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Heat: A Curvy Girl Small-Town Shifter Romance (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 1) Kindle Edition

by Ophelia Sexton (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.5 2,327 ratings

Book 1 of 16: Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters

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"...a perfect Saturday afternoon feel-good read...If you're looking for a book that will leave you with a smile on your face, this is it." - Reader review

A shifter shouldn’t fall in love with a human. So why are they destined to be together?

Curvy cupcake master Annabeth Jones has had enough of her fiancé’s dirty dealings.

Determined to put him behind her and start over, she flees to the quaint Rocky Mountain town of Bearpaw Ridge and buys a bakery with her life's savings. And when a red-hot firefighter strolls through the door on opening day, she can’t keep her eyes off this tasty treat.

Volunteer fireman Dane Swanson has given up on finding The One. So when the handsome bear shifter meets the captivating new business owner, he’s stunned to discover this normal woman is his fated mate. And now he has a heartbreaking dilemma: he can’t tell her about his true nature, let alone spill the town’s secrets.

Though Annabeth falls hard for the hunky hero, she struggles to believe he could be interested in a big girl like her. And as Dane wars with himself over giving his heart to a bubbly non-shifter, an unwelcome visitor from the past threatens to tear it all to pieces.

When desire sparks, will the tortured couple fan the flames?

Heat: A Bear Shifter + BBW Paranormal Romance is the first book in the steamy Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters series. If you like small-town meet-cutes, protective bear shifter men, and a dash of adventure, you’ll love this paranormal romance.

Editorial Reviews

From the Author

My books:
Beast Warriors (co-authored with Bliss Devlin)

Fugitive: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance (Beast Warriors Book 1)

Hunter: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance (Beast Warriors Book 2)

Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters

Heat: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance

Smolder: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance

Ignite: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance

Flame: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance

Burn: A Werebear + Sabertooth Shifter Paranormal Romance

Ash: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance

Smoke: A Werebear + Wolf Shifter Paranormal Romance

Blaze: A Werebear + BBW Paranormal Romance

Ember: A Sabertooth + Werebear Paranormal Romance

Christmas in July: A Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters holiday novella

Inferno: A Sabertooth + Werebear Paranormal Romance

Scorch: A Wolf Shifter Paranormal Romance

Sophie's Christmas Dad

Spark

Combust

Sear

Rob's Holiday Honey

Rocky Mountain Smokejumpers

Hard Landing: A Wolf Shifter Paranormal Romance

Jump Point

Free Fall

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B01ION3CP4
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Philtata Press, LLC (July 18, 2016)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ July 18, 2016
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 1899 KB
Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 256 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #72,384 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #1,604 in Western & Frontier Romance
- #2,436 in Paranormal Werewolves & Shifters Romance
- #5,936 in Historical Romances

Customer Reviews:
4.5 2,327 ratings

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Ophelia Sexton

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Ophelia Sexton grew up in California. She lives in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area, where she spent many years working as a technical writer in Silicon Valley.

While writing is her first and strongest love, she is passionate about her hobbies of baking, photography, and traveling. She spent several years living and working in Sydney, Australia, and has visited 35 countries so far. Her most recent trip was to Armenia, where she took hundreds of photos of the amazing countryside and ancient churches. She looks forward to taking her next trip soon.

Ophelia also enjoys wildlife and bird photography and was recently lucky enough to photograph a wild bear in Yellowstone National Park.

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

2,327 global ratings

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Shayay19

Super steamy and sweet!

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2020

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I listened to this story in the Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Boxset 1. The set has books 1 Thru 6 in this series.

Narrator is doing good. She sounds clear and she has some different voices for the different characters. Quality performance that I enjoyed listening to.

Sweet and steamy shifter romance with some suspense. Actually, there’s a lot of steam going on between Dane and Annabeth! Dane is a bear shifter, who meets new bakery owner Annabeth and knows instantly she’s his mate. Unfortunately, she’s human and Dane has had some past issues with telling people about being a shifter, so he’s understandably wary of telling Annabeth. Annabeth was in a verbally abusive relationship that she stayed in way too long because of low self-esteem. She’s finally realizing she needs to start a new, so at the urging of a friend, she moves far away from her ex. Unfortunately, the ex isn’t giving up so easy.

Loved the connection between Annabeth and Dane. So much passion and so sweet! Love a good protective guy too! He’s also a firefighter, so he’s saving lives. I liked how the author worked in the firefighter aspect into the story. Also, enjoyed the setting being a shifter town and the suspense with the ex.

A fun, entertaining story with lots of hot moments! Looking forward to the next book!

4 people found this helpful

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KatieP

cute

Reviewed in the United States on August 3, 2023

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This was a cute, fast read. A low stakes shifter romance with a baker and a firefighter. Annabeth is very naive and Dane is dealing with some past trauma about a human woman. The trauma could have maybe been explored a little more? It's almost a footnote at the end of the story instead of something he works through with Annabeth. The shifters are pretty human-like. Dane only shifts once in the story, and other than noting his bear likes Annabeth, he doesn't talk about being a bear at all. I would have liked more development there, too.
But all in all a quick, cozy PNR read. I will be checking out the next in the series, absolutely.

Helpful

Marian

Baker + bear-shifter = Yummies

Reviewed in the United States on July 7, 2019

Verified Purchase

Heat: Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters, Book 1

This is a wonderful audiobook, with an easy-to-listen to narrator, great characters, (and a nasty villain) set in a small Idaho town where it just so happens that many of the resident characters are shape shifters.

Annabeth is opening her life-dream: her own bakery. She picked Bearpaw Ridge in Idaho a) because there was a storefront she could afford and b) she’s trying to escape from a bullying boyfriend in San Francisco. She’s a hard worker, she’s done her homework to set up her business, and she’s a GREAT baker. However, the boyfriend is really a scumbag and stalks her even to her small-town refuge.

