Mate by Ali Hazelwood (Oct 7, 2025) I loved Bride, with its political intrigue and surprising found family dynamics when it came out last year, so I did stop everything to read/listen to this one!
Serena Paris, a significant character in Bride, is now known to be the first human/werewolf hybrid identified. Because of that, she’s on the run from all factions – Weres, Vampyres, and Humans. We also know that Koen Alexander, Alpha of the Northwest Pack, has recently made the shocking discovery that Serena is his unlikely fated mate, despite it not being reciprocated by Serena. Regardless, she is under his protection, and he (and his pack) will do anything to keep her safe. But there may be things beyond their control that threaten their safety – and their hearts.
Ok, so…I absolutely loved Serena and Koen. Their banter and dynamics were so fun; the pack’s found family was great. It was, from an Ali Hazelwood perspective, a really slow burn with the spice only kicking in during the last 25% of the book. However, I felt like these were great characters in search of a plot. It felt like this could also have been a novella of them in his cabin for a week, and we would have gotten a similar fated-mates love story. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed reading it and will always come back for new Ali Hazelwood, but this one had equal parts hits and misses for me.
🎧 Audiobook Thoughts: (14h, 29m) Now, for some good news. The audio is a banger. Ellie Gossage and Teddy Hamilton are excellent in their duet performance. It is fantastic. The only critique I would have is that chapters often start with Koen’s internal thoughts, and a way to offset those more clearly, as they are in the print version at the beginning of each chapter, would have only enhanced the experience.
Book: 🌟🌟🌟💫
🎧 Audio performance: 🌟🌟🌟🌟💫
🔥 Spice: 🌶️🌶️🌶️
Book Smart Kate 