A big thank you to NetGalley and Sourcebooks/Casablanca for the ARC. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. This is the first in a new series. There are a lot of characters that you meet pretty quickly, this might be off putting for some. I found this to be a wildly immaginative, fun, crazy romp. It sucked me in and suddenly it was 4am with 2 chapters left. Sleep is overrated. I thoroughly enjoyed meeting Annette and David. 4 stars I think most paranormal romance readers will enjoy.

Annette is a bear shifter social worker working with one of her toughest cases. How can this lovable, sweet, and lets face it goofy lady deal with a child so smart that she’s seems two steps ahead at all times? Well that’s what friends are for. Along comes independent investigator David, who just happens to be the bear shifter starring in all Annette’s fantasies as they race to solve the case for this selective mute girl, Caro. Now there’s a bit of intrigue with a seriously rough case, bit the little twists with all the supporting characters characters will keep you on your toes. The author balances the serious nature of the job with lots of humor which is nice and there’s a lot of pent of sexual tension between Annette and David, both of whom thinks the other deserves better (Their relationship though is more in the background than trying to solve the case). My only complaint is there’s a lot of internal dialogue for both lead characters which makes the story hard to follow at times , still it’s a funny shifter romance. 4 stars. I received an arc copy of this book from NetGalley for my honest review.

This book proves that it is in fact not easy to go rogue in real life as it seems on TV...

That being said done parts of this seems a little jumbled and the characters seem rather confused but that in fact sounds more like how it would be in real life if one day you are doing your job like any other day and the next you are drowning in a sea of conspiracy bad guys and danger. On TV you get from point A to point B rather quickly and things often go according to plan and everybody always seems to know what to do and where things are going. So going rogue? Going off the grid? Tracking down bad guys and taking down a crime syndicate? All simple things and the good guys never get in trouble even when outnumbered and outmatched. That’s what happens on TV but in real life I figure everything would be a mess and in deed it is....

The story....

Annette is a social worker and beat shifter who had the thankless job of corralling troublesome shifter juvenile delinquents. Her most troublesome charge is Dev the top smart for his own good sneaky werefox who happens to be 12. The boy can’t stay out of trouble and escapes everywhere they put him. Somehow though he doesn’t much act like it he adores Annette sho is basically the only adult he ever actually listens to. Another arrest for the boy? Just a typical day however this time it’s anything but. This time he’s arrested with a werewolf girl for assaulting a stranger. Too bad the girl in question is refusing to say a single word. It’s pretty obvious that something bad has happened to poor Caro she’s haunted and traumatized and completely mute. Dev swears none of it was her fault and the victim in the incident is acting very suspicious. Annette’s mama bear focus is on the children and getting to the bottom of what is really going on and what happened to Caro. When it becomes clear that somebody wants the children dead and don’t care who goes down with them she’s even more determined to solve this mystery.

With help from David the investigator that works with her office and is also her crush, her possibly crazy partner Nadia, her nemesis/brother Oz and her eccentric roommate Pat, they are determined to find the truth. Which might be easier if they knew who they could trust, because somebody is clearly leaking information. And somebody doesn’t want them investigating. But when they find that this whole thing involves trafficking shifter children how can they not try to figure it out? More lives are on the line than the two children they are protecting. And really young rogue and breaking the rules isn’t easy.



I liked this story and all the characters were fun and funny considering the situation and all. Though they were rather oblivious to some things but I guess it can be excused in the high stress of the situation... maybe? Just saying if you are dealing with a trafficker of some sort and he admittedly says he works in “imports/exports” and somebody adds “exotic pets” into the mix it does deserve some thinking over not just in hindsight. Also it was rather naive of Annette to think that the secret of the shifters was such a well kept secret of course regular humans know they exist even if the world at large doesn’t seems like common sense to me especially considering they acknowledge that everybody is walking around with a camera that’s also a computer and it’s called a phone. And so maybe some of the side tangent filled conversations are ridiculous but it’s still enjoyable and there were a few surprises in there that you can’t see coming.

The moral of the story is that humans and shifters both kinda suck and do terrible things. Also never underestimate a protective mama bear.

This feels a little rushed. It's a fun story that I can definitely recommend to existing fans of the author.

My immune system is messed up and freaks out in the presence of sugar. I get rashes and patches if I have even a little. So I mostly put maple syrup in my coffee-- not enough that it tastes like a stack of pancakes, just enough to balance it a bit. The were-bear characters in this book both have a crazy sweet tooth, and one is described multiple times as drinking a cup of coffee that's about 1/2 maple syrup (which he might carry around in his pocket. I don't recommend that-- I know from experience the bottles aren't perfectly leak-proof). I'm not sure how many other readers put maple syrup in their coffee, but this was a fun little connection for me.

