‘Teddy Bears’ is the most adorable bah-humbug to the-joys-of-Christmas holiday story. It is quite impossible not to feel for Brian McKay. He’s such a nerdy dork he both made me smile and broke my heart. To say this man has body issues would be a gross understatement. He doesn’t like the way he looks and can’t believe anybody could possibly find him attractive. In fact, he is so certain he’s destined to be alone he’s even given up on dreaming about a happy ending. His dislike of Christmas runs very deep and is rooted in bad childhood memories, and as the day comes closer, Brian gets ever more grumpy.

 

Enter James Olsen who is everything Brian desires and admires in a man and therefore completely out of Brian’s reach—right? Wrong! When James looks at Brian he doesn’t see an overweight and unattractive nobody, he sees a man he wants to spend time with. All he needs to do is convince Brian that he is really interested and not just feeling sorry for him.

 

The story of Brian’s slow realisation that not only is James really attracted to him but he also deserves that interest is wonderful and very well written. Rather than through a blinding moment of insight it is James’s wooing of Brian through an interest in his hobbies, an obvious attraction, and a genuine date, that Brian comes to accept his own worth.

 

I loved how this book was both very sexy and almost innocent at the same time. The contrast between the free-for-all nature of the bathhouse and Brian’s almost prudish self-consciousness was both poignant and very clever.

 

Brian being willing to settle for the memory of one good night with James all but broke my heart. His subsequent journey put it back together again in the best possible way. Brian’s belief in Christmas miracles came through James, for me it came through Brian’s courage and Brandon Witt’s wonderful writing.

 

Between Brian finding his happy ending and Spike and Angel (read the book if you want to know who they are) this story was nothing short of adorable. As Christmas stories go, this one is a keeper!

Note: Even though this is Book 2 in the series, it works fine as a stand alone.

Halloween is my favorite holiday and when I saw Justin Sloan had a Teddy Defenders book set on this holiday, I couldn’t turn it down. It’s Halloween night and Rick and his little sister Tiffany are getting dressed up to go Trick-or-Treating. Meanwhile, the Teddy Defenders alternate between playing deaf and dumb cute toys and discussing the fun of being taken out with the kids on this fun night. However, things don’t go as they planned. Mia, Tiffany’s Teddy Defender, and her friends are able to move around more freely on this night because of all the costumes. They overhear a conversation about a scary ghost scaring the kid’s at Tiffany’s school and they head there to investigate and take care of the ghost. After all, we know that goblins and such are real; why not ghosts?

While this is a short story instead of the longer novella that Book 1 (Teddy Bears in Monsterland) is, I felt that it was better balanced. The pacing is better, the plot tighter, and we have a better mix of the genders. I also like that we get to know Rick and Tiffany a bit more as they had very small, if significant, roles in Book 1. Additionally, the Teddy Defenders have kept some of the friendships they made in Book 1 as well, so we get some non-Teddy characters in the mix.

We learn a little more about the Teddy powers, especially if they are stressed. Plus Tiffany has a little secret and we all know that Halloween isn’t just the night for treats, but also for tricks. Mia was quite stunned at the revelation and it was fun to see the Teddy Defenders caught off guard and their various responses. All in all, this was a fun little tale fit for the family and it makes a good lunch break listen. I’m looking forward to seeing where Sloan takes this series!

The Narration: Michael Gilliland narrated Book 1 and I am glad the author kept him for Book 2 even though most of the character viewpoints are female. Gilliland has pretty good female voices and excellent little kid voices. He does a great job of keeping each character voice distinct. He also does an excellent job of imbuing the characters with emotion when required. I especially liked his determined or ticked off voice for Mia.

It’s the day before Thanksgiving. Rick and his sister go to bed dreaming of tomorrow’s meal – turkey legs and all. However, both are taken by monsters to Monsterland! Rick’s teddy bear, Ari, who comes alive at night, but pull together his courage and brave the dangers to save his boy and sister.

In this secondary world urban fantasy, Justin Sloan brings us a feel good tale of courage, bravery, facing down evil bullies, and true friendship (no matter what form it comes in). This tale had me laughing out loud on occasion as I pictured the determined or even angry faces on teddy bears as they went to arms. I loved the juxtaposition of ‘ferociously fighting’ and ‘teddy bears’. There’s plenty of other magical creatures in this story such as goblins. Ari starts off his adventure believing that any other teddy bear he comes across will give him a hand. He only had to worry about the monsters. Alas, things are not that simple. Quickly he learns that not all monsters look like monsters.

Meanwhile, Rick and his sister awake in cages. There are other kids, some who want to escape and some who have become a little comfortable bullying the newbies around. The monsters want to play with the kids, but this play is often too rough (think of a see-saw being used a catapult to launch kids into the air).

Most of the adventure is through Ari as he travels around Monsterland and deals with teddy bear factions and politicians, goblins, and other monster beasties. He has his first sip of honey and survives a bit of a sea voyage on a small raft. There’s plenty more, but I leave it  for you to explore.

My one little criticism is that the ladies have pretty minor roles. There’s Rick’s mom, who has like 3 lines. His sister has perhaps 6 lines. There are perhaps 2 female bears, one of which gets to help out quite a bit near the end. As usual, I would have enjoyed having the genders a bit more balanced.

All together, this was a fun, and often surprising, adventure story. Ari’s powers are untapped at the beginning of the story. But as he gains confidence and determination, his powers grow. Also, he shows kindness when he can and this is probably his greatest power, gaining him assistance and even friends. If you’re looking for a fun and heartwarming story, then look no further!

I received this audiobook from the author (via the GoodReads Audiobooks Group) at no cost in exchange for an honest review.

The Narration: Michael Gilliland was a good choice for this book. He had a nice light tenor voice for Ari. He imbued his voices with plenty of emotion as the scenes called for it. His range of emotions for Ari was great as Ari goes through quite a few emotions on his quest. Gilliland also had believable little kid voices and female voices.

Received this book in exchange of an honest review.

Well, since this is a children's book, I'm not gonna sit here and point out all the "that-doesn't-make-any-sense" details.

Like

- The narrator. I fell in love with Michael Gilliland's voice.
- The story about teddy bears coming to life and protect children is pretty interesting.
- The fast pace is probably suitable for young readers.

Dislike

- Improper kiai.
- Gilliland helped me resist my urge to yawn successfully. The characters, especially Rick, don't really leave any strong impression.

Conclusion: Although I don't really like this book, I'm going to test it with some of my students. Will give feedback soon.