Colbie Dunbar

I loved this take on Little Red Riding Hood, it had so many unique takes but did the werewolf version justice. The grandmother in the woods, in this case, grandfather, was a hilarious character and loved how irritating he found people. I was happy to see Little Red Riding Hood was the alpha of this pair as opposed to ‘the wolf’. I enjoyed watching them explore the bond before they noticed it was there and watching them interact with the people in their community. I am eager to go back and read Cinder and learn about the Alpha couple who founded the pack and hope to see more from this series soon.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.… (mer)

These two are so lovely I cannot believe how mean people have been to them. It makes me want to give them a big hug. I’m so glad they found a good community that supports them and provides them with healthy relationships. I didn’t realize Kurt wasn’t a shifter right away but enjoyed all the moments when shifters around him were trying to cover up what they were. These two are adorable and I am happy they got their HEA.

I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.… (mer)

Matched to His Bear is the second book in the ‘Dates of Our Lives’ series. This stars Alpha Brad Galway, a lawyer, and human omega Gabe Rafferty, an English professor. This is told in first person through both Brad and Gabe’s pov.

3.5 Stars



The blurbs are usually pretty accurate in telling the plot of the book. This one is not. The first over the top falsehood is that Brad has ‘omegas throwing themselves at his feet.’ He does not. He has one specific bear shifter named Barry, doing that. The second paragraph says Gabe’s luck has changed and it’s ‘onward and upward’ after scenting his mate at the airport. This is also not true. Nothing changes for Gabe except he starts having strange dreams. The fact that the authors wrote a blurb that is overly dramatic and untruthful, also explains some of the scenes in the story which are overly dramatic, so much so, that I rolled my eyes and wondered ‘what were they thinking?” Seriously it was over the top.

This is the second book in the series. I didn’t read the first book, and I don’t feel like I was lost. What I liked about the plot was that it wasn’t all about getting pregnant once meeting their mate. It was about searching for their mate and Brad trying to restrain himself from claiming Gabe in shifter fashion when Gabe was a human and didn’t know that shifters existed. So that is one issue that has to be navigated between the two, that’s after Gabe and Brad finally find each other after the ‘ships passing in the night’ at the airport. Pregnancy didn’t show up until near the end. I never understand why this writing team are so into Alphas and omegas never using condoms. It’s a pretty bad message to send about carelessness. Would they write this way if it was an M/F story? Brad also had to deal with another problem, an Alpha at the den, Barrett, who was pushing his son Barry, to mate with Brad. After Brad mated Gabe, trouble escalated.

Some things I didn’t like: Why was there an over-abundance of ‘B’ names? Were the authors trying to be cute, naming them after ‘Bear’. There was ‘Brad, Barrett, and Barry.’ Toward the end of the book there was one more I think. It was very confusing. And it was confusing between Gabe and Brad’s names too. Why pick two names with four letters out of all the male names available? At least make them more distinct. And why, oh why, did the authors have Gabe try and throw himself into the middle of the battle between Brad and Barrett, not once, but twice? That was absolutely ridiculous, it turned the scene into a farce. Again, I have to ask, what were the authors thinking? Gabe’s reaction didn’t make him look like he cared, it made him look like an idiot that would end up getting not only him, the baby and Brad killed, by distracting Brad. Seriously, it was a bad scene because of Gabe’s reactions. That’s when the authors really lost me and I had to decrease the star ratings.

Once Gabe and Brad meet, they can’t keep their hands off each other. I liked Brad as he tried to understand more about the human world and how to give Gabe what he needed in terms of courting as humans would. Gabe was a mess. He’s this super, clued-in professor when it came to teaching, with students loving his teaching techniques. But Gabe was a failure at private life. It’s like he had a split personality, and I didn’t care for how the authors wrote him. He was like totally incompetent. He was an absolute slob relying on his best friend to clean his home and look after him. Gabe also never cooked. Did he eat out all the time? How much of a salary did he make to eat dinner and lunch out? When he met Brad, Gabe depended on Brad to cook and feed him. It’s like Gabe was some overaged man living at home in his mother’s basement, and his mom did everything for him. I didn’t find it funny or endearing but rather disgusting. I have no idea why the authors wrote him that way, he came across as a user having others do his dirty work.

I’m conflicted on how to rate Matched to His Bear. It’s a good stand-alone and much more interesting than these authors usual mpreg books because it focuses more on the relationship and den dynamics than on the pregnancy itself. But on the other hand, Gabe’s private behavior was annoying, and so were the overuse of the ‘B’ names. Plus, Gabe in the battle scene was way too over the top. I want to give the book 3.5 stars, but since I can’t, I’ll give it 3 Stars. There were too many strange things the authors wrote into the plot that didn’t work.





… (mer)

Slumber is the fifth book in the ‘Fairest of Them All’ series. It stars Metro, an Alpha coyote shifter, and Brett, an omega wolf shifter. This is told in first person from both Metro and Brett’s povs.



First the cover. I really like it. I love the color combinations, and the grunge texture of the background. I also like the simple one-word title.

The blurb gives a lose description of the plot. Here’s more info. Metro is called in to check a patient at the hospital. He knows it’s a shifter of some kind from the phone conversation. As soon as he walks in, he knows that Brett is his mate. Brett had been hearing a voice in his head before Metro walked in, so the blurb is incorrect that ‘mate’ is the first word he heard. Brett has amnesia and it appears later in the story, that his wolf may have been protecting him from the memories in order to save both of them from the person who tried to kill them. Brett has nowhere to go once discharged from the hospital, so Metro decides to take care of him, how could he not since they’re mates? From there, Brett heals further at Metro’s home, and Metro starts to visit neighboring wolf packs to see if any of them have a lost pack member. All this time they try to resist the draw towards each other. Metro understands what is happening, but Brett doesn’t because he’s forgotten he’s a wolf shifter.

I enjoyed the first half of the book as Metro and Brett learned about each other and Brett learned more about what he was. Once they mated, about half way through the book, the plot inconsistencies appeared. Statements or situations that happened were later ignored or twisted up or stretched the imagination so they didn’t make sense. One of the worst was at the end, when Brett is pregnant and due any day. Metro had to work, but didn’t want to leave Brett alone, or not be there for him if Brett went into labor. So, Metro brought Brett with him on duty. Is that not utterly, eyerollingly ridiculous? Brett’s ready to pop, super uncomfortable, but riding in a car for hours, with no way to lay down to rest on a more comfortable bed or sofa, can’t put his feet up, or take the numerous bathroom breaks he’d need. I’d like to know how Metro got any patrolling done having to search for restrooms constantly for Brett? This kind of scene is often part of this team of authors writing. But I also have to lay blame on the betas/proofers/editors for not telling the authors how illogical some of the scenes are. This was just one of the inconsistencies that happened in the second half of the book. I marked more, but am not going to list them all.

As to the characters, Metro and Brett were fine. Nothing memorable about either of them, they are just nice guys. They’re pretty much the same kind of personalities that always appear in this author teams’ stories.

Overall, Slumber is an okay, fast, and easy read. I liked the first half of the story more than the second half. I give this book, 3 Stars.



I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
… (mer)