She’s all roots and responsibility. He’s puns, plants, and persistent charm. But even the most guarded hearts can bloom—especially with a little bear shifter magic.

After a tragedy turns her world upside down, Marion is left with one purpose: to raise her nephew and keep life simple.

Love? Off the table. And certainly not with a man who wears T-shirts that say “Let’s Root For Each Other” and calls compost “black gold.”

But Alfie Thornberg isn’t just any man. He’s a bear shifter with a heart as big as his garden center—and patience that runs even deeper. When they’re accidentally thrown together at a community gardening project, he falls fast and hard. Even though she’s everything he never expected his mate to be: serious, skeptical, and determined to keep him at arm’s length.

Still, Alfie knows that the best things take time to grow.

Between slow smiles, gardening mishaps, and unexpected moments of tenderness, the walls she’s built start to crack. And when her carefully guarded life begins to bloom in ways she never saw coming, she’ll have to decide: can she trust a man who won’t stop showing up—and a love that just won’t quit?

Titles in the Bear Creek Forever: Thornberg Vineyard series include: The Bear’s Mail Order Mate ~ The Bear’s Blooming Mate ~ The Bear’s Reluctant Mate ~ The Bear’s Perfect Mate ~ The Bear’s Second Chance Mate ~ 

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

Title:  The Bear’s Reluctant Mate
Series:  Bear Creek Forever: Thornberg Vineyard #3
Author:  Harmony Raines
Published:  June 19, 2025
My Rating:  4.5 stars

The Bear’s Blooming Mate is the second title in the Bear Creek Forever: Thornberg Vineyard series, and brings us Marion’s and Alfie’s hesitant romance.  Marion has moved to Bear Creek along with her young nephew, Charlie, for a restart after the violence that touched their lives recently.  She’s guarded, protective, and not too sure just what to make of this pun-loving gardener who offers so much, so freely that she’s suspicious of his every action.  Alfie knows that his mate has finally come into his life, thanks perhaps to more of Finn’s shenanigans with unintended matchmaking.  She’s wounded, and little Charlie is withdrawn from the world, until Alfie introduces him to the magic of bugs and butterflies, planting and planning out their little section of the community garden plot.  There might be a few mistaken hiccups along the way to their forever, but with patience, Alfie can gain both the love of his mate and the devotion of a little boy who deserves to be just that.. And that alone.

As always with this universe, I loved Marion, Alfie, and Charlie so much.  Yes, there is pain in letting go of the past, in accepting that there are safe places in the world, a man/bear to turn to who will always protect and understand.  Watching Marion accept Alfie, seeing the changes in Charlie, was an emotional, enjoyable journey.  And it’s always fun to run into previous friends from this series once again.  If you love a well-written, emotional shifter romance with touches of humor, puns, and danger, then you’d enjoy The Bear’s Reluctant Mate by Harmony Raines

I read this title through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

If you love this author’s work, be sure to visit our Harmony Raines page for reviews of other series, or just to discover series you might have missed.

This title is available on Amazon (affiliate link)