Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Bear with Me
SERIES: Double-Booked for the Holidays Multi-Author Series
AUTHOR: Edie Monte
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 192 pages
RELEASE DATE: November 7, 2025
BLURB:
Worst Christmas Ever …
Blake
Ollie is the worst! He took up half my seat on the plane, and now he’s taking up my entire vacation cabin, the one I booked after my sister said I couldn’t come home for the holidays this year.
After a night of pouting (and waking up curled next to this stranger, who is almost as warm as a cozy fireplace), I sympathize with him. He’s also avoiding his family, but for a different reason. They want to know when he’ll settle down and start a family.
The longer we stay in this three-room cabin together, the more I wonder the same, and if he’d consider settling down with a grumpy, high-maintenance omega like me. Oh, did I mention he’s a bear shifter? I wouldn’t dare snuggle up to a wild animal, but this giant in my bed is giving me all kinds of knotty ideas.
Maybe our shared cabin with only one bed isn’t so bad, after all.
Bear with Me is a snarky, spicy holiday mpreg romance between a sweet sunshine alpha brown bear shifter and his grumpy perma-frown human omega. If you love home-away-from-home Christmas activities, apology presents, “I don’t know if you’ve seen you, but you’re way too big to sleep on a loveseat,” versatile positions, and adorable babies, this book is for you!
Bear with Me is part of Double-booked for the Holidays, a multi-author mpreg shared setting at Christmas series with sexy shifters and forced proximity. Each book can be read as a standalone, but why not read them all?
REVIEW:
I absolutely love when I discover a new-to-me author when I start reading a new Multi-Author series and we click. And that’s exactly what happened with this wonderful book! I can’t wait for more of their books in the future.
Blake has has a really, really rough year. His parents died a few months ago. They were in a car crash while driving home from visiting him on his birthday. Not a day goes by where he wasn’t harder and harder to be around. His loss and sorrow are overwhelming him. So a trip to Oregon for two weeks in a snow covered cabin to unwind and start journaling, and making lists to get him back on track, is just what he needs. And, although he is an omega, he’s tall for his designation. So being trapped next to the huge (and handsome) alpha is hell on the long flight from Chicago and Oregon. Then to have the same alpha steal the taxi he flagged down was rude (even if he had been a brat on the plane). But the absolute worst, to complete the trifecta of doom, was that he was that he discovered he was now double-booked with this alpha in a cabin with only one bed and no more rooms available!
I loved this story! Simply loved how it unfolded and these two men discovered everything together. I loved that it didn’t matter to Ollie that Blake looked more like an alpha. And that he also got domineering at times in the bedroom. Or that Blake discovered that shifters were real and that he openly embraced Ollie’s being a bear shifter. They simple fit together like two missing pieces of a puzzle and totally worked. And it was refreshing to read a book that broke those stereotypical norms. These men just worked well and obviously fell head over heels in love with each other.
I appreciated that, when Ollie’s parents realized what Blake and his sister had suffered through, they accepted them into their family with open arms. Not trying to take their parent’s places but offering a place within their family. I know Ollie’s mom was heartbroken that her oldest didn’t come home for Christmas. But she definitely loved that he found his mate. And baby bear shifters on the way definite helped smooth that over.
I was upset that Blake’s bestie moved out on him like he did. I understand where Vic was coming from. Watching his best friend and roommate self implode after losing his parents was hard. But Blake needed a push to get a healthy grip on his loss. Thankfully, between Ollie and Vic, Blake sought the mental health help he so desperately needed. Also, if you download the bonus chapter/epilogue, you will realize how good his therapist is at making Blake share all his thoughts (and fantasies) with Ollie! 🔥🔥🔥
I will never forget being trapped in the center seat between a very large sized man and a man that had to bend to walk down the aisle of the plane because he was too tall for the ceiling. Needless to say, I felt for Blake. Center seat is always rough but being crammed between two larger occupants when you aren’t little yourself is hell. And the author got it spot on!
I truly enjoyed this book and am really enjoying this new series. I can’t wait to see how poor Branson’s booking mistake effects all the shifters and humans double booked at Winter Wonderland Wilderness Lodge this year!
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