No Ifs, Ands, or Bears About It by Celia Kyle
This book starts out adorably. Mia has just inherited her grampa’s home and is moving in when she discovers a baby bear cub running for cover. He’s scared and, awww, he’s crying huge, scared-to-death tears. He’s no regular bear either. He’s a shifter cub. She tries to soothe the baby bear but soon someone comes a-knocking. It’s the baby’s big, bad uncle and the cub is so terrified Mia decides to keep him (and by keeping him, I mean forever, seriously, she wants to keep him forever) and she tries ignore the clamor. Fortunately the police arrive after a nosy neighbor calls and this is how Mia meets Officer Ky.
Ky is also a shifter and leader of his clan. He is immediately smitten with a bad case of the insta-love for the curvy lady and tries to keep it professional but has a hard time controlling his urges. He wants her and he knows she wants him because he can smell her creamy desire . . . They are drawn together and things are going great but then clan politics and baddies instigate to make their lives and new-found love difficult.
I don’t know how to say this kindly so I’m just going to be blunt. This book had zero romance development. It relied almost entirely on the old “you were made for me, I was made for you” trope. Except in this case, it was more of the “my inner bear approves, that means you’re the One!” If you like that, you’ll love and adore this book. Me? I’m grumpy and I need a pair to work for it. A little side of suffering never hurts either. I’d also like to get to know a bit about them in the process too. None of this happens here. The only thing keeping them apart were the clan wars, the fact that the clan members didn’t welcome Mia because she was too human and the constant coitus interruptus by clan members who kept busting in with some oh-so-important announcement or another. I need more than that for conflict and when I don’t get it this is the kind of review I have to write.
Narration Notes: The audio is read by Kendall Taylor. She has a happy, perky voice well suited to Mia and does a capable enough job with the many grumbly bear-men. She was great. In fact, if it weren’t for her narration, I know I would’ve put this down at the 50% mark.
I received a copy of this audiobook from Tantor Media. I hope they don’t regret it!
