Allie Ritch

I’d won a Mobi.file of this book from the author some time ago through a giveaway she had on the TRR [The Romance Reviews] website; however, it had gotten lost in the myriad of books I read/review until recently. The following is my honest opinion.

There’s an old idiom which goes: Once bitten/burned, twice shy. The meaning of which is that once a person has had a bad experience regarding something in their life, they would prefer never to experience it again. And it is this same idiom which befits the female protagonist [Idonea] in this story, not once, but twice.

For starters she’s deadly petrified of bears having already been assaulted by one; and as far as men are concerned, she’s become quite cynical regarding all members of the sex after having relations with a few of them.

Having already read a few shape-shifting stories in my days, just as many of you reading this review might have read as well; one thing is certain, once the male of the species has set their eyes on his perfect mate, nothing will be able to stop their quest in obtaining that mate.

Shape-shifting males in search of a mate are looking for one keen attribute for her to possess, the scent of her body; and for Massak it’s the scent which Indonea’s naturally emits. One small whiff of her at the beginning of the winter mating season is all that he needed to realize she’s meant to be his forever mate, as his natural primeval drives begin to emerge from their hibernation.

Taking his human form, he approaches Indonea using his diverse inventory of natural skills. At first, she’s reluctant to respond to his presence; but with his beguiling ways, she lets her guard down and allows him in. When Massak shape-shifts for the first time, she’s frightened. But as moments pass Indonea senses a calming presence and she begins to pet and scratch the bear he’s shape-shifted to beyond his ears; just as we would do to our dogs and cats.

When they arrive at her home outside her village, their hot, steamy love making begins in earnest, culminating with the realization that each has found their HEA mate.

Given the kind of books I’ve been reading/reviewing recently, I had to let my erotic personae read /review this book.

Ms. Ritch’s vivid erotic style of writing puts her readers, as it did me, into Indonea’s shoes with many of us physically responding to the hot, steamy love-making which occurs within the pages of this book, for which I’ve given the author the 5 STARS she’s garnered from this book.… (más)

I picked this up because I loved the idea of a gruff-looking outcast, who's really a lonely softy, meeting a woman who likes him just the way he is. Unfortunately, this was one of those times when I liked the idea of a story better than its actual execution.

Part of my problem with this novella was that I didn't really like Koll. I'm pretty sure the author wanted readers to see him as a big, sexy, misunderstood sweetie. Instead, I found myself thinking that it was no wonder he couldn't get any women to accept his ribbon and stay with him for the winter. Yes, he was huge (according to him, an average woman's chest comes about as high as his navel), but it was more than that. He wasn't a conversationalist in any way, shape, or form. Soon after meeting Shila, the two of them had lots and lots of sex. It wasn't until about a third of the way through the story, as he was trying to introduce her to the other villagers, that he realized he hadn't even asked her what her name was. Shila didn't see anything wrong with this and didn't mind, but I did. I had similar issues when, late in the story, Koll had sex with Shila and didn't even notice until after they were done that she was hurt. Again, she didn't mind, but I did. A guy who is so focused on sex that absolutely nothing else enters his brain just isn't sexy to me.

In case you hadn't already guessed, this novella is mostly composed of sex scenes. I tend to prefer books and novellas with more story and less sex, and it didn't help that I rarely found the scenes in Mating Season to be sexy.

Shortly after Koll met and rescued Shila, there was a moment when he had to undress her. She was unconscious and dressed in wet clothes. It was cold outside. Making sure she was warm and dry was a good thing. Except Koll couldn't undress her without getting all hot and bothered, which led to him masturbating to the sight of her naked, unconscious body. Okay, so he felt ashamed afterward, but still. I think readers were supposed to find this scene hot, but it was so completely icky to me.

I continued to have problems with the supposed “hot” scenes. Some of Ritch's word choices made me shudder - I would prefer that the word “drool” never be associated with genitalia. Ever. Also, while the story contains no actual bestiality, there was one instance where Koll had a sudden fantasy about Shila giving him a blow job while in bear form. No. Just no. And Shila's dialogue when she complied with Koll's request to tell him how much she liked his large body while they were having sex was cringe-worthy.

The world-building was pretty weak, and all the sex scenes left little room for anything else. Supposedly, Shila got to know and win over other villagers besides Koll, but readers don't get to see much of this on-page. The sex in this story really does take precedence over everything else. While I did like that Shila was never presented as a whimpering, helpless damsel-in-distress (she and Koll fought her frost bear shifter pursuers together!), all in all, this novella was not for me.

Additional Comments:

To be fair, I think I may have purchased this back before I made sure to read reviews and excerpts in addition to descriptions. The excerpt is pretty good about giving potential buyers a taste of what they'd be in for.

(Original review, with read-alikes, posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)… (más)