Book Review: I choose The Bear by Shiloh Walker

 

Book Description

Ivy thought she'd found one of the good ones, a nice guy who respected her wishes, the guy all of her friends liked...and then they head to his family's lake house for a night to watch for an expected meteor shower. But Neill had his own plans in mind and when Ivy said no, he didn't like it.

Enter the bear.

Jonah, on a hiking trip with his best friend, Liam, after the unexpected death of the clan's Alpha, and Jonah's grandfather, is enjoying the last few hours of freedom he'll know for some time. He's known for a long time he'll be stepping into his grandfather's shoes and with the countdown ticking away, he relishes the peace and quiet. But then it's shattered by the shouts of an angry, frightened woman. Both Liam and Jonah take off running to investigate.

Just as they reach the edge of the property, the woman shouts, "You're the reason why women choose the bear, Neill."

Now...Jonah abides by the laws governing supernaturals. He doesn't reveal himself to be a shapeshifter. But walking out there in his bear skin isn't really revealing himself. And predators deserve to be frightened, don't they?

And when he sees Ivy...his whole world is upended.

Now isn't the time for him to fall in love. He has a clan to care for, challenges to hold off.

But love doesn't believe in being convenient and Jonah and Ivy on are a collision course. Will she choose the bear...and will his bear choose her?

My Review

Ivy and Jonas meet when Ivy is with her boyfriend at his family's cabin. She thinks her boyfriend is nice until he starts to manhandle her and thinks he's entitled to have sex with her because she came with him and it's been long enough. He was such a jerk. 

Jonas hears Ivy screaming and comes to her rescue in his bear form. The boyfriend hides in his car while Ivy tries to make sense of why a bear is just sitting there so that the creepy boyfriend can't leave the car. The police come after Ivy is able to make a phone call and a few people know that Jonas is a bear shifter. 

Right after they meet it's so obvious that they are somehow mates even though she's human, or is she? Within a few pages Ivy gets really stressed out and some sort of claws break through her fingers, and she sees blood but she's sure she imagined it. So I knew early on that something was going on with her parentage and genetics. I knew she wasn't going to be fully human but the full reveal of what she actually came much later in the book. It was a good twist though. 

The funny thing is one of her best friends, Dallas is a lynx shifter and she had no idea. 

When Ivy quits her job so she doesn't have to work with her ex-boyfriend anymore, Jonas offers her a job and she goes to his small town of Bear Creek to try and get a feel for what is needed. While there Jonas and Ivy feel the pull to become closer and neither of them really want to ignore that pull. But there are things going on in both of their lives that have to be taken care of. 

Jonas's father is not a good man/bear and he has to deal with the fallout of what his father has been doing. Ivy has nightmares and doesn't remember exactly what happened to her when she was little and almost drowned. Her story slowly comes to light and it was sad but this story has a very happy ending and I smiled a lot as I was reading this. Every new twist that popped up made this story veer into a new direction and I loved it because I never knew where the story was going. I love to be surprised where a story will end up and this definitely surprised me, in a good way. I can't say enough good things about this book. 

I give this book 5 out of 5 stars. 

Disclosure: I was given an e-ARC of this book via NetGalley but all thoughts and opinions are my own. 

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