Easton Novak is hiding something fearsome inside of him. An unconventional upbringing has turned his inner grizzly into a berserker—one who has all but destroyed his humanity. Being around people isn’t easy. Not when he doesn’t understand any of their reactions, or half of what they’re saying. And if he can convince his alpha he’s half sane, he just might let Easton live. But when the raven from Easton’s childhood shows up at his door again, he knows he’s slowly sinking into a madness he can’t come back from.  She’s not real.  She can’t be.

Raven shifter, Aviana King, is terrified of bears. They’re her people’s natural enemy, but she hasn’t been able to forget the bear cub she befriended all those years ago. Faced with a loveless courtship she doesn’t want, she visits Easton just to see if the sparking feelings she felt for him when they were kids are still there. The only problem is, he thought she was just a friendly raven all those years ago, and now he doesn’t recognize her human form at all. But as she searches for the courage to approach him and his terrifying Gray Back Crew, it becomes clear that the sweet silver bear cub from her childhood has grown into a powerful, dominant, barely-controlled monster grizzly.

Now, the greatest threat to Aviana’s life is the man she loves.   He isn’t Easton Novak anymore.   He’s Beaston.

Sexy shifters and their feisty mates who aren’t shy about loving each other – so, this is an adult, 18+ reader tale.

Titles in the Gray Back Bears series include:  Gray Back Bad Bear – Gray Back Alpha Bear – Gray Back Ghost Bear – Gray Back Broken Bear – Lowlander Silverback – The Last Immortal Dragon – A Very Beastly Christmas

Title:  Gray Back Broken Bear
Series:  Gray Back Bears #4
Author:  T. S. Joyce
Published:  September 3, 2015
My Rating:  4.5 stars

From the beginning of the Gray Back Bears series we’ve known that Easton is an out of control Shifter.  He is barely holding on to his sanity and his need to fight constantly is taking a huge toll on him and his crew.  At some point soon his Alpha will have no choice but to put him down.  Time is truly running out for Easton – and he knows it.  Living in a trailer separate from his crew, Easton knows the depth of loneliness and despair.  He has moments of great kindness, times when he can function among his friends, his crew – but for the most part he has now become almost completely Beaston.  A man, a bear out of control, dangerous to not only others but to himself as well.  At this point he believes there is nothing that could possibly save him or if he even wants to be saved.

Aviana has lived her life in fear.  Her people, raven shifters, are a totally reclusive group of shifters who are terrified of and violently hate every other type of shifter species… especially bears.  Yet, as children Aviana had first found Easton in his bear form, deep in the woods abandoned and starving.  In her raven form she tried to help him, food and tiny items to lift his spirits were left where he could easily find them.  When it was discovered that she was helping a bear shifter, even a child, her parents put a halt to her activities.  Now years later and facing an arranged marriage that she does not want, Aviana is taking her courage firmly in hand and seeking out Easton once again.  There was something between them, she simply knew that, but would Easton remember her or even want to know her once he realized that she could have done so much more for him in their childhood but was stopped by her clan’s fear and prejudices.

Gray Back Broken Bear was such an anticipated story, and one that was both difficult and uplifting to read.  We (the readers) knew that something horrible had to have happened to Easton for him to be in such dire straits at this time in his life.  I don’t know that we were prepared for the cruelty and indifference, and pain that were the true benchmarks of his younger life – and how that affected his life became quite obvious.  My heart broke for this man.

The romance with Aviana is full of parts of pain and happiness, hope and disillusion but finally it’s about a love, a bond that is unbreakable.  And a love that will mend one man, one woman into a untied couple who can face anything… together.

I had waited on pins and needles for Easton’s story – Ms Joyce certainly delivered a heartfelt story so deep, so poignant that emotions ran high as I read this one.  If I could this story would get 10 stars – and be worth every single one.

I read this story through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

Available for the Kindle