Zena Wynn's Mary and the Bear

Okay I didn't read Running Hot yet.  But if you remember I'd already told you that I wasn't really looking forward to it.  But another new author was recommended to me and I have to say that I like her stuff.  It's not on par with Shelly Laurenston, but she is pretty decent.  I read Zena Wynn's  Mary and the Bear.  I liked it.  It was a little different than a lot of the shifter books I've read.  It seems way too easy to become a shifter if you are the "true mate" to one for one thing.  Another thing that was a little strange is the lack of shifter hierarchy as with most of paranormal shifter series.  Usually there is the whole "who's more alpha" and "who should be the top dog" mentality that I usually read. Not to say that someone isn't the "top dog" but there are a lot of different kinds of shifters living in the same town and they get along great...it's the outsiders that they have the most problems with.  But back to the dynamics within the book- Mary Elizabeth has lost her twin (no real lost though when you read the book) and is trying to get away and stay away from a controlling mother that made the comment  -Why couldn't it have been Mary Elizabeth that died?-at the twin's funeral.  So M. E.'s best friend gives her that opportunity by inviting her to manage a new store in "shifter" town.  But Mary doesn't know it's shifter town until after she gets there and said friend explains that while she's under the alpha's protection- other shifters want a mate and she is going to be introduced to them. Luckily for Ms. Mary the guy she is renting an apartment from is a bear shifter and he has his sights set on her.  The erotic scenes with the book isn't bad...but if you like the more hardcore stuff then you might want to leave this book alone.  Wynn is a little more tame then most of the more sexier shifter books, but she is more hardcore than Nalini Singh..almost like Lora Leigh in a way. But like I said in the beginning- I did like her book.  I liked it enough that I also got True Mates and  Nikolai's Wolf. And in case your question is- should you read them in order- the answer is as long as you read the three books together it can be a little out of order but read all three around the same time.  Here is the other reason I said Wynn's shifter books were a little strange/different.  She seems to write three stories at one time.  I really mean that too.  The first book seems to be True Mates the second one Mary and the Bear and the third is Nikolai's Wolf.  The reason I said seems to be is because the timing of the books happen in the same month and each book seems to switch from one character's story to the next.  If you can keep all that straight then you would enjoy the books.  Otherwise- don't attempt it.  It was almost like trying to read The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood.