Bear

Sam and Elena have always been inseparable—two sisters bound by blood, struggle, and the dream of getting off the island that’s held them down their entire lives. They scrape by on the edges of wealth: Sam works the ferry shuttling vacationers to their luxury homes, while Elena slings drinks at the golf club they’ll never afford to join. Every paycheck inches them closer to escape… until a bear swims out of the dark water and upends everything.

It’s massive. Mysterious. And it won’t leave.

Sam sees a threat—one more reason to run. But Elena? She sees something else entirely. Something wild, something magical. Something that might be worth staying for.

Haunting and electric, Bear is a spellbinding story of sisterhood, survival, and the quiet, feral pull of the life we didn’t expect to want. Julia Phillips blurs the line between myth and reality in a novel as untamed as the creature at its heart.