Christmas, Pursued by a Bear (2020)

Christmas, Pursued by a Bear
Ryann Fletcher (2020)

(Not a review, just some notes to help me remember the things I've read. But written this way because it's the Internet, and some people will stumble across this page.)

This was a free ebook I download prior to Christmas but didn't get a chance to read until the new year had already begun.

For starters, Christmas is almost an afterthought in the book. It's there, and it's celebrated, but basically, it's cold and icy. Second, the main character, Andie, get pursued by a bear romantically, and she does a little pursuing on her own even if she's embarrassed by it. Third, the Bear in question is a werebear.

Side note: the phrase "pursued by a bear" refers to the off stage death of Antigonus in Shakespeare's "The Winter's Tale". There is no offstage death here.

In this universe, werebears, as well as werewolves, werelions, etc, would be a genetic anomaly and not something passed by scratching and clawing. Also, the weres seem to have some control over when the "shift" and if they shift at an less optimum time, it could affect their overall health for a while.

Speaking of "shifts", Fletcher, the author, uses the word a lot early on as a way to distract the reader into thinking the characters are, for example, refering to working at a coffee shop.

Andie is a photgrapher who sneaks into a restricted area of a wildlife preserved to get a shot that could win a competition and give her career a boost (and bring in some needed money). She briefly encounters a bear, runs off, and loses her camera in the dark. There shouldn't be any bears on this reserve or in the Midwest. She goes to her tent, expecting to find it in the morning. She meets Cat, whose illegal campsite Andie is using. Cat tells her she must've been seeing things because there aren't any bears in this area. By the morning, Cat is gone but the Park Ranger is there and makes her leave without looking for the camera.

Andie, being poor, doesn't know what she'll do and might have to cancel jobs. Then her camera shows up on her doorstep, minus the memory card.

Andie and Cat meet up again and seem to like each other. Honestly, I didn't see any chemistry between the two of them. And, of course, Cat can't let Andie know that she's a Bear. Or that her friends are also Bears. This would definitely put a crimp in any relationship.

Around this time, the big, bad, evil corporation is introduced. They're planning on developing part of the reserve for tourists. Of course, by the time they're done with their secret plans, there won't be much of a reserve left. Obviously, they can't develop it if there are protected bears on the reserve. That said, there are legal methods for removing bears and transporting them elsewhere. But that takes time and delays development. So they send poachers.

Andie sneaks into the reserve again and is sitting in a tree when she's discovered by a pair of poachers. They make her toss her camera down. A new bear appears and they attack it, but Cat shifts off-schedule and scares off the poachers. Along the way, Cat "accidentally" smashes Andie's expensive camera. She apologizes afterward.

This really should've been the deal-breaker. Cat is trying to "protect" her clan by preventing any pictures of bears because it will attract poachers from all over. Even though there are already poachers here. Additionally, she knows that Andie is poor and relies on that camera for work. And Cat isn't rolling in the dough either, so it isn't like she can replace it.

And to top it off, the poachers have cameras in the trees. There is already video of the bears. It is known that they exist.

The corporation is finally "defeated" with bad publicity. The reserve is safe and the shops the corporation bought up won't have their rent jacked up. The one thing that I found amusing was that all the characters signed non-disclosure agreements at the end for a lot of money so that they aren't poor any more. For now.

The book was okay. It wasn't the "Christmas spirit" book I look for in December. (Yes, I read it in January.) I didn't fully read the preview, but I read enough to know that Syndicorp is back and that doesn't really interest me. Everything that needed a resolution had one. Would I consider circling back to this series? Probably not. I have a lot in the TBR pile. If something else with bears strikes a memory, then maybe.

This book doesn't check off any boxes on my Challenge checklist. I don't recall the lycanthropy being a curse. I already read a Christmas book. The title has only 23 letters. I have no idea how old she was in 2020.

There are two square presents on the cover, so I could count that, even though they aren't actually drawn to be squares. (There are variant covers apparently.)

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