My Boyfriend Is a Bear by Pamela Ribon
My rating: 4/5 cats
this is just a sweet breezy romance story of a girl who loves a bear.
it’s not played for provocative lady/bear taboo like Bear, nor is it going full bore to smuttown like The Maiden and the Bear Gods or Mounted by a Monster: Poking the Werebear nor is it intentionally blending humor and smut like Sex Bear: The Legend Continues/Sex Bear: The Choad Warrior. and while i’m in the midst of being shocked at the number of books i have read that involve humans and bears in intimate entanglements, it is not about a stuffed bear like Taming My Teddy Bear nor a shapeshifting bear like Bearly a Lady and it is indeed about a real fuzzy wuzzy bear and not a bear in its “i really shoulda known better” slang usage like The Bear and the Scout Master.
i did not realize i had such an interest.
like Bearly a Lady, it has a romantic comedy vibe, but it’s not relying wholly on the situational laffs of the mixed-species kissin’ – you can read it, if you please, as a metaphorical bear, filled as it is with the generalized free-floating anxieties that infect all relationships.
but it’s equally true that there are certain conflicts that will only arise when your lover is a bear, like “how to deal with the strain hibernation puts on a budding relationship.”and, of course, dealing with the reactions of friends, family, and ex-lovers, to the announcement that you are dating a bear.
but, really, what good would your friends be if they didn’t instantly disapprove of anyone with whom you chose to share your heart, beast or no beast? so that one works as metaphor, too, BOOM!
dating a bear is very much like any relationship – getting to know all about each other
the learning curves
the pros
and cons
working out how to sleep comfortably alongside a new body
and, most importantly, making sure the cat’s on board with your new love.
literally
it’s a frothy little bonbon of a book, an escapist smile that is not at all pervy, even if, unlike me, this is your first human/bear romantic rodeo.
rarrrrr
