Rugged Glimpse (MFM)
Rugged Savage Valley, Colorado 1

Professional Reviews

4.5 NYMPHS: "Rugged Glimpse is the first book in the Rugged Savage Valley, Colorado series. This book is a little intense, emotionally, as Elena tries to start over. The mating situation with the bear shifters is different than some stories about other shifters. I thought the author did a beautiful job trying to explain how a bear could lose his mate before he actually claimed her. Once Elena, Joseph and Caleb get together, things heat up. Land use issues are at the heart of the suspense in the story. While everyone tries to keep Savage Valley rural and a safe haven for shifters, as well as bringing some modernization to the town, residents want to keep developers out. This author kept me up reading most of the night with this story. I couldn't wait to find out how some of Elena's issues resolved and how she would accept Joseph and Caleb, once she found out they were shifters. I look forward to reading about the rest of the shifters in future stories. The publisher indicates to the reader that there are two different series within the Savage Valley, Colorado collection; I found reading this story that it references The Pride of Savage Valley, Colorado series quite a bit in this story. In this reviewer's opinion, a reader needs to read both series concurrently, with the first book in the Pride series being read first before reading Rugged Glimpse. There is a lot of crossover in this story with that one." -- Amazon Nymph, Literary Nymphs Reviews

4 RAVENS: "Edith Dubois’ book , Rugged Glimpse is the second book I have read in the Savage Valley series. The dynamic of the series is very intriguing as Ms. Dubois’ linear series about bear shifters is part of a parallel series by Helena Ray about mountain lion shifters. The sheriff of Savage Valley and his brother, also the deputy, are huge men who just happen to be bear shifters, which the very British photographer Elena unexpectedly discovers. Meanwhile, the comedy of the book comes out. Caleb is suffering a mighty case of blue balls from having recognized Elena as his and Joseph’s mate, but being unable to get her into his bed. He seeks out the town doctor to find out if there is something he can take to reduce his severe horniness. The doctor recommends he see the town vet about getting “fixed” which quickly ends the conversation. Concerns about needs for sex are finally put aside and the brothers seduce Elena, or she seduces them. Either way, it is a mutual affair and the sex is meltingly hot. These bear men are about the most virile hunks in the valley and Elena is up for whatever they may want to do. By the end of the book they have done three-ways in a torrid variety of styles, making Rugged Glimpse a very, um, stimulating read. We get to spy inside the shifters’ heads when they are in bear form and their man/bear language is laugh out loud funny. A road is a hard-path-of-man, for example, but the funniest one is reserved for the minions who work for the head villain. When the shifters are in bear form these clumsy hit-men are named the stupid-ones-who-work-for-the-bad-one, and their rather feminine car is a she-looking-driving-machine. Norman Ulysses and his blundering goons are still trying to take over Savage Valley and either run out or kill off all of the inhabitants so he can build his monstrous resort facilities. The shifters, who were created by the local Native Americans generations ago, are held responsible for protecting the environment. Part of the spell also means that they can never move away from Savage Valley, so they are not only protecting the valley but also the only home they can ever have. The HEA at the end is delightful, with a party, a marriage proposal, the promise of a cub, and a sneak peek at who could be the main characters in the next shifter romance set in Savage Valley. I am enjoying this series very much, particularly the humor in the bear shifter stories. Ms. Dubois’ book can be read independently from the mountain lion books, but it’s great fun to see Chelsea and her lion-men from Mountain Pride again, briefly, in this book. It doesn’t matter whether you start with Rugged Glimpse or Mountain Pride because these are highly entertaining shifter/menage books either way." -- Mrs. C., BlackRaven's Reviews

Excerpt

STORY EXCERPT

“Shh.” Joseph pressed a warm kiss to the top of her shoulder.

Coming up for air, Elena said, “It’s just that this whole being with two men thing is kinda freaking me out. But at the same time, every time I breathe you in, it’s like my brain forgets to be worried about it.” She took a deep breath, and sure enough, she could still feel the doubts and the hesitations flitting around her mind, but it was like they were somehow diminished, like an ant where an elephant once stood, pesky but no cause for alarm.

“Add on top of that the whole bear-shifter thing, and I should be running away from you faster than a mouse from a hawk.” Elena frowned. A mouse from a hawk? Where did that come from? This place was really starting to rub off on her. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. On the one hand, she liked the sense of belonging she felt in Savage Valley. On the other hand, at the bottom of everything and after everything that had happened to her in the past, she was an English girl through and through. She didn’t come to Savage Valley to forget who she was. She had come here to forget only what she had been through.

Now was so not the time to fall for a couple of bear-shifting brothers. This was not something she felt prepared to deal with. Actually, she didn’t know if anyone could ever feel prepared to deal with having bear-shifters as lovers, but she definitely didn’t. She could not handle this. She had to get away. She needed some air, some fresh air to breathe.

She started to wriggle, trying to clamber out of their grasp, but in doing so, she took a deep breath, and suddenly she felt calm again.

Everything was fine. She was meant to be here. This was her home.

She felt strong here.

“Amazing,” she whispered, rubbing her finger along the straight line of Caleb’s nose and then across his lips.

“What’s amazing?” He smiled at her, his black eyes warm.

“I’m not scared. I want to be scared, but I’m just not.”

“It’s all part of this whole bear thing, little darlin’.” Joseph spoke from behind her, and she grinned at the promotion her nickname had received.

