<i>Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.</i>

I am not going to lie – I did not have high expectations for this one. The premise sounded kinda hokey (rescued from a rampaging bear? Really?) but I’m fully eating my words.

With [book:Bear With Me Now], [author:Katie Shepard] delivers an ambitious debut that matches sharp characters with a delightfully wacky premise, but it also has a dark undercurrent: mental health struggles and substance abuse, especially.

Teagan van Zijl and his sister Sloane both have extreme difficulty coping with their late absentee mother’s raging alcoholism: In Sloane’s case, she has zero follow-through and is prepared to drop out of college to party and couch surf; Teagan, who basically raised Sloane since he was twelve and has now shouldered the job of trying to rescue the family charity his mother left in shambles, has debilitating, out-of-control anxiety. After a panic attack lands Teagan in the emergency room, Sloane checks them both into a “wellness retreat” – aka rehab – in Montana. Teagan doesn’t want to be there, and ditches a meditation session for a hike, where he promptly ends up in the path of an angry bear.

The camps’ Jill-of-all-trades, Darcy, a Navy vet and a nature lover, just can’t seem to catch the break that would allow her to finish her degree and land (and keep) a job working in the outdoors. After saving Teagan from the titular run-in with a Grizzly, Darcy schemes to help Teagan stay on the wagon (though he swears he’s not an alcoholic, don’t all alcoholics deny they have a problem?) through getting out in nature (rather than the faux-therapy sessions offered by the camp) and when Teagan has to quit rehab early to head back to New York, it makes all too much sense for her to go with him to New York as his sober companion.

I’m not an expert (and neither are any of the characters in this book!), but it seems to me like it deals with Teagan’s anxiety with empathy and grace. Some of the plot in the second half of the book gets a little muddy – we spend a lot of not especially illuminating time on with Nora, who sits on the charity’s board, and Rose, the CIO who may or may not be gunning for Teagan’s job – without much payoff. And while it’s clear Shepard is painting Darcy as a fish out of water as she accompanies Teagan around to the office and attends fundraisers as his “sober companion,” but I found those scenes didn’t land quite right.

Still, Shepard took a big swing with [book:Bear With Me Now], and she definitely connected. I can’t wait to read Adrian’s story in [book:Sweeten the Deal].

[book:Bear With Me Now] by [author:Katie Shepard]
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️
🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ Does everybody need a shower or is it just Teagan and Darcy 😅
🐻🍓🌳🐺🦫 Big Sky, big nature
🦦🦦🦦 Zoo heist

Okay. Bear With Me Now was a romcom that truly delighted me from start to finish. I think what I loved the most were the characters! They were so well written and incredibly developed. Darcy literally had me laughing out loud and Teagan was just so sweet and so in love with her. I thought it was fascinating to see Darcy recognizing the traits that others found less-than-desirable in herself and Teagan absolutely adoring those things about her.

Not only the characters were great, but the plot was fascinating too! I mean, mental health always needs more representation in literature. Seeing a male character who struggled with debilitating anxiety and panic attacks was refreshing. And knowing he was dealing with it for the first time in his life was cool to read about too. I think there's a lot of emphasis on mental health in books with younger characters, be they teens or young adults, but people in their thirties need that representation too.

ALSO. A spicy scene where one of the characters was experiencing sexual side effects of the SSRI they were taking?? WHY AREN'T THERE MORE OF THESE?? And the partner who wasn't on an SSRI was so accommodating and encouraging and they both ended up having a great time--just wow. It was hot and real at the same time. What could be better?

The culmination of the plot was amazing too. The characters didn't have some argument that made me think they probably should break up and stay broken up. It was realistic and they were both dealing with their own problems. It was a very good plot and character development with an incredibly satisfying conclusion that made me happy.

Definitely on my list of favorite romcoms.

SLIGHT SPOILERS AHEAD
Also their decision in the end to just literally take things one day at a time had me sobbing. Relationships can feel so huge and mental health can feel so uncontrollable. It really is best to take things day by day and the way Teagan and Darcy did just that made me weepy and so happy.

