Title:  Gray Back Alpha Bear
Series:  Gray Back Bears #2
Author:  T. S. Joyce
Published:  August 8, 2015
My Rating:  4.5 stars
Source:  Kindle Unlimited
Cover Description:

Creed Barnett has one simple rule—no potential mates allowed in his territory. As if there isn’t enough on his shoulders trying to manage his crew of misfit, broken bear shifters, his past is now coming back to haunt him. And when the woman he hasn’t been able to stop thinking about for the past five months shows up in his trailer park, he’s re-thinking all the rules he set up to protect the Gray Backs. Gia is a curvy stunner, but his interest in the bombshell goes deeper than her good looks. She’s sweet, and fun, and puts his inner bear at ease in a way no other woman has managed. But Gia has also brought trouble to his territory that will turn his life upside down.

Gia Cromwell’s life is ruined. She’s lost everything she used to value about herself and has nowhere to turn but to the man who started her downfall in the first place. She fully expects the sexy, reclusive bear shifter to turn her away just like everyone else in her life, but when he offers to be her protector instead, she’ll have to fight hard to keep her walls up. She knows she isn’t Creed’s true mate, but that doesn’t stop her huge crush. How can she not fall head over heels for him? Creed is easy on the eyes, sure, but he has a heart of gold and a protective streak a mile wide for the people he cares about. Now she just has to figure out whether his interest is genuine, or if they’re both in this for all the wrong reasons.

Sexy shifters and their feisty mates who aren’t shy about loving each other – so, this is an adult, 18+ reader tale.

Creed is about to lose control of his “no potential mates in the trailer park” rule once again – and this time he has only himself to lay the responsibility on.  His one night stand, one of the bombshells that had tricked Willa into this shifter groupie trip, was well worth the night of passion they shared.  Sure, there had been that condom malfunction, but since he’d heard nothing so far he hadn’t thought about it too much.  He had tried to not think about Gia too much either.  He had his work cut out for him with his crew of misfit bears, so free thinking time was not on the top of his priority list.  Keeping everyone alive and functioning was.  His crew was full of bears who were all dominant and broken in some fashion – some even he didn’t know the reasons behind.  They all came to the Gray Back crew as a last chance effort before an Alpha would have put them down for their actions and their personal damage.  Creed was their last hope, but that didn’t stop the ruckus and posturing and fighting that was a daily thing.  So, yeah, he had his hands full and wasn’t looking to add anything else to that huge pile.

Until a broken Gia showed up on his doorstep and his life changed forever in that one moment.  Her wealthy, uptight parents, the so called society friends, the right people to be around – they all turned their backs on her just when she’d needed them the most.  She’d never fit in with her family but had tried her best to be what they wanted her to be – and now they did this.  Fine, she’d go to the one place that still held hope in her mind, to the one man who just might not turn her away, she hoped.

Gray Back Alpha Bear gives us a closer look at this crew of misfit bears and their leader.  Creed is such a contradiction himself.  He wants the family, the connection that Matt and Willa have now as mates, but he’s too uncertain of his own background to even try for that.  But with Gia back in his life, a new life beginning, he needs to get his head on straight and do what’s best for everyone – including himself.  Willa is the unofficial star of the Gray Back crew, her unique look on life, her banter and sass make her an unforgettable character and one very loved one as well.  Creed will receive even more startling news, something he has long suspected and that will once again put his life in a spin.  Throughout it all is Gia, steady yet uncertain of her place in  his life – she is an anchor that he needs.  Why he didn’t sense that Gia was his mate during that first night is a mystery, but he acknowledges her now and nothing will separate them again.

I enjoyed Gray Back Alpha Bear – and since I’m ending up doing these reviews in a backwards manner due to a binge reading without immediate reviews (bad girl don’t do that again)… I know what and who this child will be – and the important part they have to play in the future.  For me that is part of the enjoyment of such a large overlapping, connected series – you know people and their background and where they came from as the books progress.   That is one reason why I love this series.

If you love Shifter Romance than this story and this series should be on your reading list.  I would highly recommend Gray Back Alpha Bear and this series with the hope that you’ll enjoy it just as much.

Available for the Kindle