Thank you so much to Berkley Romance, Netgalley, and PRH Audio for the advanced copies of this! All thought and opinions are still my own.

Look. This was fucking DELIGHTFUL 😅

The Nanny walked so this book could fly.

First of all -- this cover is a crime against the book. It in no way, even remotely accurately depicts the story inside.

But the story that is inside is a wild, delightful, STEAMY romp.

Our heroine is a secret omega who accidentally tells her meddling family that she's dating the grumpy surgeon. Who just so happens to be a secret alpha (hello drama).

We have erogenous hugging. Secret closet rendezvous. A surprise heat. And so. much. knotting.

If you're looking for a really fun, steamy, shifter romance that will leave you both laughing out loud and fanning yourself - look no further. This book is such a good time and I can't wait for more from Lana Ferguson!

🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺🐺
I was dying to get my hands on this book from the moment it was announced! I LOVED The Nanny, so I knew I would love this one too! And I DID. 😍 This book was so unlike anything I have read before. The perfect mix of sweet, funny, and SPICY 🔥
This book was a lot of fun, and I highly recommend it 💜
⭐⭐⭐⭐

....now it's time to start the countdown for The Game Changer!!

This book is what Lana Ferguson does best! It was funny and well written. It's Lana's best book yet, I never thought I'd love a shifter novel but I was genuinely surprised!

DNF at 68%. Maybe I'll slide back in and finish this one day. I honestly feel like I've gotten all this book has to offer and if I continue my rating would be even lower. The pacing is slow but at the same time, all of the juicy bits of the story were given to us in the first 40%. Nothing was left to be desired to keep me wrapped up in the story until the end. I know that Mack and Noah will be together and Dennis will get wrecked somehow. I haven't found anything in the story that makes me intrigued enough to figure out how though.

yup!! keep bringing the omegaverse and shifter books to trad publishing!!!

not my fav book ever but i still had a good time reading it

Very first things first, I knew nothing of the omegaverse, so if you have any interest in reading this book a quick google (although be careful out there, it's a wild search term) of said term would probably be helpful for you, just as it was for me. That being said, this was a totally ridiculous, over the top steamy romance novel and I basically loved it. This review is going to be pretty short, cause I don't have a lot to say about this book other than it made me wish Ferguson was going to write more in this world, or at least more paranormal stories, because this one was wildly entertaining (as was her debut novel, in case you were wondering). It wasn't anything overly new or inventive, and it probably would have worked just a little better if it described some omegaverse things instead of just assuming people knew what they were, but seeing as that can be fixed with a quick google search it's nothing too egregious. With this book Ferguson has certainly cemented herself in my eyes as an author to keep an eye on, and I'll be checking out her next book (out later this year [2024]) because they've all been a delight and I have high hopes for her sports romance too.

Lana Ferguson could write a shopping list and I would drool over it.

I never thought I'd pick up a wolf/shifter romance, but Lana wrote one so I had to. And I loved it. But that's honestly more to do with loving her writing style. I love the way she writes characters — the connections they share, the miscommunications, the mishaps, and especially the fun shenanigans!

This book was described recently as "Grey's Anatomy...but they're wolves" and it's pretty accurate. I loved the hospital setting, the side characters (will we be getting more about these beauties??), and the overall environment. There was also a bit of a mystery and some blackmail going on which kept the suspense strong!

While this book did have a lot of spicy chapters (and trust me, I enjoyed those immensely too), I definitely just love the way Lana crafts stories — she pulls me in and makes me beg for more every time.

Tropes:
- wolf/shifter romance
- enemies to lovers
- he falls first
- office romance
- forced proximity
- fake dating
- fake marriage/"mating"

This was my first Lana Ferguson book and all I can say is that I'm officially obsessed with this author! While the book is very steamy, the love and chemistry between the characters was equally off-the-charts. I'll be reading anything and everything she writes going forward.

I don't generally read paranormal books but this was recommended to me. It was actually pretty fun. Mackenzie is funny and has a big personality and Noah was great too. I love fake dating because it always leads to 'oh no real feelings' and this did not disappoint. This was entertaining.

This was a fun time! I really enjoyed the writing, the two main characters (especially Noah, he was the best), and the banter so much!! This was a fun palate cleanser type of book. I personally don’t think shifter romances are my thing so that kind of took away from the story for me with all of the terminology, etc. I also don’t mind spice in a book but once it gets to a certain point I start to become uninterested waiting for the plot to progress so I think this one was a little too spicy for my taste but that’s a me thing! Still an enjoyable book with great characters.

