Why I Hate Bound to Two Bears... and Why I Need to Stop

Bound to Two Bears is nearing its five year anniversary later this year. It was the catalyst for a twenty-three book series, translated into Spanish, French, and German. Two spin-off series spawned from that pool - Project Zed and Midnight, Mississippi. And yes, I do still have plans for a Bear Mountain Next Gen series (the muse has been going in a new direction and took me off course.)

But I kind of hate that first book.

I was in the middle of writing a Sci-Fi story that was giving me a headache and wouldn't go where I wanted it to go, so I decided to write something quick and fluffy, just to shift gears and work on anything else.

Bound to Two Bears wasn't supposed to be a big deal. I wrote it quickly and tossed it out to the world—as I often did in those days.

It was supposed to be a one off. One and done. No series. 

Yet, there was something about the world I'd hinted at that was intriguing. Before I'd barely finished the first one, ideas for more came. Characters started whispering in my mind and telling me tales. I wanted to dive back in.

Then the readers came and either loved it or hated it. There seems to be few in the middle of the road. When I first published it, I was firmly in the loved it camp. The ones who loved it were vociferous in that love and wanted MORE.

And I gave them plenty more.

Years passed. I grew as an author and I started seeing all the shortcomings with that first book. What I could've done better. What I should've changed. I added the 1.5 book, revisiting that story—in my attempt to give them a little more.

Tonight, as I write this, I was sharing in an MPREG group and I almost shared this book and didn't. I didn't want folks to read that and that book be their first impression of me as a writer. 

Yet, look what it created.

It gave us a whole world of loving bears, bear cub babies, and Project Zed, which I am INCREDIBLY proud of.  It was a stepping stone I had to be on to lead me to books like His Surrogate Omega and One Wild Heat.

There is no me now without Bound to Two Bears.

It shows me just how far I've come.

That book holds a promise that in five more years, I could grow even more. 

I need to stop apologizing for it, being ashamed, and accept that it is what it is... a book that held a lot of potential that a BUNCH of amazing readers apparently saw and came along with me for one wild, amazing ride. 

I love you all for it.

Bear Mountain Around the World!

Translations are a wondrous thing. It's been a little over a year since my first book was translated and it's started me down a very interesting path. 

Bound to Two Bears has now been translated into three languages - Spanish, German, and French - and I have been talking with another foreign publisher about rights elsewhere. 

The series has been a best seller in Germany, where the 17th book just released (and the German publisher has also contracted the rights to Project Zed and Midnight, Mississippi). Spain has been a little harder nut to crack. Their MM genre is thin, at best, and the sales have been mellow -- but there have been a handful of excited readers that have been reading along.

French was the newest one and Lié à deux Ours just released a little over a week ago. It hit #1 in France, Canada, and even the US! (There's a category for French Romance in the US, go figure.) A second one will be following in a couple of months, and hopefully the third a couple of months after that... (we shall see... the translator is awesome, and very busy because of that. Getting translations is slow work.)

There's something really cool about finding new fans on the other side of the world and getting messages and emails telling me they've enjoyed my stories. I never expected this series to grow into what it has and it boggles the mind to know how far it has come.

My readers are amazing... I'm still in awe of you all.

 

FREE BOOK - Bound to Two Bears (Bear Mountain, 1) is now free!

Newly dumped Carson Davies decides the vacation he’d planned to take his girlfriend on—in hopes of fixing their troubled relationship—is the perfect getaway he needs to clear his head. A few days of solitude, hiking along picturesque Bear Mountain is just what he thinks he needs to move on. But as soon as he arrives, he’s shocked by the sensual reaction he has to the two owners. The two male owners. Carson has never been attracted to a man, and he fights the sensation tooth and nail.

Royce and Jared know their mate as soon as he walks in the door of the main lodge. They’re ready to claim what’s theirs, but know they need to be careful. The man sees himself as straight, but that’s the least of their problems. They’ll need to show him their true nature, their inner bear, and hope it doesn’t send the man packing.

The shifters have just three days before the human is scheduled to go home. In a short span, they’ve got to show Carson how bound they all are and hope they can seduce the man into surrendering.

*This title has been updated with a second edition, released in May 2016*

Twisted E-Publishing  *  Amazon  *  BN  *  iBooks

New Boxset - Bear Mountain, Volume One

For those of you who haven't picked up my Bear Mountain series yet, my publisher just released the first four books in one boxset -- priced 35% lower than the titles individually!

