Bride was my gateway into the world of Ali Hazelwood. Prior to that, I read and did not enjoy The Love Hypothesis, and so I avoided anything else she wrote, but then I read Bride and it felt like I finally understood. And since then, her books have become a weekend pleasure (I refuse to call them “guilty pleasures” because I do not feel bad for liking them). I like to pick them up after a bad week, early on Saturday morning, and just have a cozy day doing nothing but reading (and giggling and kicking my feet).
Aren’t I lucky she writes like six books a year?
And Mate was obviously one of my most highly anticipated reads of the year. Especially after that epilogue in Bride. Plus, I’m a werewolf girlie through and through — something in my brain chemistry was permanently changed with Twilight, Teen Wolf, and Shiver when I was younger, and I just can’t help it.
So I set off on another Saturday, and the weather was lovely. There’s a view of a hill outside my balcony doors, its bottom swallowed by fog, so you can only see the very top. The trees changing colors to gold and bronze, the lazy autumn rain — all of it was perfect. I made myself a cup of coffee, left the kids to their own devices, and settled in.
That first chapter/prologue threw me off — it didn’t read like Ali Hazelwood, so much so that I checked if I was reading the right book. Twice. But once that’s done we’re back to regular programming. The real story opens with Serena clearly in trouble, running from a Vampyre, and shortly after, we see Koen too. If you’re wondering what happened between them, you won’t have to for long because we do see it in the next few chapters. How he told her about the mating bond and how she reacted.
I have to say, no one ever explains anything properly to these girls. I get why not, because you wouldn’t think to explain a random normal human function to somebody, but still, I feel like these guys should know better. Either way, it made for some fun banter. And I do kind of like it, that neither Misery nor Serena are forced or pressured into falling in love with Lowe and Koen via the mate thing. They remain blissfully clueless, and it gives them time to naturally grow to love their love interests for who they are. Sure, there’s that draw, especially with Serena, of feeling safe with Koen, liking his smell, etcetera, but still.
Serena and Koen have tons of chemistry, right from the beginning. They have a similar sense of humor, and bounce off each other really well.
He’s obviously obsessed with her, but he hides it really well, and even comes off as rude quite a few times. The thing to note here is that he isn’t nice, but he is kind, always. He says a lot of things that sound mean, but if you look at his actions, it’s pretty obvious that he’s a decent man.
And after Problematic Summer Romance, I was sort of scared that the age gap was going to be made into this big thing, but fortunately, it was barely a passing thought. There’s a valid reason for Koen to keep pushing Serena away, though I have seen people say that it’s not a good reason. And look, I kind of agree that it’s a silly rule (without spoiling anything) but it sort of makes sense in this society, and especially with its history. There are plenty of laws in human history too, alive even now, that are generally dumb, so you can’t say it’s unrealistic.
So, overall, without spoiling anything, I really liked Mate. It’s a great paranormal romance, and in my opinion, Ali Hazelwood is entirely in her element writing PNR. It reads fun and fanfiction-y in the best way possible, and I feel like it allows her to explore themes she clearly cares about while also getting to go wild with ludicrously large and protective men, and all of those delicious micro tropes you just can’t find or justify in contemporary romance.
If you liked Bride, you’ll definitely like this one. It’s silly, goofy, and really swoony. My biggest beef with it actually is that there is no epilogue hinting at more books in this universe. Why noot?
And with all of that said, I do have some thoughts that veer slightly negative. But I believe even the books we love, even the books we read to relax, deserve critical thought. So here we are. There might be some spoilers ahead, so skip this part if you haven’t read the book yet.
Okay, so — while I loved the book overall, I feel like the plot wasn’t cohesive. There were so many things happening, and none of them ended in a satisfying way. There’s the plot with her being hunted by Vampyre bounty hunters, there’s a plot with her being hunted by the cult she may or may not have been born to, there’s a plot with her dying, and the plot of them not being able to be together because of the covenant.
And look, I get it; I get that there are many things to cover and all of these are logical in the context, but it just felt like way too much. We could have done with just the plot of her dying and the covenant. That would have been my preference, because I adore plots where one character is dying and then the other one is desperate to heal them; it’s the ultimate hurt/comfort.
Because the bounty hunter thing sort of fizzled out and was solved mostly off-screen, and the cult thing wasn’t really satisfying — we get new characters and because of that, it has very little impact. The health thing wasn’t satisfying either. I get the message of “women are often misdiagnosed, etc.” but I really wish we had a better answer. Perhaps an actual disease? Is that too much to ask?
Either way, the plot was all over the place.
I also feel like there was too much spice. Maybe that’s just me because I’m not a fan of spice overall — I prefer yearning and suffering and then maybe one sex scene as payoff. Even that, I might skim over for dialogue or important emotional beats. But one big chunk of the book was just them locked in a room, going at each other, and I was kind of bored with that.
It’s a werewolf, maybe slightly omegaverse book, so these are a given, but just not my taste, I guess.
So, to sum it all up — Mate was great. I had some issues with it, but nothing that would put me off the book entirely, and I really enjoyed it overall. The romance was great, even if I could have done with less spice. That said, keep in mind that this is not a typical Ali Hazelwood contemporary rom com. This is not the book to read if you’ve never read her books before, or if you’ve never even touched fanfic space.
If you’re new to Ali overall, I’d say read The Love Hypothesis or maybe even Deep End. And if you’re not sure about what omegaverse/fanfic werewolf lore is, maybe check it out and see if it’s for you — and even then, read Bride first, I feel like it’s much tamer than Mate.
But as a sequel (and potential series, please) Mate was perfect. And there are some fun easter eggs and little lines for you that are just lovely if you’ve read fanfic before. Highly recommend!
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