Review: "Mate" (Bride #2) by Ali Hazelwood

Mate by Ali Hazelwood
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Summary from GoodReads

A Human hybrid and an Alpha Were claw against the bonds of fate in the highly anticipated companion novel to the New York Times bestselling Bride.

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…

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REVIEW

The sequel to Bride caught me by surprise. Following Serena after the ordeal she had, being kidnapped by the vampires, I never expected her story to captivate me more than the first book. She slowly rediscovers her identity as a hybrid human-werewolf, and she also has to deal with the prospect of being mated to Koen, the Alpha of the Northwest pack.

Torn between duty and desire this was a really good, solid sequel. I enjoyed the humor of the wolf pack and how Serena slowly became part of the pack. What always got me were the small sentences in the beginning of every chapter from which Ali gave us Koen's inner thoughts. I loved those.

The story did not feel rushed and had a steady pace for me, at least, with a really good last part of the book. Ali never disappoints with her characters, and I would really like to see her experiment more with the genre.

About the author:

I’m originally from Italy, lived in Japan and Germany, and eventually moved to the US to pursue a Ph.D. in Neuroscience. I was a professor for about three years, but in 2022 I quit to write full time. When I’m not writing you can find me prowling around AO3, binge-watching shows with my three feline overlords (and my almost equally feline husband), crocheting, or eating candy.
(The name of the dog in the picture is Chica; she is not mine, but I wish she were. Love to Chandra Wicke for the photo, and to Barbara for introducing me to my new bestie.)