Magdalena Bennett might be new to the town of Bluebell Creek, but she’s not new to dealing with infuriating men. Always careful to guard her heart, she’s had years of experience avoiding commitment, but something about a certain grumpy bear shifter has her questioning her resolve. Ex-military bear shifter Ronan Quinn is an expert at keeping people at arm’s length—even his family. Determined to … Determined to shield those he loves from the past that haunts him, he’s resigned himself to a life alone. It’s better that way. He’s broken and there’s no fixing him.
But then Fate presents him with his fated mate. She’s smart and funny, gorgeous and feisty. To make her even more perfect, she’s also stubborn and opinionated, exactly the kind of woman he’d always dreamed of.
He can’t stay away from her, but he can’t let her get inside his head. His walls are there for a reason.
Welcome to Bluebell Creek, home to three bear shifter brothers and their quirky Aunt Tabby (who has never seen a teddy bear she doesn’t want, has a dirty mind that has the Quinn brothers covering their ears, and is determined her nephews are going to find true love and give her lots of grand-aunt-babies).
** Each book in this series features a different couple and their happy ever after. Also included: naughty language, fully realized love scenes, and big, burly shifters who only have eyes for their fated mates.**
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Magdalena aka Mags has followed her bestie to Bluebell Creek where the enigmatic and grumpy bear Ronan brother to her besties’s mate where she meets Aunt Tabby with her stuffed bear collection and her shenanigans. She relocates because as an artist she can work anywhere. Ronan is an ex’ military bear shifter with more secrets than his family knows but somehow Mags has drawn him out.
During an outing that Aunt Tabby has requested Mags and Ronan really get to know one another. I really liked how Ms. Arran presented this story and I cannot wait for the baby bear if you will to have his story told.
I voluntarily chose to read an advance copy and have not been compensated in any way for this opinion.
This is the second book in the Bluebell Creek books by Olivia Arran. These stories are about a small backwater town that is home to a family of bear shifters, three brothers, Drew, Ronan, Curtis and their eccentric Aunt Tabby. In the first book, Charmed by the Bear, we met Leigh, her friend/roommate Magdalena or Mags and all the Quinns. The Quinns run the only bar in town. Each brother is different and each is single. Aunt Tabby wants each successfully mated and producing Grand-Aunt babies for her to spoil.
This book is Ronan and Mags story. Ronan is a military veteran. His experiences in the military have given him PTSD and a load of guilt. He feels he is broken and beyond fixing. He is keeping a secret from his brothers and disappears often.
Mags is an artist but lately her muse has gone. She sees what her friend has with Drew and wants a friends-with-benefits relationship with the handsome and broody Ronan. Mags has been burned before by relationships so she wants just a friendship, with benefits, with Ronan. Ronan realizes that Mags is his fated mate. He also thinks that he does not deserve a fierce, independent woman like Mags.
Mags discovers that Ronan is much more that just a handsome troubled bear. There is compassion and a depth to him that few realize.
Can Mags and Ronan discover that they need each other? What secret does Ronan have that he keeps from everyone?
I like Olivian Arran’s books for many reasons. She has rich descriptions of places that makes you imagine it in your mind. You think about the locations and businesses and they become real. I also love the characters, some are simple, most are complex and a few are delightfully quirky and eccentric. She is a great story teller.
I DO want to know more about the shifter that Ronan fights called Turner. He is an endanger species called a Light Walker. I guess I will have to wait for the next book and read about Curtis and hope for more information.
Mags is happy that Leigh has found love and a mate. But they are now loved up and she is frustrated! She has eye candy galore with Ronan but they both just seem to rub each other the wrong way. Both seem to love finding new ways to rile each other.
But when Ronan’s emotionally unavailable façade starts to rise again, his aunt somehow manoeuvres Mags into going with him on one of his getaway jaunts. Ronan finally reveals where he goes on his walkabouts and Mags learns that there is way more to Grumpy Bear than she thought. His past puts her own relationship roadblock to shame.
Turner, a polar bear shifter, really needs his own book! He awesome the way he played Ronan and Mags to get them to admit their feelings! He has a beautiful gift that would be awesome to explore further.