Chief Bear

Rescue Bears, Book 1

By: Scarlett Grove

Narrated by: Ashley Taylor, Calvin Murray

Length: 4 hrs and 4 mins

Publisher's summary

Worlds apart...

On Fate Mountain, Levi Blackthorn is alpha of his bear clan and leader of the Rescue Bears, the search-and-rescue crew. He and his fellow ex-Navy SEALs are closer than brothers. In a world where shifters often battle prejudice and even violence from humans, they face whatever comes together.

Juliet Hernandez is a soft-hearted, strong-willed graphic designer with a close circle of friends. She doesn’t like risk, but she’s always there when someone needs her.

Brought together....

One of Levi’s crew has started a shifter-human dating website. Despite his misgivings, Levi signs up - after all, male shifters outnumber females, and both man and bear are ready to find a mate and settle down.

When he meets his curvy human match, his bear roars in approval - and Levi wants to claim her immediately. But it’s not that easy. Juliet’s last relationship was hell, and though the handsome alpha’s touch makes her melt, his possessiveness makes her wary.

To give fate a hand...

Can Juliet let go of her past and trust the wild heart of her shifter mate, enabling them to forge a bond deeper than any challenge the world might bring? Or will their differences prove too great to overcome?

©2016 Scarlett Grove (P)2019 Scarlett Grove

HOW COULD YOU NOT FALL IN LOVE WITH THESE BEARS?

CHIEF BEAR is the first book in the Rescue Bears series. While each will stand on its own, they are even better when you read them all and in the order of release.

I have always loved reading Scarlett Grove’s Fate Mountain stories. Honestly, I’ve read more than I’ve reviewed, and I need to get more of those reviews posted for ya’all. Finally, I had the opportunity to listen to one in Audible and it is even better than I imagined it could be. This is a dark chocolate cake that now has a sweet caramel center and pink sugar sprinkles on top of the best buttercream icing you’ve ever tasted. To hear those bears wistfully thinking of human woman, “curvy women.” Sigh!

Levi and Juliette are a modern-day version of pen pals falling in love via text after meeting on Date.com long before they meet in person. Of course, they’re not admitting that it’s love yet; she’ll only admit to interest at first and he doesn’t want to scare her off by telling her that his bear has scented his mate.

Nevertheless, how can she not fall in love with the protective, considerate, consuming shifter. I love the romance. I also love their friends and being witness to their relationships. In fact, I’m looking forward to learning more about those bears, their mates, and how they will find their HEAs (especially Brew Bear… it looks like his may be the hardest to convince).

Narration: The narration is unfortunately inconsistent. The production values are not equal, so I was constantly turning the volume up or down depending on which narrator was speaking. Thank God they did full chapter instead of line by line reading!

Calvin Murray has a William Shatner-like delivery with many odd pauses. On the other hand, he does an amazing job at giving each of the bear shifter men a unique voice that was entertaining and added to my listening enjoyment.

Ashley Taylor’s voice work is nearly flawless and sweet to boot! I would be delighted to listen to her again.

When there are two narrators, it would be nice if they collaborated on the sounds for the characters so that both gave the same sound for the same character (or as closely as possible) and work to make their production values match for the sake of the listeners.

Note: While I received this book as a gifted audiobook copy, my opinions are my own and are given freely.


Title: CHIEF BEAR
Series: Rescue Bears #1
Author: Scarlett Grove
Category /Genre: Paranormal Romance
Recommended for: 18+ due to sexual content
Listenability: NSFW
Received from: Ashley Taylor (as an Audible gifted copy)