Review: Bear in the Woods - Toni Griffin

Blurb
Vincent Marsden is a gay romance author with writers block. After being forced to take a vacation by his best friend, Vincent arrives at his destination. A stunning cabin in the Smokey Mountains. Vincent starts to think there could be something to this whole vacation thing until he steps out onto the balcony and comes face to face with a sleeping bear.

After being attacked and drugged Christian Packard finds a safe place to sleep it off. When he wakes, the last thing he expects to find is his mate. Between Vincent's uncertainty about the world he’s suddenly found himself in, and someone out to kill Christian, they have their work cut out for them on the road to their happily ever after. 

Amazon

Although it was an entertaining read, which I enjoyed, I couldn’t help but feel an emotional disconnect with the characters. Perhaps it was the feeling of being dropped in to the middle of a story with little to no back story to go on, but the fact that when the story begins our main character has already been drugged, sets the tune for the rest of the story for me. There is really no build up, no getting to know the characters in order for the reader to really care one way or the other what happens to them.

A Bear in the Woods had all the makings for a really good story. It has a good plot and engaging characters. However it lacked something in the execution. The author attempted to include a bit of a mystery and unfortunately did not succeed. Not for lack of a plot, but for rushing the story. A few more chapters could have built up the suspense and added to the story somewhat. It was a good story, but not great. I really wish the author had taken more time and gone more in depth in the suspense part of the story.