the story, Bear and Luukas find out that Carl is going to be sent to prison for tax fraud or something like that. What’s never really explained is, was Carl really a tax cheat, and did Lisa hunt down that info? That would be more legit than what it sounds like what happened. It sounds like Lisa set Carl up. That she manipulated his taxes so he’d be arrested. If that’s the case, then Luukas is no better than a dirty cop hiding drugs on an innocent victim because he doesn’t like him or wants revenge. I’m suspecting this is what happened and the author springs this on the readers at the very end that Luukas will do anything to get back at someone who hurts Bear. I know, I know, there are going to be scores of readers who will ‘swoon’ and say ‘it’s soooo romantic! He’s soooo protective!’ But not me. Who would want an immoral man? If he can’t uphold honor and goodness, then he can break it for anything, and not be trusted. The fact that Bear and none of the fellow Doms care, shows that they aren’t great people either, and their self-righteousness says it’s okay to hurt someone else even if they have to lie about it. The author flips the characters on their heads after showing them as nice people, then revealing that they really aren’t good people. Being nice to your family or close friends, doesn’t make a person nice or good. It’s like neighbors saying about a murderer, ‘He was always friendly and pleasant, a nice guy.’ In the end, I no longer liked Luukas either as a character or a Daddy.

What the author did with the characters at the seventy-five percent mark by revealing and switching up Luukas and Bear’s personalities, spoiled my enjoyment of their characters. I no longer liked them and no longer cared whether they succeeded as a couple. Even their reunion was lack luster, with no heart-to-heart talk with Bear revealing how he felt or apology for his behavior. All Bear did was stock the refrigerator and somehow that was supposed to make things all right again. After all the anger from Bear and the separation, the author didn’t give the readers a full and heartfelt talk between the men, it was just sex, and that didn’t work for me. I no longer liked either man. It was almost a ‘throw the Kindle at the wall’ moment. This is what affected my rating for this book. After such a great start to a book, I give A Daddy for Bear, a low 3 Stars.



I received an ARC copy from the author. I'm giving my honest and unbiased opinion.

[Anna · Rating 5 out of 5]

To jest jedna z najlepszych książek z daddy kink , jakie ostatnio czytałam.

[Cafe Dragon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really good until about 70%

I really enjoyed the book and the characters until about the point where the original tattoo day came.
I read that Luukas was worried, but didn't feel it and then it got weird and confusing and I honestly was at a loss.
I felt like maybe the author wanted a bit of drama and decided on a whim that there would be an accident and an almost breakup but neither of the characters really presented as even a little torn up spending a month apart etc.
If they would have gone in any other direction with the story, this would probably be an easy 5 stars.

[Anna · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's been a long time for me since I've read a good age play book and I genuinely thought this was going to be a five-star read for the first half of the book. The characters are well thought out and I especially appreciated that there are a variety of genders and body types and kinks displayed within the friend groups. So often we get these MM romance books that are only cis gay men and I am exhausted by that. Kink is not just for cis gay men and it is incredibly unrealistic to think that kinky friend groups are going to only be one gender and sexuality. Anyway so this book had that going for it and I was a really really enjoying it. I loved the slow build of their relationship and their dynamic and then the unnecessary bullshit happened.

There's a big event maybe a little more than halfway through this book that sends both of these characters into different versions of themselves and it was not an enjoyable to read. It felt super unnecessary and even if the event had to happen the corresponding events afterward were way blown out of proportion. It really felt like they had lost any sort of communication that they had going on and it genuinely felt like I was reading a different book. The first half of this book is a five star The second half of this book is a two star which means this is going to end up as like a 3 and 1/2 star book for me which is pretty disappointing.

[SJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 There would have been more stars until the plot change at 79%. Now, I really don’t need to read anymore because it’s easy to figure out how this cliche plot line will play out and end up for the MCs. The abrupt story shift ruined the narrative for me.
Until the event this was a very nice story of a daddy dom and a service submissive little. The service submission is a favorite for me and is not a plentiful plot line in BDSM romance. I was pleased to find it here. Bear might have been an MC’s name, but he was much more a cub. He is rescued from a bad dom situation by tattoo shop owner, Luke. I would have liked a good description of Luke. He is a Finnish transplant and I had him in my mind as looking something like a Viking.
If there was a thorough description of him early on, I didn’t see it. The same for Bear, generic twink was my mental image.
I liked the rescue plot line and the wonderful hurt comfort that Luke provided to Bear, a newbie to the kink scene. While staying with Luke, Bear had time to realize that he was a little, along with being a submissive.
This was all well written and enjoyable to read.
I was thinking that this is one of the better D/b books that I have read.
Since there were no scenes of drama or angst I was surprised by the direction the story took going into the home stretch. I’m not going to make it to the finish line with this one!
* I’m adding that I just read a review that wondered if cover guy was how Luke looks and they imagined him looking a certain way. This confirms for me that there are no descriptions of the MCs. A definite romance no/no!

[Mrs.V · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet and steamy Daddy/little book.
I loved how both Bear & Luukas start out with no notion that they are, in fact a little and a Daddy. Bear has just started dipping his toes into the kink world and he only knows that he is drawn to being a submissive. Being inexperienced and maybe a bit naïve, he ends up in a bad situation with an awful slave master, and that’s who Luukas rescues his from.
Luukas has always been a Dom, never considered being a Daddy, but soon after he meets Bear he figures the younger man is really a little at heart in need of caring. Living with Bear as he hosts him after the rescue only reinforces this belief, and then the feelings start developing…
I loved how the two men slowly figure things out both together and on their own, I loved the extended kink family who both meddles and helps them and these two characters are both lovely and I just wanted to hug them both!

[Janet Hunt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Daddy for Bear was a sweet, hurt/comfort read, that quickly sucked me in. Luukas is a Finnish born tattoo artist that is also a Daddy Dom. He rescues Bear from a horrible situation. Bear is sweet, naive and gullible. He has just started exploring the kink world. Luukas suspects Bear is a little, but Luukas is hesitant to have another sub, His husband had died a few years back and Luukas quite never got over it. This was serious good, my first time reading this author. I’ll definitely be looking for more by them. Overall, a fantastic read! Well written with great pacing.

[Vaughn · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You don't get over it, you just get through it. You don't get by it because you can't get around it. It doesn't get better; it just gets different. Everyday... grief puts on a new face." ~ Wendy Feireisen.
♡Luukas & Bear♡
This story surprised me in a good way. I was intrigued throughout. It always felt like something was going on between the events, conversations and overall flow.
The story starts with Luukas and Bear meeting fairy quickly although the circumstances aren't the best. I liked how Luukas was immediately protective of Bear and helped to get him out of a not great situation. Then Luukas moves Bear in with him and that's where the adventure begins. A lot of the book is about Bear finding himself and his place within the BDSM community. Kind of testing the waters on what types of kinks he actually does enjoy (nothing over the top mentioned and very light bdsm, some stuff Bear had a previous small amount of experience with). At this time Luukas is dealing with the grief from a personal situation in his life.
It's interesting watching them navigate the new roomate situation and past hurts. The secondary characters in the story were wonderful (except for one), and it really helped to create more depth. Mal & Jamie, along with Allen were my favorite they were huge supports for both Luukas and Bear.
The only thing that was a touch disappointing for me was close to the end. Luukas and Bear has a pretty significant event that ended up happening, it caused issues within their relationship and then they were at a point where they needed to separate for a bit. Not as a break in the relationship or anything, even though it was fragile, but Luukas needed to go for work reasons. The issue I had was that when Luukas got back there was no real resolve to the issues that were going on especially considering that they didnt talk for a month. It was kinda like "oh Daddy's back, tie this up in a bow and we're all good". It just left a little bit of a void, at least for me, as a reader. If you're going to have something major go on then please put a little more depth into dealing with it. I still loved this book through and would read it again.