Twisted E-Publishing  Amazon

The first four books of Kelex's bestselling Bear Mountain series in one e-book set:

Bound to Two Bears

Newly dumped Carson Davies decides the vacation he’d planned to take his girlfriend on—in hopes of fixing their troubled relationship—is the perfect getaway he needs to clear his head. A few days of solitude, hiking along picturesque Bear Mountain is just what he thinks he needs to move on. But as soon as he arrives, he’s shocked by the sensual reaction he has to the two owners. The two male owners. Carson has never been attracted to a man, and he fights the sensation tooth and nail.

Royce and Jared know their mate as soon as he walks in the door of the main lodge. They’re ready to claim what’s theirs, but know they need to be careful. The man sees himself as straight, but that’s the least of their problems. They’ll need to show him their true nature, their inner bear, and hope it doesn’t send the man packing.

The shifters have just three days before the human is scheduled to go home. In a short span, they’ve got to show Carson how bound they all are and hope they can seduce the man into surrendering.

Claimed by Two Bears

Raised by bear shifters, Paul has always felt out of place. As a human, he’s not allowed to play a role in the shifter community he’s been surrounded by his entire life. When his job at Bear Mountain is jeopardized, he considers leaving the only home he’s ever known to seek out the thing that’s always felt missing in his life.

Betas Brynn and Tomas awaited their human mate for many years. When an orphaned infant showed up on their doorstep, they knew the male would one day grow to be their mate. Ignoring their protective instincts, they left the valley and the male behind, knowing they couldn't be in his life or they’d threaten the future they'd one day have together.

When the two bears finally return to find Paul a man, they know it’s time to claim what they’ve always known was theirs.

An Omega for Two Bears

Asher McCreary not only has a terrible family name, but he’s an omega as well. After years of abuse by his wild family, he’s finally broken into too many pieces by a would-be pair of murderers. As he lays in his hospital bed, he finds champions in Graham and Airan, the Bear Mountain sheriff and doctor, both adamant they’ll protect him from the ones who fractured him.

Graham found the omega bear battered and left for dead in the woods of Bear Mountain. Unable to ignore the mating scent, he’s shocked to learn he and Airan are bound to another bear, not the human they’d expected.

Overcoming their odd match will be the least of their worries when Asher’s attacker comes after the trio full force, ready to destroy as many bears that get in his way to the head of the council table.

Promised to Two Bears

Bear lays with human, not bear.

Or so the old bear law has always said. It was beaten into Declan and his brother bear, Ryder’s heads since they were small, just like every other cub in school. Yet when they find their mate, an omega, sneaking a dip in the mountain’s spring, Declan can’t ignore the need he feels, bear or not.

Ryder feels the same lusts, but he’s much more concerned about an omega being their mate. He knows claiming another bear could get them exiled. He stops Declan before things go too far, but even that isn’t enough to stop them from being sent off bear lands.

Gage knows his mates when he sees them, but also knows they can never be together. As an omega, he’s the lowest chaste in the bear world, an invisible slave to those above him. The fantasy is too scary to imagine, no matter how much his body yearns to be claimed by the two handsome males. It’ll take the bear world to be flipped upside down for the three of them to find a way to be together.

Twisted E-Publishing  *  Amazon

NEW RELEASE: Welcome to Bear Mountain -- Bound by Two Bears

Today's the day!  Bound by Two Bears is here.  Meet bear shifters Royce and Jared and their human mate, Carson.

Newly dumped Carson Davies decides the vacation he’d planned to take his girlfriend on—in hopes of fixing their troubled relationship—is the perfect getaway he needs to clear his head. A few days of solitude, hiking along picturesque Bear Mountain is just what he thinks he needs to move on. But as soon as he arrives, he’s shocked by the sensual reaction he has to the two owners. The two male owners. Carson has never been attracted to a man, and he fights the sensation tooth and nail. 

Royce and Jared know their mate as soon as he walks in the door of the main lodge. They’re ready to claim what’s theirs, but know they need to be careful. The man sees himself as straight, but that’s the least of their problems. They’ll need to show him their true nature, their inner bear, and hope it doesn’t send the man packing. 

The shifters have just three days before the human is scheduled to go home. In a short span, they’ve got to show Carson how bound they all are and hope they can seduce the man into surrendering. 

Buy on Amazon