She tried to bite his face.
He offered her a job.
Now they’re stuck in a kitchen—and maybe something else

Raven Blackwood doesn’t belong in the human world. She was raised in the untamed wilds, a black bear shifter surviving alone for nearly two decades. She doesn’t understand clocks, paychecks, or polite conversation. But when the pack demands she integrate or be exiled again, she agrees to one impossible thing: working for a human.

Jamie Sterling has everything to lose. Once a tech billionaire, now a fallen-from-grace celebrity chef, he returns to his hometown to film a reality show and rebuild his reputation. Hiring a woman who growls at cameras and bites his lip during kitchen instruction? Not part of his plan, but he likes it.

But Raven is more than a feral curiosity—she’s a raw force of nature, a woman with secrets he can’t explain and a wildness he can’t resist. And as their passion ignites, the line between predator and prey blurs.

When Raven’s truth is exposed to the world, Jamie must choose between the safe life he built… and the untamable woman who taught him how to feel again.

Titles in the Bear Hearts series include: Shifting Bear Hearts ~ Grumpy Guardian’s Heart ~ Bear Resort Next Door ~ Taming the Wild: Mating the Chef ~

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

Title:  Taming the Wild: Mating the Chef
Series:  Bear Hearts #4
Author:  KC Wilde
Published:  August 28, 2025
My Rating:  4.5 stars

Taming the Wild: Mating the Chef is the fourth title in the Bear Hearts series, and brings us the unusual and unexpected romance between Raven, a bear shifter who takes living in the wilderness to extremes, and Jamie, a human chef who is trying to salvage his career after a very public meltdown.  Their romance is at times hilarious and also at times, painfully heartwrenching, but always entertaining in a keep turning the page to see what comes next kind of impulse.

First off, talk about a character making a scene-stealing grand entrance!  I adored Raven from the moment she burst onto the page, and never stopped marveling at the strength of a woman who barely tolerates her human side, is snarky to extremes, but that is also her charm because she says what she’s thinking with very few filters.  She’s literally a wild woman (as the cover depicts) and backs down for only a few people important to her, Grant, her cousin and alpha, and Jamie, her mate, which she’s struggling with accepting that confusing fact.

Jamie is returning home after being away for several years.  A small, mountain town that looks nothing like the place he escaped from.  He has some adjustments to be made, but he also has a comeback to create to try to repair the damage done to his reputation… by himself and that infamous meltdown.  He has no real idea of what he’s in for when he hires Raven to help in his kitchen for the cable show that hopefully will salvage his career.  Or that he’s about to be introduced to a world he suspected but never really thought was true.

I loved returning to this series for Raven and Jamie’s story.  You don’t “have” to have read the entire series, but I would strongly recommend that you enjoy this entire world through the earlier books; it’s well worth the time.  We’ll run into some familiar faces, face off with a nasty villainess, and watch an unlikely couple find a way to merge two far different worlds.  If you love a well-written shifter romance full of snark, laughter, steam, and a couple you’ll cheer on to their happily ever after future, then you’d love Taming the Wild: Mating the Chef by KC Wilde.

*I received an e-ARC of this novel from the author or the author’s team via Booksprout, and I sincerely thank them for their trust. It is my choice to leave a review, giving my personal opinion about this book.*

This title is available at Amazon (affiliate link)