3.5 stars

Pretty decent dark-ish romance erotica. Definitely the sort of dark romance I like that’s more comedic than angsty. On par with Lights Out although not quite as good.

Thanks to Berkley Publishing through NetGalley for the ARC!

OKAY - Thank you Allie Oleander for not only turning this novella into a full novel but also for having your ARC on NetGalley because OMG how I devoured this book!

Shouting a huge thank you to NetGalley for the amazing opportunity to read this ARC!

Claire is my all-time favorite type of FMC - smart, funny, hot, independent, and pushing herself out of her comfort zone.
Shane is my all-time favorite type of MMC - absolutely hot, burly, so sweet and considerate, and a bit awkward/dorky.

I'm torn between hating Claire because she gets to have Shane all to herself because I'm jealous of her, and also so incredibly in love with these two being in love because they're so perfect together.

This book? is HOT. Absolutely a must-read on anyone's dark romance TBR 🥵

This book was so much more than I anticipated. I knew it was a kinky dark romance, but it had a lot more going for it. There was real falling in love, spending time together outside of hunting, learning to communicate, annoying family members, and funny moments. Not all the brooding, scowling, doom-and-gloom I expected! Thanks to Berkley for the ARC.

Allie Oleander is a new to me author and I don't like Dark Romance......HOWEVER, this book made me change my mind. I really enjoyed it. I need Margot to have her own book. She needs to find her way to Caine.

Oh what a fun time this read was. While far from my typical genres that I seek out, this was a fast-paced and satisfying romance.

The expected story beats are all there but delivered in a neat and enjoyable way.

I think readers who want a safer and less dark romance that has similar kinks will find a perfect fit with this read.

I received a gifted copy. This review is honest and voluntary.
I loved this book so much. The mutual unknown pining. The primal play. The character growth. All. Of. It. I can't wait for it to release on my birthday to buy a shelf trophy.

Shane and Claire’s story is heavy in the kinks, exploration and primal play. Claire moves into Shane’s house for thirty days in exchange for $30k so that she can pay off loans. She’s newly divorced and her ex told Shane about how she loves to be hunted in the woods before intimacy. Shane is exploring the kink himself and is glad to have Claire available to look into it with him.

Dark, emotional, tense and entertaining. Def a 5/5 would recommend to my friends and family.
The spice was 10/10

I requested this one on a whim and it was a fun read, if a little light on the plot. I think it would benefit from being marketed/catalogued as erotica rather than romance (nothing wrong with that, but it's good to know what you're getting).

Things I liked: the spice was certainly spicy, the FMC knew how to hold her own, the MMC was open to learning and owning up to mistakes. For a situation that could be pretty fraught, this was surprisingly untoxic.

Thanks to Berkley and NetGalley for the free ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I am shocked at how good this was? I know that it was a novella prior to becoming a full novel, and I wish I would've read the novella to see all the changes.

I'm not usually a kinky person so the romance I gravitate towards is like, vanilla+(+) but once you set the standard going into a book of "this will be different" it did what it needed to do lol. The concept of hunter/prey was interesting and something I haven't seen before but it worked well here. Clare and Shane were both like, normal people outside of the kinkiness which helped for me. Honestly? I would be bad at being ~hunted but I could sort of see why they were into it LOL.

I also liked how the whole story wasn't just about them being kinky. The plot outside of that was actually pretty good and the romance felt believable to me. Obviously this type of thing would bond you to a person but they seemed to have a good connection apart from that. All the side characters were good, and they even give you a man to hate to boost Shane's profile 😂

It was a wild ride and I'm glad I took a chance because I've been needing something to be an unexpected banger and this was it. Definitely pay attention to the TWs if you're sensitive to things because some of it had me 😲 but everything happening made sense in the context of the story.

I received an arc from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you Netgalley and Berkley!

Warning while reading Willing Prey you might blush, you might need a fan to cool down and you might find yourself re-reading certain scenes for research purposes. Willing Prey is smutty and filthy in the most delicious way possible. I didn't know I was into primal play and yet here we are.

Oh it's not all smut though, I found Claire to be funny. There were quite a bit of laugh out loud moments for me. Both characters were funny, but Clair had me dying at times.

I loved Shane and Claire and the spice was spicing between them. over all, I ate this book up and I am so glad I read it.

Thank you Berkley Publishing Group and Allie Oleander for this ARC in exchange for my honest review*

Very steamy m/f primal play romance!

This is a super steamy romance by author Allie Oleander!

Claire and Shane are perfect for each other, they just need to be fully honest with each other to see it! Tons of smut, not too much plot, a very fun read if you like primal play stories.

give me primal play or give me death!
This book has all the kink you could want, it's descriptive and spicy and just might have you looking at the woods in a different light.

You know that absolute JOY of picking up a book on a whim and reading the first 25 pages, to then have to pause for a full 5 minutes and stare off into space because you know this book is going to be one of your all time favorites?!! WILLING PREY did the d*mn thing, wowza!!! I was completely immersed and hooked in this story, finishing it in one sitting. I wish I could give it a million stars, ♾️/⭐️

Lovers of spicy and dark romance will ADORE this book - be sure to read the author’s note and content warnings, which include: sexual content, consensual violence, blood, rough primal play, and light stalking.

Claire is a recently divorced teacher that has significant debt, and enters into a contract with Shane, to be his sexual prey for 30 days for $30,000. It is INTENSE right from the beginning and digs deep, and ends up a profoundly emotional story with high tension and chemistry between our main characters.