[Barb ~rede-2-read~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a sweet daddy kink story with a Dom/sub start to a relationship that ended up being Daddy/little because Bear (the boy) didn't realize he was a little. Ultimately, the Dom realized being a Daddy fit for him as well. He, Luukas, is a widower who takes a while to get to a sexual relationship with his boy and that worked well because Luukas actually rescued him from a situation with a cruel Dom as the story opened. Providing a safe environment was the first step to them building a relationship.

There were a few situations which struck me as out of personality during the story and there was a bit too much angst for me, but the thing that really bothered me was the Daddy/little sex during Bear's "little" time. TBH, it's the first time I encountered that and it was awkward. I'm sure it happens, just never on the pages of the books I've previously read. And after I realized my discomfort, I skipped ahead and decided that is not for me. Not the way this was portrayed with the character maintaining his little headspace.

So, if that's your kink, you may enjoy this.

[Michelle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book so much and I can't wait to read more of Tia's books. Bear and Luuks completed each other. Luuks was sent to check on a sub and realizes that the sub, Bear, is being physically abused by his master. So Luuks removes Bear from the toxic relationship and takes him home where Luuks tells him he can stay thee for as long as he needs. The more time they spend together Luuks recognizes that Bear is a little. Bear doesn't belive he is because he thinks littles are strange. One day on the way home Bears stuffie gets damaged, trying to comfort Bear he slips and calls himself daddy. That's how their daddy/baby boy relationship starts. They have a wonderful relationship even with some bumps in the road they still love each other and communicate through everything. Great daddy/age play read.

I am leaving my honest review for a complimentary copy of this book via the author.

[Justine Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Daddy for Bear is an enjoyable age play story about Luukas, a Dom tattoo artist, and Bear a sub in need of a good dom. Luukas finds himself saving and caring for Bear, who had gotten himself mixed up with the wrong kind of Dom for him. While staying with Luke, it becomes obvious to him that Bear is a little and in need of a Daddy. But Luke isn't sure he's up for the job. I really loved the connection Luke and Bear have. It's like they were meant to be together. They have some sweet touching moments together. I loved watching Luke slip easily into caring for Bear just as he needed. And I loved watching Bear discover it was okay to be himself and be little. If you enjoy Daddy/boy kink and age play you don't want to miss this book. Definitely recommend.
I voluntarily reviewed an arc of this book.

[Rae · Rating 2 out of 5]

Eh 2.5 stars

The book was kind of good, up until Bear got hit by a car. His character became so unlikeable and that's a shame. I guess I didn't understand why he got so upset with Luukas before his trip? I tried rereading the chapter to see if I missed anything but nothing happened to justify the complete shift in the character. If there's one thing I hate in a book, its when on character acts bratty (for no reason ) then everyone coddles them. Its just annoying and I ended up skipping the rest of the book.

I wouldn't recommend this book for lots of other reasons as well, but it really just boils down to unrelatable characters and major jumps in time with very little warning. I just don't like this authors writing style and will not reach for her books again in the future.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyably Daddy / Little book.

This was a nice gentle slow burn Daddy/boy book. Luukas is sent to ‘rescue’ Bear from a mean Dom who treats him badly when he is new to the kink scene. Bear is temporarily staying at Luke’s until he settles down and is ready to look for a new place during this time they become more and more comfortable with each other and grew closer. Luke lost his husband 3 years earlier and isn’t a daddy Dom but realises that people change and maybe he can be a Daddy to Bear, who is still coming to terms that he may be a little. There is a bit of angst but for the most part it’s an easy read about Daddies and their littles and formed family and friendships.

[DMCechak · Rating 4 out of 5]

“If you worked on loving your partner and yourself, maybe there was no such thing. Maybe it was all just…life, and love, and making tge most of both.”

Bear is a soul needing to be saved. Luukas is a soul that needs to save another. When the find each other in their BDSM world, life finally feels real.

Committing to each other, as each must grow emotionally from past experiences, these two men and their closest friends find the stability to become heathy in their hearts and souls.

In A Daddy for Bear, Tia Fielding pulls back the shade so we can see the healthy relationships that may seem vastly different than those we believe traditional, but are just a loving.

