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Two wolf shifters agree to be fake mates but unexpectedly find something real in this steamy paranormal romantic comedy by Lana Ferguson.

An Indie Next Pick!

Spice rating: 4/5 explicit open door.

Mackenzie Carter has had some very bad dates lately. Model train experts, mansplainers, guys weirdly obsessed with her tail—she hasn’t had a successful date in months. Only a year out of residency, her grandmother’s obsession with Mackenzie finding the perfect mate to settle down with threatens to drive Mackenzie barking mad. Out of options, it feels like a small thing to tell her grandmother that she’s met someone. That is, until she blurts out the name of the first man she sees and the last man she would ever date: Noah Taylor, the big bad wolf of Denver General.

Noah Taylor, interventional cardiologist and all around grump, has spent his entire life hiding what he is. With outdated stigmas surrounding unmated alphas that have people wondering if they still howl at the moon, Noah has been careful to keep his designation under wraps. It’s worked for years, until an anonymous tip has everything coming to light. Noah is left with two options: come clean to the board and risk his career—or find himself a mate. The chatty, overly friendly ER doctor asking him to be her fake boyfriend on the same day he’s called to meet the board has to be kismet, right?

Mackenzie will keep her grandmother off her back, and Noah will get a chance to prove he can continue to work without a real mate—a mutually beneficial business transaction, they both rationalize. But when the fake-mate act turns into a very real friends-with-benefits arrangement, lines start to blur, and they quickly realize love is a whole different kind of animal.

Don't just take our word for it...

“Charming. Funny. Primal. Ferguson’s paranormal romance manages to be sweet and spicy at the same time, with two likable leads who can’t ignore their wolfish urges…Readers will tear through this omegaverse novel.”

– Booklist

“The Fake Mate delivers the best of my two favourite worlds: a grumpy dark-haired doctor who–literally–howls to the moon, and the high stakes fake dating conundrum he’s thrusted into. Make no mistake, Lana weaves fantastically the elements we love from a paranormal romance (namely, attractive shifters with extremely interesting drives), with the humour characteristic from the best contemporary rom-com you can get your hands on. This book is addictive, epically smutty and the breath of fresh air the romance genre didn’t know it needed.”

– Elena Armas, New York Times bestselling author

“Lana Ferguson’s The Fake Mate is the perfect introduction to the wild world of the omegaverse…Whether you’re new to the omegaverse or a longtime fan, the scorching The Fake Mate will thrill those in search of a book that turns the heat all the way up.”

– BookPage

Taste the very first page

“I’m seeing someone.”

In retrospect, the lie comes much easier than I thought it would. It feels icky, lying to the woman who’s raised me since I was twelve, but in the face of my seventh bad date (or has it been eight now? I’ve honestly lost count) in three months—it also feels necessary.

My grandmother, Moira, has a reaction as immediate as it is expected. “What? Who? Someone from work? Is it someone I know?”

I know if I don’t shut down this line of questioning quickly, it will spiral into a full-blown interrogation.

“No,” I say quickly. “You don’t know him.”

I think that this part at least isn’t so much of a lie, since I don’t know him either. Since he doesn’t exist.

My grandmother means well, she does, but her taste in men— be they human or shifter—is downright terrible. I have caught movies with shifter model train experts who wanted to scent me on the first date, I have gotten coffee with human data analysts who asked if I could somehow keep my tail in human form (I don’t even want to explore the thought process there); every bad date has only solidified the idea that I am better off focusing on my job rather than…

January 2024