Book Review : The Fake Mate

Item: The Fake Mate
Rating: 3
Author: Kate

The Fake Mate by Lana Ferguson
Published by Berkley on December 5th 2023
Pages: 372
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Mackenzie hasn't had a successful date in months. She's only a year out of residency, and her grandmother's obsession with finding the perfect mate threatens to drive her barking mad, so it should be a small thing when she lies about meeting someone . . . until she blurts out the name of the last man she would ever date: Noah 'The Big Bad Wolf of Denver General' Taylor.
Noah, interventional cardiologist and all-round grump, has spent his entire life hiding what he is - an unmated alpha. But when an anonymous tip brings everything to light, he's left with two choices: come clean to the board and risk his career or find himself a mate. So, when the chatty, overly friendly ER doctor asks him to be her fake boyfriend the same day he's called to meet the board, it must be kismet, right?
Mackenzie gets her grandmother off her back, and Noah gets the chance to prove he can continue to work without a real mate - it's a mutually beneficial business transaction. But when the fake-mate act turns to a very real friends-with-benefits arrangement, lines start to blur, and they quickly realise love is a whole different kind of animal.

When I first found out that The Fake Mate was yet another work of Reylo fanfiction that made it into the traditional publishing world, I had to read it. Since I’ve never recovered from the pain and disappointment that is The Rise of Skywalker, these fanfictions feel like a salve over the wound of all of that unrealized and irrevocably lost potential. Sometimes when I read these fanfictions, like The Hurricane Wars, it’s obvious that it is a work of fanfiction and that it doesn’t quite have the strong foundation of a fully realized original world, but that is not the case with The Fake Mate, which is a straight up romantic comedy, featuring a mutually beneficial fake relationship between the male and female leads, Noah Taylor and Mackenzie “Mack” Carter.

“I assure you, this is a business transaction, Dr. Carter. Romance won’t be a part of it.”

The one thing that sets The Fake Mate apart from other Reylo fanfics turned trad-published rom-coms is that this novel features the omegaverse. In other words, this universe features shapeshifters living alongside humans. These shifters can not only transform into animal forms, but also have biological designations of what amounts to almost a second gender, of alpha, beta, and omega. Though this whole concept sounds bizarre (and it was definitely off putting the first time I stumbled across this in fanfictions), The Fake Mate makes the whole omegaverse thing very normative and easy to understand for those who haven’t encountered it in the wilds of the internet yet.

However, I could definitely see the prospect of the omegaverse being a turn off for readers looking for a more traditional romance novel. As someone who used to read a lot of paranormal/urban fantasy novels though, I really liked that The Fake Mate keeps it more modern than that genre, not revolving around packs and their dynamics or responsibilities. Through Mack, an omega, who doesn’t believe in the preconceived notions of animal instincts and the stereotypes of designations, and Noah, an alpha, who quickly realizes that animal instinct is very much a real thing and he is, in fact, in over his head—characters get very different perspectives on the challenges of being a shifter.

“Mackenzie sighs. ‘Look, I know all the dumb stories about alphas and omegas and fated pairs and all that bullshit….We have a good thing going here. I don’t want to change that.’
‘You realize that by not telling me, you were putting us both at risk for some sort of misstep we can’t take back.’
‘Don’t tell me you believe in all that garbage about us affecting each other more,’ she scoffs. ‘It’s all a bunch of nonsense.’
‘Is it?’ I swallow thickly.”

Unfortunately, there’s not a whole lot of depth to Mack or Noah outside of their designations or fake relationship. Being the rarest designations—alpha and omega—Mack and Noah can bond over the prejudices and bigotry with which they’re faced. Both characters are also doctors (Noah is a cardiologist, but I am unclear on Mack’s exact profession), but never really talk about anything medical or bond over medical school or residencies or whatever exactly doctors bond over. And perhaps it’s to be expected that the two don’t have lives (or friends) outside of the hospital, but it leaves them feeling more like empty plot devices than actual fleshed out characters. They also don’t have any hobbies (except for mentions of Mack doing hot yoga) or notable relationships that aren’t blood, coworkers, or former coworkers.

Despite the characters’ lacking development, I still found them mostly likable. I’m not sure that I can solely chock this up to them being incarnations of Rey and Kylo either, though that doesn’t hurt. Author Ferguson’s banter makes every exchange between the characters fun, which consequently makes it easy to root for them. Unfortunately, Mack definitely got on my nerves with her constant refusal to accept that she is playing with fire with Noah. Mack is also the result of an unwanted union between an alpha and omega herself, but doesn’t ever seem to think about this. She never get triggered during her trysts with Noah, never getting cold feet about risking falling victim to her own biological desires or worried about the possible repercussions this could have for her professional reputation. It’s all just a little too easy.

And as a huge fan of the build up before the actual feelings are acted upon, I have to admit that The Fake Mate had Mack and Noah giving into their mutual attraction far too early for my liking. Personally, I want to suffer while I wait for the characters to get together, so these two hooking up so early on was a buzzkill for me, even if it was theoretically only a “no strings attached,” kind of thing at first. Perhaps the lack of wait time was also why I got so tired of all the sex scenes. Because the two acted upon their feelings so quickly, it felt like all I had to look forward to was the inevitable confrontation on the horizon that I saw brewing from a mile away. I just wanted to get this incident over with so the characters could be happy together again. Luckily for me, the whole conflict ended about two or three chapters after it began and was tied up with a neat little ribbon before the end of the novel. Regardless, I found myself skimming the spicy scenes after the initial one because the tension was completely gone for me.

Even if The Fake Mate isn’t the deepest romance out there, it’s an enjoyable light and fast read with concepts that will be new to a lot of readers. I started and polished off the book in a single day. I was invested from the very beginning of the novel, entertained by the banter and the silliness of the premise, and satisfied with the suitably happy ending. I would definitely read another book by this author, and even have my eye on a rom-com of hers about the loch Ness monster.