Ali Hazelwood’s newest book, “Mate,” was released on Oct. 7. “Mate” is the direct sequel to “Bride,” which came out on Feb. 6, 2024. The sequel follows Serena, who is the best friend of the main character, Misery, in “Bride.”
Serena is the first werewolf-human hybrid to exist, but for most of her life she believed herself to be only human. Learning to be a werewolf is complicated enough, but Serena quickly learns that one of the most powerful alphas is her mate, which is a fated partner that almost every werewolf has.
Whether or not everyone crosses paths with their mate is a different story.
Serena wants little to do with her mate, Koen, but she quickly finds herself under his protection as powerful vampyres hunt her down simply because she is a hybrid. As they spend more time together, feelings and secrets come to light.
The relationship between Serena and Koen is incredibly written. It has the perfect amount of drawn-out yearning and tension. This is especially true once the truth behind why Koen keeps Serena at arm’s length throughout most of the book is revealed. The added element that Koen was actively keeping something from her made his yearning for her so much more obvious and fun to read.
Another addictive element of their relationship is the way Serena puts everyone before herself, yet Koen puts her above everyone and everything. That aspect is such an amazing parallel in the story, and it serves as a catalyst for Serena to begin to realize it is okay to put herself first.
There are also moments where things go entirely unsaid, but it is abundantly clear that they care for one another. One example of this is when Koen and Serena go shopping. Serena is constantly looking and picking things up before returning them back to the shelf, but when she and Koen return to the house, it is revealed Koen bought all these items for her.
Their relationship is truly great, but it is not the best one from this series or even this book. The relationship which stands out the most is the friendship between Misery and Serena. There wasn’t a whole lot of in-person interaction between the two throughout the book, but they didn’t need to be near each other for their friendship to hold strong.
For example, much of the beginning of the book is Serena hiding a medical diagnosis from Misery because she didn’t want to trouble Misery with her issues. However, Misery was distraught when she found out and immediately rushed across the distance to be with Serena.
The two of them also have a very heartfelt declaration where they declare no one truly understands them the way they understand each other. This is a nice touch because, for those lucky to have a friendship like theirs, it is true that no one can understand you better than your best friend.
Ali Hazelwood truly has a gift for writing books. There has yet to be a book of hers that I’ve read that has been hard to fall in love with.