I definitely requested this one due to the cover and title. I love a good pun and the cover is hilarious! The beginning was very promising but the book wasn’t exactly what I was expecting and I didn’t click with it.

The book is told from two point-of-views and they come from Darcy and Teagan. They meet under some “beary” dangerous circumstances. Sorry, I had to do a pun! I wouldn’t say it was a meet-cute since Darcy was not happy with him but at least did her job and got him the care he needed.

Both of these characters have different backgrounds when it comes to family. They could at least say their parents let them down. It’s one reason why they are both at the rehab camp except Darcy isn’t a guest. I thought Darcy and Teagan were okay characters. They were going through a lot but I just never connected with them. I feel like this may be due to not having enough time for every little subplot and it feeling like too much for one book. Teagan also starts off with a lie to build their relationship and it’s just not a vibe for me. I also think their romance could have been a bit stronger with more development.

The minor characters were definitely more minor. I kind of liked them better though, especially Sloane who needed the rehab more than Teagan. She didn’t want to go in alone and looked to her brother.

A lot of the plot is far fetched and a bit out there. Some of the jokes weren’t funny to me. The ending was very open and I just don’t like those kinds of endings. It left me with more questions than anything. All of this is just based on personal taste and so you can take that with a grain of salt.

Overall, this was okay. It didn’t work for me but it could for you!

💭Thoughts:
This was a fun debut novel. I mean how cute is that cover?! I love the punny name. The meet cute that involved a bear attack was original. Romances that involve the outdoors are slowly becoming some of my favorites.

The romance between Darcy and Teagan was sweet. It’s nice to see two very damaged people coming together and finding love. Teagan’s relationship with his sister, Sloane was a great addition to the story. There bond was really sweet.

There was an issue with the flow and pacing of the book. The middle part of the book slowed a bit and different topics were randomly introduced with no clear reason. Especially the part with the otters. I think the reader has to suspend disbelief in parts of the story as well.

Overall, it’s a cute story for people who enjoy reading stories about two flawed people finding themselves and each other. I’m looking forward to reading more from Katie Shepard in the future.

Thank you @netgalley and @berkleyromance for an advanced copy to read and review.

I loved this book. I want to be friends with Darcy. She is such an earnest person and it's encouraging to see my neurodiverse characters in books these days. The story was lovely and I enjoyed how it ended! This will be in great demand with my summer readers!

After suffering a panic attack Teagan doesn't put too much thought into where his younger sister, Sloane, is taking him until he wakes up at a wilderness rehab resort. Though reluctant to stay, Teagan agrees to stick around for Sloane's sake and quickly becomes besotted with the camps maintenance worker, Darcy, when she saves him from a bear attack. After witnessing Teagan's resistance to the camps daily activities Darcy decides to take him under her wing and help him with his (non-existent) addiction issues.

Bear With Me Now is such a fun and enjoyable read. Teagan and Darcy are absolutely adorable and their cutesy banter and animal jokes had me staying up until 3am just so I could finish the book! While this was somehow one of the fluffiest romcoms I've read I can guarantee you guys the spicy parts did not disappoint! The two main characters grow so much during the course of the book and I loved how individual growth and self-love was highlighted just as much as the growth of their relationship together. While this book is cute and fun it does also cover some pretty heavy topics (addiction, mental health, family trauma). While I can't speak for all topics covered, I can say that the description of Teagan's panic attacks we're very realistic (I do want to note that he ends up stopping medication at a point without speaking to a doctor about it, which is never a good idea and the dangers of this are not mentioned).

The only thing that really disappointed me was how Sloane's issues ended up being pushed aside by the other characters. The whole reason Teagan ended up staying in rehab was because Sloane actually needed to be there and then once they leave we see her slowly go right back to bad habits. She realized she needed help and was brave enough to tell her brother and then ends up being the only character to not get the help she needs was a little disappointing.

Overall, I really enjoyed Bear With Me Now and think it is a wonderful debut novel. This book had me laughing and tearing up, while dealing with some very real world issues. I'm so excited to see what Katie has in store for us next!