1) Super hot, but whyyyyy do you have wolf shifters with ZERO worldbuilding. WHY. This reads like an all-human omegaverse commonly found in AO3, but the publisher/author decided that they needed a PNR element to justify the ABO dynamics to a mainstream audience. Solution: let’s make them wolves to explain knotting and heat cycles! WHYYYYYYYY. I won’t stop sulking over the wasted potential. They don’t shift into wolves even once! 😭 Like damn, be honest and just publish the all-human version of this book if the alternative is zero expended effort.

2) The “alpha discrimination” bullshit… I’m sorry, is this Zootopia? Do we need to have nonsense portrayals of bigotry in PNR?? I’m here to have a good time, not to roll my eyes at a half-assed, cringe allegory for prejudice.

Read via audio (narrated by Samantha Summers and Joe Arden).

The Fake Mate was the omegaverse romance I never expected to read in traditional publishing. Like, it's not as far as we know the omegaverse can go, but if you're just dipping your *ahem* knot into the genre this is a nice gentle start while still being batshit crazy.

Such a fun and spicy paranormal read! Perfect for fans of omegaverse and fake dating.

Thank you Berkley and Netgalley for my copy.

I tried so hard to like this but it just wasn't my thing. If fake dating and paranormal romance are what you enjoy then I recommend it for you. It was well written, just not what I would actively seek out. Thank you NetGalley for the advanced preview.

I enjoyed this book way better than The Nanny which ended up being a DNF for me. This book was fun, had good banter and chemistry. Spice was good. I did like that the drama wasn’t too over the top and didn’t drag on for the reminder of the book. Firm believer simple communication can solve a lot of problems and glad that this book delivered in that area. I do hope we get more books in this universe as I’m a big fan of shifter books.

🩺🐺 Book Review 🐺🩺

"We fall in love because our hearts don't speak the same language as our brains. Your heart doesn't have that little voice that worries about what-ifs. It sees something good and goes all in."

I had such a great time reading The Fake Mate by @lanafergusonwrites. So glad we picked it as @swoon.studies first read of our Fake Dating intensive!

✔️ Fake Dating
✔️ Coworkers
✔️ Grumpy/Sunshine
✔️ Werewolves
✔️ Alpha/Omega

-summary-
Mackenzie is tired of her grandma setting her up on dates. Noah's alpha status is called into question at work and because mated alphas don't have the same aggressive stigma, he needs a mate. These two coworkers decide to fake date each other to solve both of their problems; new problems arise as their attraction burns super hot, complicating their fake dating deal.

-my thoughts-

I love fake dating in general but adding a touch of paranormal made this trope even more fun.

- Them scenting each other (instead of the usual oh he smells good like sandalwood)
- The extra aggression Noah feels when other males are around his mate
- Her going into heat (reminded me of JR Ward's Lover Awakened | Zsadist's story which was a formative paranormal romance read for me)
- Much ado about knotting (look, it makes sense that sex would be different if they're shifters, right? 😅)

All of this worked to make the typical romance beats a little unexpected. While I could see why so many folks liked The Nanny, I liked this so much more - I loved that it was a little out there (a paranormal romcom! maybe the sexiest magical realism!) and it is one I will definitely remember! 5⭐️

Steam 🔥🔥🔥🔥
Banter 🗣️🗣️🗣️
Swoon 💕💕💕💕

Lana Ferguson again creates such a unique and refreshing story! The fresh take on the shifter trope is fantastic. This story is flirty and caring instead of dark and dangerous.

"The Fake Mate" jumps right in and is easily understandable with clear and straightforward world-building. Mackenzie and Noah have fantastic chemistry, and their romance is super hot, with plenty of emotion. I love how they are both so protective: Mack fights for those she loves, and Noah is self-sacrificing.

I am looking forward to the next book by this author!

Thank you to NetGalley & the publisher for providing an eARC for review.

This was an extremely spicy shifter book. I rarely read synopsis so i was surprised by the supernatural bent. I more thought it was just a contemporary romance. It was a fun book but not really much to it besides the romance. I would have liked a side plot with one of the friend's or gone deeper into friend's relationships.

This was SOO cute!! A fake dating romance between shifters who are both doctors! I was giggling, blushing and screaming the whole book because it was sooo cute!

Lana Ferguson is an auto buy author for me now! Her writing style is SO easy to follow and her spice is always immaculate. I loved the shifter aspect of this book and how modern Lana made it.

Dr Noah Taylor is my new book boyfriend!

Thanks Berkley for the ARC!

Such a fun steamy read. The fake relationship of it all could have seemed forced but it really seemed so natural for them you couldn’t help but root for them and be on board! All the werewolf lore was fun sometimes silly but all around a fun read