Today’s review is about THE FAKE MATE by Lana Ferguson. As the title suggests, this is a fake dating situation, which is a well-loved trope. This paranormal wolf-shifter romance pairs two colleagues in an unlikely situationship. Of course, one thing leads to another and they find there might be more between them.

Author: Lana Ferguson
Series: None
Age Category: Adult
Publisher: Berkley Books
Publish Date: December 5, 2023
Print Length: 400

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Official Synopsis

Two wolf shifters agree to be fake mates but unexpectedly find something real in this steamy paranormal romantic comedy by Lana Ferguson.

Mackenzie Carter has had some very bad dates lately. Model train experts, mansplainers, guys weirdly obsessed with her tail–she hasn’t had a successful date in months. Only a year out of residency, her grandmother’s obsession with Mackenzie finding the perfect mate to settle down with threatens to drive Mackenzie barking mad. Out of options, it feels like a small thing to tell her grandmother that she’s met someone. That is, until she blurts out the name of the first man she sees and the last man she would ever date: Noah Taylor, the big bad wolf of Denver General.

Noah Taylor, interventional cardiologist and all around grump, has spent his entire life hiding what he is. With outdated stigmas surrounding unmated alphas that have people wondering if they still howl at the moon, Noah has been careful to keep his designation under wraps. It’s worked for years, until an anonymous tip has everything coming to light. Noah is left with two options: come clean to the board and risk his career–or find himself a mate. The chatty, overly friendly ER doctor asking him to be her fake boyfriend on the same day he’s called to meet the board has to be kismet, right?

Mackenzie will keep her grandmother off her back, and Noah will get a chance to prove he can continue to work without a real mate–a mutually beneficial business transaction, they both rationalize. But when the fake-mate act turns into a very real friends-with-benefits arrangement, lines start to blur, and they quickly realize love is a whole different kind of animal.

My Review

THE FAKE MATE has a title that says it all and is a paranormal romance story between two werewolves. Mackenzie, an emergency room doctor, no longer wants to deal with bad dates and her grandmother’s obsession of her finding the perfect mate. Noah is an interventional cardiologist recently outted to the hospital board as an unmated alpha. A happenstance encounter in the break room leads to a mutual agreement to be each other’s fake mate to get both the grandmother and the board off their backs. But when their pact turns into a real friends-with-benefits situation, they begin to realize there might be more to their arrangement.

As expected, THE FAKE MATE is predictable but fun paranormal romance. It was exactly what I needed during a busy work week. For those unaware, this is an omegaverse book and my first foray into this subgenre. I didn’t know much about the omegaverse going into THE FAKE MATE. Thankfully, it’s an easy introduction to this type of paranormal romance. It basically reads like a contemporary romance with omegaverse elements.

The writing style is easy to sink into as is the plot. Of course, the initial set up is a bit unbelievable, but that tends to be par for the course with the fake dating trope. Basically, just have fun with it. I thought the author did a good job building up the relationship between Mackenzie and Noah. They first begin as basically strangers, but their agreement forces them to start to get to know each other. It doesn’t take long before they notice the chemistry between them, leading to physical intimacy that evolves into something more.

This book has plenty of spicy content for those seeking a paranormal romance that also has a well-written plot. I appreciated that the author wove those situations naturally into the story rather than those scenes feeling forcefully planted and gratuitous. There is some word repetition that got old quickly. While I understand its point, I also would’ve appreciated the use of synonyms. Additionally, after a little while Mackenzie’s and Noah’s internal thought process about whether they love each other started to feel repetitive.

However, overall I enjoyed THE FAKE MATE for what it is, a glorious trope-filled, paranormal romance. The spice and plot complement each other. There’s decent communication and the characters have personality. Finally, this book serves as a nice introduction into the omegaverse subgenre.

Rating: 3.5
Content warnings: sexual content, blackmail, parental death (historical), parental abandonment (historical)
Reading format: Paperback