It’s release day!!! 🥳 Surprise! I know I haven’t posted about this here. I had a cover reveal on Holly’s blog and forgot that maybe I should’ve posted it here too.
Poke the Bear is a box set of bear shifter stories written by Ofelia Gränd and Holly Day, so all by me, just some are written for specific days while others simply are bear shifter stories.
This release wasn’t planned, which is why I’m a little disorganized (let’s use that as an excuse at least). Many months ago, my publisher asked me to put together some titles that could work for box sets. I did, and then we got no further.
Then a few weeks ago, they emailed me and said one of the other JMS authors had a medical emergency and had to pull out of the release they had planned, but since it was on such short notice, there was no time to get a new story through the editing process, so could we do one of my box sets? I said yes but had no idea which box set we’d do since I’d suggested a few different options.
Then, when the cover first came, it only said Holly Day on it, and I didn’t double-check anything. About a week ago, I got an updated version with both our names on, but then I’d already done a cover reveal on Holly’s blog and… yeah.
Here we are! Release day 🥳
This story has five bear shifter stories, and four of them have a bear with a sweet tooth. I don’t know what I was thinking when I wrote Saved by the Bear and didn’t make Imre obsessed with cakes and cookies. That’s just wrong LOL.
If you like bears, sweet things, some fated mates, and are looking for something to read this weekend, check it out!
Poke the Bear
If you don’t want to attract the bears, hide the cakes!
In this box set, there are bears everywhere. They’re in the elevator, in the bakery, even in the apartment next door. And they’re hungry, always hungry … and often grumpy, at least until they find their mates. But then other problems arise. Like how do you tell someone you’re a bear shifter without scaring them?
Contains the stories:
Saved by the Bear by Holly Day: Would knowing how you die change the way you live? Frode inherits a book that shows his past and his future, but can he trust the book? It’s showing a bear in the garden, and there is only Imre, his neighbor. When the book predicts his death, Frode turns to Imre for help. They leave the city in a hurry, but will the book keep them alive or will their journey end in a gruesome prophecy?
Elevator Pitch by Ofelia Gränd: Bjorn Ritter only wants one thing — to live his life away from nosey bears. That’s easier said than done when you’re living in a Bear community. Cecil Baxter might be a bat, but he grew up away from shifters, and he’s d continuing to keep his distance. His day goes from bad to worse when he finds himself trapped in an elevator with a huge bear shifter. But, what could go wrong in three minutes?
Blown Away by Holly Day: Espen Urso doesn’t want to be out in the storm, but a group of alphas is trespassing, and he needs to defend his territory. The alphas he can scare off, but when he sees they’ve hurt a tiny bird shifter, he loses his patience. He has never believed in omegas, and not until he takes Arvid in does he realize the trouble he’s in. Is it even possible to defend his territory with an omega in it?
The Cake Shop by Ofelia Gränd: York is attacked by a rivaling werewolf pack. Injured and exhausted, he takes refuge in a bear-owned bakery. Torbjorn doesn’t do people, he doesn’t do wolves, and he will definitely not mate one no matter what the pull in his heart says. York has finally found his mate, but Torbjorn refuses to let him stay. How will he make Torbjorn understand he means him no harm when he refuses to talk to him?
The Birthday Bear by Holly Day: For more than a year, Gabe has known Riley is his mate, but Riley isn’t ready. He stumbled into Gabe’s bakery after having left his abusive ex, and he needs time. But if Gabe waits too long to tell Riley what he is, Riley will feel betrayed. If he tells him too soon, he will run away, and Gabe isn’t sure he can survive without Riley. How do you tell your skittish human mate you’re a bear shifter?
Buy Links:
Paranormal gay romance: 103,158 words
Excerpt:
(From Elevator Pitch by Ofelia Gränd)
Bjorn sighed as the elevator came to a stop in the foyer. He’d hoped he could go directly from the underground parking to the top floor where Mother had her office, without being seen.
He prepared to smile at the guest wanting to get to his or her room, but when the door slid open, there was no one waiting. With a sigh of relief, he leaned against the wall. The elevator was the size of a broom closet and it only had a narrow door that slid open to the left—no double doors here. The hotel was built in 1909, but he doubted the elevator had been there from the beginning, or maybe it had. When did they invent elevators? Late 1800s, perhaps.
The door began sliding shut when there was a commotion by the entrance of the hotel. Bjorn peered out, hoping the receptionist Osborn Wilson, Nita’s son, and Bjorn’s third cousin, would be too focused on whatever was going on to notice him.
A panting young man was standing in the middle of the lobby. His dark hair was pointing in every possible direction, and not in an artfully styled way. His jeans were paint-stained and tattered, his black shirt had a T-Rex tangled up in Christmas lights and the text Tree Rex in large block letters despite it being April. His black-rimmed glasses sat askew on his nose. He was on the thin side, shorter than Bjorn, but most people were.
Bjorn grinned, but then a pack of wolves pushed through the door and the grin died a quick death. What were they doing in a bear hotel? It didn’t matter if they were low ranking and only in their twenties, they should know not to set foot in a bear establishment uninvited.
The man made a shrieking sound before diving for the shrinking opening into the elevator. Bjorn braced himself for the impact. The wolf in the lead reached for the man and would’ve caught him if he hadn’t looked up at Bjorn. The moment Bjorn allowed his bear to peek through his eyes, the wolf dropped his arm.
By some miracle, the human—he had to be human, Bjorn had never met a shifter with glasses—managed to squeeze himself through and only brush up against Bjorn’s arm for the briefest second.
The wolf took a step closer, his eyes locked on the man, and the naked hatred on his face shocked Bjorn.
“Fucking fag.”
Bjorn rolled his eyes. So he liked dick, why did every fucking shifter in this city have a problem with that? The door finally slid all the way closed, hiding him and the panting human from the world.
“Friends of yours?” Bjorn sought eye contact without success. Instead of his breathing evening out, it became more and more frantic. The scent of paint, panic, and coffee overtook the small elevator.
“Easy, man.”
Wide, frantic eyes snapped to Bjorn’s. Yeah, definitely panic there.
“Hey, slow your breathing. You got away from them, you’re safe.”
The eyes, if possible, got wider. “Bear.” He could hardly make out the word between the breaths, but when he did, he frowned. How could he know?
The light flickered and the elevator came to an abrupt stop. Bjorn groaned. They stood still between floors.
Everything went black.
The man made a keening sound and a wave of magic washed over Bjorn. What the fuck? The sound of clothes hitting the floor made him roar. He’d assumed the man was human.
Fur exploded out of his body as his bones and muscles changed form. What could he be? Spider? Fear clouded Bjorn’s mind. Snake? His clothes tore, the seams fighting to hold everything together as the fabric shredded.
Bjorn hit the wall, tried to sidestep, and hit the other wall. Something shattered under his paw—glasses. He winced and his behind hit the door. As a bear, he had excellent night vision, but the elevator was pitch black. He couldn’t see the man anywhere.
Taking a deep breath, he willed himself to change back into human shape. It didn’t happen. Something bounced against the ceiling and Bjorn tried to duck, but the elevator was too damn small for him not to hit the walls with every little motion.
A clicking, high-pitched sound bounced off the walls and Bjorn flinched. Bat? It was the sound of a bat, right? Bats couldn’t kill bears, could they?
He took a nice, deep breath and slowly his body responded to his demand and changed back to human shape.
“Come on, man, change back.”
Nothing happened except the flapping and bouncing.
Ofelia Grand 