[b:An Unexpected Affair|26161306|An Unexpected Affair (Scottish Werebear, #1)|Lorelei Moone|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1440478011s/26161306.jpg|46120707] by [a:Lorelei Moone|14233748|Lorelei Moone|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1442548752p2/14233748.jpg]
Genres; Dangit! 2 books in a row that are in the genre of 'Watching Paint Dry'!
0 Stars

Very oddly worded sentences.
So slow moving, I'd rather stand in front of my freezer and watch ice melt. That would have more action than this story.
Enormous amount of unnecessary and BORING information.
Ninety percent of this story she has been in her cabin working on writing a book. NOTHING has happened.
When there finally is a little bit of action, it's so not hot, nor steamy, nor anything, I thought for a minute it was young adult. Who knows, maybe it is. But if I gave my daughter this book to read, she would laugh her butt off and throw it back at me. ( )

a very nice story. Characterization was good, and just enough backstory to keep it moving. ( )

Scotland, introvert, shifters, romance, novella

It's a dirty trick to get the first one free and find yourself compelled to scout out more! Great characters and the plot moves along quickly. Basically, two introverts find immediate attraction and have to work it out. But she's human, and he's a bear shifter who can't believe he's been mated to a human. There is situational humor throughout, and some erotica near the end. I really enjoyed it!
Patrick Blackthorne did a fantastic job as narrator! Glad to have gotten it as Whispersync on the cheap, though. ( )

I'm not usually a big fan of short stories (
I liked the hero, Derek . He was a bit of a solitary guy, to which I can definitely relate. As a werebear, I thought it was funny that he raised bees. It made me think of Winnie the Pooh and his hunny jar. He really fought his attraction and feelings toward Claire at first because she is, gasp, a human. As for Clarice, I could take her or leave her. She is a romance writer, so I thought that would be fun. I loved that Derek became her muse for the book she was working on. However she is quick to make ridiculous assumptions like thinking he is married, then thinking he betrayed her when she finds out he is not. That whole line of thinking was silly and aggravating to me.

Oddly enough, this was not a story of instalove. They aren't together for the first half or more of the book... but man, then everything happened at lightning speed and left me feeling a little bewildered. Usually this is where the shorter stories start to bother me, but I was able to take this one in the spirit it was offered and just roll with it. If you have an hour to kill, this story is not a bad way to pass the time.

I received a free copy of this audiobook in exchange for an honest review. I didn't care for the narrator that much for this story. He didn't sound Scottish enough, or "beary" enough. In fact, his voice stayed pretty consistent throughout no matter which character was speaking. I prefer for my narrators to get into the characters, change accents, inflections, etc. So I ended up dropping the audiobook and picking up the ebook from Kindle Unlimited. That way everyone sounded appropriate in my head, even including the beary growls.

3.5 stars / 3 flames for the ebook. 3 stars / 3 flames for the audiobook. ( )

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I can't say I have much experience with shapeshifter books, and I definitely have not had any experience with books about werebears. After you get past the slightly disconcerting occurrence of the main guy (was his name Derek? I legitimately cannot remember) referring to himself as a bear the book is genuinely a pretty good short sexy read for the most part. I just have a few notes.

1. Derek (?) raises bees, which is hilarious. Because he's a bear. Who raises bees. Okay, moving on.

2. Claire immediately assumes that Derek (that is his name, I just checked) is married as soon as she meets him, which is weird and also slightly unfounded. I mean, I understand her continued confusion because Derek literally just doesn't correct her ever, but I wasn't really sure where her initial assumption came from in the first place. (Oh, there was a cake he clearly must be married. I'm sorry, what?)

Which leads me to Point 3. Claire automatically begins using Derek as her new inspiration in the book she's trying to write, basing her main romantic hero after the bearded Scotsman. However, when she finds out that he's not married, she legitimately flips her shit. Like, has a full-blown freak-out. (How was she going to finish the book now? How was she going to find a resolution for her imaginary couple, when her muse had all but betrayed her?) This comes out of nowhere and is so ridiculously confusing that I had to stop reading for a few minutes.

There were a few cringey sentences during the whole sexytimes part of the book, but they were more funny than anything. The ending felt a bit rushed, but when you've only got 100 pages of story that will usually end up happening.

Overall, it was relatively enjoyable and made me curious enough to want to pick up the second book.

This review is also posted on LibraryThing. ( )