Urban Fantasy Review: Waking Hearts by Elizabeth Hunter

Waking Hearts by Elizabeth Hunter (Cambio Springs #3)

Ecopy from the author

Synopsis from Goodreads
When everything you’ve longed for is standing right in front of you, would you find the courage to chase it when you’ve given up on dreams?

Fox shifter Alison Smith gave up on happy endings when her ex-husband walked out, but that didn’t mean she was allowed to give up on happiness. With four growing kids, Allie is determined to look on the bright side and carry on, even when life seems to keep kicking the girl who’s fallen down.

Four kids, two jobs, and a pile of debt left over from her ex seem overwhelming most days. Luckily, Allie has the best friends a girl could ask for. Especially a certain quiet bear who’s always been her rock.

Patient. Oliver Campbell knows what it means to be patient. But twenty years of wanting one unavailable woman may have pushed him to the edge. With Allie working every night at his bar, their friendship has begun to fracture.

Then old ghosts offer one more kick to the little family that’s already down, and patience is a virtue Ollie can no longer afford. Allie’s ex-husband may be gone, but his actions are haunting his family. With danger licking the borders of Cambio Springs, the bear and the fox will have to work together. And twenty years of unspoken truths may finally come to light.

WAKING HEARTS is the third paranormal romance novel in the Cambio Springs Mysteries series.

 Amazon kindle US/UK

8.5/10

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 I am quietly in love with this series, peeps. Miss Hunter manages to blend a small town contemporary romance with cozy mystery and urban fantasy, and it all works really, really well together.


Allie's character had a sh*tty start in life as we all know by now. She got pregnant from her high school sweetheart, married young and had 3 kids altogether while her husband slowly self-destructed and took her along for the ride, destroying her self-esteem and happy, sunny nature while at it.

 Ollie is this amazing grumpy bear with tough exterior, a biker's bar and a tattooed, delicious body, who's been secretly and deeply in love with Allison all his life while being her best friend and supporting her in every way in the meantime.

He is desperate for Allie to finally see him in a new light and when circumstances throw them together and force them to work as a team investigating her husband's murder, he uses every trick in the book to conquer her heart, and it's unbearably sweet! *pardon the pun*

I loved how Elizabeth really brought these two's animal natures into their characters. Ollie has distinct bear traits: he is extremely patient and is determined to wait for the perfect time to make his move even if he is wrong. He is stubborn and slow to get angry, but when he is enraged it will also take him awhile to calm down and see reason. Allie is fierce and cunning, territorial and flirty as a fox. I could practically imagine her bushy tail up in the air trotting in front of the bear. *grinning* She is lightning fast and has a temper.

Allie's kids is another major attraction of the book - they are adorable and slightly heartbreaking because you can see the individual effect their father's abandonment and death had on them all.

At last, the plot itself carries the suspense well and surprises the hell out of the reader with the expansion of the world-building in the end of the book. I, for one, am so looking forward to see what happens next in Cambio Springs universe. Heartily recommended.

* * *

Я по-тихому влюблена в эту серию, дамы и господа, так как мисс Хантер умудрилась придать ей дух современного романа в маленьком городке, уютного детектива и городского фэнтези. Конечный итог очень и очень мил.

Мы знаем по предыдущим книгам, что жизнь у Алли совершенно херовая. Она забеременела от своего парня в школе, вышла замуж очень рано и нарожала ему троих детей пока тот шёл по пути саморазрушения, уничтожая её уверенность в себе и оптимистичную, солнечную натуру.

Олли прячет под своим фасадом ворчливого, сердитого медведя романтичную натуру и глубокую привязанность к Алли, в которую он был влюблён с раннего возраста, всё это время оставаясь её лучшим другом и помогая ей в различных ЧП. Он отчаянно пытается использовать каждый трюк в книге, чтобы завоевать её сердце, однако делает это настолько ненавязчиво, что Алли остаётся к его попыткам слепа. Только совместное расследование смерти её мужа помогает им начать робкие романтические отношения.

Мне очень понравилось как Элизабет вплела звериные натуры Алли и Олли в их характеры. Олли безумно терпелив и готов ждать до бесконечности совершенного момента для признания в любви даже если он никогда не наступит. Он медленно сердится, но когда  он разъярён, его очень тяжело остановить и успокоить. Алли бесстрашна и хитра как лисичка, и чертовская флиртовка. Она быстра и у неё взрывной характер.

Детишки Алли - ещё одна привлекательная и немного разбивающая сердце черта книги. Эта троица яркая и по ним видно насколько по-разному на них повлияли уход и последующая смерть отца.

Наконец, сам сюжет держит читателя в напряжении до самого конца и неожиданно для читателя расширяет построение мира да так, что я с нетерпением жду следующей книги серии. Рекомендую от всей души.