There's the willing suspension of disbelief and then there is asking too much of the reader. The opening of Bear with Me Now is excellent, and the title hits the right notes, but when the plot transitions the characters start making choices that don't connect. A lot of the plot developments are piled on the back of privilege - because a person has money they can simply do these things. That doesn't work - there is still logic and if you are setting up a plot where there is romance, but also mental health, and also addiction, and also dyslexia, and also animal rights - it is too much, making it so none of these issues are fleshed out into a reasonable explanation. Dishonesty is almost encouraged through a plot twist where Teighan, the CEO of an NYC Endowment who is at a rehab facility in Montana leads Darcy, an ex-military working at the rehab, to believe he's being treated for alcohol addiction. There's potential in this novel, but I was hoping that it would select a lane instead of swerving all over the road.

This book was a bit up and down for me. It started strong, the beginning was enjoyable and fun. The bear attack and introduction to Darcy is funny and excellent.

The treatment of Teagan and Sloane’s mental health issues is questionable. The way medication is addressed and that Teagan doesn’t continue to talk to a doctor to continue to be treated, or even really consider therapy, was not great. Darcy’s learning issue seems sort of thrown in, not really having anything to do with things, other than ways for Teagan to help her out.

Without adding spoilers, I feel like towards the end, the book came into itself more and the humor and love showed more.

Overall, an enjoyable read.

Thank you NetGalley and Berkley for sending this book for review consideration. All opinions are my own

This book was so goofy. I was enthralled by the set up and the plot from the very beginning. Such a crazy ride but also one that was sweet and heartfelt.

Bear With Me Now is an enjoyable read featuring heavier topics such as mental health and the affects of alcoholism. Make sure you check the authors notes before reading if those topics are something you are sensitive to!

Teagan Van Zijl is not having a great time right now. After his alcoholic mother passed 2 years ago, he inherited her position as CEO of the family charitable foundation. However, the foundation is floundering and nothing he’s doing is helping. The stress gets so bad that he has been hospitalized. After being checked out by his sister, Sloane, he is immediately checked into a fancy, woodland rehabilitation facility. But funnily enough, Teagan doesn’t need rehab - Sloane does. Convinced by his sister to remain in rehab to work on his health and support her, he winds up meeting Darcy Ablano, the handywoman of the facility. Darcy is zealous about the woods and the wildlife that live there. When Teagan gets swiped by a bear, she is the one who takes him to the hospital. This sets off a chain of events that slowly bring them closer together.

Ok, so, this book is definitely not my usual type of romcom. This book focuses heavily on mental health and the symptoms and feelings that accompany mental health issues as well as alcoholism and how it can affect a family even after the alcoholic is gone. Teagan, for example, suffers from intense anxiety and panic attacks. I’ve had panic attacks before and the depiction of them feeling like a heart attack is so accurate. I appreciated that the subject was never glossed over. I also appreciate how Teagan’s struggle with his mother’s alcoholism and the choices she made were discussed. Teagan is a good guy who had a less than present parental situation.

Darcy is passionate to a fault. She is a firecracker of a character, but she overcompensates for past failures by being somewhat abrasive. She is incredibly stubborn. That said, she is very passionate about wildlife and protecting ecosystems. Darcy is one of those people who walk the walk when it comes to conservation and protecting wildlife.

Teagan, on the other hand, is so stressed about everything in his life that he’s not able to ask for help and is just passive. He makes a good foil for Darcy. Teagan is running the charitable foundation and hates his job, yet he feels that he’s the one who has to claw the foundation into better cash flow. There’s several times in the book where he’s offered help or support and he refuses, because he doesn’t want to be a bother or he feels he should shoulder it himself. Teagan’s motto would be ‘I’m fine’ even if he wasn’t. And it makes it tough to watch him be so down like this because Teagan is genuinely a good man. He wants to do right by everyone, but he needs to start doing right by himself.

The pace of the book was mostly good. I wish that they’d spent a bit longer in the woods in Montana. The time in New York was a bit longer than I anticipated but it was very interesting reading how Teagan behaved in his ‘natural habitat’ and seeing how Darcy adjusted. The third act twist happened in the last couple chapters and felt a bit rushed, but it was still an enjoyable ending and I was pretty satisfied with the outcome.

