Mate by Ali Hazelwood

Title: Mate

Author: Ali Hazelwood

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: Bride # 2

457 pages, Paperback

Publication: October 7, 2025

Source: Personal Library

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Serena Paris is orphaned, pack-less, and one of a kind. Coming forward as the first Human-Were hybrid was supposed to heal a centuries-long rift between species. Instead, it made her a target, prey to the ruthless political machinations between Weres, Vampyres, and Humans. With her enemies closing in on her, she has only one option left—if he’ll have her.

As Alpha of the Northwest pack, Koen Alexander commands obedience. His authority is so absolute, only a fool would threaten his mate. It doesn’t matter if Serena doesn’t reciprocate his feelings, nothing will stop him from keeping her safe.

But power-hungry Vampyres and Weres are not the only threats chasing Serena. Sooner or later, her past is bound to catch up with her—and Koen might be the only thing standing between her and total annihilation…

MY THOUGHTS

I read and enjoyed Bride last year and was excited when I heard there would be a sequel featuring none other than Misery’s BFF, Serena. However, since its release, the reviews have been a mixed bag, and I felt some trepidation about starting it. Still, I prefer to form my own opinions and don’t really listen to or care too much about what other readers think (at least not enough to sway whether I’ll read a book or not).

The dry humor I enjoyed with Misery is alive and well in the second book, with Serena, Koen, and Misery, of course. That said, I wasn’t immediately sold on Serena as the female lead the way I expected to be. I don’t recall how much page time she had in the first book, but I didn’t remember her being so immature and childish. The dry humor didn’t work in her favor, and I didn’t find her particularly endearing. As I continued reading, I also noticed that Hazelwood’s characters tend to be written in very similar ways, I didn’t feel like anyone truly stood out. Don’t get me wrong, it was an okay novel, and I did enjoy some scenes. However, on top of the mediocre characterization, the plot itself was also ridiculous.

For example, for a good third of the book, Serena believes she’s going to die and actively prepares for it, only to find out she isn’t dying at all but is actually in heat. Serena is so horny, she thinks she's dying...cue major eye-roll. That is one of the dumbest plot points I’ve ever read. Then there was the religious cult and her painfully obvious, predictable connection to it.

Koen, the love interest, gave me major ick. I didn’t understand why the author used immature, made-up words for him; it wasn’t funny or cute. I was honestly close to DNF-ing over the word “jizzmuffin.” Gag. I also didn’t like how he was mean to Serena and repeatedly told her he wasn’t interested, while consistently doing the exact opposite. Yes, I understand they’re mates. Yes, I understand the covenant pack rule. I still didn’t like it. Serena wasn’t much better: she spends most of the book convinced she’s dying, constantly reminding herself and Koen that they can never work and listing all the reasons why. Then, once they both decide to flip the bird to the rules and have a week-long screw-fest, they suddenly love each other and would die for one another. Yadda yadda yadda. It was hot-and-cold, unrealistic, and hard to believe, especially considering they’d only really known each other for a couple of weeks.

Oh, and speaking of “dying”; as weres, you’d think they’d be able to smell the difference if someone were truly on the verge of death. That’s literally been scientifically studied and proven in animals…just not in this book, apparently. That inconsistency annoyed me to no end.

As I said, Mate was a decent read, but I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as Bride, though, to be honest, my memory of Bride is now a bit fuzzy. For a book like Mate, it was awfully way too long. It had no business being as long as it was. I think this is the end of the road for me with Hazelwood’s books. I didn’t like the writing this time around, nor the characters or the plot. There were some good scenes and a few funny moments, but overall, it was a disappointing read.