This is a quick, entertaining paranormal romance read, the plot of which is largely summed up by the title—in Handcuffed to the Bear, Casey wakes up naked in the woods and finds that she's been cuffed to a similarly naked stranger, Jack. They have to work together to make it out alive. Esker does a good job on the action-adventure side of the plot, and in having the romance build slowly and believably (there's no stopping for sex while they're running for their lives, for instance), and the cast of characters is refreshingly diverse along a number of axes. There were a couple of points where I found myself squinting at the dialogue, though—for instance, when was the last time you heard a person in real life address a group of people as "you fools"? Still, a light, escapist read. ( )