Settle for Something

Desert Homesteaders, Book 3

By: Susi Hawke

Narrated by: Michael Dean

Length: 3 hrs and 13 mins

Publisher's summary

Carjacked and taken hostage? Just another Friday night for this alpha.

Sweet, bumbling Shane is an alpha who’s been looking for love in all the wrong places. Bad dates and catfishing incidents are the norm in his world. But Shane pushes on, because he knows his fated mate is waiting to be found. And if he doesn’t eventually find his perfect match? Well.... Shane might be willing to settle.

Xavier’s on the run from a rough past. Luckily, he’s a jackrabbit shifter who’s good at getting lost. Not so lucky? He’s also pregnant, and needs a safe place to burrow. He sees his chance in a small Arizona town - by carjacking his own fated mate, and taking him hostage. "Kinda". Is it really kidnapping, if the hostage offers to be taken?

Return to the hills above Cottonwood, Arizona, where every shifter has a bit of special magic, and the pack of homesteaders, preppers, and loners are a lot nosier about each other’s lives than they’d care to admit. Because no matter their differences, pack means family.

This 28k novella is the third in this short-read series, and definitely contains "mpreg". Be prepared for side-splitting laughs, an omega who can talk to animals, and a group of people who know that family always comes first. Also, all the feels you’d expect from a Susi Hawke original.

Possible triggers include the mention of rape in a main character's past, and a resulting pregnancy.

©2021, 2022 Susi Hawke (P)2022 Susi Hawke

Want Drew back….Dean’s weakest performance

I’m normally a huge Dean fan but this is his weakest performance I’ve heard…. Half the characters sound almost the same. Dot sounds almost just like Sandy (Stanford) and Kyle has no Aussie accent at all. Hope if there are anymore in the series Drew comes back. I’ll listen to Dean on other books. Dean wasn’t horrible just wasn’t good either. Story is still as entertaining as the rest. Very funny.

Enjoyable read

For the most part this is a sweet low angst quick read. It cracked me up when Xavier carjacks/kidnaps Shane. How Xavier became pregnant was horrible & his father was a nasty POS. Kind sweet Shane, who has had horrible luck finding love & has always gotten the short end of the stick really steps up to Xavier's father. I would have liked the book to have been longer. I'm glad that Shane finally realized that Xavi was his mate & got their HEA. I loved Henry the gay rooster & all the other animals on Shane's homestead.

Humorous and cute

Although there are some serious parts, I loved the humor and the cuteness of many of the characters. I felt the connection of characters right away with this narrator and loved how it all came together!

Shane and Xavier 💙✨

I utterly adore everything Susi Hawke writes and this book is no different! All of Susi’s books are full of sweetness, humor, heat and love!! This is the third book in the Desert Homesteaders series and I have loved this series so very much. This book follows Shane, Silas’s bother. While Silas is off on his honeymoon Shane is left alone with no one to keep him out of trouble, which he ALWAYS get into. Shane is a sweet alpha bear shifter and he meets his fated omega rabbit shifter, Xavier. Xavier is pregnant and on the run. When he carjacks Shane they are unaware they are fated mates. Ultimately they spark up a friendship, even after the carjacking, and they realize they are fated mates. This was a sweet sweet story about fated mates and was of course full of humor and heat. And the audio for this book was truly amazing! I love everything Michael Dean narrates and he did a truly incredible job with this one!

I received a copy of this book from Gay Romance Reviews, and this is my honest review.

POV: 1st Person Dual POV

Standalone or series: Book 3 in the Desert Homesteaders series

Would I recommend it: 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ highly recommend!! 🤩

Would I read it again: Most definitely!

More Desert Homesteaders Greatness! Excellent🎧📚🎧

This series keeps getting better and better and I am loving this fascinating world Susi Hawke created and the equally fascinating characters, who you can not help but to fall in love with. Xavier, a jack rabbit shifter, is on the run from his past, pregnant and needing to find a safe place to burrow, but first he must find food. He comes up with a plan after overhearing a conversation, the plan is to get his food and car jack the guy who is meeting his date at the restaurant, a date that is a loser. Except he is a crappy car jacker, luckily the person he car jacks has an enormous heart and hears him out. Shane, a bear shifter, has not had the best of luck in the dating department, but after hearing out Xavier’s predicament, he offers him a place to stay. He wound up getting a lot more than he ever imagined. Xavier has an ability that not only astonished him but would make his life so much easier on his farm. Trouble arises when Xavier’s past catches up to him and wants to take him, but Shane will not let that happen and neither will the other homesteaders with Dottie and crew coming to the rescue. There is an impressive amount of story in this novella sized book, a fabulously delightful story that is cleverly plotted with the perfect balance of drama, humor and witty dialogue, heartfelt emotions and romance that was destined. Susi Hawke, thank you for another enjoyable, feel-good story, I love how much heart you put into your work, also loved how it made me smile.

🎧📚🎧 And for the fabulous narration, Michael Dean is a talented narrator and a versatile voice artist. He had a complete understanding of the characters he portrayed, gave each a voice that fit the character’s persona, sounding believable in each role he played and just as I pictured the characters to sound. He nailed it with the character voices and that scene in the barn was perfection. He set the perfect tone for the story, handled the witty dialogue and with ease and landed the humor effortlessly. You could hear how much heart he put into his performance as he captures all the characters’ emotions and projects them into his performance. Michael Dean is an entertaining storyteller and a pleasure to listen to. Thank you for this fabulous listen.

Home on the homestead

There’s a lot packed in to this nugget of a book making for one heck of a listening adventure. By turns, the story is sweet, sassy, snarky, and silly and honestly just fun. Jackrabbit shifter Xavier is a good foil for the earnest and oftentimes gullible bear Shane with his skittishness and reserve. The other animals around Shane’s homestead provide a nice touch of ridiculousness, while Dottie and Sandy bring the flamboyance and the alpha triad add some much needed stability. While it would have been nice for the original narrator to continue, Michael Dean does an admirable job showcasing his own style without straying too far from the original.

Great

This was a wonderful listen. I really enjoyed listening to these two find thier way to thier HEA. Super cute and adorable. Great narrator!

Shane and Xavier

Shane wants a mate. He’s had so many bad dates and relationships that he is almost ready to give up. Giving it one more try, he’s meeting a guy at a restaurant only to be carjacked by Xavier, an omega rabbit shifter. Xavier is pregnant and running away from his dad who only wants him to run the circus his dad owns.

After Shane hears about what happened to Xavier he opens his home and his heart to the little shifter rabbit. This was a really sweet story and after listening to it and hearing the friends Shane has I have to go back a head the first two books. I really enjoyed the narrator and giggled out loud and had a smile that I’m sure confused people who were shopping around me as I listened to the book. 5 stars all around!

I received an ARC of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.

Cute❤️

Sweet cute listen. I loved the charters in this book. OMG I so want a cute sweet bear for myself. The narrator did an awesome job with this story.

Love the series

I love this world and series. This was a seriously fun story added to the world. It was so cute and I loved listening to it. I want so many more books in this world. The characters were so sweet.