Title: Roped By The Bear
Series:
Author: Meredith Clarke
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Published: November 3, 2015
Publisher:
My Rating: 3 stars
Source: NetGalley
Cover Description:
Finn has always been alone. His father, a bear clan leader, abandoned him years before. His boss at the ranch is disgusted by shifters, and Finn is just dirt beneath his heel, but he longs for acceptance and the love that was always denied him.
Allie’s life has sucked ever since her mother died. Inside her father’s ranch, relationships are as cold as the harsh Colorado winters.
A fateful snowstorm throws them together, and when they’re stuck in a cabin together for a weekend, sparks fly between the two damaged and lonely lovers.
But now, they have to hide their relationship from Allie’s father… and the man she was arranged to be married to.
Can the heat of their passion melt the coldness of those closest to them?
Read on for my thoughts on Roped By The Bear. No true spoilers, promise.
Allie is having a weekend away with the man she is going to marry – dictated by her father, a marriage that will join two wealthy, prominent families. The fact that she doesn’t love James is beside the point to both him and her father. On this snowy winter night Allie is heading to a remote cabin on the ranch – supposedly for a weekend away with girlfriends, but in reality she wants a chance to be with James alone to hopefully figure out what to do about this arranged marriage that is supposed to be happening soon. Because of the weather and a possible storm heading in she isn’t able to go by herself on one of the ranch snowmobiles. Instead she is being driven there by Finn. A bear shifter ranch hand, and a man who she has secretly checked out on many occasions.
Finn keeps his head down and just does his job. He knows how the humans at the ranch feel about him… well, maybe not everyone but his boss for one can’t stand the sight of him. He’s watched Allie – and watched her watching him as well. There’s attraction there, but he won’t act on it. That would mean being fired faster than he could blink. But tonight he has the chance to drive her to a remote cabin and for a while at least feel her arms around him and do a bit of dreaming… even if her tight grip is only to keep her from falling off of the snowmobile.
When the weather worsens and Finn can’t make it back to the ranch safely he and Allie will be stranded at the cabin. Alone, where just about anything is possible.
I’ve been on a shifter binge lately it seems. So I’ve read a lot of shifter stories over the past few months and every author has a slightly different slant on the shifter legend. Roped By The Bear seemed to have very little to do with a shifter – and more involved with a rich girl who comes to realize that Finn is the man for her. Allie has been ignored by her father most of her life. She may have wealth but she has very little love at home. She knows that the marriage to James is one of business convenience. And while she and Finn could work – those people around them won’t let it happen. And soon Allie and Finn have to deal with that situation… and to say more would be giving away major spoilers.
I liked Roped By The Bear and would pick up other works of the author – but I wasn’t blown away by it. Maybe I’ve just gotten so deep into the lifestyle of shifters that I expect to have that paranormal aspect be more of the focus of the story. Perhaps I’ve become used to the insta-lust or the knowledge of knowing a person is a mate. But I didn’t get the sense that Allie and Finn would fight hell and high water for the right to be together. Like I said, I liked it but it was missing a shifter something that it seems I need to believe in the everlasting fated love. I simply never felt that these two people were mates… sexual partners, yes – but not fated mates. And that reaction is on me, not the author.
*I received an e-ARC of Roped By The Bear from the publisher and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. That does not change what I think of this novel.*
Available for the Kindle