Shifters know when they’ve met their fated mate. And Dane Swanson, a kind, hunky volunteer fireman--and bear-shifter--realizes that Annabeth is his when he meets her over her brand-new bakery counter. (He also falls in love with her cinnamon buns. So did I, just reading about them. Yum!)

However, although big and dangerous as a bear shifter, and a brave rescuer of people from fires, Dane is scared to tell little baker Annabeth his supernatural secret. She falls in love with him as a man, but will she be able to accept him as a bear? Once he finds out that the ex-boyfriend, Roger (a nasty piece of work), has come to make Annabeth pay for leaving him, Dane does rise to the occasion--with a roar. And Annabeth realizes that it’s not the shape but the character of a man that makes him a monster, or a hero.

The author makes small town life come alive, and also the dedication, strength, and expertise of fire fighters. Bearpaw Ridge is a great book vacation location.

2 people found this helpful

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Marti F

Wow!

Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2023

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Great read! Loved the storyline, loved the main characters, loved the supporting cast, and fell in love with the fictional town of Bearpaw Ridge, Idaho. Ms Sexton has me hooked and ready to read the next one in the series.

Reviewed in the United States on January 27, 2022

Verified Purchase

I enjoyed reading this story about Dane (grizzly shifter) and Annabeth (human woman). They were likeable, as were the secondary ones. I liked that they didn't end up in bed right away. Dane had problems with a human being his mate because when he was in college, he told a woman he was a dating he was a shifter and she freaked out. It ended up badly. Annabeth had a problem being attracted to Dane because of her prior relationship with a guy who verbally abused her. The sex was hot when it finally happened. Danger came from her ex-boyfriend, yep, the one who verbally abused her. She had finally left him after years of abuse. I think she was stupid to think he wouldn't show up to cause trouble given what he'd done to her in the past. Luckily she had Dane, his family and the rest of the town, who rallied around her.

I was surprised to see she handled finding out about Dane really well. That could be because she didn't find out until Dane shifted into his grizzly to run down the ex-boyfriend after he torched her bakery, trapping her upstairs. Dane had been trying to figure out how to tell her about being a shifter and that she was his mate without scaring her away. If I remember correctly, that was the only time we got to see Dane's grizzly. I think there were only a few grammatical errors.

Reviewed in the United States on April 1, 2024

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I’ve read a few shapeshifter stories before, wolves, panthers, snakes, but this was my first grizzly. I must say- it was fantastic! Really had hoped to find out what happened to Roger, oh well maybe it will come out in the next book. Wishful thinking but hope Maggie leaves LA!
Ophelia Sexton, A plus rating, looking forward to book 2 and hope there is more after it. 🧸

Reviewed in the United States on June 3, 2023

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This was a well written book. I have always enjoyed shifter stories, probably because you are truly allowed to use the extent of your imagination! HEAT was just that story with Dane & Annabeth as they had their instalove moment. She was running from her ex-fiancé, while he was running from his past. Could Dane really risk telling Annabeth the truth, or would it just drive her away. Plan for some steamy scenes that just may melt your kindle & the sweetest baked cinnamon rolls you’ll ever try!

Helpful

Texas Angel

I can’t put these down!

Reviewed in the United States on March 7, 2024

Verified Purchase

I have fallen in love with Bear Paw Ridge! These books are amazing! I just can’t put them down. They are definitely a must read

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

CntrlFreak

Lots of sweetness and heat

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 30, 2021

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Finally getting out of a disastrous relationship and making her dream of her own businesses in small town...but this is a town with secrets. Meeting Dane makes life more interesting but can they work through the secrets and crazy exes!! A sweet romantic read with just the right level of heat.

Shelley

absorbing fun sexy book

Reviewed in Canada on March 3, 2020

Verified Purchase

new author for me and I really loved this story. It was something that occurs in real life a woman getting into a relationship with a controlling man who verbally and emotionally abuses them while making them believe that everything that goes wrong is there fault. Not usually saved by shifters however, LOL but that just added to the interesting aspect of this well written story.
The character development was awesome and you just kept wanting to turn the pages to see what shit Roger would pull next and how it would be handled and especially when Annabeth would finally stand up for herself and be firm and get rid of Roger.
I love the way Dane and his brothers stepped up to help a new stranger in town from the beginning and how welcoming they were to her.
Dane had a large secret to tell her about being a shifter and you can't blame him for being nervous to tell it due to how his ex Tanya had taken the news.
Roger's character is such a creep u just want to smack him but sadly so true life of many men. I like how he was caught in the end and would pay for his actions. To many in life get away with them.
This story was full of love, laughter, suspence, humour, good times, sad times, friendship, community spirit and so much more.
looking forward to reading the next story in the series.
and absolutely loved how all the businesses in the town had names relating to bears. a cute and fun touch in the story.

P M Wright

Heat (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 1)

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on June 3, 2019

Verified Purchase

After reading the first one of these books, which I found sexy, funny, and easy to read I went and bought the rest of them.

Hilary Collins

Brilliant

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 16, 2021

Verified Purchase

Heat: A Bear Shifter Romance by Ophelia Seaton. Boy meets girl. They fall in love. Problem. How does he tell his human girlfriend he's a bear shifter. Problem. Her ex wants her back and if he can't have her no one else can. A very well written story and well worth a read.

Heidi

Fun read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 7, 2017

Verified Purchase

A fun shifter read i loved the town how everyone supported each other. Chemistry between the main characters was electric.

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Heat: A Curvy Girl Small-Town Shifter Romance (Bearpaw Ridge Firefighters Book 1) Kindle Edition

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