The chemistry between Teagan and Darcy is great. The banter between them is entertaining and the spicy times were also fun to read. Darcy and Teagan both grow over the course of the book and I found myself rooting for both of them by the end!

Also, Katie mentioned on Instagram that there may be otters involved in this book and I can confirm: THERE WERE THREE! 😍

Overall I think this is a great debut for Katie and a great introductory read where mental health is so critical to the story. I can’t wait to see what happens in book two!

Thanks very much to Berkley Romance and to NetGalley for providing me with an ARC in exchange for my honest review.

This book was absolutely ridiculous in the best possible way. Top shelf nonsensical romance, a third round purchase for most libraries

Bear With Me Now begins with siblings: Teagan and Sloane who are in rehab. While we eventually find out why, it does give us the crux of our romance which is between Teagan and one of the workers at the rehab, Darcy. While Teagan and Darcy seem like an unlikely match, the two end up forming a sort of kinship that eventually develops into more after she saves him from almost being eaten by a bear.

While the romance is a majority of the story, I really think Bear With Me Now shines when it focuses on the characters. Teagan has an extremely stressful job and his mental health has tanked yet he’s trying to do everything he can to get back to work. It’s a sad but true portrayal of what a lot of us go through or have gone through. Even so, it serves to make him an even more relatable character.

As for Darcy, she’s struggling with going to school and finding a job. Darcy feels like a failure as she’s dyslexic and can’t seem to get a grip on what she wants. Every time she thinks she’s almost there, things tend to slip through her fingers. What I loved about her is that she didn’t try to change herself but knew she needed to do things to be better. While she didn’t have as much development as Teagan, it was nice.

As previously mentioned the book does deal a lot with mental health, especially for Teagan. He’s dealing with anxiety and panic attacks. I really appreciated how open Teagan was with Darcy and how the two were able to find comfort in each other. I especially enjoyed the intimate scenes between the two as that’s something I’ve never really seen before. It was such a refreshing change of pace and something I’m sure some of us have dealt with in the past.

While I really did enjoy the characters and their romance, there was one major plotline I couldn’t get behind. At first, Darcy believes that Teagan is in rehab for alcoholism and he never corrects her about the real reason why until almost the very end. To me, it felt like that plotline could have been tweaked a bit as it left a bad taste in my mouth. I knew it was coming but still, I didn’t like seeing how it played out.

Despite the third-act conflict, I still recommend Bear With Me Now. It was the perfect blend of romance and mental health without having one take the backseat to the other. I adored these characters, their meet-cute, and the mental health representation. Frankly, I can’t wait to see what Katie Shepard writes next.

This has a very cute cover but handles a lot of heavy subjects with care. I'm kind of tired of this cover trend for this reason, but that has nothing to do with this book individually. The author's note with the content warning was much appreciated. Very heavy, again, but a good debut! I recommend it.

This turned out to be a fairly uneven read. The cover is A+, chef's kiss, love it. The rest of it is not exactly the rom-com that the cover promised.

Essentially: Teagan is the CEO of a charitable foundation and has been trying to wrench it out of his mother's lengthy mismanagement, but he's failing. A panic attack lands him in the hospital and his sister checks them in to ~~~fancy!~~~ rehab in Montana, where he meets Darcy, the resident handy woman who is bitter that her employers did a bait and switch on her, shoving her into the position of maintenance when she thought she'd be doing wilderness education. The two bond after Teagan gets sideswiped by a bear and despite how many times he tries to tell her he's not an alcoholic she continues to not believe him...for reasons unknown...until he finally falls in love with her and decides to lie to her to get her to stay with him in New York as his sober companion, continuing to lie to her about his real issues until well past the point of no return.

