Unmarked

Free review copy of Unmarked (Inked in Auroral Bay #1) by Juno Ridlowe A cozy, spicy bear shifter romance. 18+, open door, happily-ever-after. The ink won't take on a liar. That's the first rule of Auroral Bay. Calla Quill came home to sell her late grandmother's tattoo shop and catch Friday's 9:40 ferry out. She wasn't planning on the six-foot-ten man in a kitchen chair on her porch in the rain, who takes her duffel, runs hot as a woodstove, and doesn't flinch when her needle skates off his skin and the ink beads and runs. Torin Halvorsen has kept that porch for eight years. He's gentle, he asks before every touch, and he is also a bear, in a small Alaska harbor town where the ink is made of cave mushrooms and sea-kelp and the northern lights are about to wake every tattoo on the harbor road. The closer Calla gets to the truth, the closer she gets to a man who has been keeping one promise for a very good reason. Tropes: bear shifter hero who is always in control, gentle giant who falls first, tattoo artist heroine who sets the pace, one bed in a storm, forced proximity, small-town harbor community, found family, touch-starved hero, northern-lights magic. One couple only: no love triangle, no cheating. Content notes: Adults only, 18+. Spice 4 of 5, open door: frequent, explicit, emotionally driven; the heroine leads. The first open-door scene comes a little after the one-third mark. Sex is in human form only. HEA: Calla and Torin's romance is complete with a happily-ever-after, and they stay together. Cliffhanger: the book ends on a cliffhanger. The danger comes from outside the couple and Book 2 follows. Please do not request this copy if cliffhangers are a dealbreaker. Trigger warning: grief for a grandparent and a family's loss; a threatening outside buyer with some on-page intimidation; storms and a landslide, including a scene with children in a school gym; a teenager in danger on the last page; needles, tattooing and piercing; fishing, hunting and putting up food as ordinary life; alcohol at a bar. Not in this book: cheating, sexual violence, dubious consent, abuse of the heroine, harm to the heroine by the hero. Format: EPUB. Full-length novel, full text, no teaser. Transparency: the cover art was generated with AI image tools, and the book was written with AI writing tools under the author's direction and revised by the author. This is the same note that appears in the book's front matter. About honest reviews: this copy is free. A review is never required and nothing extra is given for one. If you do review, I only ask that it be honest, whatever the rating, and that you mention you received a free copy (for example, "I received a free review copy and am leaving this review voluntarily"). I will never ask you to change or remove a review. Please do not share the file, and tag spoilers (especially the last page).