Overall: 2.5 rounded to ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Readability: 📖📖📖
Feels: 🦋🦋
Emotional Depth: 💔💔💔
Sexual Tension: ⚡⚡ (It’s very instalust and didn’t have much tension for me)
Romance: 💞💞💞
Sensuality: 💋💋💋 (It’s fine but they are short and not developed or emotionally involved like I prefer)
Sex Scene Length: 🍑🍑 (These scenes are very short)
Steam Scale (Number of Sex Scenes): 🔥🔥🔥
Humor: Yes – this book is very humorous and if you have more a slapstick, one liner preference for humor you will find it quite funny (the humor just wasn’t my favorite and didn’t work for me)
Perspective: third person from both the hero and heroine
More character focused or plot focused? plot
How did the speed of the story feel?medium to fast
When mains are first on page together: very soon in – chapter 1
Cliffhanger: No, this ends with a happily ever after
Epilogue: Yes but it’s just a short scene from the hero’s POV from the next book
Format: read a paperback from the library
Why I chose this book: It was mentioned in Upturned Petticoats and Undone Cravats and I was curious
Mains: This is a M/F romance between a bear shifter hero and human heroine

Should I read in order?
This is the first book in Alder’s Bewitched and Bewildered series.

Basic plot:
Aiden is dreaming of his mate and when they turn to nightmares, he knows he must find her sooner than later to protect her.

Give this a try if you want:
- paranormal romance
- contemporary times
- bear shifter hero
- human heroine
- fated mates
- instalust
- found family elements
- humor – this has a kind of slapstick, one liner, silly humor throughout the whole book
- lighter steam – there’s about 3ish scenes but they are super short and not very developed

Ages:
- heroine is 34, didn’t catch hero

First line:
“Aiden, come find me!” the soft voice teased.

My thoughts:
This one didn’t work for me at all. I was a little leery after reading the hero’s friend call his mate ‘mentally retarded’ on pg 3….

The humor in this one just isn’t my type of humor. I didn’t like how they just met and just started living life together. It was kind of weird and anticlimactic. Just over the top emotions of being in love out of nowhere. There wasn’t any relationship angst, or spending a lot of time together. There were a lot of supporting characters so people that enjoy that element will like that aspect more. For me there was just no tension, the parts that were meant to be funny weren’t to me, and the instalust just made their relationship boring.

I’m sad because I was really looking forward to this one! I loved the cover. I’m not sure if I’ll come back to this author. Probably not this series at least.

Few random reading stats for this author
# of books read: This is my first
Average rating from me: 3 stars
Favorite book: This one by default

Cock/Hero Stats/World Building:

- Hero is a bear shifter. They have fated mates they can find by scent. Their eyes can turn all black in human form.
Lycaonia is the shifter city, Noctem Falls is the vampire city, Danu Eire is the fae city, and Storm Keep is the witch’s city.
- Getting pregnant is a big deal and the four races can only conceive during certain holidays. Witches during winter solstice, vampires during spring equinox, shifters at summer solstice, and fae during fall equinox. Once someone conceives there’s only a 60% chance the pregnancy will make it to full term.

Endearments

  Hero calls the heroine ‘baby’.

Content warnings: (This should be taken as a minimum because I could have missed some!)

- Fertility is an issue with the difference races but not for the main couple because she’s human (see cock/hero stats/worldbuilding for more details)
- animal cruelty – a dog is killed on purpose by the villain
Author given content warnings: Nothing listed

Locations of kisses/intimate scenes, safe sex, consent, pregnancy/child in the story: There’s kisses most chapters but I didn’t note them. They are very brief, a sentence or two and not developed.

 
Safe sex: 

  No 

 
How’s the consent? 

  It’s okay – he initially kidnaps her repeatedly and puts her in a trunk but once she sees him take his clothes off she is all over him and the consent is good... 

 
Pregnancy/children in story? 

  No pregnancy in the story but fertility and having babies is discussed 

 
Pg 24 (chapter 2) – kiss
Chapter 4 – fingering for her (a couple paragraphs, quite short)
Chapter 11 – missionary
Chapter 12 – her on top to missionary
Total chapters - 15