Michele has lived most of her life knowing she’s prophesied to be a sacrifice for her coven. Certain she’s destined for an early death, she’s been saving money for her dad and living with a string of one or two-night stands—no mate for her. No use planning a future she doesn’t have. Now she can’t wait to get away for a solo Christmas cruise and steer clear of her happily mated friends and family.

Ex-military and bear shifter Granger is hoping his carpenter contract gig on the Dark Wing cruise ship will turn into a full-time job so he can spend more time with his 5-year-old daughter. After losing his father to the shifter widow illness, he’s made an oath to never mate and risk leaving his little girl alone. 

Fate brings Michele and Granger together, so they decide to enjoy the time they have with each other before going their separate ways. No harm, no foul, right? Except fate has more than a fun cruise in store for them.

Titles in the Dark Wing Paranormal Cruise series include — Resisting the Bear —♥— Claiming the Wolf —♥— Courting the Bear —♥— Redeeming the Dragon —♥— Taming the Bear —♥— Defying the Dragon —♥—

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

Kindle Unlimited

*previously published as “A Very Beary Christmas Cruise”*

Title:  Resisting the Bear
Series:  Dark Wing Paranormal Cruise #1
Author:  Ellie Pond
Published:  February 16, 2023 (original 2020)
My Rating:  4.5

Resisting the Bear was the first book by this author that I’ve read, and I will definitely be back for more.  It’s a delightful combination of sweet and charming, along with a solid dose of steamy and complicated as one adorable little girl (bear cub) will overload you with cuteness while her father (bear shifter) and his fated mate (witch) will heat up the pages with their sexiness and some open to interpretation information that they’ve lived with their entire lives.

I enjoy the different lore that authors bring to their paranormal stories, and Granger’s situation was the first time I had read of the consequences of a mate’s death being conveyed this way.  And while Michele’s prophetic future seems written in stone, it too is completely open to how one understands that vision from her coming-of-age ceremony.  It was a fascinating concept that kept me guessing as to how in the world they’d ever be able to be together in the future beyond this cruise.

I loved the way the secondary characters were woven throughout this story, giving us just enough information about them to want to learn more in future additions to this series.  A cruise ship is a very contained location, yet the possibilities seem endless for those characters to find their happiness at some point.

Granger and Michele were such a complicated couple, for good reasons, and watching them navigate that mate bond was both heartbreaking and very sexy at the same time.  If they had to put up a relationship status somewhere it would definitely read “It’s complicated”!  Yet I was so invested in finding out how they could possibly find a happy ending that the story itself simply flew by.  I had a blast here, and that will bring me back to discover what the rest of the series has in store for us.

Just an FYI bit of information; this book was previously published in 2020 as “A Very Beary Christmas Cruise”.

I read this title through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Available for the Kindle