Mate by Ali Hazelwood was the 5th book I read this year (yes, I am doing pretty tragic with my reading goals…). This is set in the same world as her debut romantasy novel Bride, but follows the mc’s adopted sister.
A summary attempt
At the end of Bride we learn that Serena is a werewolf/ human hybrid and that is why she was kidnapped for most of the book. This book deals with the aftermath of those events.
The story opens with Serena on the run from a vampire intent on killing her. She had been hiding out in a remote cabin to protect her adopted sister from learning about her illness when a bounty was put on the head of the ‘only’ werewolf-human hybrid in existence. Luckily, Serena’s reluctant mate gets there in nick of time to save her, bringing her back to his pack’s territory. To protect the other, much younger, hybrid, Serena proposes that they offer her up as bait for the other vampire bounty hunters, taking her somewhere deep in Koen’s territory.
Koen isn’t happy about it but agrees on the condition that she stay with him, Serena is worried that if she stays with him, he’ll figure out her secret. She’s already worried about the fact he’s been saddled with her as his mate, let alone if he found out it was with a mate who has been told she will die soon. Thankfully Koen ends up being so busy that Serena manages to hide her illness from him. Through various seconds in command, Serena tries to learn more about this unusual and bizarrely young in age werewolf community but there a lot of history they seem reluctant to tell her. Over time she learns that Koen’s is bound by a promises, tied into this complicated history and why he become pack leader so young that prevent him from even being with her as a one night stand, she also begins to unravel how the Northwest pack’s history is tied to her own mysterious past.
Tensions rise between them but as both of their secrets and pasts start to come to light, it appears that Serena’s condition may not be what it seems and that the restrictions on Koen could flex a little. All while this is happening, multiple bounty hunters are out to get Serena, as is a human/ werewolf cult that is tied to her origins and the pack’s complicated history. Will she finally learn where she came from? Will the grumpy Koen finally bend for someone else?
My review
This book definitely has a bit of different pace to Bride, we spend a lot of time in the cabin with Serena going through the motions of her days. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing because it is kind of right for her character, after a lifetime of being the human pet to a vampire used as a political pawn piece, it made sense she would want a quiet, peaceful life. I really liked how her relationships with Koen builds and how her dark humour meshes well with his grumpiness. I think the world behind these books is interesting and there’s definitely scope for it to be explored more if there’s romances Ali can squeeze out of the other characters. Most of all, it’s just one of those books where you can tell the author loves the genre and that always has an impact on how fun the book feels.
Will definitely be reading more if she’s makes them, I am biased Ali Hazelwood lover so I can’t promise this review was super neutral!
Antonia Bernardin 