Reading Challenge 2023

Allie Rowe is in a bind after drunk raccoons do a number on her business, Sticky Sweet Bakery. With a major event coming up, she can't afford to be out of commission... but she can't afford to fix things, either. Her meddling father thinks he'll play matchmaker when he hires sexy carpenter and bear shifter Dax Mitchell to lend a hand.

She’s already played the rejected mate game, and isn’t going there again, thanks. Bear shifters are trouble with muscles. Shifters are off limits!

Dax won’t take no for an answer, making her wonder if he’s helping from the kindness of his heart, or if he'll require some sort of repayment...

Dax is under pressure to take a mate before the fates rob him of his strength. His dying father's wish is to see his son mated. A staunch bachelor, Dax is inclined to change his mind when sexy, curvy Allie offers him a taste of her sweet roll.

When an unexpected enemy makes himself known, and time winds down on his chance to take a mate, Dax must decide how far he’ll go to claim his fated mate.

I love trying new authors and in the last month or so I've been doing that a lot. I was really in the mood for a bear shifter, so I've been reading a bunch of those. Before finding Bear in the Bakery (funny thing is I read another bear shifter story by the same title last year) by Liz Paffel I hadn't heard of nor read her. I'm so glad that I went looking for someone new. 

I totally loved this story and the writing. It's full of love, laughter and a bit of mystery. Right away the characters popped out to me. I liked them and wanted to know more. You'll really like Allie and her father. I liked how they know there are bear shifters in the world and that it's something that just is. You'll also want to know more about Allie's BFF but we really don't as a yet. 

You'll love Dax. It's so funny how he just wants to live his life and date. He's not ready to settle down but cosmos have different plans for him. Once he figures out that out he tries so hard to win Allie over. Sadly, time isn't on his side to romance her, so he has to push the fact that they are mates to do what needs to be done. 

Shifter stories are the only ones I don't mind that love at first sight kind of things. Every once in a while, a contemporary author will do a great job of it but most it's only for shifters. Because of that I didn't mind how rushed the romance felt. In a way it wasn't. From the second they met the wanted each other.

I was totally glad that the author didn't make the whole story about becoming mates. Instead, it was an equal balance of mating and mystery. You're along for the ride of their romance and stick around to find out who's messing with Allie. I enjoyed this story so much that I read the second book in the series and started the third. You know what I'm going to do after that. I will read the fourth shortly after. Not sure if there will be more. I can hope. 

Amazon