Grizzly bear shifter Amy Rutherford has special abilities where she can hear voices in her head—the thoughts and feelings of others—and she needs to get control of it. It started way before she nearly died in a car accident during a rainstorm where her parents perished, and she’s sure the crash wasn’t an accident. But nobody believes her. She can’t let go of what had happened, and storms bring on a case of Post-Traumatic Stress Syndrome. She was on a blind date while celebrating her sister and her husband’s anniversary and a storm rages overhead at the dance club. She’s assaulted by all the voices in her head until one stands out. A man is observing her, hiding his dark secrets from her, or trying to—and she’s not sure if he’s one of the good guys, or not.

Cedric Shader is a grizzly bear shifter and knows not to contact Amy the way he did at the dance club, instead of trying to meet her face-to-face first. But he senses her vulnerability and that she is experiencing psychic overload, just like he would when he was a kid. Now, he uses his ability to investigate murders, but the crime scene memories stay with him, though he tries hard to compartmentalize them, and he doesn’t want her to witness them. He told himself he is here on a job, not to become involved with a woman who has psychic issues. But she’s in trouble—and he’s certain she needs him to teach her how to cope. Worse, she believes someone had murdered her parents, and he’s beginning to wonder if she’s right. With a break-in at her apartment and a possible connection to the murder of her parents, they’re running out of time before the person kills again.

Titles in the Heart of the Grizzly series include — Bear in Mind —♥—

This is an adult 18+ story that contains language, possible violence, and/or sexual situations geared to an adult audience.

Title:  Bear in Mind
Series:  Heart of the Grizzly #1
Author:  Terry Spear
Published:  March 11, 2023
My Rating:  4.5

Bear in Mind begins the Heart of the Grizzly series with a story that is intense in the best possible ways as it slowly pulls the reader into the often chaotic world of two grizzly shifters who each have a rare psychic ability.  Cedric has learned to control his, to some degree, and as he senses Amy’s growing psychic emotional overload due to her surroundings what he does next is as natural as breathing… he mentally steps in speaks to her, and helps her to calm down.  Amy is defensive about his intrusion even while welcoming his ability to quickly show her how to protect her thoughts and shield herself against the overbearing thoughts of those around her.  It wasn’t supposed to be more than a momentary act of kindness, but their encounter turned into so much more.  Beyond the attraction that each felt was a growing knowledge that they both were hunting/seeing the same serial killer… and the death of Amy’s parents years ago was no accident – proven when those responsible come after her.

While I freely admit that I love this author’s Paranormal/Shifter Romances, and have read the majority of them, this story grabbed my imagination from the beginning and kept me focused until the final page.  (yes, I did finish it in one sitting)  The danger slowly ratchets up as Amy and Cedric continue to search for a serial killer and as those responsible for the so-called accident begin to terrorize Amy in increasingly violent ways.  There are plenty of clues scattered throughout this story but putting them together isn’t as easy as it sounds for there are twists and a few surprises in store.  I had my suspects, and I was right… and I was wrong.  I love a puzzle that keeps me on my toes and Bear in Mind certainly did that!

I own a Kindle edition of this title.

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