Quick Synopsis

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

Publisher’s Synopsis

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 With outdated stigmas surrounding unmated alphas that have people wondering if they still howl at the moon, Noah has been careful to keep his designation under wraps.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.

Book Review

Did I ever anticipate reading an omegaverse book? Absolutely not. But thanks to Aardvark Book Club and my unending curiosity, here I am writing a review for a shifter/werewolf romance novel that is 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ ! (I only knew about the omegaverse existed prior to this book due to Lindsay Ellis’s videos about author drama.)

The Fake Mate is a werewolf/shifter, grumpy/sunshine fake dating romance novel about two doctors who decide to use each other for their own benefit. When Mackenzie wants her grandmother to stop setting her up, Noah agrees to be her fake boyfriend since he desperately needs a mate to avoid being fired. And as these things always do, the lines begin to blur from friends-with-benefits to something more with the aid of apparently powerful wolf hormones or something.

Was The Fake Mate incredibly readable? Yes, without a doubt. However, I do not think that factor alone makes for a great novel. So let’s take a closer look.

For fans of Lana Ferguson who are new to the omegaverse, I think she does them a disservice by failing to explain the specifics of the subgenre/fandom in The Fake Mate. There is no real world-building outside of establishing that wolf shifters are a normal, accepted part of society. And while the two protagonists are alpha and omega, which clearly has significance, Ferguson fails to fully explain that important distinction or that there is a third designation – beta. As a result of skimming over world-building and establishing omegaverse basics, there are some details and mechanics of a shifter storyline that will come as a shock to unfamiliar readers (and definitely make you blush).

While I enjoyed the fake dating storyline, I was not a fan of The Fake Mate‘s plot hinging on noncommunication, my least favorite trope. It felt a little out of character for the two protagonists. I also must mention there was a least one large inaccuracy in the true-to-life portion of the book. I know that few people will catch it, but it totally took me out of the story.

As far as romance goes, I felt The Fake Mate to be a little lacking. There is solid banter between the main characters. However, I thought the plot failed to build romantically. Lust is very prevalent and a driving force of the story. But Noah and Mackenzie do not do much falling for one another outside of their crazy alpha/omega chemistry. In the end, I did not fully believe that loved truly blossomed during their steam fest sprinkled with a bit of emotional intimacy on top.

Because The Fake Mate is so entertaining, I still enjoy the book. But my biggest disappointment was the lack of character development. Both Mackenzie and Noah had one or two defining parts of their personalities, and that is it. I was never able to grasp who they were as people, and as a consequence, never became fully invested in their lives. This could have increased my start rating.

Overall, The Fake Mate is a spicy, mainstream romance that dives into the more fringe fanfiction omegaverse. This novel is steamy and entertaining, but if you are looking for deep feelings, you may want to look elsewhere.

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