Review: His Teddy Bear by Eve Langlais

Title: His Teddy Bear
Author: Eve Langlais
Genre: Paranormal Romance, Erotica
Heat Index: 3 out of 5
Release Date: April 1st, 2011
Word/Page Count: 69 pages
Format: Purchased

All he wants is his chubby Teddy bear.

Chubby Teddy, who is ironically enough a bear shifter, has finally found her mate. There’s one big problem though. He doesn’t like what he sees.

Reece never imagined his chosen mate would be a woman with extra curves, but all it takes is one taste to realize the benefits and turn his world upside down.

Their arguments are many, their lust for each other fiery, but while he’s ready to for the next step, Teddy keeps running. What will it take to win her trust and heart?

And an even better question; will they ever make it to a bed?

Poena’s Review:

At a 'were' get together, Teddy finds her mate only to discover that he doesn't like what he sees. Her . Reece is an arrogant hottie with a thing for tall, modelesque blondes. Lo and behold his mate is anything but.

Now I hate the 'sniff, sniff, you're my mate' trope. To me that's now become synonymous with lazy writing, but Ms. Langlais takes that trope and makes it work by being creative and answering the question: What happens when your mate isn't someone you immediately like?

I liked Teddy and didn't feel like she was whining about her looks as much as she was terrified of being hurt because of all the hurt she had witnessed with her friends and family.

Reece was an arrogant ass with a heart of gold which is also a credit to the writer to make a hero who says...

No fucking way. My mate’s a chubby?

and still have him turn out to be likeable before the end of the story.

For a novella, this story totally worked. There was character development, conflict and resolution without seeming to be rushed. However, at less than 25K in word count according to ARe, I felt that $3.99 was a bit on the 'premium' side of the novella range. It's a good story but if it hadn't been for my credits, I probably wouldn't have tried it for that price.

Maniai’s Review:

Fluffy, easy, light, smutty shifter read. I'd probably give it a bit lower than three stars, but for two things: one, it handled a shifter trope I hate and treated it the way it should be treated, and b) I liked how the "chubby heroine" aspect was handled. In the case of the former, I absolutely loath the whole "sniff sniff you're my mate" b.s. that comes with so many shifter romances. This utilized that, but kind of poked at it and seemed to play with the fact that it's a ridiculous trope. In this story, they "recognize" each other as mates, but he's put off by the fact that she's short and "chubby," and she's put off by the fact that he's a douche for not immediately recognizing and appreciating how awesome and fabulous she really is. Eventually they come to their senses and live HEA. (Hey, it's less than 70 pages long.)

Still, it only gets 3 stars because, frankly, the smut did very little for me - it seemed pretty unoriginal and cut and paste generic smut. Or maybe I've just gotten numb to sex scenes in romances (I hope not!). Also, toward the end, the whole "Teddy bear" thing got a little eye-rolly and repetitive.

All in all, though, cute, quicky read.