The Fake Mate

Two wolf shifters agree to be fake mates but unexpectedly find something real in this steamy paranormal romantic comedy by Lana Ferguson.
 
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 With outdated stigmas surrounding unmated alphas that have people wondering if they still howl at the moon, Noah has been careful to keep his designation under wraps.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.

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Published Dec 5, 2023

400 pages

Average rating: 7.11

93 RATINGS

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Community Reviews

Anonymous
Jun 06, 2025
10/10 stars
I would absolutely 1000% read this book over a million times. I could not put it down. It had me on the edge of my seat. I was screaming, laughing, yelling. This book is not what you think when you first grab it but it was the best book decision I’ve made in a while. I kept seeing it on shelves and thinking “maybe I’ll read this one”. The cover itself caught my eye and I love a good fake dating scenario. I highly recommend this one.
thatgaybookworm
May 29, 2025
7/10 stars
Interesting with dynamic, lively characters. A comedic, smutty supernatural romance. I loved the supernatural aspect but I do feel that Ferguson could have dived into the lore of the werewolves a lot more, to broaden the background of the plot. Despite that, the story flowed exceptionally well, the main focus being the budding relationship between our two mcs. Whilst there are a multiple of supporting interests to our characters such as, werewolves, jobs, family, the main focus remains on the relationship. This, along with the supporting factors, intertwines really well with the running story. Overall, I enjoyed it and would recommend to those who enjoy a light-hearted love story.
Anonymous
May 01, 2025
9/10 stars
4.5⭐️
I enjoyed this romcom with the shifter trope. My first book with that trope was Bride by Ali Hazelwood, which I loved, so this was a great one to continue reading books that involves knotting
hillary_scholz
Jan 13, 2025
8/10 stars
A very cute rom-com to get me out of my reading rut! Made me smile a bunch, was very cute, and very steamy!
Anonymous
Oct 22, 2024
8/10 stars
this was giving love hypothesis but with werewolves and a lot more smut. and honestly, i ain’t mad at it.

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