Shane was HOT, but also thoughtful and intense in the best way (my personal kryptonite) and entirely focused on Claire and what she needed from him in all aspects. I appreciated the pacing of the story a lot, and each piece of the kinky storyline had the perfect amount of emotional intelligence to make it feel real.

The spice was unreal, and top tier. I literally cannot think of one thing I would change. Every scene was perfection and spot on for primal play and will live in my brain RENT FREE - breaking down the bathroom door/the roof scene?! The “hold onto the tree branch” scene?! The bite scene?? 🔥 and I’m a sucker for a unique nickname so “little deer” really got me!
I also ADORED how much Shane grew and learned the proper way to care for a partner within a BDSM scene, the aftercare journey he went on was so emotional and stunningly well done.

I also didn’t expect the humor on this book, but there were SEVERAL lines that literally caused me to burst out laughing. My personal favorite: “Sir, this is not a Costco.
And sampling wasn't in the contract.” 🤣

I cannot WAIT for this book to be out in the world and to see what the author comes out with next (fingers crossed for some of the side characters in Willing Prey to get their own story - I NEED Margot and Caine!!!)

My eternal thanks to NetGalley, author Allie Oleander and Berkley Publishing Group | Berkley for this eARC of this book in exchange for my honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. Willing Prey is expected to be published on October 7th, 2025!

4.75⭐

𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐏𝐄𝐒: primal play, he falls first, contract, ex-husband's boss.

finished this one last night and what a delicious read!! it's always kind of refreshing reading about characters over 30🙌🏻 this man really met our heroine, found out about her kink(primal) thanks to her shitty ex-husband, and made it his entire personality🤭 GOALS!!! also, i love that the MMC was always in charge BUT he also didn't mind giving up control and being hunted hehehe🤌🏻

Immediately upon reading the trigger warnings for this book I knew that I was in for...something. In the end, this was actually a really good romance book and many of the trigger warnings probably weren't totally necessary.

good lord this book was amazing. i finished it in a day and could not put it down. i stayed up wayyy to late to read and enjoyed every single minute of it. i’m obsessed with shane and loved claire as well. their relationship was honestly so great and it played out so well. the storyline was amazing and i had no idea that this was a novella originally until i read the acknowledgments as it reads as a full length book and honestly i could have had it even longer! i am grateful for the early copy i received and definitely recommend reading if you are into primal romance!

Claire is a PE teacher who recently divorced a cheater and is in student loan debt. Shane is a lawyer who works with the cheater and offers Claire 30k so he can hunt her (in a sexy way) in the woods around his house. She agrees of course (student loans are hell) and through Shane’s point of view you find out he’s actually obsessed with her and stalking her (in a cute way?).

This book works because the characters are oddly believable. Shane is nerdy and closed off but an amazing employer because the women who work for him are absolutely chill and accommodating with his extracurricular activities. Claire is working thru self esteem issues because of her horrible ex-husband and clearly the universe is rewarding her with some good…karma.

Overall this was a quick and extremely spicy read. My only actual complaint is petty because I just don’t like how his brother’s name is Caine? Anyways, he needs a book too.

Thank you to NetGalley and Berkeley for this eARC in exchange for my honest review!

A fun palette cleanser book after reading a thriller where I regretfully said “hot” to the murderer stalking its victim. 🤪

I loved the premise and had so much fun reading this! High spice, fast faced, and a surprisingly sweet romance.
💘🦌
I was so happy to discover the book was dual pov. Also getting Shane’s pov really changed the tone of the relationship and therefore the whole book into something sweeter & more wholesome than I was expecting.
I do wish we had gotten more character background on both characters, but on Shane in particular. His POVs felt very one note, and that singular note was Claire. His backstory didn’t seem fully fleshed out so sometimes he felt kind of flat as a character.

I loved Claire! Her world has been recently turned upside down by a recent divorce. While her confidence is understandably shaken by the circumstance, she still comes across as a confident and self-assured FMC.

I wish we got more detailed wholesome moments between the two characters - like their conversations in the evenings.
I think the way the story progressed and the relationship changed / developed in each pov was paced really well. However, I think having a scene or two of friendly chatting and light flirting would’ve been a great addition to the other aspects of character & relationship development we did see.

I don’t know if there are plans for this to be a series of interconnected stand-alones, but I feel like the side characters were made to stand out so we were left wanting more. I would 100% continue reading about this cast of characters if we were given more 👀

*Thank you to Net Galley, the author and the publisher for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

If your ex's smoking hot coworker offered you 30k to let him hunt you in the woods for 30 days would you do it? HECK YES IF IT’S ANYTHING LIKE THIS BOOK.

Unfortunately for me this is not an autobiography.

Willing Prey follows Claire, a 35-year-old PE teacher recently divorced from her cheating loser of an ex-husband. She enters a contract with her ex's coworker (think Khal Drogo without the beard & in a suit 😮‍💨). 30 days in exchange for $30k if Claire consents to be hunted through the woods at his demand. The pacing was perfect, the dialogue felt natural, and despite being very high spice the plot was enough to keep me drawn in. The set up for the next couple was great, and I’m already looking forward to their book. I would recommend this one to readers that enjoy a high level of spice and primal play (if you fit this category then Willing Prey was *literally* written for you).