Rescue Bear (P.O.L.A.R. Book 1)

Entertaining beginning to a new shifter series!

While many shifter stories revolve mostly around the shifter (who is usually the male lead), Rescue Bear begins (and focuses on) Megan, the very human female main character.

Megan’s life is imploding…her marriage, her business, and almost her life. We watch as one bad thing after another happens to her. Very heartbreaking.

But then Roman (member of the P.O.L.A.R. team) literally rescues Megan and she slowly begins to find her way again. Or does she? With mixed and hard-to-believe messages she’s getting from her ex AND Roman, what and who can she believe?

Lots of emotion in this one but moved along quickly enough that it never felt “bogged down” in emotional drama.

Good start to the series – looking forward to the next story!

Quick read
Sweet. Love protective alphas.
Polar bear in Florida…very interesting.
Great characters.
HEA.

Characters = 4/5
Plot = 4/5
Romance = 4/5
Mystery = 1/5
Action = 2/5
Darkness = 0/5
Humor = 0/5
Stars = 4
Would I recommend this book = Yes
Would I read future books by this author = Yes

Here’s a slightly different take on the shifter special ops subgenre of shifter paranormal romance stories. P.O.L.A.R. (Private Ops: League Arctic Rescue) somehow pissed off someone high up in the administrative hierarchy which resulted in the entire team being transferred from Siberia, Russia to Sunkissed Key, Florida. That really sucks. (Having lived in Alaska, only to be relocated back to SoCal, I can totally attest to how MISERABLE this is to a metabolism adjusted to more frosty climes!) Serge, the ops’ leader, at least has a mate, but the rest of these polar bear shifters have nothing to distract them. Poor boys. Perhaps Book 1 will resolve that issue with at least one operative.

Megan is an artist whose specialty involves digital photography. She and her husband of twelve years have sunk their finances into opening a shop, displaying Megan’s work (as well as custom framing). However, when NOAA sends out the word of Hurricane Matilda will be making landfall at Sunkissed Key, she closes shop to warn her husband… and walks into her cuckolding spouse and The Other Woman in bed. Instead of even expressing one ounce of remorse or shame, Dylan blames his infidelity on her own lacking qualities as a wife. He leaves the house with a lasting quote in my head: “I don’t know what’s gotten into you.” (What do you mean by that??!! Megan should be saying that of you, you jerk!) Great way to back out of a relationship, but there is more to come before he blows out of her life… but that’ll have to be read because I couldn’t believe how crass he was. All to distract Megan from doing what she needed to do — like save her own life.

When she stumbles outside and begins to drive around to find safety, she and her SUV are swept into sea by the rising waters that has been swallowing up Sunkissed Key the last few days as Hurricane Matilda makes landfall. Not good.

Enter Roman, a P.O.L.A.R. operative whose team is to provide whatever services required in Sunkissed Key and the surrounding land/ocean. When he hears her screams for help, Roman extricates her from Mother Nature’s craw. Of course, his inner polar bear sees her as their ideal mate. (Isn’t that how this story usually goes?) But it takes a while for her inner child to hear the same message. And not without problems perpetrated by Hurricane Dylan.

Length and pace: It’s a longish novella. Good for 1-2 hours’ worth of reading. The pace is just right for me and the story when you work out the timeline. As long as the reader knows this is more for brain candy than anything else, you should not be disappointed in the length.

Characters: Roman is allegedly from Siberia amongst a group of “ex-pats”. Which nationalities, I don’t really know. I have knows Siberian aboriginals, Siberian nationals, and American ex-pats that spent plenty of time in Siberia. I tried to see if there was any similarities, and the closest I was able to get were my ex-pat friends. Why? Because they were truly Americans at heart! (Or could be British, too!) I never got that Siberian vibe from Roman or anyone of the P.O.L.A.R. team though I wish I had. I do appreciate Roman’s devotion to human life in general, and more specifically, his devotion to Megan and her safety. No husband should abandon his wife even if he was not “in love” with her. At least he should understand the marriage vows which dictates that he is to protect and help her, not do what he pleased. As for Megan, I do appreciate that the writer didn’t do all the back-and-forth how she could possibly fall in love with a previously unknown stranger after twenty-four hours. I’ve read that plot line too many times. At least Megan had a brain. I know that Ayers wrote her rather strangely at the beginning where she was more spending thought time about her possessions than being concerned about her husband’s cockolding her at that very moment. It demonstrated her coping mechanisms under extreme stress. She even knew how most women should respond. (Personally, I would have killed him and have Hurricane Matilda dispose of his worthless body.) I have seen very intelligent women respond the way she did. It doesn’t mean that Megan was being unrealistic in her behavior. This was very refreshing as it only proved how detached she had become with her husband and how well she was trained to act like a circus dog at her master’s behest. How else would Dylan have viewed her?