[Tonya Kloiber · Rating 4 out of 5]

A sweet story about Luukas, a Daddy who lost his first boy, and Bear, a sub in trouble. The story is sweet and enjoyable, although the divide between them when Luukas' work interferes with Bear's healing sort of...bent ME out of shape. I almost felt like Bear was way overreacting. But that's just my opinion. An HEA ensues, because of course. If you enjoy Daddy/ boy stories with a little drama thrown in, this book is for you.

[Tyler Marshall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this cute short steamy Mm book, this is my first Tia book but I’m definitely going to be reading more from this author. If you’re looking for and instant attraction D/L spicy Mm book this is for you. From the plot to the backstories of the main characters everything in this book flowed so well and kept me hooked wanting to read more.

[Denise GremoryKohta · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this!

I loved this story. One of the things that tends to bother me about romances is when you don’t see repercussions for someone’s actions. Luckily that wasn’t the case here. In fact I thought it was handled brilliantly. I think I need to read more by this author because this was amazing.

[Belinda Zamora]

Wonderful

Lukkas is a Dom who has been called in to check up on a sub.
The Dom the sub is with has a history of taking advantage of them.
When Lukkas arrives he finds a boy, Bear who is very unhappy.
Lukkas takes charge of Bear and invites him to stay with him to recover and find himself because Bear is a newbie to the world of kink.
As they slowly get to know one another it becomes painfully obvious to Lukkas that Bear is a little even though he has no idea what that entails.
More surprisingly is the realization that Lukkas wants to be his Daddy.
As Bear slowly learns about littles by making new friends he slowly understands that this is what's been missing from his life.
There is some angst between them because Lukkas is still mourning his husband's death and is afraid of loving again.
There's also a horrible incident that rocks both men and as they try to navigate back towards a better place, there are misunderstandings on both sides that almost spell disaster for the relationship.
Fortunately the issue is resolved for a wonderful HEA.
I also really enjoyed the sense of found family from their respective friends and the kink community as a whole.

[Hayley · Rating 4 out of 5]

cute story of discovery. Bear, newish to kink, and Luukas, well established in kink. Both characters grow together and discover new things about themselves. Things that they would have never thought were meant for them. I liked how they were a bit instalove but were smart enough to know that that wasn't always a good thing.

[Gavin · Rating 5 out of 5]

This hit every single button

Oh I don't even have the words! Start to finish, this book literally hit every single button. It was phenomenal, amazing, hot and steamy, sweet and adorable. I couldn't get enough and wished it would never end. New to me author and I'll definitely be checking out more of Tia's books!

[Katharine Lancaster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Life & Love... Making the Most of Both

After three years, we were still hopelessly in our honeymoon phase, and I was starting to think maybe that whole concept was a lie. If you worked on loving your partner and yourself, maybe there was no such thing. Maybe it was all just... life, and love, and making the most of both.

[Denise Roberts · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sweet read

Really sweet read.
First time I've read Tia Fielding and was not disappointed.
When Luke rescued Bear he was only going to give him somewhere to stay till he was sorted. But feelings for involved.
Both Bear and Luke realised they wanted different things than what they thought.
Sweet read with a happy ending

[Reading to Stay Awake · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great read although I wish the character's name Luukas, hadn't been continually changed to Luke by the other characters just because they were from another country.

Nothing bad to say, you should read this book; add it to you Kindle today xx

[Amanda Reeves · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the first book I've read by this author and I enjoyed it. It's a different spin on a daddy/little story but still steamy and sweet.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

Luukas and Bear were great together. I enjoyed their story and was very glad for Luukas to have rescued Bear from his situation. They were both able to discover what they really wanted in their relationship together and develop a solid relationship together.

[Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Daddy for Bear

This was a sweet story, especially liked Luukas, his character was interesting and multi dimensional. I hope to see more from Mal, Jamie and Allen.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just what I needed!

I'd been in a serious slump. This book was everything I could have wanted. Normally I do not like agnst, but it was so worth yhe little bit in this story!

[Sam · Rating 5 out of 5]

great new book

I loved the thought of the Dom re-evaluating his own ideas about what he wants and can bring to the relationship.

[Lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars