Review: Bear Embrace

Bear Embrace by Crymsyn Hart
My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Childhood crushes can turn into adulthood romances. When Samuel is placed as a bodyguard to Nia, he is in an awkward situation. He remembers Nia as a young girl. Now, she's older and ready to take over the bear clan for her father. The problem? They need to bring in a new Shaman, Hannia.

The story moves a little slow. The characters share little chemistry for each other. Nia and Samuel behave towards each other like awkward adolescents. Hannia, the messed up shaman doesn't come across as a lover for hi vampire-partner, Ananias. In this messed up love entanglement, the only one I feel badly for is Ananias. He is the one who gives and receives very little back.

From a plot perspective, it is a bit messy. The conflicts were explained in such detail, a reader may just wish for Hannia to be killed so that it is all over. The resolution when it finally arrives also takes a while for it to complete. During all of this "hidden agenda" the reader is supposed to be convinced that four characters are soul mates and will love each other for eternity. The story doesn't quite sell it for me. I would rather have Samuel and Ananias binding together and letting Hannia die. Nia seemed to be superfluous to the men.

It would have been more enjoyable if there was more chemistry between Nia and Hannia because then the betrayal would have been more agonizing. The immediate antagonistic reaction between the two made this story hard to get into for me. A love triangle or square would have pulled me more. For example if Ananias wanted only Hannia. Hannia falls in love with Nia. Nia wants to reject Hannia but is drawn to his power. Nia then still loves and wants Samuel as her little boy toy, as Hannia has Ananias. Then Hannia refuses to allow that which is hypocritical only to find Samuel enjoying Ananias. Now that would be a tangled sex web I'd enjoy reading with the added killer demon twist. Overall, a 2.5 star book. It has potential.

* Provided by Manic Readers