I do like how Roman and Megan interact with each other. It might be considered less than romantic, but some great love affairs start off as a slow simmer. I am not expecting gigantic fireworks going off. I want to see quality and intimacy in a relationship. That’s why I really liked the bathroom scene in which these two are literally thrown together to survive in a house that might not survive a hurricane. As even Roman thought, it wasn’t that he just needed to be romantic with Megan. He needed to be with her, experiencing life with her even if it was just the “Oh, honey! You’re home! How did work go today?” in the late afternoon when he showed up in her kitchen. The true maturation process of an adrenalin junkie. It was really sweet because he realized that a lot of what had to be done was to sit back and be patient as it was all up to Megan to get some work done in order for them to proceed with their relationship. You just have to read it.

World-creation: Sunkissed Key, Florida… Is this really, truly realistic? Considering global warming over the last one hundred years, the location, and increasingly destructive storms and hurricanes, I would have made this key far larger. The size of a key like this isn’t sustainable. At least quadruple the size. Now we’re talking about something that can house the environment she’s trying to create. There has to be more width and elevation to prevent the isle being washed away by hurricanes and tsunamis. (Not unlike Kodiak, AK!) I do like some of the minor characters introduced including dear old Susie of the Bayfront Diner and her exuberant cinnamon rolls and all the sweet tea for the asking.

Continuity, plot, and editing: Sadly, I am still seeing the usual punctuation, grammar, and spelling problems. Could have used a few more read-throughs to catch them all. (But isn’t that the editor’s job? Oh well…) Continuity was intact. I know the storyline is rather pat and obviously too much of a template. I have to admit that I am driven to give this novella higher points because of the strength of the heroine to know what she had to do as well as the hero knowing what he should not be doing, and that’s because he didn’t totally act like a big, bad alpha that he can be. (Or did he…?)

Realism: As I mentioned in World-creating, Sunkissed Key was way too small to support that amount of people and survive the ocean. But she did research her physics of hurricanes pretty well. If she hadn’t been through a few of her own, she certainly figured out most of the angles. I liked how she described the lay of the land. I almost could walk down the main thoroughfare to find all the little streets taking me to fun and unusual places, including the Bayfront Diner. (I could almost smell the cinnamon.) Not many people would have figured out how to use a riptide to one’s benefit. I’m very familiar with swimming amongst these currents, so my brain didn’t do any unrealistic dinging in the part of the story where Roman rescues Megan. This was so realistic. The exposition was handled that well.

I really did like this book. In fact, I bought the rest in the series so far. It’s wonderful brain candy, but I would hope she would write a real novel to truly intrigue me. I’d pay twice as much I did for these!

Stars = 4
Plot = 3.5/5
Length and pace = 3.5/5
Characters = 4/5
World creation = 4/5
Romance = 4/5
Continuity and editing = 4/5
Realism = 4/5
Would I recommend this book = Yes
Would I read future books by this author = Yes

(Thank you, Jessica Ramsey, for the above template!)

A real winner

Megan, a photographer, is rescued by Roman, a P.O.L.A.R. member, when a hurricane strikes. As the story progresses secrets may break them, and weathering out the storm could be their only chance at a happy ever after. Candace Ayers latest series has started out with a real winner, I look forward to reading about the rest of the crew and their search for mates.

I received a free copy of the book from the author. I had the opportunity to review or not.

ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE!!!
OMG! All the twists and turns, ups and downs, ins and outs, along with a few glitches here and there make for one thrilling experience. One exciting, pulse racing, smooth flowing, page flipping delight with such an intriguing storyline and gripping plot that brings this jewel to life beautifully. Candace brings all of your emotions swirling into play so realistically it’s easy to get immersed so deep till nothing else matters. All the drama, insecurity and suspense really hooks this beauty together. It grabs your attention from the start and steals your heart in turn. You feel what the characters feel. The characters and scenes are written with such realism it makes an amazing backdrop for this incredible tale. Fantastic job Candace, thanks for sharing this baby with us.

ARC review For honest review. Megan is having a bad few days maybe even years now there is hurricane Matilda but things just can’t get worse . Roman is a polar bear shifter with p.o.l.a.r. Special task unit down in the keys to help with the hurricane. This is so cute and awsome at the same time.