The Mating Game
by Lana Ferguson
My Rating: 3 stars
Genre: Romantic-Comedy/ Paranormal Romance/ Omegaverse
Age Category: Adult
Type of romance: m/f
Blurb:
Two wolf shifters reluctant to love discover there’s no fighting the call of the wild in this steamy romance by USA Today bestselling author Lana Ferguson.Contractor Tess Covington has spent her entire life as a regular non-shifter human, so after she lands in the Denver ER with flu-like symptoms, it comes as a complete shock to be told that, no, she’s not sick – she’s actually a late-presenting omega wolf shifter. With her family in dire financial straits and a contract for her own television show on the line, she can’t afford not to complete the renovation job she came for. And given that her newly emerged wolf is in danger of going into heat, she’ll just have to do her best to follow the doctor’s advice to keep away from alpha shifters.
Alpha wolf Hunter Barrett has spent most of his adult life living by a routine, and a big part of that involves staying clear of omegas after having one stomp on his heart. So when the tiny contractor shows up at his place smelling like the one thing he’s determined to avoid, he thinks it must be some sort of cosmic joke. But with his lodge on the verge of failing and this sweet-smelling omega his only hope to turn things around . . . he’s left with few other options than to grin and bear it.
Set on avoiding each other as much as possible, they find things unexpectedly starting to heat up between them enough to thaw even the frostiest of hearts. Though even with the pair going head over paws for each other, there’s no changing that their fling has an expiration date. The more time they spend together, the more they realize they’re playing a dangerous game – one where the only thing on the line is their hearts.
My Review
I haven’t read many omegaverse books, but the ones I read by Ember Blaze have been great and I’ve been wanting to try and read more books in the genre. So when I saw this book I was so excited as it sounded like a great omegaverse book and I really liked the concept of someone finding out she’s a shifter and an omega later in life and having to deal with that.
I liked The Mating Game, but it was one of those books that never got more than just being okay for me. When I was reading it I was usually enjoying the book, but as soon as I put it down I just stopped thinking about it and didn’t really have an urge to pick it back up again. I think this book read a like a pretty typical and trope-y romance books for the most part. It was an easy read and like I said I mostly enjoyed it while reading it, it just missed that little extra.
I liked the set up and the plot with Tess renovating the lodge Hunter works with, but this mostly functions as a set-up for them meeting. The focus is very much on the romance first. I would’ve liked a bit more about the renovation and getting a feel for that as it was hard to visualize things now.
I liked both Tess and Hunter. They both have enough personality and depth to feel like I knew who they were. I liked their banter and their connection and their romance is sweet. I liked seeing how Hunter wants to take care of Tess as well as scenes were he actually does that. I could feel their connection and liked seeing it develop into love. And they are just very sweet together. There is some steam as well and it slowly builds to more throughout the book. There is a bit of the expected drama toward the end, but I liked how that got resolved and how quickly it went instead of dragging out.
The Mating Game is very light omegaverse I would say. I did like the parts that were there, but had expected more focus and explanation of it all. It mostly involving heats and knotting and some animal instincts. It wasn’t quite what I had come to expect from the Ember Blaze books I’ve read, but like I mentioned before those are the only omegaverse books I’ve read so far, so I don’t know a lot about this genre. I just had hoped more focus on the omegaverse vibes than the rom-com vibes and this book is definitely rom-com first and omegaverse and shifters later.
The Mating Game is an omegaverse where the characters are shifters too and there are a few fun scenes involving that, but I just wanted more. This set up just sounded so perfect and I wanted to know how Tess would deal with suddenly turning into a shifter and finding out she’s an omega, but there isn’t as much focus on that. This book mostly reads like a typical rom-com tone and plot wise. The focus is mostly on the romance and the characters.
To summarize: The Mating Game was a fun read and I mostly enjoyed reading it, but as soon as I put it down I just stopped thinking about it and didn’t have the urge to pick it back up. I liked both Tess and Hunter and they were sweet together. I would’ve liked a bit more about the renovations Tess is doing on the lodge as it was hard to visualize things now. This book really focusses on the romance mostly, it has a pretty typical trope-y rom-com vibe. It’s an easy read, but missed that extra bit to really make me enjoy the book. The omegaverse part feels pretty light compared to the omegaverse books I’ve read so far, but I haven’t read enough of the genre to know a lot about it. There isn’t as much of the shifting either, but the scenes that were there were fun. I would’ve liked to see more of Tess thoughts as she goes through the change as that was the part I was excited about.
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