So you can see the glimmers of a rom-com in there, but it just never really achieves it. To its credit, I don't think the author was really pushing to write a rom-com, but marketing is what it is, so I get it. That said, there are still problems that kept me from enjoying the book fully. Nothing about the book was remotely cute or amusing, although you could feel it reaching for those heights but just grazing them. Teagan is sort of a wet dish towel of a personality, and Darcy keeps parts of herself hidden even from the reader so it's hard to get a read on exactly what is going on with her in order to feel a connection. I felt distance between myself and the characters, which led to me not caring much about their problems, which never felt fully explored but presented over and over again at surface level. It grew irritating rather than compelling.

This has an interesting concept but I didn't feel like I got to know the characters. They felt one dimensional and their dyslexia and anxiety disorder defined them.

This was such a wonderful debut! Bear With Me Now follows the story of two broken people who meet by happenstance and who find healing (and love) through each other. This author's prose and her wit are both razor sharp, and she has created two immensely memorable characters in Darcy and Teagan. I couldn't help falling in love with both of them as they fell in love with each other. I can't wait to read more of what this author has in store!
Thank you to NetGalley, the author and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

Thanks to Berkley for an advanced copy of Bear With Me Now by Katie Shepard.

The cover drew me into this book and I was expecting something a little different than what this book was. It didn't take me long into this debut romantic comedy for me to see how far-fetched this book was which disappointed me.

The whole bear attack scene wasn't a funny meet cute and I'm sorry a doctor would totally know that's a bear scratch.... I'm a huge backpacker and National Park fan and from that point on I was almost hate reading this book.

It just gets more far-fetched for me with the sober companion and I didn't find any of this book cute or fun, plus I'm not sure the representation of mental health and addictions are that well covered in this book.

Parts of this just weren’t for me. A bit too far fetched. But it was a quick read. Some parts dragged and some were quick.

Thank you NetGalley for eARC in exchange for an honest review.

STOP EVERYTHING AND READ THIS BOOK! First off, thank you SO MUCH to Katie Shepard for letting me have access to this ARC, and thank you to Berkley for accepting her request!

First off this book is really funny! From the start poor Teagan does not want to be there with his sister but sticks it our for moral support. Second off Darcy, who works there, also does not want to be there. Add these 2 crazy kids into middle of nowhere and things will get crazy.

What I found the most funny is Teagon is not an alcoholic, but Darcy is so used to addicts being at this wellness camp that she thinks he is in total denial so he just rolls with it. I love how both of the come to depend on each other and have stability with each other.

The bear scenes are WILD. Bear spray, is also wild. Be careful in the wilderness, you never know what bears are lurking!

I loved how Shepard discrips the parks, the topics of mental health and wellness and just how much of a amazing camping book this could be. If you are going to any National Park or camp trip, you need this book as your companion. I am absolutely buying a hard copy when it comes out.

Author Katie Shepard's first novel, Bear With Me Now, is a good read that delves into the complicated topics of mental illness, addiction, and generational trauma This novel has its share of enjoyable times, is wonderfully written with probably the best wit I've seen in a romance novel, but it also has a few flaws that keep it from being completely 5-star fantastic.

After Teagan, a charity executive, has a panic attack and is hospitalised, his sister forces him to attend a wilderness rehabilitation retreat in Montana. Nearly devoured by a bear, he is rescued by Darcy, who had been serving as the camp's handywoman. Darcy eventually becomes Teagan's sober friend after the two relocate to New York together. Despite the fact that the story is very entertaining and the characters are likeable and relatable, it seems only Teagan any sort of redemptive journey while Darcy and Sloane's struggles just sort of *disappear*, which is disappointing since they are well developed characters that I was rooting for.

This novel has its ups and downs in terms of exploring mental illness, addiction, and parentification. Teagan's perspective on his social anxiety treatment appears to be more focused on discussing the medication's side effects, but he doesn't seem to go to therapy, and just stops taking medication at some point with limited side effects, which is unlikely; meanwhile, Darcy's learning disability isn't explored at all (seems the solution is just to be rich?) and Sloane's addiction is swept under the rug with little attention paid to it.

Bear With Me Now is a pleasant first novel but I was expecting a bit more. If you're in the mood for a cute rom-com, I would definitely recommend it, but I'm not sure I would recommend it for disability/mental illness representation as an OwnVoices disabled reviewer. To be fair, the representation is not bad either - just could have been better.