Mini Reviews: Stranded With The Billionaire & Bearly Tamed Grizzly

Both books read via Kindle Unlimited!

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I had to see her one last time.

Fiona's gorgeous red hair and luscious curves are impossible to forget.

She runs a soup kitchen, taking care of people in need.

But I want to take care of her.

She thinks I'm an ordinary volunteer.

But I'm the billionaire who increased her funding.

I'm supposed to be on a plane to Europe.

It's a fresh start and a chance to run the show.

I only stop by for a quick visit, but the weather has other plans.

As the blizzard rages outside, we're forced to ride out the storm together.

Heating things up during the cold nights.

When the weather passes, it's time for me to go.

I have every reason to leave... but she might be the one I need to stay. 

Stranded With The Billionaire was a quick, super sweet read that makes you feel warm inside despite it being set during 'the snowstorm of the century'.
The story is low drama, low angst, and low suspense. Things just move along at a slow and steady pace that is nice and easy to sink into but has the potential to be boring.

Liam and Fiona are both likeable characters and are inherently decent people.
They fall in love quickly but it isn't instalove. It's more like their forced proximity heightens things and speeds the getting to know you part of the relationship up.

Fiona has a heart of gold and just wants to make a difference, she's passionate about the work she does running the soup kitchen/food bank (which is funded by Liam's corporation) and Liam appreciates this and her for the woman she is.
Liam is ambitious and privileged but he's not an ass and I liked that about him. He's not afraid to wade in and actually work and I loved seeing him fall in love at the most inconvenient time imaginable - for he is just about to leave the country to run his company's European enterprises.

The reason it was a 3-star read for me was that the entire course of the novel was painfully easy to predict and even though it was enjoyable it was completely forgettable.
Plus, I didn't like the overly obvious set-ups for future books - one no doubt featuring Liam's sister and another focussed on Fiona's friend - as they detracted from the main story.

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Oli 

I didn’t know her, what she looked like, where she was, but I knew my mate was out there. And it was that truth that had me saving myself for her. Only her. If I couldn’t fully give myself over to my fated mate, what kind of worthy male was I?

But staying in town, hidden deep within the forest, wouldn’t bring my mate to me. I had to go and find her. I had to make her mine.

India

As a former foster child, I never had real family, no roots. I’d always felt like something was missing, so I worked hard on helping others. My mobile medical van was where my passion lay. It’s how I made sure no one else felt helpless.

But when my van was broken into, and my safety compromised, it was a big bear shifting male who came to the rescue.

Oli said I was his. He claimed I was his mate. He seemed certain of it just by looking at me. It was insanity, but I couldn’t deny the pull I felt for him, the way my body craved his.

Pushing him away wasn’t an option, not when he was always there, watching me, making sure I was protected. And it was that need inside of me, the one that grew and consumed me, that finally had me giving in. I soon realized being mated to a bear shifter meant he was grumpy, protective, possessive, and wanted only one thing.

This is one of those books that is hard to rate for I'm guessing it'd change dramatically person to person depending on what the individual enjoys or expects from their reading... And I'm afraid to say that I wanted much more from this than it gave me as the story is absolutely basic, the characters are two dimensional and the world-building is practically non-existent. I know it's a novella but come on!

The male - Oli - is a bear shifter and the whole thing is about him finding and claiming his mate. There's no drama, no tension, no adaptation or adjustment period just meet, accept, mate and live happily ever after.

It was really that simple, that unoriginal and that forgettable.

I'd say that at least the sex was hot but it was overly long and the author liked to repeat herself... Not to mention the fact she used phraseology such as:

"I pushed her legs farther apart, staring down at the sweet center that I'd soon be destroying."

How romantic, eh?! So hot. What virgin doesn't want her 'sweet center' destroyed during their first time by their mate? 😶

So. yeah. It was a quick read (about an hour) and it was a fated-mates, low-conflict, romance with a happy ever after that I can't say I was a fan of, however,  I'm positive that there is a market for it and to each their own!