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there’s a particular reason Caleb here hasn’t seen you in weeks.”

“And why is that?” Elena looked deep into Caleb’s eyes, wanting him to answer.

“I did something foolish. You see, when a bear-shifter is in bear form and catches the scent of a human woman, no matter who she is, her scent will belong to that bear as long as she hasn’t already been mated by another bear or bears.

“And after that incident in the diner, I shifted, and I ran back to where I knew I would find your scent, and then I took a big ol’ whiff. Now, it wasn’t as strong or as potent as if I had smelled you in the flesh. If that had been the case, there would have been no stopping me. I would have had you right then and there.”

Elena’s cheeks flamed, remembering her encounter with Joseph from a few hours before. Apparently he was experiencing similar recollections because she felt his cock stir to life, and he pressed himself affectionately against her rear.

“Elena knows exactly what that’s like,” he said. Elena sheepishly met Caleb’s gaze, but he looked down at her with such hot desire that she soon forgot her embarrassment. God help her, but she wanted these men again.

“Anyway,” Caleb drawled, “after that, if I came across you again, bear form or not, it would have been pretty much the same thing. We would have gotten one whiff of each other and then, bam!” His sudden shout startled Elena, but he had tightened his arms around her, anticipating her reaction. He smiled wickedly down at her as he pressed his cock against her stomach. “There would have been no stopping us.”

ADULT EXCERPT

Caleb put his lips to hers, pressing against her hard until she relented and opened her mouth to him. His tongue dove in and flicked upwards against the roof of her mouth. Her whole body rolled against his, and his dick poked aggressively into her stomach.

“Your body knows what it wants, Elena.” He pushed even harder against her stomach. “All you have to do is listen.” Tentatively, she reached her hand between them and wrapped her fingers around his familiar length. It jerked, and he chuckled. “This cock belongs to you and only you. Do with it what you will.”

She knew what she wanted. The time for being afraid had passed. She met Caleb’s gaze, feeling strong, feeling empowered by the weight of his cock in her hands and in her control. “I want you in my ass. I want Joseph in my cunt. Make me howl, Caleb. Make me fucking come.”

Joseph groaned, and Caleb smiled triumphantly down at her. Joseph yanked her back against his chest and then down to her knees, and she smiled at the strength she could feel rippling through his body. He rolled and positioned them so that he lay on his back while Elena straddled him, her pussy grinding up against the flat, hard muscles of his lower abdomen while his dick nudged up between her legs. She whimpered with need, knowing that tonight there would be no holding back, no restraint. She wanted to be wild, just like her men.

Placing her hands on Joseph’s chest, she raised her hips, aligning her pussy’s entrance with the tip of his huge cock. She lowered herself, reveling in the sensation of such a big cock pushing up into her depths. It amazed her every time. When he had slid the full length of his cock through the lips of her pussy, he grasped her hips. She wanted to buck, wanted to begin their animal motion, but she knew that Caleb still needed to fill her ass up.

“Why don’t you get yourself ready, little darlin’?”

Elena smiled. “I would love to.”

She reached for the lube that Caleb had brought with the blanket.

“Wait,” Caleb said, catching her wrist. He continued to grasp her wrist as he guided her hand to her cunt.

“First from here.” She raised herself, delighting in the way Joseph’s flesh slid against hers. She grasped the base of his cock with her fingers and used them to follow the lips of her pussy up his shaft, slicking up her hand with her own juices. Up and down she went until her hand was coated with her hot, slick wetness.

Then she moved her hand to Caleb’s dick, coating him from base to tip. Joseph continued to plunge into her, and again, she dragged her hand, stealing the moisture their fucking created, harvesting it the way the town had harvested honey.

The second time, instead of Caleb’s cock, she moved her hand to her own ass, spreading the liquid warmth up and down her crevice. Caleb took control, grabbing her wrist and guiding her wet fingers to her hole. He pushed them inside, making sure to rub them all around the rim. Elena shivered, shocked at the sensation of her fingers in her ass, her ass around her fingers.

“Good girl,” Caleb said when he pulled her hand away. She rubbed it on the wet grass and then braced her hands on the ground next to either side of Joseph’s face.

Caleb didn’t take his time. He smeared a little more lube on everything but then pressed his bulbous tip against her back entrance. Slowly he pushed himself through the tight ring of muscle, her body’s last defense against such a forbidden act. The widest part of his cock pushed painfully through the tight outer rim, sending a wide burn from Elena’s ass straight up her spine. She wanted to clench, to keep him out, but she also wanted him to push harder, to slam into her.

“Come on,” she whined when he still had more of his cock to push in. Shoving her hips back against him, she was rewarded with the sound of Caleb’s loud groan and the feel of his raspy balls tickling the sensitive skin of her exposed cheeks.

Joseph grasped her hips and pulled her toward him. At first Elena was too eager. She couldn’t stop herself from bucking against each of them as they pulled her back and forth between their cocks. “Slow down, little darlin’. Let’s find each other.” His hands guided her, pulled her pussy tight against his body, pushed the end of his dick against the thin, tight skin of her inner walls.

“Now me,” Caleb grunted, pushing himself deep into her ass, his thrust echoing the power of Joseph’s. And at the end of Caleb’s stroke she began to sway back to Joseph and then back to Caleb. She moved between them the way wind moves through leaves and the way water laps at the shore, back and forth and back and forth but never the same way twice.