Title: Mate Set
Author: Laurann Dohner
Series: Mating Heat #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Paranormal romance, Shapeshifters, Werewolves
Dates read: 8th November 2019
Pace: Medium
Format: eBook, Novel
Publisher: Ellora’s Cave Publishing
Year: 2010
5th sentence, 74th page: Mika sighed and dropped her own.

It’s werewolf mating season. All the males are in heat and the driving, sexual lust of their beasts is almost uncontrollable. Mika is human, in an alley, surrounded by four horny werewolves. She knows she’s in deep shit. A tall, handsome werewolf rescues her then demands payment. Hot, sweaty, intimate payment. Grady is a half breed whose human mother abandoned him to his werewolf father, so he knows human women just aren’t safe to fall in love with. The wolf within him wants Mika as his mate, but Grady will not give in. Never. Ever. He’s willing to fight his emotions and his beast, no matter how much sexy Mika tempts him. But neither of them expected her Uncle Omar to assign Grady to protect her from other males—24/7, in her home, sleeping just down the hall. Mika decides to make the best of her vacation and keep the hot wolf in her bed. Grady can’t resist the scorching sex, but he is determined to resist the bond.

The night that I read this I had some serious insomnia. Which was annoying… but on a positive note, I spent that time reading this very fun, cute and kind of lustful novel. Mostly because it was on my ereader and I didn’t want to keep my partner up throughout the night… and boy am I glad that I spontaneously decided to read this… I absolutely adored it and just couldn’t put it down!!!

If you’re planning on reading this, as a bit of a warning – there is a potential rape scene. A close call that is intensely uncomfortable and not for those that can be triggered by such an event. However, it is fleeting, in the beginning and afterwards, makes an incredibly comfortable and fun journey. One that I can’t imagine not having read now that I’ve finished it. Having said that, in this trigger scene, I did reach out for my very big, stocky, protective dog and pull him in close…

As with a lot of the romances that I read, this story featured a woman who is the submissive character in the partnership. Not really a position that I take myself, but one that does tend to work in paranormal romance stories. However, Mika is able to still find a way to stick up for herself. She is able to call Grady on his bullshit and find a way to keep her sense of self, even as she falls head over heels for a guy she’s convinced she can never have.

One of the most common tropes of a paranormal romance (and yes, this book fits a lot of them, but it’s still great), is one or both of the romantic leads stuffing it up in some way or another. Grady does this fantastically in this story. In such a way that made me scream moron and then laugh, because hey, it was late at night and he was kind of cute in his moron-cy. Actually, most of his actions were kind of that typical male inability to remember how communication actually works…

Image source: Goodreads