“Tales of power and ambition and intrigue and betrayal and desire - when you're telling those in a big way, you automatically want to go to Shakespeare.” -- Beau Willimon

Mason Croy is a real boar. No, not ‘bore’ are in boring, but Boar, as in big-ass, brutal, brawling Razorback Hog. Brought in to replace yet another bear Clinton the Beast ran off from the Boarlander Mobile Home Park, where the C-Team of the Damon’s Mountain lumberjack bears live, Mason is a badly damaged boar shifter, brawling to hide the pain he carries inside. And his brawling is causing a real problem for Rebecca ‘Beck’ Anderson who has been brought in by Damon Daye, the Last Immortal Dragon and owner of Damon’s Mountain. Beck’s job is to improve public relations between shifters and humans, her driver, Mason, isn’t making it easy. And it isn’t as if Beck’s own life is all lavender and fuzzy bunnies either. Her divorce has left her crippled, emotionally and financially, and she is determined to succeed in her job, even if it means taking on a brawling boar like Mason. Because she has a lot more to save than just herself.

The political story continues strong through Boarlander Beast Boar. But there is more than that, as Mason’s backstory is much more deadly than the Boarlanders understand. And it is moving onto Damon’s Mountain in a wave of brutality and death.  This time, it isn’t only the humans who are a danger to the Shifters of Damon’s Mountain. And there may not be a “happily ever after” for Mason and Beck – or any of the shifters of the US. Of all her books set on the mountain I loved Bash’s story the best. . . But now that I have read Mason’s I have to say I love it just as much, though for much different reasons.

I have received books from T.S. Joyce in the past in exchange for a realistic review. I am not sure if I received this one for free, so I will just say that I have received books in the past in exchange for a realistic review and this one may or may not be one of those, but how I received the books has no impact on any of my reviews. If you haven't read Joyce's Damon's Mountain Series, I highly recommend you read them in order. They are so much fun, yet running parallel to the same hatreds and prejudice we see in the world today that they are more than the sum of their parts. Enjoy!

“There comes a time when one must take a position that is neither safe, nor politic, nor popular, but he must take it because conscience tells him it is right.” ― Martin Luther King Jr., A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches

Kirk Slater is a rip-roaring, chest-beating, musclebound gorilla shifter, plunked down in the middle of the Boarlander Mobile Home Park, filling in for the C-Team's rapidly diminishing bear lumberjack population. As personal guard for Kong, (Lowlander Silverback (Gray Back Bears Book 5)) Kirk knew his place in the world. But that was all turned upside down when Kong stepped outside the role he was destined to play and left Kirk on his own to face an entirely different life than the one he expected.

The world of Damon’s mountain is changing as well, as political pressures, prejudice and race hatred are restricting the rights of shifters in the US in a quickly tightening noose. And part of that noose is Officer Alison Holman, one of a team of two undercover police officers sent to restrict access to and from Damon’s Mountain. Unknown to her partner, a rabid shifter hater, Alison quickly learned that the stories she has heard about the viciousness and animalistic behavior of shifters is untrue, and she has been helping the shifters of the mountain. And when Kirk moves to Boarlander, she discovers that this particular Silverback Gorilla is appealing on a whole different level. And Kirk? After what he did to Kong, he knew he would be allowed a family group. But just maybe Kong had the right idea after all. One woman to love seems freakish and unnatural – until he meets Alison.

Again, the Boarlander stories are shifter romance tales, that is a given. But they are richer than simple bear shifter (or in this case, gorilla shifter) meets his mate tales. The stories are building into a situation where the shifters are watching more and more of their rights being stripped away by the human populations fear, hatred and prejudice. Something is going to have to give, and the shifters are banding together, going toe-to-toe with the humans in their own arena. Can they rescue their rights by gaining the hearts and minds of the human population of the US?

I have received books from T.S. Joyce in the past in exchange for a realistic review. I am not sure if I received this one for free, so I will just say that I have received books in the past in exchange for a realistic review and this one may or may not be one of those, but how I received the books has no impact on any of my reviews. If you haven't read Joyce's Damon's Mountain Series, I highly recommend you read them in order. They are so much fun, yet running parallel to the same hatreds and prejudice we see in the world today that they are more than the sum of their parts. Enjoy!

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” ― Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad/Roughing It

Boarlander Bash Bear is the second in T.S. Joyce’s Boarlander Series, part of her group of stories revolving around the Shifters of Damon’s Mountain. I was so glad I didn’t have to wait long for Bash’s story! In Boarlander Boss Bear, we got to meet Harrison Lang, the Crew Boss for the Boarlanders, the C-Crew of the mountain.  They are the ‘dead-ends’ – the team that would rather bleed each other than get along. Well, mostly due to Clinton, the biggest pain-in-the-ass on the mountain.

Sebastian “Bash” Kane has been fighting the ban on women in the park from the outset, and now that Harrison and Audrey are hooked up, Bash gets the OK to fill that hole in his heart – if he can find the right woman. And the right woman just happens to be Emerson Elliot, a damaged woman with a dark history who is simply looking for a friend (although she has had a crush on the Bash for years . . .)

Bash himself is a pure joy as a character. Lighthearted, big, and goofy, he considers himself to be stupid, and is embarrassed about it, but his heart is so very good, and he is so sweet, you can’t help fall in love with him and wish he were yours. And actually? Well, Bash isn’t as stupid as he has been led to believe, and you will have to read the book to truly enjoy the layers he reveals.

The romance is here, just as expected, but there is a lot more to like about this series than just snuggles. Joyce addresses serious issues of prejudice, race hatred, nasty politics and more. The Boarlander series promises to be much more than just another Shifter Romance.

I have received books from T.S. Joyce in the past in exchange for a realistic review. I am not sure if I received this one for free, so I will just say that I have received books in the past in exchange for a realistic review and this one may or may not be one of those, but how I received the books has no impact on any of my reviews.

This is the first book by this author that I've ever read. Given that this is tied up with another series (or two), I was a little bit lost when it came to the shifter "world" and how things worked. I also didn't know any of the side characters and I felt like it was slightly taken for granted that the reader would have some familiarity with them.

Once I got over being slightly lost, it was an okay story. I didn't feel particularly connected to either character. I thought Harrison was a weak alpha for allowing Clinton to dictate so many things. Audrey was likable enough. I think it was an average story, but I probably won't follow up with the next in the series.