The Blackstone Bear
(Blackstone Mountain #3)
By Alicia Montgomery
Ben Walker’s bear is out of control and he can’t let anyone know, not even his family and closest friends. The darkness inside is threatening to consume him, but when he meets Penny, he knows she’s the one: his mate, the one who can calm his bear. And for once in his life, he feels he has a bright future ahead.Even though she’s human, Blackstone has become a sanctuary for Penny Bennet. It’s the place where she could start over and escape the scorn of the people from her past. When Ben suddenly declares she’s the one his bear chose, she’s not sure if she believes him. After all, why would he want to be with the girl from the wrong side of the tracks?When an unknown threat puts his family in danger, Ben must take the lead to protect everyone and everything he holds dear. But, can he also convince Penny she’s his forever mate, before it’s too late?
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My Review:
This was a nice quick read with likable characters. The overall narration was great and moved the story at a nice even pace. This author has potential and I'm curious to see how she evolves through the years in her books.
Penny was a nice person. She's been through quite a few bad situations in her short life and they still seem to find her from time to time. She's a hard worker and through connections eventually gets a job at a bar where she meets her mate. Their relationship/courtship was strange. They were very clingy to one another in a very short period of time (which is normal for shifter romances). There was barely any conflict between them but when it did happen it would come out of nowhere and would be resolved in the span of a chapter or two.
Ben was aloof and stoic for the first few encounters but recognized when he was being unreasonably possessive (which was a breath of fresh air compared to a lot of other novels). His animal was known for being unstable and more dangerous than average so it's understandable. Though it was strange how he went from stoic to touchy-feely in the span of a few hours. He was also quite the gentleman when it came to dating, which was a different approach than what I was expecting. I'd also like to mention that he came off as WAY creepy before he and Penny were a couple.
I would have liked the romance and the ending conflict to have been interwoven much earlier throughout the book. I didn't like that the conflict was built up and resolved in the last 3 chapters of the book. I'm so used to that not being the case in most of the stories I read that it caught me off guard in a not so good way in this story. I'd also like to mention all the girl on girl hate in the second half of this novel. All because of a few rumors someone was spreading. What's wrong with society that women feel the need to put down other women because of a rumor, a guy, or a misrepresented situation? The plotline that featured that didn't even go anywhere other than to make Penny feel like less of a human being and start hating her job.
Overall, this story was good. This author is talented and has a lot of potential but, in my opinion, still needs to hone her skills a little more. Then again, maybe I'm used to a certain way of a story told/written and that made me not love this story.
My Favorite Quotes:
"For the first time in, maybe, forever she felt calm. At peace. Whole."
"[...] sometimes when something is done, it's done. Only you get to choose when something is over and that should be closure enough."
My Rating:
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