The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson – Take Me Away… On the Pages of Your Story

e-Audio, 11:00:22
Narrated by: Samantha Summers & Joe Arden
Release Date: December 5, 2023
Published by: Books on Tape (Berkley Publishing Group)
Read from: January 9-12, 2024
Stand-alone
Source: PRH App
TW: Abandonment, Medical Content, Death of a Parent
For Readers Interested In: Paranormal Romance, Adult, Omegaverse, Shifters, LOL

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 With outdated stigmas surrounding unmated alphas that have people wondering if they still howl at the moon, Noah has been careful to keep his designation under wraps.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

Lordt this was my first foray into the Omegaverse…. I have no idea what made me want to even read this? I’m gonna say it’s all the fault of these other 3 ladies, Geena, Cassie, and Sarah. We all decided to Buddy Read this and I think it’s safe to say it broke us lmao All of us were new to Omegaverse, so I knew it was going to be fun….. Or fun adjacent at least lol

Ok so the number one best thing about this book was the humor and banter. I was going through a tough spot when we finished this, so I was very happy when I ended up laughing constantly. Mack was hilarious. And the way she interacted with Noah was hilarious as well. He was the Boogeyman of the hospital and she was all sunshine and rainbows. I love the sunshine and the grump trope, and this one was spot on. And the way she cracked his code, gah, I loved it.

I also like the plot. Even though I knew who it was the whole time, I don’t think the author was trying to keep it a secret. Because this person was a fucking jerk from the beginning lol But then there was all the side plots like the person who had a crush on Mack (👀) and of course fucking nosey Jessica lmao All of them made this so much fun. I daresay hearing every time Jessica was spreading other people’s business was hilarious. I remember asking how she had a job because girlfriend was NEVER doing any damn work lol

The other thing I liked about it was the romance. Again this was my first foray into the Omegaverse and I had a lot of questions. I would have Googled A LOT for this book, but I had Tiktok and the others to consult if I needed something. And honestly I was really happy that this was my first one. It was written really easy to follow and I found it just entertaining and not like it was trying to teach me anything. I don’t know if any of them out there are like that since this is my first, but I appreciated that.

However, that was really where my like with the romance ended lol I had some real issues with him making her say Alpha and her saying it in akin to like Daddy or something. BUT I didn’t take off my rating for it because I know that’s a me thing. That’s a wolf thing and I know that if I ever read anything else like this, I’ll have to get over that. There is a power difference between the two and I know I can’t make that a bad thing in my mind. I also had a problem with the in Heat thing. I don’t want to give it away, but Idk how to explain that the lines blurred with consent there to me. Again this is a me thing, but I really need to let it go. Maybe I’m over-thinking it, but it just felt weird. She was in pain so she took care of it. But it was with him because he was there? Idk it felt weird to me and the people I read it with.

I do wish there was more world building. Are there other species out there? Are there ONLY wolf shifters? Idk even if it was more places in the neighborhood or something would be cool. I get that it was mostly in the hospital, and they only had other wolves, but it was really lackluster. There weren’t even any cool cases that they talked about in the story. And like, there’s 2 times they’re wolves the whole book and it’s just weird to me. I guess I’m just weird because I wanted more.

This book was so much fun, but it’s not without its faults. I will say I’m ready for another Omegaverse lite novel like this one lol (I say Omegaverse Lite because Lordt Idk if I can think about a regular knot for a very long time now lmao)

Overall, I give this