Things that were jarring our could have been better:
When they are in their animal selves or even in person selves but high stress situations, the narration becomes stream-of-consciousness style. This makes sense with the laid-back storytelling, but the perspective jumps characters mid-situation. I don't think it was a formatting problem with the ARC or eBook, because it seemed to happen mid-sentence. That makes me think there weren't many tough beta readers.

There is only one sex scene, which is very graphic. It doesn't fit the rest of the book, which has the zany mad-cap feel common to the author's books. If it weren't "full of swears" and a bit gory, it would otherwise probably have more crossover interest.

A beach (or bundled under a blanket snowbound) read for existing fans of the author.

- 3.5 stars -

Bears Behaving Badly is my first book by this author. I love paranormal romances, even if I don't read them as often as I would like. The first thing I had to get used to was the writing style. It took me some time to figure out who was saying what, and sometimes I had to read a sentence twice before I understood fully what was going on. It was pretty chaotic at times, and there were a lot of characters I had to get used to in the beginning. This story is more of a paranormal romcom and it was pretty light for most of the story. I thought the suspense was done really well. I was trying to figure out who the bad guys were and what they were really up to. I loved seeing Annette and David work together and keep their lust for each other in check.

They both have been having fantasizing about each other, but they didn't think the other was interested so they never pursued anything more. The whole I am not good enough thoughts got a bit annoying at times. I also didn't like that the romance was put on the back burner until the last quarter of the book. I wanted more growth in the relationship, but the story was mainly focusing on the case they were investigating. If this book was part of a series and Annette and David's story would pick up where this one ended, then it wouldn't have bothered me as much. But I am assuming this is a stand-alone and the next book will focus on another couple. So I wasn't satisfied with the romance aspect of this book. But the mystery, suspense, and comedy aspect was done really well. I did enjoy the world the author created, and I do look forward to reading more books in this series.

Through NetGalley, I received a free copy of BEARS BEHAVING BADLY (Book 1 of the BeWere My Heart Series) by MaryJanice Davidson in exchange for an honest review. Werebear social worker Annette Garsea occasionally encounters werebear private investigator David Auberon when he arrests some of her juvenile delinquents. The pair meet again through a case involving a teen wolf shifter publicly beating up a fully adult shifter. When a witness says the victim deserved the beating and more, when the teen wolf refuses to speak, and when the victim declines to press charges, Annette and David decide to take a closer look. Then, things heat up as the teen wolf escapes custody, the victim is murdered, hit squads start attacking them, and someone in the government seems to be covering up a shifter trafficking cartel. Meanwhile, Annette and David maintain they aren’t dating, they aren’t in a relationship, and they aren’t even friends.

I enjoyed this book. While the mystery storyline dealt with serious matters and had a lot of action, intrigue, and suspense; the romance aspect was light, sweet, and often silly.

A new series by Maryjanice Davidson and it is a funny and quicky as her previous series without seeming to just be a rerun of them, so if you enjoy a book with a lot of giggles mixed in with your romance then I highly recommend this one or really anything written by Maryjanice Davidson.  I can't wait for the next one!

I have read many of MaryJanice Davidson's books and enjoyed them all. So when I read that she was starting a new series with shape-shifters I jumped right on board. I was not disappointed, this is a quick, interesting read!
Annette and David are shape-shifters, investigating the kidnapping of juvenile shifters. The story moves right along with no boring parts. The cast of characters are both interesting and fun. I really liked them all. At times the banter between them had me laugh out loud. Of course there is chemistry between Annette and David, but even that was written with humor. It's a great curl up on the couch day book!
I will keep updated on future books in this series, I can't wait to see what happens next!
Thank You NetGalley and the Publisher for granting me this book.

Like many of Ms. Davidson's previous books - this one had me laughing out loud. Love the snark and the back and forth between the characters. Hope this is the first of many.

David, you know tends to be a tad bit dramatic, “I’m driving! You can see me driving! Why wouldn’t I be sitting down?” The man tends to not beat around the bush, “no b*****it, pal: how are you? Hospital bad or going home and sulking and having booze for breakfast bad?” The man is sensitive about things, “real men don’t giggle,” he said with a straight face..." I liked this book, I liked David.

Really good to read a new MaryJanice book. Quite funny and an enjoyable start to a new series. Well worth recommending.