Title: Grizzly Discovery
Series: Mountain Spirit Mysteries, #2
Author: AJ Marcus
Genre: Mystery, Suspense
Length: Novel (200 pages)
Publisher: DSP Publications (March 24 2015)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 5 Hearts
Blurb: Landon Weir and Brock Summers are happily settling into their life as a couple, easily balancing Landon’s work as an animal rehabber with Brock’s career as a Colorado Parks and Wildlife Officer. When they find a bear shot and skinned, they set out to discover who’s behind the heinous act.
Events force Brock to come out to his boss, causing him and Landon to rethink how public they want to make their relationship. As more bear sightings – and more carcasses – show up in the area, Brock is attacked by a black bear he’s trying to release back into the wild, but his injuries don’t prevent him from helping Landon and their friends with the investigation. Despite leads being thin on the ground, the two men try to uncover the poachers before more bears are killed.
But when the evidence points them in an unexpected direction, Teller County’s bear population may not be all the killers have in their sights.
ISBN: 978-1-63216-026-3
Product Link: https://www.dsppublications.com/books/eagles-blood-by-aj-marcus-36-b
Reviewer: Prime
Review: So I feel the need to restate my feelings from the first book in Mountain Spirit Mysteries series, Eagle’s Blood. Everything about the feel and setting of the book carry over to this one:
I loved this book – obviously since I gave it a 5/5 rating. The big winner for me is that this feels just so completely real in every way that I couldn’t help but enjoy it. The plot then did the rest of the work and I feel in love with the plot and the characters just so damn easily.
If you’re looking for romance, I feel like I keep reminding people about this, but this is a DSP Publication book, the branch of Dreamspinner Press where the romance is not strictly the main plot of the book. So in saying that, there is romance and quite a sweet and lovely one at that, but the book is about more than just the romance.
You should probably read book 1 before getting into Grizzly Discovery, although I think you could get away with not doing so. We pick up with our heroes, Landon and Brock, who are now a fully fledged couple. They are now living together and they are ready to come out with the relationship to the world at large.
The romance between these guys is still sweet and understated, but they are totally suited to each other. I really have to repeat myself again, I just love how realistic and relatable their relationship is.
Clearly, from the title we’ve shifted from eagles to the illegal poaching of bears. This is another racy plot of the wildlife and law enforcement officers of the local area out to catch the people who are poaching the local bear population in a town that is so very close to the wilds to begin with.
Honestly, the plot is very similar to the first but with some key alterations, including the bears, so that you don’t feel like you’re reading the same book for a second time. I binged read both books in the same day and it didn’t feel like the same book twice to me.
I think one of the key components to this book is that we are given the chance to explore the local woods a little more and we the minor characters are given a bit more room to actually develop in this one.
A cute and charming side note is that we get to see more of the eagle chick, Frigga, from the book. The whole falconry aspect of the series is absolutely fascinating and something I would love to see more of in this setting.
I love the remote setting of these books. The descriptions of rugged scenery highlight the plight of the stopping the poaching. I don’t know, maybe it is in the ecologist in me, but I really did love this aspect. They aren’t straight out weird wildlife warriors. Instead, these are guys that care about the environment and ecosystem.
Though I must admit that this business of being a wildlife officer/park ranger seems pretty damn dangerous and not just from the four-legged and furry creatures – the upright bipedal animal seems to be the worst of all.
Now I can’t wait for Book 3: Moose Fever to come out!
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *