“Ten years I’ve kept every secret in Grizzlyclaw, hon. Yours is the one I hung under the bell.”

One year ago, on the worst night of her life, Nora Calloway drove 200 miles from Anchorage and stopped at the only lit door in Grizzlyclaw, Alaska. Her fiancé had just sold her restaurant out from under her. Her grandmother’s recipes went with it.

A bartender poured her a whiskey on the house, ran off to the drunk two stools down, and told her she’d keep. She left before last call. She left her grandmother’s jacket on the stool.

This Halloween she’s back to settle the tab and take the jacket home. Ten minutes, in and out.

She hadn’t planned on Booker Whitlow.

Big, quiet, and grumpy as a locked door. Army, two tours. Single dad. Ten years behind the bar at The Bear’s Den, the saloon on the corner of Main and Ridge Road where every hard night in Grizzlyclaw gets poured. He’s kept the whole town’s stories, heard every Hollister brother fall across that wood, and never once told his own.

Now his cook has quit five days before the Grizzlyclaw Halloween Festival, and on Saturday the whole town eats out of his kitchen. So he gives her the week. The warm room over the kitchen. Cash. Done by Halloween. Her coffee hits the bar before she orders it. His flannel ends up around her shoulders. His solemn eight-year-old slides her a coaster like a deed.

But she has a start date in Anchorage. And Grizzlyclaw has had about enough of both of them. Mae Hollister is done waiting for him to pull the rope. Posey Hollister will trade cherries for a yes. Beth Proctor is sending day-olds “for the boy,” and Sheriff Vasquez has noticed whose truck is backed in nose-out.

She came to Grizzlyclaw to settle a tab. He’s going to make her the whole ledger.

Titles in the Grizzlyclaw Brothers series include:  The Mountain Man’s Blueprint ~ Towed by the Mountain Man ~ The Mountain Man’s Lodge ~ The Mountain Man’s Inspector ~ The Mountain Man’s Lesson ~ The Mountain Man’s Last Vow ~~ (related to series) ~ Halloween at the Bear’s Den ~

This story may contain language, violence, and/or sexual situations intended for an adult 18+ audience.

Title:  Halloween at the Bear’s Den
Series:  Grizzlyclaw Brothers #7
Author:  Thea Shaw
Published:  October 6, 2026
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Halloween at the Bear’s Den is related to the Grizzlyclaw Brothers (#7) series.  This was a great introduction to a series I’m definitely going to follow; I’ve already downloaded the first title to my Kindle.  I wish I had started this series sooner, but even though this is the seventh title, I didn’t feel lost along the way.  Since this story is Nora’s, Booker’s, and Gus’, all I really needed to know was provided within their story.

I enjoyed this one very much.  A heart-wrenching betrayal is one of the most emotional romances for me; it’s so easy to put myself in Nora’s shoes.  A betrayal like that is truly devastating on so many levels.  I loved the small-town setting with quirky citizens, where everyone knows your business, probably before you do.  I adored Gus, and this young man steals every scene he’s in. Booker, well, if I had to imagine a hot, sexy, lovable mountain man, then this guy fits that image perfectly.  The fall/Halloween touches made this the perfect read for me.

Their story is well-written, engaging, emotional, with enough steam to keep things interesting.  Now I’m going back to the beginning to get all the juicy details about this mountain town.  If that sounds like your kind of romance, then you’d enjoy Halloween at the Bear’s Den.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the author or the author’s team via Booksprout, and I sincerely thank them for their trust. It is my choice to leave a review giving my personal opinion about this book.*

This title is available on Amazon