In Cub Lake, love comes with claws, cubs, and complicated feelings. These bear shifter novellas deliver low-angst romance with high emotional payoff.
The Cub Lake Shifters series is composed of two novellas. These are rapid reads that can be read individually. They are Bearly Mated and Bearly Taken.
Overview
Bearly Mated: Callie returns to Cub Lake for her father’s final days and to handle all the post requests and needs. She needs money to cover her father’s debts. The only option is to volunteer for the bear shifter breeder program. The bear community pays human women well to carry their “cubs”. Her childhood friend, Hudson, is a bear shifter, and after her admission, he insists it is him. But bear shifters are known to be flaky; can they really risk their friendship?
Barely Taken: Over two years ago, Reed and Wren spent their last passionate night together. He left and didn’t stay in touch. Wren went through the pregnancy and infant years with only the help of their mothers. She couldn’t report her pregnancy to the breeder program and get the check. She didn’t want Reed to find out; if he came back, it had to be because he wanted her. Once the cat is out of the bag, he rushes back. Can she forgive his abandonment? How can he prove it won’t happen again?
Positives
Bearly Taken and Bearly Mated are quick but fulfilling reads. Lola Glass kept the world-building simple so she could focus on the emotions. They both have very low angst and high heart vibes.
Bearly Taken features a single mother, which makes it more relatable. In Bearly Mated, Hudson was actually a virgin. It adds a sweetness and vulnerability to their intimacy. It is also nice that it is not the female, as it usually is.
Negatives
They are novellas, roughly one hundred pages each, so there is not a lot of time to fully experience certain emotional moments. It also means a lot of missed opportunities. I personally would love a little more about the elder bears’ relationships with the women who carried their children.
Recommendations
These two books are great when I need a light romantic paranormal story. Because of their lightness and my love for the characters, I give them both four stars.
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