Reviewed By Donna
TITLE: Protecting Bear
AUTHOR: Alicia Nordwell
PUBLISHER: Romance First Publishing
LENGTH: 137 Pages
RATING: 
BLURB: Bear has sworn off guys who try to pick him up at his second job working as a bartender. His ex, Vilem, damn near turned him off dating altogether. Jimmy would flip if he finds out Bear dated a drug dealer, as if Bear did it knowingly. His career as a cop only makes his brother more protective.
But Kameron doesn’t try to pick him up at the bar. He doesn’t ask for a blow job or a back alley screw. He asks Bear out for coffee. That alone is rare enough to get Bear to say yes. They have an instant chemistry, even though he will cut the giant off at the knees if Kameron calls Bear “little guy” one more time.
Kameron’s secrets grow harder to hide the longer he dates Bear. He wants to come clean, but he knows there’s a very good chance the fiery man will never speak to him again. Kameron wrestles with his conscience and his desire for Bear.
Both men’s choices lead to a series of events neither see coming. Bear believes his judgment failed him once again when he learns exactly what Kameron was hiding. At the same time, Bear learns Vilem wasn’t just a corner drug dealer, and some very scary guys are after him.
Can both men survive their encounter with Vilem’s bosses? When Bear and Kameron land in a life or death situation, it’s up to Bear to save himself … and Kameron, if he’s lucky.
REVIEW: I began reading this story assuming I knew how it was going to play out. And I must say, I was pretty damn accurate. There were a few unexpected twists and turns but overall it went the way I thought it would. Which is totally fine. Sometimes you just want to sit down with a book and get exactly what you’re expecting.
Kameron is a detective who has recently been transferred to a new precinct. When his boss and another detective, Jimmy, recruit him for an undercover job he finds it impossible to refuse to help, despite the fact he disapproves of the assignment. Bear is that assignment. Bear is also Jimmy’s brother and Jimmy’s brilliant plan is for Kameron to “fake date” Bear in order to protect him from some unsavory characters who reportedly wish to harm him. Kameron has two important rules to follow – do not tell Bear the truth and do not make a move on Jimmy’s little brother! Trouble is, as soon as Kameron spots Bear, he’s not faking the attraction.
Bear is a bartender in a gay bar. He has no idea that his ex boyfriend, Vilem, has made him the target of some very dangerous people. Being a bartender, a cute, hot, little bartender he gets hit on frequently but no one ever makes an effort beyond trying to get into his pants. When Kameron actually takes the time to talk to him and asks him out for coffee, Bear’s impressed enough to give him a chance. It’s one of those situations that make you think – well, this can’t end well.
I thought Jimmy was an ass. Well at first I thought that but the more I got to know Bear, the more I understood why his brother thinks he needs saving from his own stupidity. At one point Bear admits that he likely wouldn’t have listened if Jimmy had told him that he needed protection from drug dealing, pissed off, murderous gangsters. I would label him “too stupid to live” except, when it comes down to it, he does a kickass job of saving himself so I guess that label is inaccurate.
I would have liked to get more backstory on Bear and Vilem’s relationship, just because I was interested, but it wasn’t really essential to the story. Maybe it was the fact the author didn’t include inessential information that makes this story seem longer than it is. For a fairly short story I was surprised by how much actually happened. At one point I figured I must be about done but I was only just over halfway through.
Having said that, at times the story seemed to get slightly repetitive. They’re in hospital, they’re in hiding, they’re in hospital again, and they’re hiding again. Actually now that I think about it, there is a lot of hospital time in this book, with multiple characters ending up hospitalized, sometimes more than once.
My favorite element though was the interaction between the characters, particularly between Bear and his friend Loren. While the characters all had their own personalities, in general they were playful, amusing and sarcastic. Exactly my kind of people.
Is there an official number of pages that qualifies a book to be called a full-length novel? Well, I’m not sure, but for me 137 pages would usually not be it. But despite its length this story felt complete. Often when I read shorter stories I feel like part of the story hasn’t been finished but that wasn’t the case with Protecting Bear at all.
The story was cute, without being sappy. I enjoyed reading it.