1.43k reviews for:

Bear

Julia Phillips

3.39 AVERAGE

adventurous hopeful sad fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
emotional sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I did not expect for one moment that this book would be so sad until the moment it became a tragedy. It sure was gorgeous, though.
dark emotional sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
adventurous challenging dark tense fast-paced
dark mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Expand filter menu Content Warnings
dark mysterious sad medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: A mix
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Yes
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark emotional sad slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: No
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

This one was crazy... Bear love, sister love, but somehow not about love, it's about survival and the tragic reality of another failed american dream. And then that tragedy/failure manifests itself in a bear. I was surprised and devastated the whole time.
dark emotional medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Complicated
Loveable characters: No
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes
dark emotional mysterious sad tense slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven: Character
Strong character development: Yes
Loveable characters: Complicated
Diverse cast of characters: No
Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I ended up liking this book quite a bit and am glad I had to read it for a book club or I think I would have DNF’d it at the 25% mark. We are in Sam , the younger sister’s head throughout the book and she is a tough hang in the beginning (really for most of the book). But as the story begins to come together as the end draws nearer, I began to understand why we are in her head (and why we aren’t comfortable there - she isn’t either). I know the ending is divisive but I liked it - it brought reality crashing back when the author could have gone full fairy tale. I think it will make for a great book club discussion!